As part of our International Women’s Day 2025 celebrations, we’re delighted to feature Sarah Bishop (known to many as “Bish”), founder of Recruit Recruit and one of our valued clients. In this special edition of the Recruitment Marketing and Sales Podcast, Sarah shares her remarkable journey from car sales to building a successful recruitment business.
Her candid reflections on navigating industry challenges, embracing neurodiversity as a strength, and breaking barriers as a female business owner offer valuable insights for anyone in the recruitment sector. Join us as Sarah reveals how integrity, resilience, and authentic leadership have shaped her entrepreneurial path.
In the ever-evolving world of recruitment, finding your unique path to success often means breaking conventional rules and creating something authentic. Reflecting on my journey from selling Lexus cars to building a thriving recruitment business, I’ve realized that the greatest achievements come from staying true to your core values while having the courage to pivot when necessary. My story traverses economic downturns, personal challenges, and unexpected opportunities that ultimately shaped Recruit Recruit’s success today.
If you’re a recruitment business owner navigating your own path, struggling with growth challenges, or simply looking for inspiration to do things differently, this candid account offers practical insights from someone who’s weathered the storms and emerged stronger. Discover how networking, embracing neurodiversity, and maintaining unwavering integrity helped build a recruitment business that stands out in a crowded marketplace.
My Journey Into Recruitment
I never grew up dreaming of being a recruitment consultant. I wanted to be Bugsy Malone, a vet, and David Attenborough. Fast-forward to university, where I studied environmental science to pursue David Attenborough’s path of saving the planet, but I quickly realized I was too loud and sweary for that role.
After graduating with student debt, I discovered that environmental jobs didn’t pay well. My lofty ideals went out the window, and I decided to get a sales job based on my previous experience in Saturday jobs and holiday work. My dad had owned car yards when I was younger, so I had some exposure to sales environments.
I distributed my CV to local car dealerships, even offering to work for free for a month to prove myself. A Lexus dealership in Stourbridge gave me a chance, and I sold cars for nearly three years. During this time, a friend who had studied politics at university joined a Ford dealership.
We both became frustrated with working weekends and long hours. My friend transitioned to recruitment first, joining Brook Street, and kept telling me it was much easier to sell secretaries than cars. That prompted me to start applying to recruitment agencies in earnest.
I received job offers from Kelly’s, Adecco, and Extra Personnel, a small local agency at the time. I chose Extra Personnel because it seemed entrepreneurial and was growing quickly. This decision led to 13 great years, during which I progressed from trainee to various management roles.
Building My Own Recruitment Business
After 13 years with Extra Personnel, I reached a point where I needed a different challenge. In some situations, I felt I cared more about our reputation than the business owners did. Being responsible for our public sector work, I constantly battle quality issues.
The breaking point came with a contract with Tamworth Council. They wanted a weekly email listing new starters and temps who had finished or been taken permanently. Despite my team’s inability to consistently provide this basic service, my name was on the contract, and I had agreed to service levels.
I realized that if I moved to another agency, it would be “the same issues, different logo.” I also couldn’t see how, with good conscience, I could tell clients that Extra Personnel was the best for 13 years and then suddenly promote a different agency.
That’s when I decided to start my own business in 2009. I had incorporated a company 4-5 years earlier but never acted on it until then. I wanted to build something with simple, straightforward values: integrity, fun, and getting stuff done.
My biggest initial mistake was trying to emulate where I’d come from and fixing the bits I didn’t like. I really wanted and should have created something very different, closer to what the business looks like today.
The Power Of Networking In Recruitment
My experience with networking while at Extra Personnel was limited to occasionally attending Chamber of Commerce events, distributing business cards, eating biscuits, drinking coffee, and heading back to the office. When I started my own business, I began attending any free networking events in my area out of desperation.
At one Sandwell local authority event, Michelle Ibbs, founder of I’m Your PA, approached me. She invited me to a networking event in Wolverhampton the next morning. Though I had no intention of going, I couldn’t find her contact information to cancel, and my upbringing prevented me from simply not showing up.
So I reluctantly went to the Novotel in Wolverhampton, where I found 25 people in this BNI group. I observed a lot of business being passed around, which impressed me. My then-business partner wasn’t interested but ironically joined BNI immediately after we split the company, despite having avoided it for nine years.
For me, networking works because it provides routine and strategy. BNI has spent 40 years developing its approach, and if you follow it and remain accountable, it works. While other networking organizations exist, many were created by former BNI members who removed the accountability aspect—which is precisely what makes BNI effective.
What keeps me in BNI is that being a local member gives me access to their global network across 77 countries. Being married to an Austrian woman and spending six months a year in Vienna, I discovered that an architect from two buildings from us is a BNI member. I’ve also joined an online group because of my lifestyle.
Overcoming Business Challenges
One of the most significant milestones in my business journey was also one of the most difficult times. In 2018, my business partner and I decided to split the business. What I thought was amicable turned out not to be. I discovered a large HMRC debt I wasn’t aware of, among other issues.
This led to a nervous breakdown. I nearly lost my house and was in a terrible place. Just as I started to recover and relaunched our advertising packages to generate quick revenue, my ex-business partner tried to sue me. Fortunately, her solicitor likely realized the allegations were spurious, and it was all dismissed.
Strangely, this was the best thing that could have happened. It triggered something in me – there was no way I would allow her to do this to me. I started getting back on track, seeing light at the end of the tunnel, and then COVID hit.
However, I’m resilient. I knew an industry would always be doing well—we just needed to pivot. The luck I experienced was largely made possible by the networks and relationships I’d built over the years.
We became involved with a startup business providing COVID testing for the film and media industry. We helped them grow from zero to £30 million turnover in 21 months, placing over 220 people in various roles from HR and finance to science and IT.
My networks were crucial. I worked with Kerry Greenland from the team network, my niece came back into the industry, and Clare Reese-Paul, an ex-colleague and good friend, joined me. Not only did we have fun, but it kept four or five of us in business, generated good revenue, and left a positive legacy.
Neurodiversity As A Business Advantage
My neurodiversity has played a significant role in my career. I’ve always approached my business as a portfolio career, satisfying my needs more than feeling confined to a single lane.
I was diagnosed with ADHD at age three, which was unusual in 1975, especially for girls. While boys with similar behaviours might be described as “rambunctious” or “a real boy’s boy,” girls are often labelled as “princesses,” “divas,” or “little madams.”
Though diagnosed, I was never medicated. My condition was explained simply as an inability to pay attention and having excessive energy. It’s only in recent years, with more information becoming available, that I’ve better understood my condition. About 15 years ago, I was also diagnosed as high-functioning autistic, adding another layer of complexity.
As a gay woman, I’ve had an easier time in business than many of my female friends and colleagues. Male colleagues often saw me as “one of the boys,” partly because I wasn’t a potential romantic interest. Additionally, I never wanted children, which has inadvertently helped my career progression.
For women in business, confidence is crucial. So many women I’ve worked with would have been more successful if they had shown up with “the confidence of a mediocre white man.” There’s a certain confidence and bravado that many men project, often without merit, yet everyone begins to believe their hype.
My advice to women entering the industry is to hone your skills, particularly relationship-building and people skills, be confident in your competence, and not be afraid to speak up and stand your ground. Studies show that men dominate conversations disproportionately in meetings. When women assert themselves, they’re often labelled negatively, while men exhibiting identical behaviours are praised for “knowing their minds” and “getting things done.”
Those with neurodiversity recognize both its advantages and challenges. My ADHD allows me to see things others miss and read micro-expressions accurately – invaluable skills in recruitment and sales. However, it also brings dysregulation and other difficulties that neurotypical people don’t experience.
What people see—my bluntness, oversharing, and apparent ease in picking up new skills—doesn’t reveal the self-doubt and anxiety behind it. Be kinder to yourself instead of feeling bad about being different.
Creating A Business Based On Values
The essence of what I wanted to create in my business hasn’t changed much over the years. We have straightforward values: integrity, fun, and getting stuff done. What we do isn’t rocket science, but there’s so much bad practice in the industry.
Today, our sweet spot is helping fast-growing startups, businesses looking to exit, or companies seeking significant growth. The COVID experience helped us develop an agile working method that suits these client types perfectly.
My business has evolved to include sales training for recruiters, coaching other recruitment business owners, and various consulting services. These additions have come organically through people asking for my expertise and preference for a portfolio career rather than staying in a single lane.
I’ve worked with former team members who now have their own businesses and even with Extra Personnel, who hired me 13 years after I left to provide sales training when they were preparing to sell to Job and Talent.
I’m continuing to refine my business operations and systems to make everything work more smoothly behind the scenes. Like the proverbial swan, people see me gliding along as if everything comes easily, but a lot of time, effort, energy, and emotion is expended beneath the surface.
Ready To Transform Your Recruitment Business?
If you want to grow your recruitment business with integrity while standing out in a crowded marketplace, we’d love to help. Our expertise in recruitment marketing can help you build a strong personal brand, develop effective marketing strategies, and create systems that allow you to work smarter, not harder.
Whether you’re struggling with visibility, want to reach more clients, or need help articulating what makes your recruitment business special, we can help.
To find out how book a call here.
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