What I Learned From the Best Recruiters in the World This Year: Lessons From 2025

The end of another year. We've done over 50 episodes this year. We've done the most live podcast events we've ever done. We're taking it to Australia for the first time, doing our first ever live podcast event in Austin, Texas, in Glasgow, safe to say I feel like I've learned quite a lot about the people doing really well in our industry, the companies that have maybe struggled, have had to learn lessons the hard way. And I wanted to try and package up some of those common threads, themes that I've really continued to see this year. And maybe also make some bets, shall we say, in terms of what's going to be important going into next year. So let's get into it. The first thing that I've got written down is A word that we hear a lot in our industry, which is relationships. I've got market knowledge, market understanding. I've got meeting people in person. There absolutely, of course, are nuances to succeeding in different parts of the world when it comes to recruitment. And there's gonna be even more nuances when it comes to succeeding in the particular markets. I'd be pretty confident after spending time with people in varied parts of the world who work in recruitment, who recruit in different sectors and industries, that some of the most consistent principles behind them being successful, their teams being successful, are some of these aspects. And I don't think we're learning anything new here, but maybe just an important reminder. That it's probably gonna be more important than ever to really understand why people work with you, whether that be candidates, clients, but why do they have a relationship with you? Why do they prefer working with you? Why do they take your call? Why do they listen to you? These are all things that I think we should really think about and understand, because if we understand that, then we can replicate it. And create more relationships. But I think the reason why this is so important is because as technology, AI continues to evolve at an absolute rapid rate. I always like to remind people that ChatGPT came out in 2022, which is absolutely nuts. What's gonna become more and more typical, accessible ultimately is gonna be data and information. You can go onto AI tool of choice and say, can you conduct a deep research on all of the types of people or types of organizations that are in this space or recruit for these types of people? Getting access to information and data that we all have available to us really is gonna be something that is gonna not cost that much, even with time as well. And the reason why that's important is because the example that I like to give recruiters when I speak to them or recruitment founders is, If you come up against a recruiter in your space, so I recruit, I used to recruit insurance professionals. So if I'm still recruiting in the insurance industry and I've won a job and they've also agreed to work with one other recruitment agency that also recruits in the insurance space, And we conduct the same search and we understand our market. We know the types of people that could do this role for our client. And we get up the same search, call it a long list or a short list, whatever. We're going to have access to the same data and information, right? And maybe in the past, my CRM and the data that I have might be better than the other person's, but now really, We are likely gonna have access to all of the same information with the tools that we have available. And that also includes companies, by the way, and talent acquisition teams. So if that's the case and I conduct my search and me against the other recruiter, there's 20 or 30 people that could do this job. My competitor may only have the data that these people on paper can do that job. But because I'm really committed to understanding my world, my ecosystem, I've really tried to commit to becoming a market expert. And I understand what's going on in my world as, as well as what people care about in my world. I pulled up the same exact people that could do that job on paper, but 30% of them I've actually spoken to. And maybe even met. And what I've also got against these people's name is not only that on paper they could do the job, but I also understand why they do the job, what they care about, their motivations, what a next step in their career looks like, what they're really striving for, where they want to be in 5 years' time, what they really dislike when they work with recruitment companies, or what they absolutely love when it comes to going into recruitment process, what's really important to them, the list could go on. What list and what data is going to be more valuable? But as well as that, understanding the why these people do the job, what they care about, and ultimately just more information about them as people. So what I'm getting at here is the IP and the data that's going to come incredibly, incredibly valuable is from your conversations. Hence why we're talking about relationships. I think it's going to be very hard to build a relationship with someone if we're not even able to speak to this person. Like, how many relationships do you have in your life where you would say, I have a really good relationship with this person, and you only speak over email? So the reason why we're going to keep coming back to this, and I know it's something that we hear a lot, but I do think it's going to become really important is ultimately really thinking about how do we build relationships and why do we have some of the relationships that we already have and how did they start and what parts of that journey are repeatable? What parts of that journey can we make intentional? I really think that is a principle that applies wherever you are for the most part. Of course, there's gonna be some of you that go, people don't really care. They just want the right job at the right time. And the clients just want a recruiter that charges reasonable rates and can get me the people. Yeah, there's gonna be those people out there, but I think for the most part, relationships is really important. And to build on that, this market insight piece is also really critical. Recently had a conversation with a recruitment leader that put it really simply, and I really like this. This has always been important, but I think again, back to what I was just talking about, it's going to become even more important. And that is being a true market expert is probably going to be come first as a recruiter. And you also happen to be really great and world-class at recruitment. So think about that. First, market expertise, and you also happen to do recruitment versus I'm world-class at recruitment and my market knowledge and understanding is okay or average, or I don't spend as much time on that. I think the best recruiters really truly are really embedded into their worlds, into their ecosystems, and can jump on a call with someone, can meet someone for coffee. And generally have those peer-to-peer conversations, I think that's something you should be thinking about, which is why we then get talking about spending time with people in person. One of the things that is going to continue to reduce next year is trust. With technology and AI, I think we can all feel it, experience it in our own ways. That video that I just saw on TikTok, is that even real? That message that I just got, is that real? Did a real person send that to me? These are all questions that we would not be asking ourselves however many years ago. So trust is going to be something that— it's always been important, but I think it's going to be really important. And if I think about some of the people in my life that I trust, not going to say maybe all of them I've met in person and we've had different experiences and I understand their story, I understand important aspects of their life. But I think getting in front of people and meeting people in person beyond the screen, beyond the email, is something that I think you should all be really intentional about because I think it will help a lot of you succeed. I think there would be a— I'd be very confident to make the correlation that the more people that you meet next year, the more business you'll do with them. I'd be pretty confident saying that. So I think where we have to start, and I think it's going to continue to be important, is this relationship piece, is this market insight piece, is getting in front of people, really committing to understanding your world. Because a lot of the information, data, accessing it is going to be so readily available. So we need to bring more to the table is where I probably wanted to start. I'm sure a lot of you are doing that. If not, that's fine. We can improve and we can really commit to that. And I do think if you do, hopefully, if you enjoy your industry, are curious about the people that work in it, Finding people interesting that you speak to, meet, should make the job more fun. I'd like to think it'd be more fun for a lot of you to attend industry events, meet people, go out for coffees with people, get to know actual human beings and why people do their job and who they are as people versus just speak to people over email and through a screen. May not be all of you, but I'd like to think that'd make the job enjoyable for a lot of you. So I've got also written down here AI and tech. I feel like I've touched on it. I think you can't go online right now without people talking about it. I know it may frustrate a lot of you, but I think we've already covered what you need to be thinking about. And the AI and technology piece, I think every single tool out there is all about reducing admin. Stop doing admin. Right? So that's why we start thinking about getting data, market knowledge, who can do the job. A lot of that admin-heavy stuff, research, a lot of that is going to be taken up by AI and should be. So then again, it comes down to who's gonna take your call. We've got this data all done by AI. Now I need to speak to this person. Now I need to engage with this person. And again, we're then getting to relationships. We're then getting on how can we build trust? How can we increase the chances of people picking up our phone, returning our calls? And I do think you should absolutely be curious about how can you leverage technology? How can you use AI? I think there's some real low-hanging fruit out there. If you're not already using it in day-to-day, probably a lot of you are, I absolutely would encourage you to do so. 'Cause the more that you do, then the more open-minded you're going to be to potential ideas and different ways that you can streamline some of that admin stuff that you do. So that's some of the important aspects there. I think what I've then got written down, this may not apply to all of you, it's definitely going to apply more to business owners. Maybe aspiring entrepreneurs. But I think also, if you're employed and you work for a business, then this also applies. I've just got written down here, know what you want. Whenever I have sat down with recruitment entrepreneurs who have exited their business, or now helping and working with other business owners, or just through my conversations and the meetings I have throughout the year, I think the most unhappy recruitment founders that I speak to, which sometimes you can just feel and sense, are those that really aren't clear on the type of business that they want and what they want for their business and where they're going. And the reason for that is because something that we all have to deal with and manage is comparison. And now with LinkedIn, it's so easy to assume and see what we believe people, other companies are doing. And if you are not really clear on where you want to end up, why you're doing what you're doing, and then see other companies doing what you think you should be doing or what you think you'd prefer to be doing, you are always gonna think and feel you're not where you should be. Or there's another path out there that's way better. But actually it's a big question. It's something that I've continued to have to think about for my own journey with my business, which is like, what do you want? And it's really important to reflect on it and to give time to it and really understand what it is that you want. And that may change, it may evolve over time, but you have to know where you're going because particularly if you're growing a recruitment business. If you can't clearly articulate what it is that you want to your team, to the people that you want to join your business, it's going to be a challenging journey. But most of all for yourself, it's going to be really hard to make decisions confidently if you don't know what you want. And that applies for your career as well. Do you know what you want? Do you know where you want to end up? Do you know why you're doing this hard job? It's important to think about that because you would have heard it many a time on the podcast, but that why is absolutely essential. And recalibrating on that, thinking about that, reflecting on it is absolutely crucial. And that applies if you're building your career as well as building a business. Know what you want is important. What I've then got written down is sales and complacency. So because what we do at Hector, with it being a training platform, training business, we're really trying to focus in on closing skill gaps. What's driving inconsistent performances? What's behind that. And we've got a lot of data now. So we've probably had nearly over 500 recruiters on our platform so far. And whenever we add people on, we always conduct a skill assessment. And by far, the area that people feel like they are the weakest is business development. Now, there's so much that goes into that, right? And that is a loaded like category. So that's why I put sales, but to tie it back into what I've consistently seen this year, I think the companies that have been successful, are successful, are those that have really committed to that sales culture and having that sales-first mentality and really being clear on them being a sales organization. Now, again, that comes with certain perceptions. There's people that would say, I've had really good sales experience working with great salespeople, and there'll be people saying the opposite. If we really think about that, ultimately what people have to be really committed to is understanding why customers work with them, understanding the problems that they solve, for their customers, understanding the challenges and pains that these people have, and really understanding your value proposition and understanding what you're selling and really committing to that and not getting complacent with it. It's something that the best companies have committed to. It's just really obvious. So You can change that as an individual, like really commit to becoming a world-class salesperson. I think if you commit to that, you will be a world-class recruiter. And likewise, as a leader, what is our sales strategy? What is our sales process? Do we have one? Does my team have a real clear understanding on why customers work with us? What is our value proposition? What is it that we speak to our customers about, prospects about? Committing to that sales mastery is absolutely crucial and something that you should all really commit to. And that's something that we speak a lot about on the podcast. Most great recruiters that I've met have that mentality, so definitely take that into next year. The other big thing that really stood out this year was just this— it's probably always been there, but I think it's been just a bit more front and center this year, which is— I've got written down diversification. So what I mean by that, and all of you can relate to this, is not falling into that trap of having one or two or three really good accounts that you put all your eggs into. And if one of those really doesn't show up for you, that's really negatively impactful on where you'll end up at the end of the year. So this diversification piece, I think the companies that I've met this year that have done really well have been really intentional about this diversification. That's diversification done That's brilliant. I've got permanent revenue that hopefully I can get to a consistent monthly basis. And then I've got contract, which is recurring revenue. That's amazing. That is the holy grail for my recruitment business. We can start breaking it down so we could get into diversification in terms of how your customers work with you. So then we get into contingent, exclusive, retained, RPOs, embedded models, subscription. Fractional recruitment, whatever you want to call it, just different service lines, which equals different revenue, which means diversification. So having different ways that companies work with you is something that absolutely all of you can control, can influence, can come up with. I think you should be thinking about that versus just having one way that your companies and customers work with you. Why do we just have one way? If we're doing a really good job, we should see different opportunities and different problems that our customers have, and why can't we come up with ideas and different ways of working that solves those different issues and problems? Then we have diversification in terms of market. So this could be, you might probably are in some sort of niche, some sort of industry, and you might do a very particular part of that industry. So diversification might come from doing other parts of that ecosystem, other parts of that industry. Or you might have a business where you have someone that recruits in a particular niche in technology, and you might have a niche and a different team that recruits in life sciences. It's possible, and there's a lot of successful companies that have non-competing brands. But the companies that do it well are very intentional about those markets and do it intentionally to one, make sure they're not competing, but there are plenty of opportunities to cross-sell because diversification in this way would mean that if a client works with you with one team and we've set up the other divisions correctly in the other teams, then there's going to be an opportunity for that client doesn't just spend money with one team, but spends money with multiple. Why is this beneficial? We may have some of our core markets just go through one of the cycles where the demand isn't there and it's struggling, but you've got very capable recruiters, you've got very capable people in an environment and a market where there just isn't demand there, or that demand is really low. So imagine being able to then deploy and put those people into a market where the demand is really high, and we've only got that opportunity to do that because We're not just in one market. That might be hard if you're a really small business. However, I think it's something that we can all be fairly intentional with, even if we are a small team or a larger team. I think if you're in a particular industry, why limit yourself to one particular skill set, one particular type of job title that you place? Niche and that market expertise is more important than ever. But I think you can be smart with this and think about this diversification and really think about how can I future-proof my business? And I think you can do that by making sure that you haven't got all your eggs in one basket when it comes to industry, market, skillset that you focus on. Finally, how else can we do it? Not recruiting in just one location. I think that's been another real standout trend over the last 12 to 18 months has been the amount of UK companies that I've met that 80%, 90% of their revenue is in the US market. That definitely is something that has come up a lot this year. I mean, with our US podcast event, I think there was like 10 Americans in the room. So I've got some work to do there in terms of the American audience. But with today's world and the tools that we have, There's obviously a learning curve in terms of recruiting in different markets. There's different legislation, there's different things to understand. But honestly, don't let that scare you from taking action. I think you should be committed and have a plan. But again, if you're thinking about diversification and future-proofing our business, I think up there, right up there should be How can we recruit in not just one location in the UK? It could be regional, different parts of the UK. That could be beneficial. But wouldn't it be great if we also recruited for companies in Europe, companies in America, companies in Asia? The massive benefit to this is we're not then just relying on one economy. And we could have a UK market that's absolutely booming when a US market isn't and vice versa. And that is a really, really strong position to be in. So I think that's something that's really important. So diversification is something that I think really great companies have done intentionally with a real plan and a strategy behind it. I think that's something they've done well this year that I've seen. And I think also, hopefully, what a lot of you can see as well, I am a massive, massive advocate of our industry. And working in it and building a career in it. So hopefully what a number of you would've been inspired by this year is the amount of really great stories of recruiters that started their career in the UK and have taken their lives and their careers and even started businesses in entirely different countries. That is, I think, one of the coolest things that our industry can offer as a career is that if you are committed If it's right for where you are in your life, it's something that you'd always love to do, you can absolutely take your career to an entire different part of the world. And I think that is pretty cool, as well as all the other benefits of our industry and all the skills that you get to learn, the life skills as well as the professional and career skills that you get to build as a recruiter. I think that's pretty cool that you can take that skill set, that knowledge, that know-how to Australia, to America, to Dubai, if you want to go there, to Hong Kong, anywhere. And there are going to be recruitment businesses that really value and need fantastic world-class brilliant recruiters. And if you're listening to this podcast, you're absolutely one of those people. Maybe you're not where you want to be today, but you're striving for that. So hopefully going into next year, we can get more and more stories like that, because I think that is pretty cool to show what's possible and what you can build for yourself, not just career-wise and professionally, but personally. I think that's pretty cool. So I'm going into next year excited. I'm going into next year with optimism. That is my default. But I think there are plenty of opportunities there for people to achieve their goals, succeed. A lot of people ask me, like, how are you finding it? What's the market like? What are you hearing from people? And my answer always is, it depends. Depends who you speak to. Plenty of people I've spoken to this year who have had a great year. Plenty of people this year have had a challenging year. But genuinely, I think what's going to continue to happen, back to where we started, I think we're going to have to continue to elevate as an industry, elevate as a business, elevate our service, elevate as individuals because of technology, because of AI, and because of what companies that we work with are going to have readily available, what they could invest in and pay for versus work with a recruitment agency, what talent acquisition teams are going to have access to, and all these different things. I think it's going to have to keep ensuring that for the right people that are willing to not get complacent, are gonna have to keep leveling up their capability, level up what they bring to their industry, their market. And I think that's a good thing. So what I'd be really thinking about going into next year is one, really understanding what's worked this year, and hopefully make sure that you understand what those elements are. So if you haven't already seen our end-of-year review worksheet, make sure that you check that out. I'll include a link in the show notes. Any great recruiter makes time to understand what's working. They do it on a consistent weekly, monthly basis. So at the end of the year, take time to take stock of where have you performed really well this year? What's worked? What hasn't? What clients have I done great business with? Why? How did I start that relationship? And so on. You need to understand these things so you can take those important lessons into next year. I'm sure there's gonna be some common themes and trends, parts of that can really help you have confidence going into next year where you need to focus, where you need to double down. And then I'd be really thinking about that question, why do my best clients work with me? And really understand that so you can recreate those clients and really think about what your value proposition is, what problems that you're solving, and understand it and be curious about it. Because that will mean that you are levels above the rest who are not concerned about that. And are stuck in this transactional good month, bad month, good month, bad month environment, which I don't think anyone enjoys. And I do think a big part of that is meeting people in person, being at the center of your ecosystem, building your brand, building trust. You could be doing that by bringing people together. You could be hosting your own community. You could be launching your own podcast. You could be hosting roundtable events. But anything that I think helps you build trust with your world, with your ecosystem, I think is a pretty strong bet. I think even better if you've got an intentional plan and strategy around how you're going to build trust in your industry beyond being a recruiter who does what they say they're going to do, who delivers brilliant talent in a great time or for a great process. Of course, that is just non-negotiable, right? You have to be great at your job, but I think doing those other aspects or thinking about those things and being intentional about it would be smart. So that's another year of the podcast. Wow. Going to continue to keep trying to level up this podcast for you all, trying to make it the most practical recruitment podcast in the world. That is my big goal for this. So for any of you that have continue to listen to the show this year. My DMs are always open, always open to feedback. But I'm gonna strive to keep delivering the goods every single week, trying to make them as practical as possible, get the stories that I believe you guys can learn a ton from, and just keep focused and stay in the game and keep leveling up what we're doing with Hector, what we're doing with the podcast, and enjoy the journey and continue to learn. I've met so many great people in our industry. I'm just a huge advocate for our industry. I know we don't always have the best reputation, but I've met enough great people to know that we like to have fun. People that stay in this industry for a long time really care about the, the service that they give, the results that they get for their clients and candidates. And that's why there's so many great people in my industry that we can all learn a lot from. So that's end of year 2025, some things to think about. And be excited for next year. There's going to be loads of opportunities out there to win, to achieve your goals. And let's keep elevating our industry, keep improving. And this podcast should help you do that. So thanks a lot for supporting the show this year. You're gonna see plenty more of me and hopefully continue to enjoy the episodes that we produce into next year. Thank you.