The Resilient Recruiter

Why do some recruiters stay stuck on contingent work while others shift a large portion of their business to retained without pitching harder or sounding salesy?

James Cairns found the answer the hard way.

James is a CPA who left a stable corporate finance career to start a boutique search firm with no agency experience, no local network, and just $30,000 in savings. His first year was brutal. Three placements. Borrowed money. Serious doubts about whether he'd made a huge mistake.

Then one summer night, sitting on his back porch, James made a decision that changed everything. He eliminated Plan B.

From that point on, momentum followed. Today, James runs The CSP Group, a highly respected finance and accounting search firm in St. Louis. He regularly beats national firms, fills senior roles up to CFO level, and now operates with roughly 40% of his work on retained or contained terms.

In this episode, James breaks down what actually drove that shift. Not better sales tactics, scripts, or pressure. But commitment, process, and the confidence to walk away from the wrong work.

This conversation offers a clear look at what changes when a recruiter stops competing on volume and starts choosing the right work.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why eliminating "Plan B" unlocked consistent momentum

• How James moved from 3 placements to 40% retained work

• The candidate profiling system that generates a third of his placements

• Why being local and specialized beats national firms

• How to position retained search without pitching or pressure

• Why walkaway power matters more than persuasion

Episode highlights:

[3:44] Why a CPA with zero agency experience started a search firm

[6:31] Quitting with $30K, a pregnant wife, and no local network

[8:46] First-year reality: three placements and borrowed money

[10:04] The back porch moment that eliminated Plan B

[18:41] The candidate process that transformed responsiveness

[21:51] Talent profiles and how they drive a third of placements

[38:02] Why local specialization beats national firms

[43:27] The CFO placement that changed everything

[50:04] "This is how we work": James's retained positioning

[59:06] Why walkaway power leads to more retained work

James's story is proof that retained success isn't about being louder or more persuasive. It's about clarity, commitment, and choosing the right work.

Guest Bio:

James Cairns is the founder of The CSP Group, a boutique executive search firm specializing in finance and accounting talent in the St. Louis market. James earned his CPA license and began his career at PwC in Big Four audit before moving into corporate finance roles. He started The CSP Group in 2014 with $30,000 in savings, a one-year-old at home, another child on the way, and no local business network. After a difficult first year, James committed fully to making the business work - a decision that changed everything. Today, the CSP Group places senior-level finance professionals up to the CFO level, with approximately 40% of search assignments on retained or contained terms.

Connect with James:

• James on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-cairns-062a5b7/

• The CSP Group website - https://thecspgroup.com/

Connect with Mark: Get your free 30-minute strategy session: recruitmentcoach.com/strategy-session

Mark on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwhitby/?originalSubdomain=uk

Follow on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

This episode is brought to you by Recruiterflow.
Recruiterflow is an AI-first ATS and CRM built to help recruitment businesses run and scale more efficiently. With built-in sequencing, data enrichment, marketing automation, and AI agents, it’s trusted by many leaders in our coaching community.
Learn more or request a demo at https://recruitmentcoach.com/recruiterflow

You’re posting on LinkedIn.
You’re showing up consistently.
And yet… the meetings aren’t coming.

This episode explains why.

Mike Mello spent 10 years in staffing sales and built what most recruiters would call a dream run: 1,300 placements, more than $100 million in revenue sold, and nearly 140 contractors on billing as an enterprise salesperson.

Then he walked away.

Not because staffing stopped working.
But because buyer behaviour had changed, most recruiters were still relying on volume instead of context.

In this conversation, Mike breaks down why LinkedIn content on its own rarely converts, how video builds trust before the first call, and why outbound works far better when prospects already recognise you.
You’ll hear why pain-point content beats ROI messaging, why senior buyers often watch your content without ever liking or commenting, and why most real meetings don’t happen on email one or two.
If you’re creating content but not seeing it turn into a pipeline, this episode will help you understand what’s missing and how to fix it.
What you’ll learn in this episode00:00 Intro

• 00:00:00 How Mike made 1,300 placements and sold $100M before launching Simple Side AI
• 00:09:05 The LinkedIn video that changed everything and grew one account to 50 contractors
• 00:10:36 Why fear of judgement stops recruiters from posting video
• 00:12:04 The analytics that proved LinkedIn video beats cold calling
• 00:13:56 Why senior clients watch your content but never like it
• 00:19:02 Why LinkedIn content and outbound must work together
• 00:23:11 Pain-point content vs ROI content and what actually converts
• 00:26:42 Why unscripted video builds more trust than polished AI content
• 00:34:44 Three simple frameworks for structuring video content
• 00:43:53 The observation–problem–solution–CTA email structure
• 00:52:19 Turning video viewers into warm sales calls
• 00:56:01 Why reactivating past accounts often beats cold outreach

Guest
Mike Mello is the founder of Simple Side AI, helping staffing agencies turn LinkedIn content and outbound automation into real sales conversations. Before launching Simple Side AI in 2024, Mike spent 10 years in staffing sales, making over 1,300 placements and selling more than $100 million in revenue.

Connect with Mike Mello on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-mello-7884b059/
Simple Side AI website - https://simplesideai.com/
Get your free 30-minute strategy session with Mark: recruitmentcoach.com/strategy-session
Connect with Mark Whitby on LinkedIn
Follow on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach
👍 Don’t forget to subscribe for weekly conversations with recruitment agency owners, search firm leaders, and top-billing recruiters.

This episode is brought to you by *Recruiterflow,* an AI-first recruitment platform combining ATS, CRM, and automation tools to help recruitment businesses scale. Learn more at https://recruitmentcoach.com/recruiterflow

Why do some recruiters post content every week and still struggle to book meetings? While others quietly turn short LinkedIn videos into real sales conversations that actually close.

Mike Mello has lived both sides of that question.

After 10 years in staffing, Mike had built what most recruiters would call a dream run. Over 1,300 placements. More than $100 million in revenue sold. Nearly 140 contractors are billed as enterprise salespeople.

Then he walked away.

Not because staffing stopped working.
But because buyer behaviour had changed, and most recruiters were still relying on volume instead of context.

In this episode, Mike shares how he used LinkedIn video alongside outbound automation to warm up prospects before sales conversations ever happened. The insight that changed everything was simple but powerful: senior decision-makers were watching his videos quietly, building familiarity and trust long before replying to an email or taking a call.

Today, Mike is the founder of Simple Side AI, where he helps staffing agencies combine content and outbound in a way that creates better conversations, shorter sales cycles, and higher-quality meetings.

This conversation goes well beyond tools. It’s about how buyers actually decide, why pain-point content consistently beats ROI messaging, and why most meaningful meetings don’t happen on email one or two.

If you’re posting content but not seeing it turn into a pipeline, this episode will help you know what’s missing.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why visibility now matters more than outbound volume
• How LinkedIn video builds context before the first conversation
• Why senior buyers watch content without ever liking or commenting
• The difference between pain-point content and ROI content
• Why unscripted video outperforms polished AI content
• How long do outbound sequences really need to run in staffing
• Why Mike’s best meetings happen around email six or seven
• Why sales skill still matters more than any tool or platform

[05:40] How Mike made 1,300 placements and sold $100M before launching Simple Side AI
[09:05] The LinkedIn video that changed everything and grew one account to 50 contractors
[10:36] Why fear of judgement stops recruiters from posting video
[12:04] The analytics that proved LinkedIn video beats cold calling
[13:56] Why your best clients watch your content but never engage publicly
[19:02] Why content and outbound must work together
[23:11] Pain-point content vs ROI content
[26:42] Why imperfect video builds more trust
[43:53] The observation–problem–solution–CTA email structure
[52:19] Turning video viewers into warm sales calls
[56:01] Why reactivating past accounts often beats cold outreach

Mike Mello is the founder of Simple Side AI, helping staffing agencies turn LinkedIn content and outbound automation into real sales conversations. Before launching Simple Side AI in 2024, Mike spent 10 years in staffing sales, making over 1,300 placements and selling more than $100 million in revenue. As an enterprise salesperson, he built and managed a book of nearly 140 contractors and ranked as the number two salesperson at his company following the acquisition. Mike is based in New York City.

Mike Mello
LinkedIn: Mike Mello - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-mello-7884b059/
Website: Simple Side AI - https://simplesideai.com/

Mark Whitby
Get your free 30-minute strategy session: recruitmentcoach.com/strategy-session
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mwhitby
Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

Ever find yourself hitting a brick wall when it comes to developing engaging content? Don't despair!

Recently, I was invited as a guest speaker on the Retained Recruiter Show, which is a weekly LinkedIn live hosted by our good friends at i-Intro. The topic was How to Get More Clients with Content Marketing. i-Intro told me that this was one of the most popular live streams that they'd ever produced, and they've given me permission to share the recording with you on this podcast.

You will hear me discuss with James O’Brien and Jo Gregory strategies to effectively and consistently post original content and how it will attract your target audience. You will know how content marketing can position you as a trusted authority instead of being just a vendor.

Episode Outline and Highlights

• 00:00:00 Intro
• 00:03:52 How content marketing transformed many recruitment businesses.
• 00:06:05 Mark shares the easiest way to get started with content marketing.
• 00:10:00 Authenticity is the key - leveraging AI platforms while keeping it original.
• 00:15:11 How much time do you need to put aside for content marketing?
• 00:18:30 How long would you give it to see engagement results?
• 00:23:26 The powerful returns of consistently posting content and sharing to your community.
• 00:30:27 How to measure and track your ROI from content marketing?

Why do some recruiters command premium fees while others compete on speed and price? It's not talent or experience. It's whether they've packaged their service as a product.
Andrea Hoffer learned this lesson the hard way.
Before launching her consulting business, Andrea spent 10 years running a Massage Envy Spa franchise. She led a team of more than 30 employees. Her therapeutic staff stayed. Her front-desk hires didn't. Turnover was constant. She hired fast, hoped for the best, watched people struggle in a sales-driven role, then repeated the cycle.
Eventually, she stopped and asked herself one question: "I've been trained better than this."
That question changed everything.
Andrea rebuilt her hiring approach from scratch and turned it into a branded, repeatable system she now calls the Dream Hire framework. It worked so well that other franchise owners began asking for help.
Today, Andrea runs AHA Talent Consulting, where she helps business owners build "hiring machines" that consistently attract the right people. She charges $10,000+ for setup and $3,000+ monthly subscriptions. No placement fees. She's not selling placements. She's selling a system.
In this episode of The Resilient Recruiter, we break down how to package your recruitment process as a signature solution, why story-based discovery reveals what job descriptions never will, and where AI creates real value without replacing human judgment.
If you're a recruiter or agency owner who wants to differentiate, defend premium fees, and stop competing on speed alone, this episode will give you a practical blueprint.
👍 Don't forget to subscribe for more interviews with top recruitment leaders every week.
*Timestamps*

• 00:00:00 Intro
• 00:04:10 The hiring nightmare that forced a complete rebuild
• 00:07:38 Why changing job posting language repelled the wrong candidates
• 00:09:31 The 90-minute group interview where candidates self-select out
• 00:12:24 The Dream Hire framework explained: Define, Reach, Engage, Assess, Motivate
• 00:13:23 Why most recruiters skip the Define stage and pay for it later
• 00:19:10 Why hiring doesn't end when the offer is accepted
• 00:30:20 How to assess culture fit by asking for stories, not descriptions
• 00:32:20 Why one specific story reveals more than any job description
• 00:36:08 The CAR technique for behavioral interviewing
• 00:39:58 Where AI creates real value in hiring (and where it doesn't)
• 00:41:02 Using AI chatbots to screen minimum qualifications
• 00:52:20 How Andrea uses AI to extend reach without extending hours
• 01:05:15 Mark's key takeaways for recruiters and agency owners

#Podcast #RecruitmentAgency #RecruiterTraining #aiinrecruitment #ExecutiveSearch
#RecruitmentLeadership
#AIRecruiting

Why do some recruiters command premium fees while others compete on speed and price? It’s not talent or experience. It’s whether they’ve packaged their service as a product.

Andrea Hoffer learned this lesson the hard way.

Before launching her consulting business, Andrea spent 10 years running a Massage Envy Spa franchise. She led a team of more than 30 employees. Her therapeutic staff stayed. Her front-desk hires didn’t. Turnover was constant. She hired fast, hoped for the best, watched people struggle in a sales-driven role, then repeated the cycle.

Eventually, she stopped and asked herself a simple question:
“I’ve been trained better than this.”

That question changed everything.

Andrea rebuilt her hiring approach from scratch and turned it into a branded, repeatable system she now calls the Dream Hire framework. It worked so well that other franchise owners began asking for help.

Today, Andrea runs AHA Talent Consulting, where she helps business owners build “hiring machines” that consistently attract the right people. She charges $10,000+ for setup and $3,000+ monthly subscriptions. No placement fees. She’s not selling placements. She’s selling a system.

In this episode of The Resilient Recruiter, we break down how to package your recruitment process as a signature solution, why story-based discovery beats traditional intake calls, and where AI genuinely adds leverage without replacing human judgment.

• Why packaging your process matters more than speed or experience

• How the Dream Hire framework works and why Define is the most skipped (and costly) stage

• Why asking for stories reveals more than job descriptions ever will

• How to assess culture fit without relying on gut feel

• Where AI creates real value in hiring and where it doesn’t

• How to use technology to scale insight without losing trust

[4:10] The hiring nightmare that forced Andrea to rebuild her entire process
[7:38] Why changing the job posting language repelled the wrong candidates
[9:31] The 90-minute group interview where candidates self-select out
[12:24] Breaking down the Dream Hire framework: Define, Reach, Engage, Assess, Motivate
[13:23] Why most recruiters skip defining and pay for it later
[30:20] Assessing culture fit by asking for stories, not descriptions
[36:08] The CAR technique for behavioral interviewing
[39:58] Where AI creates the most value in hiring
[41:02] Using AI chatbots to screen minimum qualifications
[52:20] How Andrea uses AI to extend reach without extending hours

Andrea Hoffer is the founder of AHA Talent Consulting and creator of the Dream Hire framework. She helps business owners attract, hire, and retain the right people through structured hiring systems and disciplined use of AI.

Before consulting, Andrea spent 10 years as the owner and operator of a Massage Envy Spa franchise, where she led a 30+ person team and experienced firsthand the cost of hiring without structure. Today, she works primarily with multi-unit franchisees and small business owners who want predictable hiring outcomes without constant churn.

If you’re ready to stop competing on speed and price and start owning your process, your positioning, and your outcomes, this episode is a must-listen.

There’s a lot of noise around AI in recruitment.

Some people are selling it as a silver bullet. Others are predicting a job apocalypse for recruiters.

Neither is true.

In this episode of The Resilient Recruiter, Mark Whitby sits down with Rebecca Hastings to talk about what’s actually happening inside businesses using AI right now and what recruiters are getting wrong.

Rebecca advises CEOs, boards, and AI leaders on strategy, governance, and implementation. She’s reviewed hundreds of real-world AI transformation case studies and brings a grounded perspective most recruiters never see. Alongside that, she’s built a retained-only executive search firm focused on senior AI leadership and a sales system that consistently books high-quality meetings without volume-driven hustle.

This conversation isn’t about tools or tactics. It’s about judgment, trust, and process.

You’ll hear why AI doesn’t make work faster unless human capability is already in place, how weak sales systems are exposed when automation is added, and why recruiters who can explain how they use AI will earn more trust, not less.

Rebecca also breaks down how she thinks about sales as a system, from market focus and listening time to multichannel outreach and AI-supported preparation. The result is fewer calls, better conversations, and more consistent meetings.

If you want to understand where AI genuinely helps recruiters and where it quietly causes damage, this episode will change how you think about it.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why there won’t be a job apocalypse for recruiters
• How AI shifts bottlenecks instead of removing them
• Why trust and psychological safety matter in AI adoption
• How to build market expertise AI can amplify
• The sales system Rebecca uses to book more meetings with less effort

Episode highlights:
[3:42] How Rebecca billed £360,000 in her first year
[14:08] Lessons from market downturns
[32:17] Why listening time beats talk time
[59:37] What actually happens when AI is introduced
[1:15:26] The multichannel sales system behind consistent meetings

Guest bio:
Rebecca Hastings is the founder of Lucent Search, specialising in senior AI leadership appointments globally. She works with CEOs, CTOs, heads of AI, and boards on AI strategy, governance, and transformation, and is an AI and systems coach with Recruitment Coach.

This episode brings together the ten most listened-to conversations of 2025.

They weren’t popular by accident. These episodes resonated because they spoke directly to the challenges recruiters were dealing with day to day. Planning your time. Building pipeline. Positioning retained search. Recovering from burnout. Staying relevant as the market and LinkedIn both shifted.

If you missed any of these conversations the first time around, consider this your shortlist for heading into 2026 with a clearer plan and stronger focus.

In this episode, you’ll hear insights on:

• How to plan your day so you stay out of reactive work
• How to build business development into your week without burning out
• How to position retained search with confidence
• Why systems create more consistency than chasing placements
• How relationship-building compounds over time
• Why LinkedIn's reach dropped and what actually matters now

Episode timestamps:

• 00:01 Introduction
• 02:30 Allicia Birch – The 15-minute planning system
• 09:15 Rachel Filby – One BD day per week
• 14:20 Carol Wenom – Positioning retained search
• 21:05 Stuart Barnes – The three-bucket BD model
• 28:40 Jenny Diaz – Writing your plan by hand
• 34:10 Deedee Doke – Differentiation and innovation
• 39:45 Jessica Hamilton – Systems over placements
• 45:30 Brandon Glyck – Relationship compounding
• 52:00 Karolina Willis – From breakdown to breakthrough
• 58:15 Richard van der Blom – Why LinkedIn reach dropped

If you want to future-proof your recruitment business without burning out, this episode is a must-listen.

Tonya Leadman went nine months without a single placement.

Seven searches were put on hold. Two offers fell through. Cash flow tightened. And her accountant called to check if she was okay.

Tonya is the owner of Leadman & Associates, a national executive search firm serving the food, beverage, and CPG manufacturing industries. After building her career as a top performer in the MRI network and later moving in-house as a Fortune 500 talent acquisition leader, she launched her own firm in 2022.

Then the market turned.

In this episode of The Resilient Recruiter, Tonya shares what actually keeps a recruitment business alive during a prolonged downturn — without dropping fees, spamming clients with resumes, or compromising standards.

She also breaks down the candidate presentation system behind her 92% submit-to-interview rate, why she only submits the top two or three candidates, and the activity that kept her visible when most recruiters disappeared.

This is a real conversation about resilience, discipline, and leadership when placements stop.

• What to do when your recruitment business goes months without a placement
• How Tonya maintained standards during a nine-month drought
• Why submitting fewer candidates builds more trust with clients
• The candidate presentation process behind a 92% interview rate
• How staying visible during a downturn pays off when the market turns
• Why Tonya fired a client when cash flow was tight
• How career services helped stabilize revenue without losing focus
• How fast recruiting can turn around when momentum returns

00:00 Nine months without a placement
01:40 Returning from maternity leave to a layoff
03:10 The habits that shaped Tonya’s early success
14:35 The candidate presentation system behind a 92% interview rate
18:19 Why Tonya submits only the top 2–3 candidates
30:33 Launching a firm during a tough market
39:00 Seven searches on hold and the drought begins
43:02 The activity that kept her business alive
44:30 Firing a client during a downturn
49:17 Career services as a stabilizer
51:05 How recruiting can turn around fast

If you run a recruitment agency and want to survive market downturns without lowering your standards, this episode is essential listening.

For years, Matt Rooney did what a lot of capable recruiters do. He stayed busy. Took the work that came in. Said yes more often than he should have.

Inside private equity, that turned him into what he later called a "utility recruiter". Useful, but reactive. Some years were strong. Others weren't. And it never quite felt like a real partnership with clients.

Two decisions changed the direction of his business.

Matt narrowed his focus to one role inside private equity: business development and deal origination. Then he made the shift from contingent to retained.

Today, Matt is the founder of Coastal Partners. He's gone from closing 3–4 retained searches in his first year as a specialist to being on track for 10 retained searches this year, with the majority of his work now retained.

In this episode of The Resilient Recruiter, Matt breaks down what actually made that transition possible. Not theory. Not scripts. Real decisions, real resistance, and what changed once clients started committing up front.

This conversation is especially relevant if you run a recruitment agency, lead a small firm, or feel stuck in feast-or-famine despite working hard.

What you'll learn:

• Why being a "utility recruiter" keeps agencies reactive
• What changed when Matt stopped taking every job
• How he handled the "no retained experience" objection
• Why specialisation built confidence and credibility fast
• How original market data helped him become a trusted partner
• Why predictability mattered more than volume

Episode timestamps:

[00:33] Why does contingent feel reactive

[03:02] How Matt fell into recruitment

[07:11] Feeling stuck as a utility recruiter

[12:44] Resisting the idea of niching down

[15:18] Why specialisation changed client relationships

[19:03] Making the move to retained

[20:39] First retained searches and predictability

[27:40] Mapping the market and building authority

[34:16] Publishing hiring reports and compensation data

[35:25] Launching the Deal Sourcery podcast

[50:31] Hosting a live panel at a PE conference

[55:56] Why Matt would specialise sooner

Guest bio:

Matt Rooney is the founder of Coastal Partners and specialises exclusively in business development and deal origination roles within private equity. After nearly a decade recruiting across PE functions, Matt made the decision to focus on one specialty. In his first year as a retained specialist, he closed 3-4 retained searches. This year, he's on track to close 10, with the majority of his business now retained. Matt has become a recognised authority in his niche through original market research, publishing quarterly BD hiring reports and an annual compensation survey. He co-hosts the Deal Sourcery podcast with Dan Her—the only podcast dedicated specifically to business development professionals in private equity.

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn: Matt Rooney
• Coastal Partners: website
• Deal Sourcery Podcast: website

About The Resilient Recruiter:

The Resilient Recruiter is a weekly podcast for recruitment agency owners and search firm leaders building sustainable, profitable businesses. Host Mark Whitby interviews industry leaders who share the strategies, systems, and mindsets behind their success—including the mistakes they made along the way. Learn from their experience to avoid the pitfalls and accelerate your results..

Since 2001, Mark has coached over 800 recruitment business owners across 34 countries. The podcast brings you the same frameworks and insights Mark teaches in his coaching programs—free every week.

Connect with Mark:

• Free strategy session: recruitmentcoach.com/strategy-session
• LinkedIn: Mark Whitby
• Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter for weekly conversations with recruitment leaders who are building businesses that give them freedom, profit, and lasting impact.

If you want to future-proof your recruitment business without burning out, this episode is a must-listen.