The Lone Recruiter

What if your best incentive wasn’t more money, but more time?

In today's ep, I sit down with Zakary Nash, Co-Founder and Director of HarperLloyd Recruitment, to unpack one of the most interesting incentives I’ve come across in recruitment.

Hit your quarterly target, and you earn Fridays off for the entire next quarter.

It sounds simple, but the psychology behind it is fascinating.

Zakary shares:

👉 Why HarperLloyd introduced the four-day incentive

👉 How consultants are using their Fridays differently

👉 Why time can be a more powerful motivator than commission

👉 What happened to performance once Fridays became something worth earning

For me, this is a great example of thinking differently about what actually motivates people.

I’ve spent 20 years measuring my success from behind a recruitment desk.

Placements. Revenue. Generation. Deals. 

But now my role is changing.

As the agency and the podcast grow, I’m moving away from full-throttle desk recruitment and into more of a leadership role. I’m not disappearing from recruitment. I still love the clients, the candidates and the deals. But I can’t keep doing everything myself.

And that’s where things get interesting...

The question is simple: What does success look like when the role you’re in starts to change?

Because as your responsibilities, priorities and role evolve, the way you measure a successful day needs to evolve with them.

What do a packet of soy sauce, a door handle, and recruitment have in common?

I know it sounds strange, but this week I found myself thinking about how the smallest details can have the biggest impact.

I grabbed my usual sushi lunch, something I do Monday to Thursday because it’s predictable and easy for my specific dietary needs. But when I got back to my desk, I realised they’d forgotten my gluten-free soy sauce. The sushi itself was good but the meal was not as tasty. That tiny five-cent component completely changed the experience.

It got me thinking about something a property developer once told me. When you build a home, the biggest investment goes into things people never see: the foundations, the structure, the materials behind the walls. But what sells the property? The things people touch and interact with.

A loose door handle can make someone question the quality of an entire building.

Recruitment is exactly the same.

You can have the best systems, the best candidates, and the best results in the market. But if you miss the small moments that shape a client or candidate’s experience, that’s what people remember.

In this episode, I challenge you to find the “soy sauces and door handles” in your recruitment business:

Because in recruitment, people don’t just buy the outcome. They buy the experience of getting there.

Sometimes the biggest competitive advantage isn’t doing more. It’s getting the small things right.

Retained recruitment is something many recruiters talk about, but few fully commit to.

In this ep, I chat with Jack Creith from Yakka Solutions about the unconventional retained model that transformed his recruitment business: 10% upfront and 90% on delivery.

Rather than following the traditional retained search structure, Jack created a model that is simple, low friction for clients and still creates the commitment needed to deliver exceptional results.

We unpack how he developed the model, why the 10% upfront payment acts as a filter for serious clients, and the mindset shift recruiters need to make when moving away from contingency recruitment.

This episode is a must-listen for recruiters looking to improve client relationships, increase commitment and build a more valuable recruitment business.

Tune in for:

👉 How Jack transitioned to 100% retained recruitment

A practical conversation about building a recruitment business around trust, value and commitment.

If I had to build a recruitment desk from scratch today, this is exactly how I'd do it.

One of the biggest mistakes recruiters make when starting a new market is casting the net too wide. They pick an industry, start calling people and hope the opportunities reveal themselves. That approach wastes time and confidence.

In this ep, I walk you through the exact framework I use to identify profitable recruitment markets before making a single business development call. It's a simple process that helps you find high-demand niches with lower recruiter competition, so you can build momentum faster.

I'll show you how to narrow your market, validate demand using SEEK and LinkedIn Jobs, identify where the work is piling up, and test opportunities before committing your time.

Tune in for:

👉 Why most recruiters choose markets the wrong way

👉 How to niche down to the most profitable opportunities

👉 The four filters I use before making any calls

👉 How to analyse SEEK and LinkedIn Jobs strategically

👉 Why recruiter competition matters just as much as client demand

👉 The fastest way to validate a new market before investing months into it

If you're launching a new desk, changing specialisations or simply wondering where the next opportunity is, this episode will save you months of trial and error.

What separates top recruiters from everyone else isn't always a better process, it's confidence.

What if improving your recruitment performance wasn't about working harder, but simply paying closer attention.

I have Type 1 diabetes and by changing one simple habit I had the best blood glucose result in years. That experience sparked an important question:

Rather than obsessing over outcomes you can't fully control, recruiters should focus on measuring the activities that lead to success. My suggestion is that you start tracking one metric: first interviews. By simply recording every first interview you secure, you'll naturally become more aware of your activity, identify slow days faster, and unconsciously shift your behaviour towards creating more opportunities.

Recruitment has traditionally revolved around three models: executive search, contingent recruitment and contract staffing.

But I believe the market is changing.

I'm seeing more and more clients asking for retained recruitment partnerships because they want greater commitment, better outcomes and a higher standard of service.

In this ep, I share why I think this shift is happening and introduce a concept I've been developing: Specialist Executive Search.

Tune in for:

👉 The three traditional recruitment models and where they fit

👉 Why I'm seeing clients move away from contingent recruitment

👉 The benefits of retained recruitment for both recruiters and clients

👉 What I mean by "Specialist Executive Search"

👉 Why I believe this approach could shape the future of the recruitment industry

Most recruiters will do everything they can to avoid refunding a client. After all, we've invested time, expertise and effort into making the placement.

But what happens when continuing to honour a replacement guarantee starts costing your business more than it's worth?

I recently had my first recruitment fee refund of my 20-year career. Giving money back wasn't a sign of failure, but a strategic business decision that freed up valuable time, strengthened the client relationship and ultimately generated more revenue.

If you've ever struggled with replacement guarantees, difficult briefs or knowing when to move on, this episode offers a different perspective.

Tune in for:

👉 Why protecting every fee isn't always the best business decision

If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to follow The Lone Recruiter Podcast and leave a review.

Easy. Lucrative. Fun.

I'd never heard of ELF Mode until a casual conversation at the gym with a mate who has successfully built and sold multiple businesses.

The more he explained it, the more I realised it's one of the simplest and most powerful ways to think about building a successful recruitment desk.

In this ep, I unpack the idea behind ELF Mode—doing work that's Easy, Lucrative and Fun—and compare it to the opposite: HALF (Hard, Annoying, Lame and Frustrating).

As recruiters, it's easy to get caught up doing work that drains our energy without moving the needle. I'll walk you through a simple framework to help you identify what's worth doubling down on, what needs to go, and where AI, automation and delegation can help.

Tune in for:

👉 What ELF Mode is and why it resonated with me

If you're looking for a simple mindset shift that can make your recruitment desk more profitable AND more enjoyable, this ep is for you!