What does it really take to build one of the UK's biggest recruitment businesses?

In this episode of Recruiting Alchemy, Andy Simpson sits down with Dean Kelly, entrepreneur, investor and one of recruitment's best-known founders, to explore the highs, lows and lessons from an extraordinary career.

Dean shares how he went from growing up on a North London council estate to becoming a multi-millionaire before the age of 30. Along the way, he opens up about setbacks, near business failures, acquisitions, scaling at speed, leading PLCs, and why some of his biggest lessons came from the toughest moments.

This is an honest conversation about ambition, resilience, leadership and what success really looks like once you've achieved it.  

Whether you're building a recruitment business, leading a team or simply fascinated by entrepreneurial journeys, there's something in this episode for you.

Timestamps

00:00 – Highlights from Dean's journey
01:00 – Sponsor: ryvr.ai
02:00 – Introducing Dean Kelly
04:00 – Growing up in North London and early ambitions
11:00 – Falling into recruitment by accident
14:00 – Nearly losing his job before everything changed
18:00 – Developing self-belief and changing his mindset
22:00 – The drive to build something bigger
32:00 – Being headhunted and stepping into leadership
35:00 – Starting his own recruitment business
42:00 – Scaling at speed and almost going under
45:00 – The realities of rapid growth
56:00 – Leadership, culture and getting the best from people
01:02:00 – Exits, acquisitions and what success really means
01:06:00 – Leading through crisis and lessons from the boardroom
01:10:00 – Final advice for founders and recruitment leaders

Connect with Dean Kelly

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deankellyuk/

Connect with Andy Simpson

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andyhsimpson/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyhsimpson/

This episode is proudly sponsored by ryvr.ai
Find out more about ryvr:

Website: https://ryvr.ai/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryvr.ai/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ryvrai/

Produced by Vertical Drop

Recruiting Alchemy is produced by Vertical Drop, helping founders and businesses turn conversations into content that builds authority, creates opportunities and drives growth.

From podcast production and strategy to social media content, guest management and distribution, Vertical Drop helps brands create content that delivers long after the recording ends.

What does it take to completely reinvent a recruitment business that's already successful?

In this episode of Recruiting Alchemy, Andy Simpson sits down with Elliott Manning, Founder of Kayman Recruitment, to unpack a journey that's anything but conventional.

From leaving school at 15 to become a chef, to building a thriving recruitment business across the UK, US and South Africa, Elliott shares the lessons he's learnt from taking risks, making mistakes, and constantly adapting to a changing market.

The conversation explores entrepreneurship, international expansion, outsourcing, offshoring, and why sometimes the biggest opportunities come from tearing up the original plan and starting again.

Whether you're a recruitment founder, agency leader or simply interested in building businesses differently, there's plenty to take away from this one.

Timestamps

00:00 – Highlights from Elliott's journey
01:00 – Sponsor: ryvr.ai
02:00 – Introducing Elliott Manning
04:00 – Growing up in East London and life before recruitment
07:00 – Becoming a chef and working in Michelin-starred kitchens
10:00 – First steps into recruitment
13:00 – Building a successful healthcare recruitment desk
16:00 – Why entrepreneurship always felt inevitable
19:00 – Taking the leap and starting his own business
20:00 – Accidentally discovering rec-to-rec recruitment
22:00 – Growing the business and early leadership lessons
25:00 – Expanding into the US market
30:00 – Why South Africa became the next big move
36:00 – Building an outsourcing and offshoring business
40:00 – Launching new ventures and changing direction
42:00 – Scaling internationally and helping recruitment firms hire globally
45:00 – The future of recruitment and offshore talent
50:00 – Advice for founders looking to scale internationally
55:00 – Final thoughts and key lessons

Connect with Elliott Manning

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliott-manning-4b3b6b7/
Kayman Recruitment: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kayman-recruitment/

Connect with Andy Simpson

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andyhsimpson/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyhsimpson/

This episode is proudly sponsored by ryvr.ai

Find out more:

Website: https://ryvr.ai/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryvr.ai/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ryvrai/

Produced by Vertical Drop

Find out more:

https://vertical-drop.com/

On Recruiting Alchemy, Logan Naidu, founder and Group CEO of Kernel Global, shares his personal background and path from investment banking at J.P. Morgan and corporate finance at PwC into recruitment, after being fired from his first recruiting role. He founded The Cornell Partnership in 2005, built it to around 30 people, then after a cancer diagnosis in 2010 and disagreements over shifting from a dividend-led lifestyle business to a growth-and-exit strategy, left in 2011 to start Dartmouth Partners. He describes building a high-performance culture centred on making winning “intoxicating,” a long-term “classroom to boardroom” candidate strategy, and growing with a 30% annual growth target. Naidu talkes about private equity, completed PE deals in 2018 and March 2023 (closing shortly after SVB), acquired Pure, grew to 10m EBITDA, paid out a staff pot of about £30m to 170–180 people, navigated post-COVID market shifts, and emphasised in-office culture and US expansion.

00:00 Apartheid Roots
00:26 Sponsor ryvr AI
01:45 Meet Logan Naidu
03:27 Family and Identity
06:04 School and Ambition
08:09 Banking Disillusionment
09:26 PwC and Pivot Point
11:14 Landing in Recruitment
13:22 Fired by Text
16:10 Starting Cornell Partnership
18:23 Lifestyle Business Reality
20:07 Cancer Wake Up Call
23:08 Leaving to Build Dartmouth
23:53 Growth Culture Blueprint
27:50 Classroom to Boardroom
32:29 Kernel Group Today
32:42 Multi Brand Strategy
33:12 Private Equity Explained
34:20 First PE Deal Journey
38:48 De Risking And Growth
40:28 Acquiring Pure
42:52 Boardroom Changes
45:13 Second PE Deal
48:46 Market Turns Down
51:55 Culture And Performance
53:50 Future Plans And AI
57:29 Office First Culture
01:03:40 Vision And Wrap Up
01:05:02 Production Credits

Guest, Logan Naidu:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/logan-naidu-3b10b51/
Kernel Global: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kernelglobal/

Host, Andy Simpson:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andyhsimpson/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyhsimpson/

Thank you to ryvr.ai for sponsoring this episode read more about them below:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryvr.ai/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ryvrai/
Website: https://ryvr.ai/

Gary Elden OBE joins Recruiting Alchemy and Andy Simpson to share his journey from a tough Camberwell council estate to becoming a leading figure in the recruitment industry, launching Huxley Associates within S3 and later serving as CEO of a listed business. He discusses early resilience, moving from insurance broking to estate agency, then taking a pay cut to join Computer Futures, where he learned from top performers and became a high biller. Gary explains S3’s entrepreneurial equity model, Huxley’s banking-led expansion into the US and Asia, the shift from perm to contract for revenue resilience, and the cultural impact of being a PLC. He reflects on being a Black/mixed-race role model, his OBE for services to diversity and business, leaving corporate life, advising and investing, and building Vidmology to modernize recruitment training using short-form video, audio, and AI bots.

00:00 OBE and Role Models
00:32 Sponsor ryvr.ai
01:51 Meet Gary Eldon
03:03 Growing Up Camberwell
06:08 First Jobs and City Life
09:33 Estate Agency to Recruitment
11:42 Computer Futures Grind
15:31 Jerk Chicken Side Hustle
17:21 Launching Huxley Associates
22:38 S3 Growth and IPO
27:20 Becoming CEO
29:31 Race Diversity and OBE
32:56 Windrush Roots and Palace
34:15 Blushing Prince William
34:50 New York Expansion
36:03 Life in America
37:42 Becoming CEO
39:06 Strategy Reset
41:06 Contract Shift Math
42:39 Leaving the Top Job
45:11 Crypto Risk Lessons
47:46 Remote Work Culture
50:05 Advisory Portfolio Life
53:16 Market Outlook Pockets
58:43 Candidate First Tactics
01:02:08 Vidmology Training Vision
01:05:28 Embracing AI Future
01:08:32 Final Thanks Credits

Follow Gary Elden:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-elden-3004502b/

Follow Andy Simpson:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyhsimpson/

Thank you ryvr.ai for sponsoring this episode:
https://ryvr.ai/

In this episode of Recruiting Alchemy, host Andy Simpson sits down with Tom Way, CEO of UK and Ireland at Hays, to explore the high-stakes world of leading one of the world's largest staffing companies.

Tom provides a deep-dive look at the "sliding doors" moments that define a career, from being one deal away from being fired to leading a organization of 2,300 people. The conversation explores the massive shift toward tech-enabled recruitment, the challenges of managing 290 million in revenue, and why the recruitment landscape in 2026 requires a "customer-centric" approach that balances AI with human connectivity.

Episode Timestamps:

[00:00:00] Intro & Welcome: Tom discusses the accountability of a PLC strategy and why you can't just "go off piste".

[00:03:30] The Early Hustle: Growing up in Paris and North London, and how working two paper rounds at 14 built a foundation for relationship building.

[00:10:43] The Sliding Doors Moment: How one deal with America Online (AOL) saved Tom from being fired and launched his recruitment career.

[00:14:12] Winning in California: The "coming to Jesus" moment in San Francisco that took a struggling team to market dominance through in-person meetings.

[00:32:00] Hays & The Tech Masterstroke: Why Hays decided to "skip a generation" of technology to wait for the right AI integration.

[00:41:57] The Future of Talent: Tom's vision for AI-stack development and why training people is the missing piece in the productivity puzzle.

[00:45:25] Quick Fire Section: Tom shares his outlook on the Hays share price, poor cricket, and the 2026 vision.

In this episode of Recruiting Alchemy, host Andy Simpson sits down with Jeremy Snell, recruitment leader and industry veteran, to explore what really drives performance in modern recruitment businesses.

Jeremy provides a no-nonsense look at why technology alone won’t fix broken models, and why clarity of process, value proposition, and discipline still sit at the heart of successful recruitment firms. The conversation dives deep into the rise of AI in recruitment, the challenges of scaling sales and delivery, and why recruitment leaders heading into 2026 must prioritise consistency, commercial thinking, and strong fundamentals over shiny tools.

Drawing on decades of experience building from cold starts, Jeremy shares practical insight for agency owners, leaders, and consultants navigating one of the fastest-changing recruitment landscapes we’ve ever seen.

Episode Timestamps

• [00:00:00] Intro & Welcome: Andy introduces Recruiting Alchemy and welcomes Jeremy Snell to the studio.
• [00:02:10] Origins & Career Foundations: Jeremy’s early career, background, and path into recruitment.
• [00:12:20] Building from Scratch: Lessons from cold starts, hard work, and scaling recruitment desks.
• [00:24:30] AI, Automation & Process: Why AI can’t fix flawed sales or delivery processes.
• [00:45:25] Quick Fire Section: Consistency, discipline, and the habits that compound over time.

In this exceptional episode of the Recruiting Alchemy Podcast, host Andy Simpson sits down with Simon Ryan, Director at Chapter 2 and Co-founder of Chapter 2 Health Talent, for a deep dive into building, scaling, and disrupting the recruitment industry.

Simon shares his powerful origin story, the keys to navigating market crises, and the future of hyper-efficient talent acquisition, which has attracted the investment of Steven Bartlett.

⏱️ Key Timestamps

• 01:47 - Simon Ryan's Origin Story: Growing up in Stratford and selling drawings with his identical twin.
• 05:07 - The unlikely start: How soccer coaching in Camp America led to his first recruitment job at Reed.
• 06:44 - Starting just before the 2008 Financial Crisis and how he became the top perm consultant.
• 10:48 - The achievement: Becoming the youngest-ever Business Manager at Reed (age 25).
• 14:14 - The 11-year rocket ship: Scaling Your World Healthcare from 75 to 500+ staff and growing margin to £45M.
• 16:09 - The strategy: How Simon helped Leo Harrison and joined Chapter Two by adding value first.
• 19:47 - The Question: What's it like working with Steven Bartlett?
• 21:09 - Steven Bartlett's Recruiting Secret: Why he spends 30-40 hours a week on recruitment.
• 22:57 - The Disruption: Achieving 175 hires in six months with a Cost Per Hire of only £2.5k.
• 25:52 - The Chapter Two Model: The three pillars of success (Talent, Tech, and Employer Branding).
• 33:31 - Managing the "bench" and the financial risk of the embedded model.
• 44:40 - High-growth areas in Health Tech and Health AI.

In this episode of Recruiting Alchemy, host Andy Simpson sits down with Malvin Kamara, former professional footballer turned founder and CEO of Vallum Associates. From playing in the Premier League and Championship to building one of the fastest-growing recruitment firms in energy and infrastructure, Malvin shares his remarkable journey and the lessons learned along the way.

They discuss what professional sport taught him about resilience, how he transitioned into recruitment, and the realities of scaling a business with no prior experience. From managing VAT shocks and cashflow challenges to building a high-performance culture, Malvin offers a refreshingly honest look at what it takes to succeed in recruitment and leadership.

Whether you’re a recruiter, business owner, or simply someone interested in stories of resilience and entrepreneurship, this episode is packed with inspiration and practical takeaways.

🎙 Key Topics:
🔹 From football pitches to boardrooms – Malvin’s journey into recruitment
🔹 Why resilience and mindset matter more than experience
🔹 Scaling Vallum Associates through setbacks and turning points
🔹 Lessons in leadership, culture, and high-performance environments
🔹 The realities of tax, cashflow, and learning business the hard way

Show Notes & Timestamps

[00:00] Introduction & Early Life

Andy introduces Malvin Kamara and his journey from football to recruitment.

Growing up in Plumstead and discovering a love for football.

[07:00] Professional Football Career

Playing for Port Vale, Huddersfield, and beyond.

How injury and circumstance shaped his next chapter.

[20:00] First Steps After Football

Door-to-door sales in Yorkshire and tough early lessons.

Transition into recruitment and discovering Venquis.

[35:00] Founding Vallum Associates

Why Malvin decided to start his own company.

Struggles with scaling, learning tax and cashflow the hard way.

Building resilience through trial and error.

[45:00] Building Culture & Scaling to Exit

The importance of high-performance environments.

Creating a company culture that attracts and retains talent.

Lessons from private equity and scaling partnerships.

[01:00:00] Final Thoughts

Advice for recruiters and entrepreneurs.

Why setbacks can shape long-term success.

In this episode of Recruiting Alchemy, Andy Simpson sits down with Steve Beckitt founder of SourceBreaker for a candid and often hilarious deep dive into how he went from contract recruiter to tech founder, built a SaaS business from spreadsheets, and exited with a life-changing deal.

Steve shares his unfiltered journey: selling early products that barely worked, surviving COVID as a bootstrapped founder, and the emotional highs and lows of growing (and selling) a business under intense pressure. From S3 training rooms to building Excel tools that ended up in the hands of Google and Facebook. This episode is equal parts gritty startup story and practical masterclass for any recruiter or entrepreneur thinking of taking the leap.

🎙 Key Topics:

🔹 How Steve validated SourceBreaker by selling Excel spreadsheets to recruiters
🔹 The early hustle: balancing product development with cash flow
🔹 Going from contractor at S3 to founder in Croydon
🔹 Why recruitment was never the end goal—and how he pivoted into SaaS
🔹 Managing investor expectations and funding rounds
🔹 Surviving a direct competitor giving away a near-identical product for free
🔹 When and why he decided to sell the business—and how close it came to falling apart
🔹 The emotional cost of being a founder (and why he sold the cars)

📄 Show Notes & Timestamps

[00:00] – Intro & Background
Steve’s recruitment roots and early days at S3

[06:00] – Leaving S3 & Starting From Scratch
From flat in Croydon to the first sale

[10:00] – The Spreadsheet Hustle
How Steve built basic Excel tools to fund his startup—and got 500 global brands downloading

[14:00] – Validating the Market
From Boolean builders to product-market fit with no code

[18:00] – Finding the Right Co-Founders & Freelancers
Meet Zenon: the MVP-builder behind the curtain

[22:00] – Turning Spreadsheets into a SaaS Company
Why being underestimated helped—and what broke first

[28:00] – Raising Capital & The Pressure to Perform
Private equity, SEIS, and the true weight of investor money

[33:00] – Navigating COVID, Near Misses & Competitive Threats
How they survived a major competitor undercutting them before launch

[36:00] – Scaling, Stress & Real Talk About Burnout
The pressure to exit, and the price of relentless growth

[42:00] – Life After the Exit
What changed (and what didn’t)

[44:00] – Advice for Founders
From advisors to mindset to spreadsheets

In this episode of Recruiting Alchemy, Andy sits down with David Rees, former Chief Sales Officer at S3 and now a fractional chair and investor across multiple recruitment and tech businesses. David shares his journey from his roots in South Wales to leading global teams and shaping the recruitment industry at the highest level.

They discuss the evolution of recruitment, the challenges of scaling internationally, and the critical role of company culture. David also offers candid insights on leadership, the impact of technology and AI, and what it takes to build resilient, high-performing organizations in a rapidly changing market.

Whether you're a recruiter, business leader, or interested in the future of work, this episode is packed with practical wisdom and industry perspective.

🎙 Key Topics:
🔹 Building a career from humble beginnings to industry leadership
🔹 The evolution of recruitment and why culture matters
🔹 Lessons from scaling and international expansion at S3
🔹 The impact of AI, automation, and technology on recruitment
🔹 How to build resilient, high-performing teams in uncertain times

Tune in for an in-depth discussion on recruitment strategy, leadership, and navigating the future of the industry.

Show Notes & Timestamps

[00:00] – Opening & Introduction
David’s journey from South Wales to the top of the recruitment industry.
How early experiences shaped his approach to business and leadership.

[10:00] – The S3 Story & Lessons in Growth
Joining S3, building teams, and navigating industry booms and downturns.
Why company culture and internal development drive long-term success.

[25:00] – International Expansion & Leadership
The challenges and rewards of leading teams across the UK, Germany, and beyond.
How to adapt leadership styles for different markets.

[40:00] – Technology, AI & the Future of Recruitment
How technology and AI are reshaping recruitment.
Why human connection and deep market knowledge still matter.

[55:00] – Building Resilient Teams & Businesses
Lessons from the pandemic, investing, and chairing multiple companies.
What it takes to build sustainable, high-performing organizations.

[65:00] – Final Thoughts & Key Takeaways
The importance of adaptability, culture, and leadership in recruitment.
David’s outlook on the future of the industry and advice for the next generation.