The Lone Recruiter

Think you've cracked the LinkedIn algorithm? Think again! This week I'm joined by the brilliant Emma O'Connell, a LinkedIn insider with 13 years of experience at the company and an incredible depth of knowledge about the platform recruiters rely on every single day. Emma is my go-to LinkedIn expert, and every time we chat, I walk away having learned something new. So I thought it was about time I shared some of that knowledge with you! We're separating fact from fiction, busting some of LinkedIn's biggest algorithm myths and getting into what actually makes content perform. Emma has even conducted her own LinkedIn content audit, uncovering some surprising results that challenge plenty of the advice floating around online. 👉 Why nobody, not even LinkedIn insiders, has truly cracked the algorithm 👉 The three factors that determine what appears in your LinkedIn feed 👉 Why likes and impressions aren't necessarily signs of success 👉 Whether taking a break from posting really hurts your reach 👉 The truth about hashtags, tagging, external links and AI-generated content 👉 How to use AI to audit your LinkedIn performance and reach the right audience 👉 What's coming next for recruiters with LinkedIn's Hiring Assistant and Recruiter Professional Services Plus This is an absolute goldmine for recruiters looking to build their personal brand, reach more clients and candidates, and get smarter about how they use LinkedIn. A massive thank you to Emma for sharing her expertise and making her podcast debut with us!

There’s always love in the room until there isn’t. In my view, our job as recruiters is to keep that love, because the moment it leaves, the deal usually goes with it. In this ep, I walk through a scenario from my own team that holds a big lesson for junior recruiters and a timely reminder for the seniors. You know the feeling. The brief looks great, the candidate looks great, they shake hands, and both walk away saying “that felt good.” That’s love in the room. So what ruins it? I cover: 👉 What “love in the room” actually is, and why it’s what makes candidates choose a role 👉 Trust, and the last-minute title or scope change that makes a candidate feel hoodwinked 👉 A live relocation deal, New Zealand to Australia, where the salary expectations are miles apart and no one’s said it out loud yet 👉 Why the exchange rate, tax, cost of living and KiwiSaver vs super all matter in a relocation 👉 The push-back principle: bash the love with money at the final stage and both sides push back with equal force 👉 How to weave the money conversation in over two, three or four days instead of one hit 👉 Why “hit and hope” doesn’t work, and why surprises are the punches that knock the wind out of deals 👉 Why AI can match, automate and email, but can’t protect love in the room (not yet, anyway) Look at your pipeline today. Which deal has the most love in the room, and where are you foggy on clarity? Don’t run from it. Start weaving those conversations in now. If this one helped, share it with a recruiter who needs it and hit subscribe to help the show grow.

We all know about KPIs in recruitment. Calls, CVs, interviews, placements. But what about the habits behind the numbers? I've been working with a health coach recently, and he's introduced me to habit tracking. It got me thinking about how we measure success in recruitment and whether we're overlooking some of the most important things. KPIs tell us what we're achieving, but I reckon our daily habits have a huge influence on how we get there. In this episode, I explore why habit tracking could be a game changer for recruiters, managers and business owners, both inside and outside the office. 👊 The difference between KPIs and habit tracking 👊 Why sleep, hydration and movement matter to your performance 👊 The softer habits that can make you a better recruiter and leader 👊 How managers can track the things that don't show up in traditional KPIs 👊 Why the first thing on your habit tracker should be completing your habit tracker! I've started using a habit tracker myself, and I'm encouraging my team to think about the habits that matter to them too. Because sometimes it's the things we're not measuring that make the biggest difference. Give it a crack. It might just be a game changer. As always, have an amazing day!

What if you could swap your biggest problem for someone else's? Would you take the risk, or would you stick with your own? I heard this question recently and it really got me thinking. We all have problems. Some big, some small, but when you're in the thick of one, it's easy to get overwhelmed by the stress, uncertainty and emotion surrounding it. Here's the thing. Sometimes the problem isn't nearly as complicated as we've made it out to be. We just haven't taken the time to properly understand it. In this ep, I'm sharing a simple mindset shift that can completely change how you approach challenges, whether they're at your recruitment desk, in your business or in your personal life. 👉 Why putting your problems into perspective matters 👉 The question that might make you rethink your biggest challenge👉 Why defining a problem is often harder than solving it 👉 How we make small problems feel much bigger than they are 👉 Why stepping away and giving yourself time to think can lead to your biggest breakthroughs Before you rush to find a solution, make sure you're solving the right problem. As always, may all your deals come true!

Feeling stressed about your recruitment desk? Worried about a tough market or where your next placement is coming from? Here's something I want you to remember: one job is all you need. In this episode, I'm breaking down how to take a single vacancy and turn it into a pipeline of new opportunities. Because when you've got one good job, you've got everything you need to start rebuilding your desk. I'll walk you through the practical steps I use to turn one placement into multiple opportunities, from backfilling candidates and leveraging references to canvassing quality talent and asking clients for referrals. 👉 Why having just one job can actually be an advantage 👉 How to turn one placement into your next opportunity 👉 The untapped business development potential in references and leftover candidates 👉 Why you need to ask clients directly for referrals 👉 How one job can turn into two, four and a thriving desk Whether you're an experienced recruiter going through a quiet patch or just starting out, this episode is a reminder that you don't need a full desk to build momentum. Start with one. Fill it. Build from there.

Ever feel like you're spinning your wheels, juggling a hundred things and not actually moving any closer to making a placement? I've been there. But there's one question that's stuck with me throughout my recruitment career. A manager drilled it into me every day for six and a half years, and it's still my North Star whenever I'm feeling scattered, overwhelmed or unsure where to focus. What's closest to the money? It's ridiculously simple, but it works. In this ep, I share how this one question can cut through the noise, sharpen your priorities and help you build a to-do list that actually drives revenue. 👉 How to refocus when you're feeling overwhelmed or directionless 👉 Why your busiest tasks aren't necessarily your most valuable 👉 How to work backwards through your pipeline to prioritise what matters 👉 The simple daily habit that can keep recruiters at any level on track Next time you're staring at an endless to-do list, ask yourself what's closest to the money. You might be surprised how quickly everything else falls into place. As always, make all your deals come true!

If I followed you around with a camera for 24 hours, would I believe you were going to hit your targets this month? It's a bloody good question. And if you're consistently falling short of your goals, you might not like the answer. Here's the thing. Most recruiters have a pretty good idea of what they need to do to succeed. But knowing what to do and actually doing it are two very different things. We track our calls, interviews, placements and to-do lists. But what about all the time we're wasting? The unnecessary conversations, the scrolling, the distractions and the 20-minute chats that should've taken two? In today's ep, I'm challenging you to take a proper look at how you're spending your working day. And I've got a ridiculously simple exercise that'll show you exactly where your time is going. 👉 Why self-awareness is one of the most valuable skills you can develop as a recruiter. 👉 The hidden time-wasters that could be costing you placements. 👉 My 15-minute tracking exercise that'll expose exactly how productive you really are. 👉 How to identify the activities that actually move you closer to your targets. 👉 A simple calendar hack to protect your most productive working hours. You might be shocked by what you discover. But once you know where your time is going, you can start doing something about it.

Are you prepping your candidates for interviews but forgetting to prep your clients? Here's my simple piece of advice I gave a client that completely changed the way she interviews candidates and helped her achieve better hiring outcomes. The idea is simple: stop grilling candidates in the first interview and start selling the dream. 👉 First interview: Sell the company, the opportunity, the projects, the team and the culture 👉 Second interview: Drill down into technical skills and make sure they’re the right fit 👉 Then: References, offer, close When a great candidate walks out of that first interview thinking, “I want that job,” the entire recruitment process becomes easier. As recruiters, we spend plenty of time coaching candidates. But are you also coaching your clients on how to run a better hiring process? This ep lays out what I think is best practice for training your clients, improving the interview experience and ultimately increasing your chances of making the placement.

What if recruitment isn’t always the answer? Brett is joined by Rachel and Shannon from Stitch Partners to unpack their move from a traditional recruitment agency into a broader advisory model. After more than 20 years in the industry, they realised they were already helping clients with far more than filling jobs. The difference? They decided to start treating that expertise as a service in its own right. Tune in for: 👉 Why recruitment isn’t always the solution to a client’s problem 👉 How to turn the advice you’re already giving away into a paid service 👉 Moving beyond contingent recruitment and creating new revenue streams 👉 Using role audits, competitor analysis and retention strategies to add more value 👉 Why you sometimes need to fix the problem before filling the vacant seat 👉 How advisory work can make your business less reliant on placements 👉 Becoming embedded in your client’s business instead of being seen as just another supplier 👉 Creating “sticky” client relationships that are harder for competitors to break into If you’re already giving your clients a heap of advice for free, this one is worth a listen.

You can’t sprint forever. Recruitment works well in bursts — 10 or 11 weeks of pushing hard, followed by a chance to stop, recharge and reset. So if you’re coming to the end of a quarter feeling depleted, this ep is your reminder to take the break. Book the week off. Switch off properly. Touch some grass. Put your feet in the sand and unwind. But before you clock off, there are a few things to get sorted. I run through my four-step quarter-end reset: 👉 Take the break and actually recharge. 👉 Close, close, close! Tighten every deal you can before decision-makers disappear. 👉 Make your bed for next quarter by getting your jobs, ads, emails and marketing working while you’re away. 👉 Clear the boring stuff - invoicing, CRM, pipeline, inbox and all those niggling jobs sitting on your to-do list. Do it properly and you can come back from your break rested, recharged and ready to hit the ground running. Because the last thing you want is to spend the first few weeks of a new quarter trying to get yourself back into gear. Make all your deals come true.

Recruiters are a superstitious bunch. Placement bells. Lucky songs. Weird office rituals. Things that make absolutely no logical difference to whether a deal lands… but somehow become sacred agency traditions anyway. Today I’m counting down five of the best, weirdest and funniest recruitment rituals I’ve come across over the years. 👉 The placement song that announces to the entire office you’ve made another deal 👉 Why one agency ditched the placement bell for a FULL-SIZED GONG 👉 The candidate shrine designed to send good juju to anyone on interview 👉 The deliberately hideous “last fee” trophy that gets passed from recruiter to recruiter 👉 And my number one: the interview candle… which apparently resulted in melted computer monitors 😂 Some of these are ridiculous. Some I genuinely want to introduce and some are probably an OH&S nightmare. But now I want to hear yours. What weird recruitment superstition, ritual or celebration does your agency have?

Hiring a great recruiter is only half the job. What you do with them in those first few weeks can make all the difference. I’m not a fan of the old “sink or swim” approach. Throwing someone a laptop, a desk and telling them to go build a market from scratch might show you what they’re made of, but it also creates a massive amount of unnecessary pressure. Instead, I believe in setting people up for quick wins. In this ep, I break down exactly how we’ve done that with Dana, who joined us around six weeks ago. We gave her a small slice of a market, existing client relationships and live jobs, then let her do what we hired her to do: recruit. The result? Around $75K in billings in her first few weeks, a brand new client and growing confidence with every deal. 👉 Why “sink or swim” is a terrible onboarding strategy 👉 How quick wins build confidence and momentum 👉 Why you should reduce the mental load for new hires 👉 How to gradually take the training wheels off 👉 Why I build the desk, clients and market BEFORE hiring into it 👉 How this approach can help you scale your recruitment business If you’re hiring experienced recruiters and want them billing faster, this is how I’d do it.

How do you treat someone when you don’t think they’re the person you need to impress? A conversation with Beth in my office got me thinking about the way some people treat support staff, EAs, receptionists and the people standing between them and the person they actually want to speak to. Most people are brilliant. Some, however, are dismissive, abrupt or just plain rude. And here’s the thing: it gets back to the person you’re trying to impress. This is particularly relevant in recruitment, where it’s easy to become so transactional that you start viewing people as obstacles rather than humans simply doing their jobs. That EA you’re trying to get past? They organise the CEO’s calendar. They speak to them every day. They have more influence over how you’re perceived than you might realise. So today’s message is very simple: treat everyone with respect, not just the people you want something from. Because people talk. And how you treat the people around someone says a lot more about you than how you treat the person you’re trying to impress.

What happens when AI starts automating people’s jobs? IKEA has given us a pretty interesting answer. Rather than simply using automation as an opportunity to slash headcount, they re-skilled thousands of customer service employees into new roles. For me, it’s a brilliant example of what AI integration could actually look like when businesses bring their people along for the ride. It also got me thinking about what we’re doing in our own businesses. I’ve started telling my team that part of their job is to automate the mundane and repeatable parts of their role. I don’t want people hiding from AI because they’re worried they’re making themselves redundant. I want them actively looking for ways to use it, and being rewarded for doing so. Because the opportunity here isn’t necessarily to achieve more by continually adding headcount. It’s to dramatically increase the productivity of the people you already have. And that changes recruitment too. As AI takes care of more routine work, the skills that become increasingly valuable are the ones that are hardest to automate: judgement, emotional intelligence, adaptability and genuine human connection. AI is here. The question is whether we use it simply to replace people, or use it to make our people significantly better.

What if you’re doing all the “right” things for your health, but you’re still not operating at your best? I train five days a week. I eat pretty consciously. I supplement. I don’t drink a hell of a lot. On paper, I’m doing alright. But a lot of it is still guesswork. So I decided to find out what’s actually going on under the hood. In this ep, I’m joined by health and high performance coach Luke Maslin from Total Performance Living, who recently put me through a seriously comprehensive health assessment. We’re talking around 100 blood markers, a DEXA scan, body composition, blood pressure, respiratory testing and a deep dive into my health, lifestyle and habits. And the results were pretty bloody interesting. We unpack what my testing revealed around inflammation, liver function, cholesterol, vitamin deficiencies, thyroid function, testosterone, blood sugar, body composition and more. But more importantly, Luke explains why you can’t just look at one dodgy marker and try to fix it in isolation. We get into: 👉 Why “normal” blood test results don’t necessarily mean optimal health 👉 What my results actually revealed 👉 Why free testosterone can tell a very different story to total testosterone 👉 The problem with jumping straight to supplements, peptides or testosterone 👉 Why sleep, stress, breathing and recovery come first 👉 Luke’s “pyramid of problems” and how he prioritises what to fix 👉 Why health is the foundation of sustainable high performance 👉 What all of this means for your energy, focus and performance on a recruitment desk Recruitment is a high-performance job. You need energy. You need concentration. You need to be sharp on the phone. And you need to be able to do it consistently. You can keep pushing yourself for a while without looking after the foundations. But eventually, something gives. This ep is a fascinating look at what happens when you stop guessing and actually get the data.

Today, I’m giving you permission to do something that sounds completely wrong for a recruiter: don’t pick up the phone. Hear me out. We’re trained to answer calls. Client calls, candidate calls, callbacks... the phone rings, we pick it up. But what happens when you answer and you’re not actually ready for the conversation? I recently watched a colleague do exactly that. A callback came through, they couldn’t quite remember what they needed to discuss, but they answered anyway. The result? A clunky conversation spent fumbling around trying to remember the point of the call. And it made me think: why did you have to answer it right then? Tune in for: 👉 Why you don’t need to answer every call immediately 👉 The difference between being responsive and being prepared 👉 Why every recruitment call should have a clear purpose 👉 How 20–30 seconds of preparation can completely change a conversation 👉 Why letting a call ring out can actually make you a better recruiter If a client or candidate calls and you’re not crystal clear on what you need from that conversation, let it ring. Pull up your notes. Gather your thoughts. Know what you want to achieve. Then call them straight back. The goal isn’t to spend less time on the phone. It’s to make the calls you do have count. As always, have an amazing day and make all your deals come true.

The Australian jobs market is slow, tougher and uncertain right now. But what does that actually mean for us as recruiters? I’m joined by SEEK Chief Economist Blair Chapman to cut through the headlines and look at what the data is really telling us about the Australian employment market. Employment is still growing, but at a much slower rate than we’ve become accustomed to. Job switching is at historic lows, candidates are more hesitant to move, businesses are watching costs and some sectors are facing a much tougher outlook than others. But it’s certainly not all doom and gloom. There are still pockets of strong demand, and some major demographic shifts could create significant opportunities for recruiters over the next five years. We cover: 👉 Why employment growth has slowed and what that means for recruiters 👉 The industries currently doing it toughest 👉 Where Blair is seeing stronger demand and growth opportunities 👉 What’s happening with advertised salaries 👉 Why job switching could be one of the most important numbers for recruiters to watch 👉 How AI and offshoring are affecting the employment market 👉 What needs to happen before the market really turns a corner 👉 Why Australia’s ageing workforce could create a huge replacement market 👉 The labour market indicators I’d be watching if I were running a recruitment agency There’s a lot of noise around the jobs market right now. Blair brings the numbers, but more importantly, helps translate those numbers into what they could actually mean for your recruitment desk.

Have you ever felt like you KNOW how to do something, but it still takes a huge amount of effort to get it right? That’s where the four stages of mastery come in. In this episode, I break down the journey from having absolutely no idea what you’re doing to reaching the point where a skill becomes almost automatic. For recruiters, this can apply to everything from interviewing and taking a job brief to BD, closing deals, leadership and eventually running your own agency. 👉 The four stages of mastery 👉 Why being aware of your incompetence is actually progress 👉 The frustrating stage where you’re good, but it still takes serious brainpower 👉 What true mastery looks like 👉 How I’ve reached “autopilot” in recruitment after 20 years 👉 Why I’m definitely NOT there yet when it comes to leadership Knowing where you sit on the mastery scale can make the learning process a whole lot less frustrating and give you something tangible to work towards.

The recruitment market is changing, but where are the real opportunities right now? Today I’m joined by Andrea Collins from Connecting Recruiters, she has spent more than 20 years in recruitment and the last decade specialising in Rec2Rec. She recruits across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, giving her a pretty unique view of what’s happening inside agencies across the country. We talk about what senior recruiters are looking for now, why some agencies are attracting great people while others are losing them, and what the recruitment market could look like by the time the next Census rolls around. 👉 Why senior recruiters are looking for a career “rebirth” 👉 The growing divide between Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane 👉 Why executive search is booming 👉 What recruiters now expect from AI, automation and productivity tools 👉 The surprising link between external PR and attracting great recruiters 👉 Why relationships are becoming even MORE valuable in an AI-driven market 👉 The graduate recruiter shortage and what it means for agency growth 👉 The commission structures keeping top billers from going out on their own 👉 Why big agencies are losing talent to boutiques 👉 Andrea’s prediction for recruitment in 2031 There are some really interesting shifts happening beneath the surface of our industry right now, and Andrea has a front-row seat to them. If you’re a recruiter, recruitment leader or agency owner wondering where the market is heading next, this one is well worth a listen.

The 2026 Census has added 349 new occupations. So naturally, my recruiter brain went straight to one question: Where's the opportunity? If you're looking for a new recruitment market, the Census could give you some very interesting clues. Tune in for: 👉 Why 349 new occupations creates potential new recruitment markets 👉 What changing industries and technology mean for recruiters 👉 How to spot genuine demand rather than simply chasing job volume 👉 Why national skills shortages can point towards strong recruitment opportunities 👉 How to find markets where recruiter competition is relatively low 👉 Why the best market isn't necessarily the biggest one 👉 How to use publicly available data to research your next desk If you're looking for a new market, feeling stuck in your current desk or trying to find an area where you can build a competitive advantage, this episode is for you. Don't just find a market with jobs. Find a market with opportunity.