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Recruiters Live Lounge | Get Inspired! | Weekly Interviews with the best Recruitment Business Leader

Recruiters Live Lounge | Get Inspired! | Weekly Interviews with the best Recruitment Business Leader

By Roy Ripper

Inspiring interviews with today's most successful recruitment business leaders brought to you weekly. Join us at RecruitersLiveLounge.com as we take you on the journey of our spotlighted recruitment business leader. We start every podcast with their biggest failure before uncovering their 'eureka moment' and the actions they took to turn that moment into success. We then ask them what they are working on now and their vision for the future of recruitment. We end every episode with 'The Lightning Round' - 5 Questions that will unlock golden nuggets of information for you to take away and use im
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13: Russell Clements reveals his sliding doors moment into recruitment

Recruiters Live Lounge | Get Inspired! | Weekly Interviews with the best Recruitment Business LeaderMay 05, 2015

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28:43
#44 Karinna Shields of Concur Engineering talks to Roy Ripper about getting into the right mindset for success.

#44 Karinna Shields of Concur Engineering talks to Roy Ripper about getting into the right mindset for success.

Today’s Live Lounge guest is Karinna Shields, Director and Co-Founder of Concur Recruitment based in Coventry.  Karinna has worked her way through the ranks of recruitment, starting her career age 17 as a receptionist, moving up to resourcer, recruiter, account manager, then managing multiple branches before setting up her own agency - all within 7 years!  She feels that one of her biggest achievements in that time has been winning a million pound account during her role as an account manager, quickly followed by setting up Concur Recruitment with her business partner, completely self-funded at the age of just 21. Karinna is well known by her friends and colleagues for her determination which I think will go a long way to helping her achieve her mission which is for Concur to become a household name and the biggest recruiter in the UK for industrial, engineering and IT recruitment.

Aug 10, 201654:28
#43 Abigail Brown of Openingz.com talks to Roy Ripper about doing a quality job for your clients.

#43 Abigail Brown of Openingz.com talks to Roy Ripper about doing a quality job for your clients.

Abigail started her 18 year recruitment career in Houston Texas at the age of 22 and when returning to the UK in 2003 she continued in the industry with a brief spell at a national staffing firm, 8 years at an independent boutique agency and also some time working as an Internal Recruiter. It was whilst in this role she that she created what is now Openingz.com with an emphasis on providing a quality service to the video conferencing and visual solutions industry, and in July 2015 Abigail began running Openingz.com independently from her home based in Thatcham, Berkshire. It’s been a strong start and her model is based around a true partnership approach called Focuz which is proving to be very effective and which Abigail is going to tell us more about!

Jul 12, 201643:52
#42 Steven Convery of Concur Engineering talks to Roy Ripper about being the best you can be.

#42 Steven Convery of Concur Engineering talks to Roy Ripper about being the best you can be.

Steven Convery is the Owner and Director at Concur Engineering based in the Midlands.  He started his career off as an old school recruiter – meaning without a “computer” and relying on old school methods, just a phone and the yellow pages. Times have obviously changed since then and Steven has become a highly accomplished man Manager and Owner/Director of his 2nd recruitment business.  Steven has a strong experience in turnarounds and start-ups and currently invests his time in his newest venture ‘Concur Engineering’ with business partner Karinna Shields.  Since moving on from his old school recruitment methods Steven now insists that the 21st century modern technology is at the heart of his business with the latest cloud based products assisting the back office and business functions with a major focus on his brand through all social media platforms.

Apr 26, 201652:27
#41 Tony Chapman of LinuxRecruit shares his incredible recruitment journey

#41 Tony Chapman of LinuxRecruit shares his incredible recruitment journey

Tony Chapman started his recruitment career in 2007 as a Trainee Consultant at a boutique agency in London, initially specialising in infrastructure technology before specialising further into the Linux and Open Source space, quickly becoming the company's highest producer. A brief stint setting up a division at one of James Caan's brands then led him to branch out on his own setting up LinuxRecruit. LinuxRecruit are now widely seen as a market leading and pioneering agency within the Open Source and DevOps industries and have successfully built whole engineering teams for the likes of ITV, Net-A-Porter, Ticketmaster and dozens of other companies including many Tech City start-ups. The company were shortlisted for newcomer Agency of the Year in the 2014 Recruiter Awards.

Apr 05, 201639:01
#40: Liz Longman chats to Roy Ripper about being true to yourself in recruitment

#40: Liz Longman chats to Roy Ripper about being true to yourself in recruitment

Liz Longman is the Managing Director of TEAM (The Employment Agents Movement) and has been involved in recruitment for over 20 years. Before her current position she worked her way through the ranks to become a Regional Director heading up a region for a generalist agency covering every sector from supplying temporary workers, permanent placements at an Executive level and a Managed Service Contract.  Joining TEAM in 2006 was a natural progression having worked for the founder Member of TEAM and made engagement with other Members to increase the bottom line of the Agency.

Mar 22, 201635:18
#39: Amit Somaiya encourages us to enjoy the journey, not just the destination

#39: Amit Somaiya encourages us to enjoy the journey, not just the destination

Amit Somaiya, CEO at IMS People based in India has over 16 years extensive recruitment experience in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia and North America, working with both agencies and corporates, and therefore has a unique perspective on recruitment, global migration and outsourcing. He travels extensively in both developed countries and developing countries to understand the trends and influences of the recruitment industry.  Amit’s known within IMS for his hands-on approach in delivering commercial projects and for his vision to achieve global recognition for continuous innovation.

Mar 15, 201655:48
Ben Scobie-Trumper talks about working in the golden age of recruitment

Ben Scobie-Trumper talks about working in the golden age of recruitment

Ben Scobie-Trumper has worked in the recruitment industry for over ten years, a career which started by winning rookie of the year in his first full year for one of the largest IT recruitment agencies in the UK, and then going on to work in multiple sectors including construction, pharma and gaming.  Ben set up Audentia Recruitment two and a half years ago which serves the e-gaming space both on-line and off-line and he's now at the stage where he's ready to put his ambitious growth plans into action.

Mar 08, 201635:03
Kai Murray tells you how to invest in your future

Kai Murray tells you how to invest in your future

Kai Murray is the former MD of 'Search Consultancy' who managed their period of massive growth and who now is passing on her 25+ years of expert recruitment and business experience via her own management and leadership consultancy business.  Kai spent 11 years at Search, employed originally in 1996 as Associate Director Edinburgh and within two years became the MD for Scotland.  In 2002 she did a BI MBO growing the business from £40M to £120M on exit and on leaving Search had over 600 employees and offices in 13 cities. Kai raises lots of money for charity and is a Board Member for the Princess Trust for Carers - she has personally raised over £150k for them.

Mar 02, 201647:43
#36 Toby Thwaites likes to keep ahead of the curve

#36 Toby Thwaites likes to keep ahead of the curve

Toby Twaites has 20 years’ experience in the Recruitment Industry and started 'Purple' over 15 years ago. During that time he’s been responsible for Purple becoming one of the most successful brands in the sector winning many accolades and even a personal win for “Recruitment Boss Of The Year” at the Marketing and Advertising Recruitment Awards. Toby has a keen eye for business opportunities and is always open to finding new and innovative ways of working and pushing the boundaries which extends to him being invited to speak at many events within the digital and creative sectors.

Dec 15, 201532:40
#35 James Blackwell believes self-education will make you a fortune

#35 James Blackwell believes self-education will make you a fortune

James Blackwell is CEO at Ronald James and an ambitious recruiter with a goal to achieve a net worth of £100 million by the age of 40. He started working at age 13 running a newsagents on a weekend. He then bought and sold cars from auction aged 17-19 selling over 40 cars and with that money he started his own coffee shop with a turnover of £250k by just 20 years old. James won Entrepreneur of the year for Durham in 2006 and whist working for BMW for 4 years he was their Top Salesman selling over 500 cars within that period. In 2011 he made move into recruitment where very quickly he found himself managing a team of 8 consultants on track to achieve £1 million revenue and most recently launched his own business - Ronald James. 

Nov 24, 201542:33
#34 Toby Babb on being the hardest worker in the room

#34 Toby Babb on being the hardest worker in the room

Toby is the Managing Director and founder of Harrington Starr, the London based financial services technology recruitment, events and insight company. He is the Chairman of the FinTech Influencers, The FS Technology Breakfast, and the editor of The Trading Technologist and FinTech Capital Magazines. Harrington Starr launched in 2010 and has grown from 4 people to a market leading position in the global FinTech community and is soon to be launching a number of new brands in the group. He started his career in recruitment in 2000 and has held senior positions in two listed brands before launching Harrington Starr.

Nov 17, 201546:31
#33 Christine Tautari

#33 Christine Tautari

Christine Tautari is Co-founder and Director of The Needle, a candidate video interview platform, and they are based on the Isle of Man in the UK. Christine is originally from New Zealand where she started her career in sales and marketing. When she came over to the UK in 2005 she got involved in recruitment which she immediately fell in love with and started a 10 year career in the interim recruitment market. Four years ago she decided to start up her own business and launched The Needle with a partner.

Nov 09, 201536:35
#32 Daniel Mundy shares his insights into inspirational leadership

#32 Daniel Mundy shares his insights into inspirational leadership

Daniel Mundy is the CEO of anzuk* Teachers a recruitment agency focusing on teaching and childcare placements across Australia, the UK and Asia. At university in Ballarat, Australia,  Daniel completed studies as a Physical Education Teacher and then moved to the UK for three and a half years to teach PE to Health and Special Educational Needs students. Upon making the decision to head home to start a new life Daniel says he was lucky enough to fall into Education Recruitment and when spotting a gap in the market for sourcing and placing teachers between the UK and Australia he created anzuk*. Daniel is passionate about creating a workplace culture that promotes team, trust, respect and fun - it's become the fabric of who he is and how he leads anzuk*. 

Nov 03, 201547:18
#31 Wendy McDougall continues to make waves

#31 Wendy McDougall continues to make waves

Wendy McDougall is a serial entrepreneur, currently making waves and influencing the recruitment technology space with her role as CEO at Firefish Software. Wendy’s first business '9-20 Recruitment' was launched in 2004 and sold successfully 6 months after returning from the amazing Entrepreneurship Development Program in Boston in 2013.  Now focusing on Firefish Software initially spun out of 9-20 in 2010 and after a successful 2 year BETA programme, she's establishing a clear ‘product market fit’ as a sales and marketing platform for the SME Recruitment agency vertical. In July 2014, just under £400k of seed funding was raised to accelerate growth. Employees within the company have increased from 7 to 17 with a hiring plan in place to reach 25 by the year-end with a new office space thrown in.

Oct 27, 201536:58
30: Abigail Stevens chats about changing peoples' lives

30: Abigail Stevens chats about changing peoples' lives

Abigail’s career started in marketing but after 8 years she ‘fell into recruitment’ with Pertemps and ASA International.  Abigail maintained a constant top biller status at ASA and to her knowledge, still holds the record of highest ever biller! When she was asked if she would like to be part of a management buyout, Abigail realised she did not want to take on someone else’s company and that she wanted to start her own. So in 2000, with a vision of Improving Lives, Abigail created Think Global Recruitment which is now recognised as one of the leading international, accountancy and finance recruitment consultancies.

Oct 20, 201529:19
#29 Glyn Blaize lights up the recruitment galaxy

#29 Glyn Blaize lights up the recruitment galaxy

Glyn Blaize had a promising rugby career ahead of him in the late 90’s playing for Wasps, England Students U21s and Rugby Lions but his rugby career was cut short by a horrific sporting injury which saw him in hospital for six weeks. However this was the catalyst for Glyn to pursue a new career.  He entered the recruitment industry in 1999 and went on to hold Commercial Director, Sales Director and Operation Director positions at fast growing SME recruitment business  and now has over twelve years’ experience improving operational efficiency and sales strategy in Recruitment businesses.  Earlier this year Glyn  set up Addocura with Darren Ryemill (of Opus fame) and together they are building what they believe will be the ‘go-to’ Management Consultancy for the Recruitment Industry.

Oct 13, 201535:47
28: Andrew Hairs tells us why its important to take time to think

28: Andrew Hairs tells us why its important to take time to think

Andrew Hairs is the Group Managing Director of the Monroe Consulting Group and is based out in Jakarta overseeing the offices in Jakarta, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Santiago and Mexico City.

Andrew has over 15 years recruitment experience starting as a consultant, and then moving onto executive search and working for a company where he was responsible for signing up high volume accounts.

The experience Andrew gained doing volume recruitment is why Monroe Consulting Group asked him to be their MD at a new office in Tokyo. After 10 months he was asked to take on a 6 month assignment in Indonesia to start another office for the group - that was 10 years ago! Monroe Indonesia is now one of the most recognized and successful executive recruitment brands in Indonesia.

Sep 30, 201541:50
27: Gareth Biggerstaff

27: Gareth Biggerstaff

Gareth Biggerstaff is a seasoned leader in Technology & Digital recruitment, having started his career with a large national provider over 20 years ago as a researcher and over time progressing to Director and skilfully building a market-leading recruiting team.

Of course working that length of time in one sector means that Gareth has experienced both the positive and negative cycles of change but has always maintained a hands-on approach to team management and client delivery which he believes has is the reason for a large part of his success. Three years ago Gareth made the leap and started his own company Be-IT Resourcing with the aim of building an agency to stand head and shoulders above its competitors. Now with 9 staff and an enviable client list, it looks very much like Gareth is achieving all he set out to do. 

Sep 01, 201546:27
26: Chris Young

26: Chris Young

Chris Young is the Owner of FlexiRec and an active recruiter with over 8 years experience placing rising stars and top talent with some of the UKs biggest and best loved companies including Fujitsu, Hilton Worldwide and SANYO. 3 years ago Chris founded FlexiRec as a specialist agency across 3 divisions; Commercial Office Staff, Sales Professionals, and more recently Technical Experts. Chris has big plans for the FlexiRec brand and is with us today to share his journey so far!

 
Aug 25, 201537:01
25: Jack Parsons talks about grabbing every opportunity

25: Jack Parsons talks about grabbing every opportunity

Jack Parsons started as a sales apprentice 5 years ago after leaving school and started his recruitment career in the education sector for Morgan Hunt. He quickly went on to win best new comer out of around 250 recruitment consultants and in his few years there went on to continually win award after award. He then spent a little time in healthcare recruitment before founding Recruitment Jack an online platform for candidates to find the latest jobs, industry news and company insight all in one place  – which he now runs as CEO and which he grew to 8 staff in just 10 weeks. 

Aug 11, 201536:56
24: Darren Ryemill has infectious enthusiasm for success

24: Darren Ryemill has infectious enthusiasm for success

Darren Ryemill, CEO of Opus Professional Services Group founded Opus Recruitment Solutions in 2008 but has since grown the initial unique offering into a fast expanding Group which now includes Opus Information Technology, Opus Engineering, Baltimore Consulting Group, McLean Ross, Hinton Spencer, JDR Energy, Addocura and Talentcubed. Having been recognised with multiple awards for his leading and innovative approach, including “Best Leader” from The SundayTimes, Recruiter magazine’s “Entrepreneur of the Year” and “Entrepreneur of the Year” from Recruitment International - Darren is revolutionising the recruitment industry.

Aug 04, 201540:33
23: Nikki Taylor talks about the importance of self development

23: Nikki Taylor talks about the importance of self development

Nikki started her recruitment career in 2002 as a consultant and with her passion and determination remains excited about the challenges and rewards that the industry has to offer. Nikki started her business REJS with business partner Richard over six years ago on the Gold Coast of Australia and they now search talent exclusively for the Real Estate industry. Nikki’s passion and energy and has changed the lives of many within real estate today and she is proud to now be the ‘go-to’ company for the top 10% in their market.

Jul 29, 201536:11
22: David Spencer-Percival tells us that we need to be responsive to change in order to suceed

22: David Spencer-Percival tells us that we need to be responsive to change in order to suceed

David Spencer-Percival was the Managing Director at Huntress Group for almost 9 years before he launched Spencer Ogden in 2010 with Sir Peter Ogden and has always remained the driving force behind the company’s growth and success. With more than 15 years’ experience in recruitment, David used his knowledge to fill the gap in the market and create Spencer Ogden to service all energy sectors on a global scale. His passion for recruitment comes through in all he does and he remains one of the biggest champions of our industry's strength and potential. 

Jul 21, 201530:20
21: David Gittoes talks about creating sustained success

21: David Gittoes talks about creating sustained success

David Gittoes has worked within the recruitment industry for just over 11 years, a career which he feels he ‘fell into’ after being a golf professional for 4 years previously. He joined Artemis Search over 5 years ago as a commission-only recruiter, but worked his way up to management level and then in July 2013 he was offered the chance to become an equal partner in the business which he accepted and he now holds the position of Recruitment Director.  Artemis Search works within the Emerging Technologies Sectors, Financial Services Sectors and the Print Industry.

Jul 14, 201531:55
20: Lee McQueen leads by example

20: Lee McQueen leads by example

​Lee McQueen is the Managing Director of 'Raw Talent Academy' which he founded after growing frustrated by the lack of high calibre sales talent in the UK. Now Raw Talent Academy is fast becoming recognised as the number one provider of emerging sales talent providing talent for companies who are looking to grow and nurture their own leading sales teams. Lee has worked in recruitment for over 16 years and famously won Lord Alan Sugar's 'The Apprentice' BBC series back in 2008. 

Jul 07, 201546:06
19: Nick Johnston reveals how he went from good to great

19: Nick Johnston reveals how he went from good to great

Nick Johnston, Director at Recruitment International Asia magazine, founded Wall Street Associates in Japan in 1999. It became the first international recruitment company to receive the ISO 9001:2000 certification in Japan and eleven years later was purchased by en-japan, the premium Japanese job portal, and rebranded as Enworld. Nick stepped down as CEO in June 2012, by which time Enworld had over 180 staff in offices in Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Osaka, Singapore, Hong Kong, Seoul and Sydney. Nick now focuses on growing Recruitment International in Asia, as well as private investments mainly based in Myanmar.

Jun 30, 201537:05
18: Angela Middleton believes resilience always shines through

18: Angela Middleton believes resilience always shines through

Angela Middleton founded Middleton Murray in 2002, after spending time in a variety of corporate management positions. The company evolved from a recruitment consultancy into a Group during 2008 to include some interesting divisions, but most importantly resulted in a training subsidiary.

Middleton Murray now provides a combination of government and commercially funding training and recruitment – working with the unemployed to place them into jobs and working with the employed to enhance their skills and careers.

Jun 23, 201527:01
17: Gary Dytor is living the dream

17: Gary Dytor is living the dream

Gary Dytor has been working within recruitment for nearly 10 years where he started as a Trainee Recruitment Consultant at IT Works, but within 2 years started to develop new markets, grow team and was finally promoted to Ops Director. Gary then moved to the US in May 2014 where he set up a new IT Works Recruitment Inc out there as their CEO and he has already developed to a team of 10 consultants and built a business in excess of $1.5mil GP in their first full year. 

Jun 16, 201539:25
16: Bob Kelly believes staying focused is the key

16: Bob Kelly believes staying focused is the key

Bob Kelly has over 30 years of information technology experience with significant expertise in enterprise systems and founded CareerPlanners Services in 1999 with a focus on recruiting and staff augmentation in emerging technologies. Bob also served in the United States Army, and as a result CPSI is certified by the U.S. Veterans Administration as a VOSB (Veteran Owned Small Business).

Jun 01, 201534:18
15: Tim Watts talks about constant reinvention

15: Tim Watts talks about constant reinvention

Tim Watts is the Lifetime President of Pertemps Network Group, which is one of the UK's biggest independent recruitment agencies with over 1040 staff and 200 branches in 70 towns. Pertemps was started in 1961 by Tim's mum who took a £500 loan to start the company. Tim then started in 1970 when he was 19 years old as a temporary worker.  As well as still being involved in Pertemps Tim finds time to be raise large amounts of money as Vice President of the Spinal Injuries Association and also to fulfill the duties of being High-Sherrif of the West Midlands.

May 19, 201530:09
14: Dawn Milman-Hurst tells us that anything is possible!

14: Dawn Milman-Hurst tells us that anything is possible!

10 years ago Dawn left a well-respected career within HR to pursue her passion for diversity and inclusion, and as a result she created Equal Approach as an inclusive recruitment agency, in order to remove barriers for candidates with difference.

Dawn specialises in diversity and inclusion, specifically in championing individuals with difference to maximise their potential.

May 12, 201518:42
13: Russell Clements reveals his sliding doors moment into recruitment

13: Russell Clements reveals his sliding doors moment into recruitment

May 05, 201528:43
12: Daniel Faulkner believes your options are limitless

12: Daniel Faulkner believes your options are limitless

Daniel Faulkner is a headhunter and Director of Arthur Financial specialising in senior appointments and team moves within the Lloyd's & London insurance markets. Since Daniel has been heading up Arthur Financial it has seen consistent growth in all areas which Daniel believes is due to the strong value he places on company culture, advancement, innovation and integrity. 

Apr 28, 201529:12
11: Natalie Ellis says "do work you're proud of"

11: Natalie Ellis says "do work you're proud of"

Apr 21, 201518:10
10: Tony Goodwin admits he has made more mistakes than most people.

10: Tony Goodwin admits he has made more mistakes than most people.

Tony Goodwin, CEO of ANTAL INTERNATIONAL

In 1993, spotting the potential of the new professional employment markets in the former Warsaw pact countries, Tony Goodwin set up his own recruitment business and named the company Antal – Hungarian for ‘Anthony’. Since then Tony and his team have developed substantial recruitment businesses in some of the most challenging emerging markets across the globe, such as Russia, India and China, through a mix of wholly-owned operations, franchises and joint ventures.  His impact on the recruitment industry has been recognised through a series of major awards including Ernst & Young’s ‘Entrepreneur of the Year (Business Products and Services)’ and Recruiter magazine’s ‘Best International Recruitment Agency’. 

Apr 07, 201539:44
9: David Lawrence reveals the path to success is to take massive determined action!

9: David Lawrence reveals the path to success is to take massive determined action!

David Lawrence has been in the recruitment industry since 2000 and is still as passionate about recruitment as the first day he started. As the Managing Director he's responsible for the strategic plan for growth for Vine Resources growing to 40 people over the next 3 years to support their clients in the global telecommunications market providing executive level recruitment, contingent workforce and permanent hires. 

Mar 31, 201523:04
8: Alex Raubitschek advises us to take the risk if we believe in ourselves

8: Alex Raubitschek advises us to take the risk if we believe in ourselves

Alex Raubitschek has over 20 years experience in the recruitment industry, most recently focusing on the buying and selling of recruitment businesses through his roles at Hamilton Bradshaw and currently Principal at Claremont Board Management. 

Mar 24, 201530:05
7: Ann Swain says YOU have to be a control freak!

7: Ann Swain says YOU have to be a control freak!

Ann Swain is the CEO of APSCo (Association of Professional Staffing Companies). Ann has worked in the recruitment industry for over 30 years and is globally recognised as one of it's strongest ambassadors.

Mar 16, 201539:46
6: Johnny Walker tells us why it's OK to ask others for help

6: Johnny Walker tells us why it's OK to ask others for help

Mar 09, 201534:17
5: Kevin Green raises the bar

5: Kevin Green raises the bar

Mar 09, 201531:03
4: Doug Bugie advises that you don’t let others’ voices drown out your inner voice

4: Doug Bugie advises that you don’t let others’ voices drown out your inner voice

Mar 09, 201532:56
3: Alice Weightman talks about the importance of passion, energy and drive

3: Alice Weightman talks about the importance of passion, energy and drive

Mar 09, 201531:48
2: Dan McGuire discusses how adversity and failure can offer you your biggest opportunity

2: Dan McGuire discusses how adversity and failure can offer you your biggest opportunity

Mar 09, 201536:10
1: What is Recruiters Live Lounge - Introduction with Roy Ripper

1: What is Recruiters Live Lounge - Introduction with Roy Ripper

Mar 08, 201510:05