Recruiting Alchemy with Andy Simpson
Moving recruiters from the contingent carousel to repeatable, scalable, productised offerings.
Episodes
30 episodes
Recruiting Alchemy Ep. 30 Why Recruitment Firms Don't Scale with James Parsons
James Parsons was 25 when he quit his job at S3, two weeks after buying his first house, to start Arrows Group with business partner Adrian in 2003. By 2016 the business had more than 300 people in six countries, with sales north of 150 million...
Recruiting Alchemy Ep. 29 Why great CEOs make themselves redundant with James Wakefield
James Wakefield went from the parade ground at Sandhurst and six years as an infantry officer into recruitment at Michael Page. He then spent 14 years at Cobalt, setting up offices across the Middle East, Europe, Asia Pacific and the US before ...
Recruiting Alchemy Ep. 28 Specialise to Scale with Jim Ryan
Jim Ryan left Ireland at 17, knocked on doors selling cable TV, and walked into MSB in Bromley in 1997 with no recruitment experience. Eighteen years on from starting ERSG on the day Lehman Brothers collapsed, he runs a staffing group with £185...
Recruiting Alchemy Ep. 27 Surviving every downturn in recruitment with David Bloxham
David Bloxham has spent 30 years in recruitment, almost all of it at GCS, the business he joined in 1996 and now leads as CEO. Andy Simpson asks how he got there, and what it cost along the way.David talks through coming back to GCS just...
Recruiting Alchemy Ep. 26: The Broken Economics of Contingent Staffing with Rory Gaston
Andy Simpson is joined by Rory Gaston, Group CEO and co-founder of Saragossa, the buy-side staffing and technology solutions business he built with Jimmy Lloyd after spinning out of Red Rock in 2015. Rory explains why success-fee contingent sta...
Recruiting Alchemy Ep. 25 Why Recruiters Are Naive About AI with Brad Lewington
Andy Simpson is joined by Bradley Lewington, CEO and founder of Generative and former CEO of Spencer Ogden, the energy and infrastructure recruiter he scaled to over 500 people before a private equity backed MBO closed on 20 February 2020, thre...
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Recruiting Alchemy Ep. 24: AI, Recruitment & The Future of Hiring with Craig Whiting
Is AI really going to replace recruiters, or will it simply expose the ones who were never adding value in the first place?In this episode of Recruiting Alchemy, Andy Simpson sits down with Craig Whiting, Founder of RecOS , to unpack on...
Recruiting Alchemy Ep.23: The 'No Mascots, No Pets' Culture Rule with Russell Clements
Is AI really going to change recruitment forever, or is it just the latest technological scare the industry will outlast? And would you fire your two best billers if they were poisoning your culture, even knowing exactly what it would cost you?...
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Recruiting Alchemy Ep. 22: Building a recruitment empire with Dean Kelly
What does it really take to build one of the UK's biggest recruitment businesses?In this episode of Recruiting Alchemy, Andy Simpson sits down with Dean Kelly, entrepreneur, investor and one of recruitment's best-known founders, to expl...
Recruiting Alchemy Ep.21: Rebuilding a Decadelong Business from Scratch with Elliott Manning
What does it take to completely reinvent a recruitment business that's already successful?In this episode of Recruiting Alchemy, Andy Simpson sits down with Elliott Manning, Founder of Kayman Recruitment, to unpack a journe...
Recruiting Alchemy Ep.20: Logan Naidu - Two Private Equity Deals and the Culture That Made Them Work
On Recruiting Alchemy, Logan Naidu, founder and Group CEO of Kernel Global, shares his personal background and path from investment banking at J.P. Morgan and corporate finance at PwC into recruitment, after being fired from his first recruitin...
Recruiting Alchemy Ep.19: Gary Elden - The £8K Bet That Built an Empire
Gary Elden OBE joins Recruiting Alchemy and Andy Simpson to share his journey from a tough Camberwell council estate to becoming a leading figure in the recruitment industry, launching Huxley Associates within S3 and later serving as CEO of a l...
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Recruiting Alchemy Ep.18: Tom Way - How One Choice Transformed Everything
In this episode of Recruiting Alchemy, host Andy Simpson sits down with Tom Way, CEO of UK and Ireland at Hays, to explore the high-stakes world of leading one of the world's largest staffing companies.Tom provides ...
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Recruiting Alchemy Ep.17: Jeremy Snell on Shifting from CV Vendor to Value Proposition
In this episode of Recruiting Alchemy, host Andy Simpson sits down with Jeremy Snell, recruitment leader and industry veteran, to explore what really drives performance in modern recruitment businesses.Jeremy provide...
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Recruiting Alchemy Ep.16: Simon Ryan on Scale, Embedded Talent & Steven Bartlett
In this exceptional episode of the Recruiting Alchemy Podcast, host Andy Simpson sits down with Simon Ryan, Director at Chapter 2 and Co-founder of Chapter 2 Health Talent, for a deep dive into building, scaling, and disrupting th...
Recruiting Alchemy Ep.15: Malvin Kamara on Football, Founding Vallum Associates & Leadership.
In this episode of Recruiting Alchemy, host Andy Simpson sits down with Malvin Kamara, former professional footballer turned founder and CEO of Vallum Associates. From playing in the Premier League and Championship to build...
Recruiting Alchemy Ep.14: Steve Beckitt on Building SourceBreaker & the Reality of Tech Startups
In this episode of Recruiting Alchemy, Andy Simpson sits down with Steve Beckitt founder of SourceBreaker for a candid and often hilarious deep dive into how he went from contract recruiter to tech founder, built a SaaS business f...
Recruiting Alchemy Ep.13: Dave Rees on Fixing In-House Talent, Hiring Better & Why Quality Trumps Volume
In this episode of Recruiting Alchemy, Andy sits down with David Rees, former Chief Sales Officer at S3 and now a fractional chair and investor across multiple recruitment and tech businesses. David shares his journey from his roots in South Wa...
Recruiting Alchemy Ep. 12: James Ballard on Recruitment Strategy, Community & Modern Agencies
In this episode of Recruiting Alchemy, Andy is joined by James Ballard, co-founder of Annapurna Recruitment. With over two decades of experience, James shares the evolution of his career, from early days at SThree to co-founding one of t...
Recruiting Alchemy Ep.11: Dan Taylor on Public Sector Recruitment, Leadership & Building Resilient Teams
In this episode of Recruiting Alchemy, Andy Simpson sits down with Dan Taylor, a veteran recruitment leader and current Director at Morgan Hunt. Dan shares his fascinating journey from the coal-delivery towns of Lancashire to leading h...
Recruiting Alchemy Ep.10: Ben Browning on Transforming Sales Strategy, Moving Beyond Transactions & Modern BD
In this episode of Recruiting Alchemy, Andy Simpson sits down with Ben Browning, founder and CEO of Resonant, sales strategist, and LinkedIn voice in the recruitment space, for a deep conversation on why recruitment sales is broken and...
Recruiting Alchemy Ep.9: Chris Moylan on Grit, Growth and Starting Again
In this episode of Recruiting Alchemy, Andy Simpson is joined by Chris Moylan, CEO of Tech Link Partners, who shares the raw and real journey behind launching and scaling two recruitment businesses. From growing up on construction site...
Recruiting Alchemy Ep.8: Simon Brown on Exits, Culture & Why Every Agency Needs a Plan
In this episode, Andy Simpson sits down with Simon Brown, founder of Richard Knows Best and one of the most candid voices in recruitment, for a no-holds-barred conversation about agency growth, leadership, and lear...
Recruiting Alchemy Ep.7: Martyn Holme on Grit, Growth and Building a £15M Recruitment Business
In this episode of Recruiting Alchemy, Andy Simpson sits down with Martyn Holme, founder and managing director of A&B Recruitment, to explore what it really takes to build and lead a high-growth recruitment business. Fr...
Recruiting Alchemy Ep.6: Kalpesh Baxi on Culture, Adaptability & the Future of Recruitment
In this episode, Andy Simpson sits down with Kalpesh Baxi, recruitment leader, advisor, and former UK Senior Partner of SThree PLC to explore what it takes to thrive in today’s evolving hiring landscape. They talk about the import...
