In this 15‑minute interview on the Recruitment Mentors Podcast, host Hishem Azzouz talks with Ben Duncan, director of the Sydney‑based Salesforce recruitment boutique Talent Hub. Duncan shares how the pandemic amplified his work‑life balance struggle as the sole recruiter in a small firm, and he describes the practical steps he’s taken—fixed working hours, an “off” button for evenings, and dedicated breaks—to protect personal time. He recommends a productivity hack of working from varied off‑site locations and time‑boxing tasks, noting that a change of scenery yields his most focused work periods. Duncan explains that building a strong online brand and consistently publishing market‑focused content has become his primary source of inbound business, reducing the need for cold‑calling. He also reveals a personal habit adopted in 2020: walking 10‑plus thousand steps daily with his dogs, using the walks as screen‑free mental resets. When asked about a hypothetical cold outreach to a long‑target client, he outlines a value‑first approach—sending relevant market insight before calling and positioning himself as a proven Salesforce specialist. Finally, he advises recruiters on goal‑setting, emphasizing the importance of understanding the deeper “why” behind each target, visualising the life change the goal enables, and ensuring goals are personally meaningful rather than merely corporate mandates. The conversation blends candid personal anecdotes with actionable recruitment strategies.
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Welcome to the Recruitment Mentors Podcast. My name is Hishem Azzouz, and this is another installment of 15 Minutes with a Mentor series. And really excited to be joined by Ben Duncan over in Australia today. And in this series, really simply, we're going to ask some of the mentors from inside the community 7 questions in 15 minutes. I'm going to do this every day in conjunction with the launch of the Recruitment Mentors community. So before we get into this, Ben, if you could introduce yourself for those that may not know who you are, and we'll do this.
Cool, yeah, thanks for having me. Thank you very much. So yeah, I'm Ben Duncan, I'm the director of Talent Hub. We are Sydney-based, very small Salesforce recruitment specialist company. I'm from London originally, but I've been living in Sydney for the last 10 years and Yeah, no, no immediate plans to move back to the cold.
Love that.
Right.
So first question, interested to hear this from you. So what was your biggest challenge in 2020? How did you overcome it and what did you learn from it?
I actually— you point around how to overcome it. I think that's still a piece of work in progress. My biggest challenge through 2020 and beyond has always kind of been managing that work-life balance piece. So as I mentioned, we're a small business. I'm the only hands-on recruiter in our business, and my colleague Gemma manages all of our marketing and builds our brand ultimately. And we've been really busy through COVID. We've been one of the fortunate companies that recruit in an ecosystem that has been pretty busy, pretty vibrant through COVID. So the biggest challenge for me has actually been managing what's going outside, what's going on outside of work, and managing the kind of stresses of life in COVID. And some kind of personal challenges that we've been going through, through a really busy time with work as well and trying to be present in both. That's been a real challenge because obviously I'm working from home, like I'm here kind of 24 hours a day at the moment and being present with family life and work life is a real challenge. So I've tried to set kind of, these are the hours I work, I have an off button I kind of have been trying not to read emails in the evening and having actually really defined working hours and lunch breaks, things like that. But yeah, it's definitely still a work in progress because being a small business owner and being very much on the tools, as you know, you know, you get calls at all different times in the day and when something comes up, it's difficult to turn it away or look the other way.
Yeah, no, thank you for sharing that. So I guess just real emphasis on the importance of trying to do your best to be present with your family and work. Yeah, really interesting. So on this one then, it'd be interesting to hear this. So what working from home tip could you share with other recruiters that has had a sort of massive impact on your productivity, do you think?
I actually find that, yes, working from home is obviously we're kind of all doing at the moment, but like have a dedicated area, that's the standard stuff. But I like getting out as well. So if you can still like have some time out of out of the office that you're in. Like I go to some different spots around where I live just to completely get a different change of scenery. And I find that the couple of hours that I'm out of the house are my most productive. Like I actually go there with, you know, if you allow yourself a certain amount of time to get a task done, that's how long it takes. So by going to different locations and saying, well, I'm going to be here for an hour and I'm going to knock this task out, that is always my most productive time from when I've been working out of an office environment. Because yeah, I can make things drag over a long period of time if I'm at home because I've got other stuff going on or yeah, there's just other ways to drag something out. Whereas having a dedicated desk that isn't the office space that you're in day to day and just going and really focusing on getting some core tasks done in that period of time has been really productive for me.
Yeah, nice. Interesting. So what— I know you get a lot of inbound business, but like what has been the most effective way for you to win business in the last 12 months?
Yeah, I think, I think like having a brand online has been really, really important for me. Like it's something I've been investing in for the last few years and yeah, it's just been a game changer really. Like the amount of when I pick up the phone to a customer, if it's a cold call, they quite often have seen one of my posts, read a blog of ours. But yeah, just really creating value in the market that means that people want to come to me and understand how we can help with their requirements has kind of been the the key kind of business development tool. And that's just kind of constant, right? So you're not having to set yourself a target of making X amount of calls per day because you've got constant content that's going out and stays online for long periods of time. So, so yeah, just, just being visible, building a brand and, and having input to the market that's not just we've got X amount of jobs. Yeah.
No. Yeah. I'm not surprised by that. You've done that really well. And what, What habit or hobby did you start in 2020 that you're going to continue in 2021?
God, what habit? I think this is completely non-work related, but it's like— Yeah, that's fine. So I've started smashing my 10,000 steps per day minimum. But like, I go for a really long walk before work. I've got two dogs. So that's an opportunity just to completely clear my head and not take my phone. So I do a good hour, then I go for a walk at lunch and another walk in the afternoon. So yeah, like I'm kind of racking up 17,000, 18,000 steps every day. And it's not so much about the fitness or the health aspect of that, but it's just good downtime to be away from my phone, away from my screen, trying not to think about like, you know, interview processes I've got going on. And yeah, it's been amazing. Like before, I'd sit on a train, not for very long. We don't commute that long in Australia, but I'd sit on the train, I'd be on my phone, you know, I'd be walking and talking, making phone calls, just absolutely having a clear head for a few hours a day has been really, really beneficial.
Yeah, I can definitely relate to that. That's awesome. What do you think is better, the first coffee in the morning or the first pint post-work on a Friday?
Coffee, 100%. Australian coffee is the one.
You're the first person to say that, but I'm so the first. I'm the first coffee in the morning and I'm still I was due to go to Sydney last year, so I cannot wait to experience that.
Yeah, yeah. Well, are you gonna go to Melbourne too?
I'm not sure, but the original plan was basically to— I had booked to do a live podcast event in Sydney. Obviously, that can't— I had to cancel that.
Yeah, yeah.
But yeah, so I can't wait to experience Australian coffee for sure. So next question is a bit more of a scenario, Ben, so slightly different, but basically I want to just sort of hear how you would approach it basically. So there's a particular business on your target client list that you've tried to communicate with and get in with and start working with for a long period of time, over a year. But over that time, they've had touchpoints with you. So maybe different hiring managers have sort of seen your content or engaged with it. You may have sent a couple of emails, and through your candidate network, you managed to get one of the hiring managers' contact details. So you call that hiring manager, they pick up and answer and say, hello, who is this? Would just be really interested to hear sort of how you'd approach that.
So you're the hiring manager?
Yeah.
Cool. So I would, firstly, I'd send an email first, like I'd send some sort of content so there's a warmer call. So when I call you, I'd say, Hishem, I've just sent you an email regarding some of the Salesforce surveys that we've been running in the last 12 months. I thought it would be really prevalent for you right now because I've heard that you're doing a greenfield implementation of XYZ. I've made over 200 Salesforce placements in the last 5 years and I'm really confident I can add value to your business. I've worked with a few of the candidates that you've got in the team at the moment, and I'd love to talk through how we can add value over your next few requirements. When's a good time to come by and meet you to run through how we can help?
Yeah, solid. It's that what's come out of this, which I think is really interesting, which you just did there, is like, it's leading with like giving rather than taking is the interesting point there, I think.
Yeah, like I think like my whole business and ever since I formed the business has been built on value. And that's like, I got taught really early on in my recruitment career that if you can add value on every single call you make, then people will remember you. So like even if someone doesn't really, doesn't want to talk to you, even if you send them after that, like an interesting piece of information that you've got from the market or something that relates to their skill set, like you're providing value and you're different. So yeah, everything we do is around providing value to people we work with. And then from there it just flows organically into relationships and ultimately business.
Yeah. And I think the— I just think like if the quicker Because it is sort of counterintuitive, isn't it? Like, especially early on in your recruitment career, you, you're sort of given these responsibilities or pressures to like get them, like take basically. It's like, I need to do this, I need to get this out of that, that call, blah blah blah. But actually, if you flip that on its head and like, like you said, on each call you try and give more than you take, it's all going to help you, everything.
Yeah, like I remember, um, like in the early days when, when I'd make a phone call and then people would say to you, what did you get out of that call?
Yeah, exactly.
That's the— like, it's not what— it's what did you get, not, um, you know, how did you help that, that person, or how did you prove that you're the right person for them to come to when they need help? Um, and I think that, that's really key, right? It's, um, and that's why, like, I, I love being a specialist, because, like, I truly feel I can advise and guide a customer down a path, or, or a candidate down the right career path. Um, and, and that's why, like, I feel really confident that I can add value on every call.
Yeah, love that. Right, final question is, I just want you to sort of imagine that I'm a recruiter who's set goals for 2021. I'm hoping for a better year this year. I've written them down, I'm feeling extremely motivated. I'm just interested to sort of hear what advice you'd sort of give me that you think would give me the best possible chance of achieving the goals that I've set myself.
Um, I'm not a massive goal setter, I must be honest. Like, I've never been, but like, I know that in the past when I've set goals and I've written down a goal, like, and I've not actually achieved that goal, it's because I never really understood what that goal meant for me. Like, if I hit it, what did it actually mean? Right. So, you know, like buying a watch, well, what does that watch actually do for me? Or, you know, hitting a certain amount of billings, like, what do I— how does my life change if I hit that goal? So I think like the key for me with them, if I was to speak to someone that is setting goals and looking to achieve them, is like, but why? Like, what does that goal mean? Like, why have you set that goal and how is that going to change your life? And then go further than just having the goal, like have the vision around what life looks like once that goal is achieved, because then it becomes real and it's something you can strive towards. Because for me, like historically when I've had like goals of hitting certain billings and things like that, it didn't motivate me enough because I didn't know what would come with that. Like, I didn't focus on the life that that would bring.
Yeah, you need to go a bit deeper. Yeah, I had that realization because I'm not someone that's massively motivated by money at all. But actually, if you go, I want to earn X and you understand what that means— going to be able to take my partner away on the holiday that we said that we would do or whatever— it's just going a bit deeper and going, okay, well, if I do achieve that, this is what that would mean. And that's the part that should hopefully get you more motivated and give you more clarity on why.
Yeah, for sure. And I think it's also important not just to set— don't just have goals because they're what your company want you to have. Like, you can have goals. I think people fall into that trap. I have to have a goal this year. But if you have that kind of goal, then it doesn't mean anything. Like, it has to be something you truly actually want to achieve and you know why you want to achieve it.
Yeah, I love that. Ben, that was 15 minutes with a mentor. Thank you.
