All Episodes

Talent teams see volume and call it abundance. Hiring managers feel powerless. Candidates are bruised into transactional behaviour. The result is a mirage - a hiring market that looks functional on the surface and breaks down at the point of placement.In this episode, Jeremy unpacks why direct hiring is failing more often than internal teams admit, and what recruiters need to do about it. Volume has decoupled from quality. AI-enhanced CVs, AI-screened applications, and AI-written job specs are creating a feedback loop that hides real talent and surfaces look-alikes.What you'll take away:The difference between an applicant and a candidate, and how to use it in client conversationsWhy hiring managers feel toothless even when they are seniorThe data that proves direct hiring is breaking downA reframe of agency value: candidate control and deal creation are now premium skills, not commodity adminThe numbers that matter:57% of applicants abandon a process that feels like it's going nowhere44% of candidates hold multiple offers in play34% of Gen Z accept a job and don't turn up on day one35% of accepted offers are reneged on (Gartner)60% know the job is a bad fit at the point of acceptanceThe finish line is the start date, not the signed contract. Human recruitment has now gone up to a premium - and this episode shows you how to prove it.Full data report: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/szyzfyag54i6yo5tzhyde/2026-Hiring-Guide.pdf?rlkey=pts9xw2tesodqh097o5eljonl&st=hhjmlbzi&dl=0 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Your People Engine - The People Engine For The Recruitment Industry.Delivering context-rich learning and development initiatives for all levels of people in recruitment. Live sessions delivered every week and content that focuses on implementation through guided activities.From new hires through to the top performers there’s an opportunity for everyone to grow and develop. The AI assistant curates relevant content on your behalf based on your questions.That’s immediate access to what you want, when you want to develop performance.

Why most "headhunting" today isn't headhunting at all  and what to do instead.Jeremy Snell unpacks the difference between true headhunting and the icky, mass-produced LinkedIn outreach that's come to wear the same name. Drawing on his executive search experience from the mid-90s (when headhunting was a telephone contact sport and being on the receiving end actually felt flattering), he makes the case that the craft hasn't died. It's just been buried under bad messaging, low response rates, and an over-reliance on people who've already decided to become candidates.If you're a recruiter relying on organic replies to in-mail blasts and reporting "low candidate interest" back to clients, this one's for you.What you'll hearWhy the word "headhunter" has been diluted, and how that hurts both recruiters and the people they're trying to engageThe difference between sourcing candidates and engaging individuals who haven't yet decided to become candidatesThe "icky message" problem: why generic outreach trains the market to ignore youWhy response rates aren't a reflection of the market. They're a reflection of your messagingThe job-hugging epidemic and why perceived risk has roughly doubled in the last 12 monthsWhy the phone still beats asynchronous channels for genuine engagement, and why most recruiters avoid itA real example of a phone-led approach turning a non-candidate into a candidate mid-call-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Your People Engine - The People Engine For The Recruitment Industry.Delivering context-rich learning and development initiatives for all levels of people in recruitment. Live sessions delivered every week and content that focuses on implementation through guided activities.From new hires through to the top performers there’s an opportunity for everyone to grow and develop. The AI assistant curates relevant content on your behalf based on your questions.That’s immediate access to what you want, when you want to develop performance.

Counter-Offers Are Rising. Here's Why You're Losing Candidates at Two Minutes to Midnight.Counter-offer loss is climbing again - and it's not a money problem. It's an emotional one, dressed up as logic.In this episode, I unpack why recruiters are bleeding placements at offer stage, and why the fix sits at the start of the process, not the end. We cover the three forces driving the spike: a volatile market making candidates anxious, employers fighting harder to retain productive people, and compromised processes creating buyer remorse before day one.You'll learn:Why counter-offers are an endorsement, not a failure — and what that changesThe five-stage candidate confidence journey from first call to first dayThree power tools to run before any CV leaves your desk: the Values Deep Dive, the Motivation Grid, and the Ecology CheckThe Tension Ladder — a weekly health check that tells you who will actually resignThe two-number scoring system that kills false-positive pipelinesWhy "when they counter-offer you" beats "if" every timeIf you've ever heard "I just need to think about it" and felt the deal slipping, this one's for you.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Your People Engine - The People Engine For The Recruitment Industry.Delivering context-rich learning and development initiatives for all levels of people in recruitment. Live sessions delivered every week and content that focuses on implementation through guided activities.From new hires through to the top performers there’s an opportunity for everyone to grow and develop. The AI assistant curates relevant content on your behalf based on your questions.That’s immediate access to what you want, when you want to develop performance.

Are Your Consultants Doing the Job - or Just Completing It?There's a crisis running through recruitment businesses right now. Consultants are drifting. Not because they're lazy, but because the conversations around their work have become binary. Did you call? Did you advertise? Have you done the database?Done doesn't mean done well.In this episode, Jeremy explores the difference between executing a task and mastering it, and why that distinction is costing agencies some of their best people. When consultants can't see a pathway to genuine improvement, the striving stops. Billings plateau. People leave.The fix isn't more pressure. It's better questions. How well did you search LinkedIn? How well did you qualify that job? How well did you leave that voicemail?Jeremy introduces the concept of levels of capability, why most experienced consultants are operating at a fraction of what's possible, and the three maturity stages every recruiter moves through: infant, teenager, and adult.If your one-to-ones sound like a checklist, this episode is for you.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Your People Engine - The People Engine For The Recruitment Industry.Delivering context-rich learning and development initiatives for all levels of people in recruitment. Live sessions delivered every week and content that focuses on implementation through guided activities.From new hires through to the top performers there’s an opportunity for everyone to grow and develop. The AI assistant curates relevant content on your behalf based on your questions.That’s immediate access to what you want, when you want to develop performance.

Recruiters are told the job is about relationships. Nobody explains what that means or how to build one with intent. In this episode, Jeremy Snell breaks down the difference between being liked and being trusted, and gives you a five-level roadmap for moving clients from casual contact to genuine partnership.The Five Levels of TrustLevel 1: Entry Trust. Access without influence. Small talk and common ground. Most "good relationships" sit here.Level 2: Functional Trust. Execution permission. You get jobs with conditions attached and compete against two or three others.Level 3: Diagnostic Trust. They seek your judgment. Exclusivity and retained work start here.Level 4: Inner Circle Trust. Full influence. You frame decisions and challenge thinking before the brief is written.Level 5: Partnership Trust. Shared ownership of outcomes. Extreme loyalty and long-term value.The Diagnostic TestWrite down your ten strongest client relationships. Then ask each of them for theirs. If you are not on their list, you have work to do.Subscribe for weekly episodes on recruitment performance and building agencies that compound.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Your People Engine - The People Engine For The Recruitment Industry.Delivering context-rich learning and development initiatives for all levels of people in recruitment. Live sessions delivered every week and content that focuses on implementation through guided activities.From new hires through to the top performers there’s an opportunity for everyone to grow and develop. The AI assistant curates relevant content on your behalf based on your questions.That’s immediate access to what you want, when you want to develop performance.

Recruitment can be thankless at times. What feels like hard work and effort doesn’t always translate into results. But are we doing the right things? Are we being distracted by other work and slowly losing sight of the things that matter?When you are responsible for your own results it’s important you have clarity on three things - the standards you choose to adopt, the goals you set for yourself and the data you track to help keep you on the right path. This episode is all about self accountability, self awareness and how to find those who can hold you in check with the promises you make out loud.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Your People EngineDelivering context-rich learning and development initiatives for all levels of people in recruitment. Live sessions delivered every week and content that focuses on implementation through guided activities.From new hires through to the top performers there’s an opportunity for everyone to grow and develop. The AI assistant curates relevant content on your behalf based on your questions.That’s immediate access to what you want, when you want to develop performance.

BD is a hot topic right now. Many are hoping AI is going to save them and they can automate their way out of the hole. The reality is if you want to win more clients, secure better business and grow your recruitment agency you must be able to answer these three questions. Simple questions that make the entire process of building a sales strategy and set of executable tactics easier. And if you want to automate your outreach, you still have to be able to answer these questions to build any form of meaningful messaging. Otherwise you’re simply contributing to the noise.

AI is everywhere. And we’re getting AI fatigue. Because of this, recruitment agencies are missing the power of AI at a desk level. In this episode Jeremy shares how you can use AI to enhance your skillset and the dangers of letting ChatGPT drive the bus and decide what good looks like on your behalf. You are the wizard. AI is the apprentice. Teach it to enhance what you do. You’ll discover in this episode how you can take control and use AI to increase sales performance. Not simply replace the admin in your job.NOTE: As mentioned in the episode, Jeremy is running a series of live sessions on Linkedin. How to build your own portfolio of AI assistants using ChatGPT. All will help you make more money. He's building in public, sharing every prompt at a grand total cost of zero. Join, follow along prompt by prompt and build your own - https://www.linkedin.com/events/5musthavegptsforrecruiters7392105724358844417/theater/

Winning new clients is recruitment becomes a whole lot easier when you know how to build pipe. In this episode Jeremy shares the three pipes that exist in every recruitment business and how they relate to each other. Pipe number one, the acquisition of new clients, is the pipe everyone is chasing right now. Jeremy shares the one simple thing you can do to make this pipe easier to fill and easier to convert.To join Jeremy's pipeline masterclass go to: https://rookie2recruiter.com/perm-sales-pipeline-masterclass/-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rookie2Recruiter.com - The People Engine For The Recruitment Industry.Delivering context-rich learning and development initiatives for all levels of people in recruitment. Live sessions delivered every week and content that focuses on implementation through guided activities.From new hires through to the top performers there’s an opportunity for everyone to grow and develop. The AI assistant curates relevant content on your behalf based on your questions.That’s immediate access to what you want, when you want to develop performance.

Fill rate is a key metric for recruitment businesses. Especially when job flow is challenged.In this episode, I share how I helped an agency double their fill rate with a focus on job quality and consultative on boarding.It takes discipline to stick to a new method of working. You have to want the outcome enough to be willing to do the work. Life is easy when you're willing to compromise quality in favour of being busy. Being busy doesn't get you paid.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rookie2Recruiter.com - The People Engine For The Recruitment Industry.Delivering context-rich learning and development initiatives for all levels of people in recruitment. Live sessions delivered every week and content that focuses on implementation through guided activities.From new hires through to the top performers there’s an opportunity for everyone to grow and develop. The AI assistant curates relevant content on your behalf based on your questions.That’s immediate access to what you want, when you want to develop performance.

It’s a tactic that’s as old as recruitment itself. Engage with a candidate whose role includes managing and leading a team, then flip them into a client.It doesn’t seem that clean any more. Too many recruiters worry about the flip as if it requires a specific moment. It’s not a judo throw. Better to shift your mindset as to the conversation you’re having and shift it to the one you should. If you want to convert more business and build lifetime relationships with senior professionals in your market, stop calling them candidates and clients. Build the lifetime value with the individual as a business professional.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rookie2Recruiter.com - The People Engine For The Recruitment Industry.Delivering context-rich learning and development initiatives for all levels of people in recruitment. Live sessions delivered every week and content that focuses on implementation through guided activities.From new hires through to the top performers there’s an opportunity for everyone to grow and develop. The AI assistant curates relevant content on your behalf based on your questions.That’s immediate access to what you want, when you want to develop performance.

Your voice is your most precious tool, it’s your edge. In this episode, we unpack how pitch, pace, tone, timbre, and volume shape the way clients experience your message. You don’t have to compromise who you are to improve your voice control. It’s about sounding intentional. We’ll explore how tiny vocal shifts can build trust, command attention, and drive better outcomes in recruitment sales. If you’ve ever nailed the script but missed the moment, this one’s for you. By the end, you’ll understand how to use your voice as an instrument of influence and why delivery can bring the words to life and create the emotional response that drives sales.Learn it. Test it. Train it.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rookie2Recruiter.com - The People Engine For The Recruitment Industry.Delivering context-rich learning and development initiatives for all levels of people in recruitment. Live sessions delivered every week and content that focuses on implementation through guided activities.From new hires through to the top performers there’s an opportunity for everyone to grow and develop. The AI assistant curates relevant content on your behalf based on your questions.That’s immediate access to what you want, when you want to develop performance.

Most agencies have a CRM. Few see it as the central hub for their business. Too frequently consultants become addicted to job boards and Linkedin to find today’s candidates for today’s jobs. And the CRM becomes a glorified bucket of CVs. If you want to improve your results and increase consistency of placements, take a fresh look at your CRM. I expect your next 10 placements are hidden in there somewhere. And if you’ve forgotten them, they forgot you long ago.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rookie2Recruiter.com - The People Engine For The Recruitment Industry.Delivering context-rich learning and development initiatives for all levels of people in recruitment. Live sessions delivered every week and content that focuses on implementation through guided activities.From new hires through to the top performers there’s an opportunity for everyone to grow and develop. The AI assistant curates relevant content on your behalf based on your questions.That’s immediate access to what you want, when you want to develop performance.

Relationships are everything in recruitment. It’s the biggest defence for why AI is never going to take our jobs. Yet how often do you review the quality of relationships you have with clients, candidates and prospects? What does good look like? And what will better be? And how do you plan to get there? I share my beliefs around relationships in recruitment and why most recruiters are failing at building them.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rookie2Recruiter.com - The People Engine For The Recruitment Industry.Delivering context-rich learning and development initiatives for all levels of people in recruitment. Live sessions delivered every week and content that focuses on implementation through guided activities.From new hires through to the top performers there’s an opportunity for everyone to grow and develop. The AI assistant curates relevant content on your behalf based on your questions.That’s immediate access to what you want, when you want to develop performance.

The clear answer is no. And the answer is yes. Because it’s your perception that drives decisions you make – bottom line is you can prove it is or prove it isn’t.The reality is the phone is still an important part of the fabric of a good sales strategy. A conversation will book a meeting more than an email ever will. Today we see high levels of call reluctance. Those who choose to avoid the phone are limiting their results. Even experienced recruiters are getting caught in the phone reluctance. In this episode I share root cause and a way out.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rookie2Recruiter.com - The People Engine For The Recruitment Industry.Delivering context-rich learning and development initiatives for all levels of people in recruitment. Live sessions delivered every week and content that focuses on implementation through guided activities.From new hires through to the top performers there’s an opportunity for everyone to grow and develop. The AI assistant curates relevant content on your behalf based on your questions.That’s immediate access to what you want, when you want to develop performance.

The podcast is back and I’m ready to share ideas with those who want to listen. It’s been six months since I last published an episode. A lot has been happening for me and in the recruitment universe. I’ve got a couple of observations from the last six months – namely recruitment has got very good at talking about the importance of business development. Yet not necessarily implemented enough to navigate the current landscape. And that ever present love it and hate it subject – Artificial Intelligence. It’s only going to get better and it will replace some recruiters and won’t replace others.The real question is will it replace your candidates?------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rookie2Recruiter.com - The People Engine For The Recruitment Industry.Delivering context-rich learning and development initiatives for all levels of people in recruitment. Live sessions delivered every week and content that focuses on implementation through guided activities.From new hires through to the top-performers there’s an opportunity for everyone to grow and develop. The AI assistant curates relevant content on your behalf based on your questions.That’s immediate access to what you want, when you want to develop performance.

This episode is full of gold (even if I say so myself). Everyone in recruitment claims “it’s all about relationships” and that getting people to know you, like you and trust you is important. But no one seems to share how to do it. Until now. I share the ten tools that build trust in relationship based sales and the order of ascension. Most are stuck at levels one to three. Take your client and candidate relationships high into the top tiers of level 8, 9 and 10 and you’ll have partners for life.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rookie2Recruiter.com - The People Engine For The Recruitment Industry.Delivering context-rich learning and development initiatives for all levels of people in recruitment. Live sessions delivered every week and content that focuses on implementation through guided activities.From new hires through to the top performers there’s an opportunity for everyone to grow and develop. The AI assistant curates relevant content on your behalf based on your questions.That’s immediate access to what you want, when you want to develop performance.

For almost every recruitment professional and business owner who desires more success there are three common barriers.And I’m going to share and unpack all three to help you get out of your own way and start building the business you want.This is a big episode. Yes, yes it is still 20 minutes in duration – it’s the content that’s big. Because every one of the three things is totally in your control to change and can be implemented immediately.Get on it and start to take more control of your business and build a profitable, sustainable recruitment business.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rookie2Recruiter.com - The People Engine For The Recruitment Industry.Delivering context-rich learning and development initiatives for all levels of people in recruitment. Live sessions delivered every week and content that focuses on implementation through guided activities.From new hires through to the top performers there’s an opportunity for everyone to grow and develop. The AI assistant curates relevant content on your behalf based on your questions.That’s immediate access to what you want, when you want to develop performance.

Running your own recruitment business is tough. It’s hard enough running your own desk in an agency. The market is volatile, there is competition everywhere – for people’s attention and their wallets. Everyone believes they’re good at what they do and that they should be a natural choice for their clients. But it’s not true. Especailly if you ask clients real opinions about the majority. Thankfully we’re not in the majority. We can do something about it. In this episode I share three common barriers to growth and strategies to help you deal with them, today.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rookie2Recruiter.com - The People Engine For The Recruitment Industry.Delivering context-rich learning and development initiatives for all levels of people in recruitment. Live sessions delivered every week and content that focuses on implementation through guided activities.From new hires through to the top performers there’s an opportunity for everyone to grow and develop. The AI assistant curates relevant content on your behalf based on your questions.That’s immediate access to what you want, when you want to develop performance.

Firing clients is something we’ve all imagined. Strangely many choose to put up the disfunctional relationships they find themselves in. Scared to push back. Worried about losing a customer. But if they’re a drain of time, energy and resource and aren’t creating profit in enough abundance they’re a liability. I’m sharing a few stories and tactics that can help you devleop a better strategy to grow a portfolio of good customers - who value you and are profitable. As a recruitment professional you’ll enoucnter clients who treat you like ‘another supplier’. They’ll do this for as long as you’re willing to accept it. Because when you reset the agenda they have a choice. Go back to the old supplier who let them down or change their behaviour to continue enjoying the experience of working with you.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rookie2Recruiter.com - The People Engine For The Recruitment Industry.Delivering context-rich learning and development initiatives for all levels of people in recruitment. Live sessions delivered every week and content that focuses on implementation through guided activities.From new hires through to the top performers there’s an opportunity for everyone to grow and develop. The AI assistant curates relevant content on your behalf based on your questions.That’s immediate access to what you want, when you want to develop performance.