I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard recruiters mutter something like, “Our fees are pretty high… I mean, we charged the client $25,000 for that placement.” For what, exactly? -> For delivering the talent that drives a business forward? -> For solving a problem, the client couldn’t solve themselves? -> For working harder […]

If you want to future-proof your recruitment career, master one thing: Influencing skills. Not sourcing. Not Boolean strings. Not matching. Not database wizardry. Those skills matter—but they’re about to be commoditised. AI and automation will handle sourcing, screening, matching, scheduling, and on-boarding faster, cheaper, and at scale. Machines will do the “hack work” of recruitment. […]

I have realised over time that the core of outstanding leadership is ‘Empathy with Accountability’ This is your mantra for leading recruiters to achieve optimal outcomes and happy staff. By empathy, I mean treating people with respect. Understand they are having a bad week, have a sick child at home, and have lost confidence after […]

I’ve worked with recruitment businesses for decades, and one factor remains constant. Growth doesn’t kill recruitment businesses. Poor cash flow does. I’ve seen agencies with strong sales pipelines, healthy margins and growing teams run into trouble because they underestimated the working capital required to support their business. That’s why the introduction of Payday Super should […]

This blog challenges the hype around “totally automated recruitment” pushed by tech founders who have never recruited or implemented recruitment tech. It urges recruiters to think critically about AI claims and separate reality from noise. By imagining a world where recruiters lose their laptops, we can clarify which tasks must remain human-driven and which can be supported by technology. Recruitment is unique: unlike products or tickets, talent is not a commodity and can say “no.” True recruitment success lies in balancing technology with human judgment, empathy, and influence — something automation alone cannot replace.

One of the most misunderstood skills in recruitment is qualifying a job order. Not taking a job order. Not writing it down. Definitely not getting it by email and starting to work on it! Qualifying it. Turning a fantasy into something you can actually fill. Diagnosing the the outcomes needed by the client and constructing […]

Candidates lie. Occasionally, there’s the candidate who “forgets” to mention they spent six years in jail. That kind of lie exists. But that’s not the lie you should worry about. Be diligent, and that one will surface. The dangerous lie — the damaging one — is the white lie. It’s the answer to the question: […]

You know what your client says is wrong. You know how they wish to recruit is not in their interests. The salary. The job description. The process. The interview style. So often, the client has a plan.. and it's a bad plan! But they are the client. It's best to let it slide, right? Please, no! Every great recruiter owns this recruiting super-power Do you?

Plenty of recruiters are stressed. The boom has slowed, and now hard work can bring scant rewards. The threat of AI, both real and grossly exaggerated – looms large. Some are questioning their vocation. “Should I even be a recruiter?” But hold firm, my recruiting friends. My take? Our industry will continue to thrive However […]

I was 21 when I got into recruitment. It was in Executive Search, and every client, every candidate was older and more experienced than I was. I had big-time ‘imposter syndrome’, and I guess in the early days that was warranted. But not for long! In business, as in life, you get treated the way […]