In this 15‑minute interview on the Recruitment Mentors Podcast, host Hishem Azzouz talks with Kyle Gallagher, a director at This Is Prime, about the challenges and adaptations recruiters faced during the COVID‑19 pandemic and the lessons learned. Gallagher describes the March 2020 recruitment collapse, how his team stayed focused on their vision, and the pivot to US markets and webinars. He shares practical work‑from‑home productivity tips—dressing in jeans to signal a work mindset and creating physical separation between work and home spaces. Gallagher explains the most effective business‑winning tactic of the past year: hyper‑personalised video outreach that stood out to a cybersecurity hiring manager. He also discusses habits formed in 2020, including a consistent video‑creation habit and starting a running club that improved his 5K time, with plans for a marathon. When presented with a cold‑call scenario, he outlines a referral‑based approach that leverages prior client success. Finally, he advises recruiters setting 2021 goals to ensure goals are truly desired, realistic, measurable, and broken down into weekly actions. The conversation blends strategic advice, personal anecdotes, and motivational guidance for recruiters moving forward.
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Welcome to the Recruitment Mentors Podcast. My name is Hishem Azzouz. We're here for another episode of the 15 Minutes with a Mentor series. Today I'm joined by Carl Gallagher, and, uh, in this series we really simply ask the mentors from inside the community 7 questions in 15 minutes. So Carl, for those that may not know who you are, if you introduce yourself and then we'll Get into it.
Yeah, thanks. Thanks for having me, Hishem. So I'm Kyle, one of the directors, associate directors at This Is Prime. And essentially what we do is connect the best, mainly entry-level talent with the fastest growing tech companies and sales teams across the UK and further, further beyond.
Love that. So first question for you is, what was your biggest challenge in 2020? How did you overcome it and what did you learn from it?
The biggest challenge, and I'm sure you're probably going to get this one a lot for last year, it had to be March, just before the pandemic hit. I'm sure for most recruiters it was the same, but it was just doomsday. Offers pulled, interviews cancelled, you know, candidates unfortunately being let go. It was just a huge, huge exodus, and for any recruiter when this stuff happens, it's difficult, right? So that was definitely the biggest challenge, particularly for the junior members of the team as well, because a lot of them hadn't experienced too many knockbacks in recruitment, and then for it all to happen at once, you know, it was a huge, huge challenge. How did we overcome it? We just stuck to what we've always tried to do, to be honest. We didn't change too much, and we tried to have a really rational and logical approach to the situation. And you have two choices, you know, you can carry on what you're doing and still try to make a success during difficult times, or you can really start to panic and get concerned and lose focus. So what we did was just continue with our vision to try and change the perception of sales and still try and get the best talent into the best sales jobs in the country, and that's what we did. We had to pivot a little bit, so we now operate in the US. For a couple of months afterwards, we launched a webinar series which you obviously, thankfully and very kind of you, joined us on, which is a great episode, but the idea was that we're still to add value to salespeople and to business owners in what was a difficult time. And the learn was just don't stand still, stick to your principles, stick to whatever your vision is. You're just in a more difficult situation to try and get through it, that's all. You know, it's all the same.
Love that. So the next question I have for you, and I'm sure this has sort of been things that you've been learning and sort of sharing with your team and speak to people about, but what working from home tip could you share with other recruiters that has had a massive impact on your own productivity?
That's a really good one. I've probably got a few, actually. So one I've used recently, I've been wearing jeans. That sounds so, so simple. I've been putting jeans on. I've got jeans on right now. I've been trying to dress only a little bit smarter, you know, still very casual. And it just really helps with your mindset because you feel like you're getting ready for something. And although you're probably walking from your bedroom to another bedroom or to your dining room, it just helps that you're breaking that up with, actually, I'm putting a pair of jeans on, I'm getting ready for the day. So that has helped me recently, actually, particularly with this lockdown. I think this one has been a bit more challenging for people, you know, the weather's not as good, we've not got the sunshine like we had last time, and this has been going on for over a year. So that's helped me in this lockdown in particular. And I think the other thing is just make sure you're organized and try and have as much separation as possible. You know, I've heard and seen many reports that people are actually working longer now they're being at home, probably making the most of the time they would typically spend commuting, but it's still important that you have that separation. So if that's you work upstairs, as soon as you come downstairs, work is done for the day. I think that's really, really important because when your home becomes your work, it's very difficult to separate the two.
Yeah, nice, great tips there. So What has been the most effective way for you to win business in the last 12 months?
Great question. Being creative has probably been the best one, and in the last 12 months, with it being, you know, much more challenging, less businesses recruiting and still, you know, the same typically amount of recruiters going after the same businesses, being hyper-personalised, making sure you're targeting the right people and for the right reasons, And I've said it a couple of times already, but make sure you're actually adding value to that person you're trying to prospect. So that's probably been my main tips really. So the biggest success I had was probably back in June, July time, which is sending a really personalized video to a recruitment manager at a big cybersecurity business. At the time, that was the only video of its type they had received. They were looking to hire a big team of SDRs in the UK and in the USA. And I think what really worked well there was just the personalization. It stood out and it was different. So that's been the most effective for me, really, just doing whatever you can do to stand out from the crowd, I think is more important now than it's probably ever been before.
Yeah, I love that. Just being open-minded, isn't it, to try different things. And yeah, I love that. So what habit or hobby did you start in 2020 that you're going to continue in 2021?
Wow, probably doing videos was definitely one that was a work habit, and I think the key with that is consistency. You know, you can do one video, doesn't work, it's easy to give it up, but just set yourself a target of however many you want to do on a weekly basis, I think, is key, and doing it over a long period of time. The hobby has probably been running. So we actually set up a work running club in the first lockdown, and managed to get my 5K time from probably 29 minutes to just under 23, which was—
I've heard, I've heard like that's just made you all hate Neil Moore of this running club because he's just constantly pounding the pavement, mate.
Oh, you know, he is massively. But it was, it was really funny though. We had, um, we were trying to get as many people involved in the group as possible, um, and one of the guys in London, his, uh, his girlfriend, uh, was added to the group And the first run she posted, I think it was, was a half marathon in just under 2 hours or 2 hours. Wow. And that beat Neil's time. So the next day, Jeffrey did a half marathon and did it in a better time. But it was good to have that camaraderie. So that for me is, you know, going to be one of my aims, to do a marathon this year off the back of that. Yeah.
So yeah, we'll see. So I want to know, Karl, like, Which do you think is better, the first coffee in the morning or the first pint post-work on a Friday?
Definitely, definitely the first pint. Definitely the first pint. I've actually tried to cut down on coffee a bit. I'm not sure about you, but I think if you have too much during the day, then I think you can end up crashing and burning a little bit earlier. Whereas that first pint, you're done for the day then, so you can properly enjoy it.
Nice, right, so this one's slightly different. I just wanna give you a scenario and just interested to see, hear how you would approach it. So the scenario is a particular business you've had on your target client list for over a year, long period of time. During that time, you've had a number of touch points with different people in that business. They might have engaged with some of your content, you might send them a video over email, you've had different touch points. But through your candidate network, you managed to get one of the hiring manager's contact details. So you call that person, they pick up, they say, "Hello, who is this?" and interested to hear how you'd approach that.
Yeah, relevant question actually. So one of the businesses we bought on, I actually did a LinkedIn post about it yesterday. So the business that we recently have been working, well, we were with them a couple of years ago, we placed an SDR there 18 months ago and they've now progressed into a management role and are now recruiting for their team and working with us to do so. And that client was brought on in exactly the scenario that you just mentioned, exactly the same way. So the way I would approach it, I would just go in, look, I've been passed your details by this person. Now, the key here is, and I've mentioned this in my previous video, is this only works if the person that you've been recommended into by, you've delivered an amazing experience for previously. So this only is effective when you do that. But the way I would approach it is just go, look, you know, person X has recommended we get in touch. And I would talk about their journey and their experience. The reason I believe they wanted to put me in touch with you is based on the experience that they had. We were able to do this for them and look how well they're doing now in your business. Why don't we have a chat about how we can support your sales team? How's that going for you right now? So that's probably how I would approach that call, but it only works if, you know, you deliver great experiences for people all the time. If not, then obviously it could backfire a little bit.
Yeah, no, I like that. Brilliant. So final question is, I want you to imagine that I'm a recruiter or recruiters listening to this and they've set their goals for 2021. They're feeling motivated. They are completely convinced they're going to have a better year this year than they are 2020. And I just want to sort of hear what your advice would be to me and the recruiters listening that you think would give us the best possible chance of achieving the goals that we've set this year.
Yeah, I think the first bit of advice I would give, probably taking it right back to the beginning, is make sure you probably revisit and just check your goals. One, that they're realistic, but I think the key thing is make sure you really want them. You know, a goal is only as powerful as how much you really want to achieve it. If you set a goal that you're not that bothered to achieve, the how you're going to do it doesn't really matter and doesn't really help. But once you have, you know, done that, make sure your goals are realistic, you can measure them, you really want to achieve them. Then you need to start working on the how you're going to make that a reality. And the key thing is just breaking it down. Like, it's really, really simple. A 12-month goal, you can lose focus, you can get a bit disillusioned. But if you break that 12-month goal down into, well, actually, every single month I just need to do this, or even better, every single week I need to do this, you know, it's much more manageable. And I think you're much more likely to achieve it. But yeah, I think the key part of that question is, is the first bit. I think the goals have to be strong enough, you have to really want them. And then I think the how, you know, you need to think about that, but I think if the goals are good enough, you'll do whatever it takes and you will make them happen. So I would spend more time making sure the goals are, you know, really, really strong.
Yeah, love that, Karl. That's 15 minutes with a mentor. That was it. Cheers. Thank you so much.
