The Recruitment Entrepreneur Podcast

Ep20: 40 Minutes with Hishem Azzouz: The pillars of a successful recruitment entrepreneur

Episode 20 of The Recruitment Entrepreneur Podcast is now live. We're excited to announce that this marks the conclusion of our current series, and we extend a huge thank you to those who have tuned in and listened.
 
Rest assured, The Recruitment Entrepreneur Podcast will be back for a second series, so stay tuned for further updates!
 
In today's episode, we are joined by Hishem Azzouz, founder of Hector, an all-in-one learning platform for recruitment founders to maximise their team's performance.
 
Hishem and April discuss what they believe it takes to build a successful recruitment business combining Recruitment Entrepreneur's 9 characteristics of values, and the 5 core business pillars taken from the over 450 interviews Hishem has conducted since launching The Recruitment Mentors Podcasts.
 
Episode Overview:
[00:00] Introduction to Hishem and his journey
[05:57] Hishem's Introduction to Key Pillars in building a good entrepreneur
[07:07] Pillar 1 - Solution focused not vacancy focused
[09:38] How, as a founder, can you create consistency across your team
[11:31] How soon should you be introducing ideal customer profiles
[12:35] Introducing Pillar 1 into your mindset
[13:50] Pillar 2 - Obsessing over the important metrics that drive the correct behaviors.
[22:14] Pillar 3 - Truly understand what they look for when they hire; it's not guesswork.
[26:10] Hishem's definition on "non-negotiables"  when hiring talent into your team
[27:20] Scenario - hiring & interviewing senior and top talent with "non-negotiables"
[30:07] What is a top performer to Hishem and how to recognise them
[31:54] Thoughts on best practices for hiring within your business, factoring in what resources are available
[33:50] The success rate of businesses with one founder vs 2 to 3 founders
[35:53] Pillar 4 - Over-invest in their future leaders, not under-invest
[40:50] What to think about when promoting top talent in your team
[43:53] Hishem's thoughts on opportunities on giving shares of the business to managers
[45:10] Pillar 5 - Building infrastructure for scale rather than waiting until what they're doing breaks
[49:48] What are the traits needed to become a successful Entrepreneur?
 
Resources & Links
Hishem's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hishemazzouz/
Hector LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/this-is-hector/
 
At Recruitment Entrepreneur, our unwavering dedication is to empower skilled and driven recruiters by offering them avenues to conquer challenges through the shared wealth of experience, knowledge, strategic thinking, and collective expertise. If you’d like to know more about Recruitment Entrepreneur and how we can accelerate your recruitment business’s journey, connect with our investment team or apply below:
Apply today 🖱️ https://lnkd.in/eV3WNx62
Connect with our investment team - April Turner

Ep19: 30 Minutes with Dhana Toulson - Launching a new recruitment business in the marketing sector

Welcome back to the Recruitment Entrepreneur Podcast. In today's episode, we are joined by Legacy London Recruitment Founder & Director, Dhana Toulson.
 
Dhana has over 30 years of experience within the marketing sector working alongside high-end, luxury fashion brands, retail, apparel and more.
 
Dhana decided that now is the time to launch her recruitment business, Legacy London and decided to partner with Recruitment Entrepreneur to support her with the journey of launching a new business.
 
Join us today with Dhana Toulson to discuss her experience of launching a new recruitment business within the marketing sector.
 
Episode Overview:
[03:28] How did you know you wanted to be an Entrepreneur?
[04:19] Having a team of trusted recruiters within Legacy London
[05:27] What makes Legacy London different
[07:22] How has the transition been with launching Legacy London for their Clients?
[09:18] Dhana's experience in launching her business in partnership with Recruitment Entrepreneur
[11:59] Keeping up-to-date with the constant changes within the Marketing industry
[13:32] How Dhana identifies the most suitable candidates for marketing roles
[16:35] How to measure success within Legacy London
[20:09] Dhana's process of keeping up with top talent in her industry
[21:38] Speaking about the 3 C's within Recruitment
[23:02] Dhana's advice to those thinking about launching a recruitment business
[24:49] Use of Tech vs Face to Face
[28:15] What's in store for Legacy London
[30:13] What are the traits needed to become a successful Entrepreneur?
 
Resources & Links
Dhana Toulson's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dhana-toulson-9bb11921/
Legacy London Recruitment's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/98424064
Legacy London Recruitment's Website - https://legacylondonrecruitment.com/

Ep18: 30 Minutes with Sean Anderson - How to create a personal brand to help drive business success

Welcome to The Recruitment Entrepreneur Podcast. Today, we are joined by special guest, Sean Anderson, Co-Founder & CEO at Hoxo.
After working in the recruitment industry, Sean decided to launch a marketing agency called Hoxo Media in 2017. Hoxo is a passionate specialist branding agency exclusively focused on the recruitment market. With their tried and tested methodology, Hoxo offers coaching to maximise the LinkedIn presence for recruiters and recruitment businesses.
Today, Hoxo has a branding agency along with the coaching service and has since worked with 5,000 recruiters & 350 businesses supporting their personal branding on LinkedIn.
Sean joins The Recruitment Entrepreneur Podcast to discuss how to create a personal brand to help drive business success.
 
Episode Overview:
[03:09] Journey on building personal brand and how this contributed to business success
[06:52] What comes first, personal branding or experience within recruitment
[09:21] Where to start with your personal branding
[12:42] Organising your personal branding whilst recruiting
[13:58] Looking for Business Development Opportunities on LinkedIn
[15:01] Sean's suggestion on navigating new ideas and suggestions with personal branding
[18:55] Does Hoxo Media training perform the same for each recruitment industry?
[20:28] How long until you see benefits from personal branding
[22:13] Thoughts on the algorithm from LI in 2023
[25:20] How Sean's LI relationship works
[26:33] The Do's and Don'ts of Navigating Personal Branding
[28:56] The balance of work-related content to non-work non-work-related content
[31:43] What are the traits needed to become a successful Entrepreneur?
 
Resources & Links:
Hoxo Website - https://hoxomedia.com/
Hoxo LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/hoxo-media/
Sean’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-anderson-hoxo/

Ep17: 30 Minutes with Sophie Allen - The value of personal branding and relationships to help become a successful recruiter

Welcome to the Recruitment Entrepreneur podcast. In this episode, we are joined by Venatrix's  Business Development Director, Sophie Allen.
Sophie started her recruitment career in 2013 with Elaine Tyler at Celsius Graduate Recruitment Limited based in Manchester.
Fast forward 2 years, Elaine decided to launch her own recruitment business, Venatrix, and asked Sophie to support the business in winning new clients.
Sophie joins us today to talk about the value of personal branding and relationships to help become a successful recruiter.
Episode Overview:
[01:16] Sophie's experience before joining Venatrix
[02:59] At the beginning of Venatrix
[03:54] Motivation to win new clients in a start-up business
[05:13] Sophie's journey in her personal branding
[06:54] The evolution of Sophie's personal branding and use of LinkedIn
[09:45] How has the tougher market affected the SaaS industry
[12:24] Launching the Venatrix Podcast - Season 1 Business Baby
[14:30] Sophie's experience in career growth within a start-up business
[16:12] Keeping the personal touches whilst remote working in France
[19:27] Looking towards motherhood & continued personal branding
[20:33] Sophie's predictions of the market
[21:59] Sophie's advice on those looking at starting within recruitment & advice on personal branding
 
Links & Resources:
The Venatrix Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/4XGnmRG56Tb8Wz7U6y1muQ?si=f5159ba0ba5e43b8
Venatrix LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/venatrix
Sophie's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophievenatrix/
Venatrix Website - https://venatrixuk.com/

Ep16: 30 Minutes with Jack McLane & Louis Singleton - How to successfully launch a Tech recruitment business in a challenging market.

Welcome back to the Recruitment Entrepreneur Podcast. In today's episode, we are joined by NineTech Solutions Co-Founders, Jack McLane and Louis Singleton.
 
After meeting each other at Oscar and gaining almost 20 years of experience within the recruitment industry combined, the two decided to go at it alone and started their business, NineTech Solutions, a cutting-edge recruitment firm to provide end-to-end solutions for technical businesses across various functions. They partnered with Recruitment Entrepreneur earlier this year to support them on their entrepreneurial journey.
 
Join us today with Jack and Louis who take us through how to successfully launch a tech recruitment business in a challenging market.
 
Episode Overview
[01:55] Jack and Louis' Recruitment Experience
[04:04] Working out the logistics of starting their own business
[08:19] Where the name "NineTech Solutions" comes from?
[11.00] Jack and Louis' focus when launching NineTech
[13:51] Decision to seek out an investment with Recruitment Entrepreneur
[17:11] Launching with Recruitment Entrepreneur and the setup process
[21:00] The value of Recruitment Entrepreneur's CEO Forums and meeting other partners within the portfolio
[23:08] How do Jack & Louis envisage the tech market for the remainder of the year
[30:04] Advice to those looking to launch a recruitment business
 
Links
Jack's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-mclane-a459b676/
Louis' LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-singleton-04b09b46/
NineTech Solutions LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/ninetech-solutions
NineTech Solutions Website - https://ninetechsolutions.com/

Ep15: 30 Minutes with Nicholas Napier - From Rookie to Top Biller. How to consistently bill at a high level in a competitive market

Welcome to the Recruitment Entrepreneur podcast. Today, we are joined by Hayward Hawks Tech Recruitment Consultant, Nick Napier to discuss how he went from rookie to top biller within the team.
Nick worked in the  UK Civil Services for over a year and decided to dive into the recruitment industry within the nurse and healthcare sector. He decided he wanted to move into technical services and joined forces with Hayward Hawk in 2022 and has since excelled within the sector.
Nick takes us through his journey of moving from Healthcare recruitment into the tech services and how he managed to become a top biller in a short space of time.
 
Episode Overview:
[00:55] Introduction and moving into technical recruitment
[03:00] Driving factors of getting into the recruitment industry
[04:10] What was the decision behind changing sectors
[05:44] The onboarding process with Hayward Hawk
[12:43] Evolving your personal brand
[16:43] Challenges within the 2023 market and how Nick overcame them,
[19:09] Focuses on the remainder of the year
[22:32] Advice on maintaining positivity
[25:48] Nick's advice of getting into the recruitment industry
 
Resources and Links:
Nick's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-napier-/
Hayward Hawk LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/haywardhawk/
Hayward Hawk Website - https://www.haywardhawk.com/
 
 

Ep14: 30 Minutes With Jenny Armstrong - Evolution within the HR Recruitment Market & Introducing Contract Recruitment

Welcome back to the Recruitment Entrepreneur Podcast! In this episode, we are joined by our REflex Managing Director, Ranjit Singh who met with REflex partner, Jenny Armstrong, Founder of Bohemian HR.
 
Jenny started her recruitment career at Hays and quickly jumped onto the opportunity to introduce and run the HR sector within the company. After a successful 20 years within the industry and with the UK coming out of Covid-19, Jenny decided now was the time to set up her own company and started Bohemian HR.
 
Jenny partnered with Recruitment Entrepreneur’s REflex offering to support her on the journey of building a successful business. She has since gone from strength to strength within the human resources sector. She offers not only recruitment but also Bohemian HR Flex, an ad-hoc interim model for small businesses.
 
Jenny joined us to talk about the evolution within the HR recruitment market & introducing contract recruitment.
 
Episode Overview:
[01:13] Jenny's start in recruitment
[02:37] Experience within HR
[03:15] Decision to start Bohemian HR
[04:51] Naming the business and thoughts behind it
[05:57] Challenges when first setting up Bohemian HR
[08:25] Motivation and structure for managing the business
[13:03] Introducing tools and tech to support daily running of the business
[17:12] Views on significant role changes within the HR sector
[17:59] Evolving Bohemian HR to support start-ups with HR consulting
[21:15] Partnering & collaborating with Recruitment Entrepreneur Joint Venture partners
[22:14] Where does Jenny see the journey ahead for Bohemian HR
[23:24] How Jenny destresses
[24:05] Greatest achievement since launching Bohemian HR
 
Resources & Links:
Bohemian HR Website: https://www.bohemianhr.com/
Bohemian HR Flex: https://www.bohemianhr.com/consulting/
Bohemian HR LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bohemian-hr-limited/
Jenny Armstrong LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennyarmstrongbhr/

Ep13: 30 Minutes With James Caan CBE - How To Maintain Growth in a Challenging Market

Welcome back to The Recruitment Entrepreneur Podcast, in today's episode, we are joined by our Chairman and serial entrepreneur, James Caan CBE.
We are delighted to have James return to our podcast and had the opportunity to discuss how the recruitment market has changed and have some of the market predictions come true since we previously spoke in January 2023.
James takes us through what he thinks is in store for the market in the next 6 to 12 months and how businesses can adapt to become successful in a challenging market.
 
Episode Overview:
[00:42] Review of H1 and the softening of the market
[01:33] How has James seen the Portfolio adapt to the changes in the market
[04:49] James' experience in previous market challenges
[07:30] Sectors that may have seen an effect from the changes
[09:40] Scaling businesses whilst in a challenging market
[12:25] How to attract top talent into the business
[14:39] Advice to entrepreneurs looking to launch a business in challenging markets
[18:25] Recap on having a partner and a mentor today
[19:51] James' 4 key takeaways and what to focus on to become successful
 
James Caan CBE:
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamescaancbe/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/jamescaan
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jamescaanonline/
Website - https://www.james-caan.com/
Resources & Publications - https://www.james-caan.com/all-resources-publications/
Recruitment Entrepreneur - www.recruitmententrepreneur.com 

Ep12: 30 Minutes with Niall O’Kelly & Mark Baker - The added value of having chartered accounts as leading recruiters for the finance industry

Welcome to the Recruitment Entrepreneur podcast!
 
In this episode, we visited Dublin to meet with our partners, Mark Baker and Niall O’Kelly, Partners at Darwin Hawkins.
 
Niall and Mark both started their careers as Chartered Accountants, but Niall wanted the new challenge of working within recruitment.
 
Niall then introduced Mark to the recruitment industry. After building their business relationship for 3 years, they decided it was time to start their own recruitment business in 2018 and joined the Recruitment Entrepreneur portfolio with Darwin Hawkins.
 
4 years later, Niall and Mark talk us through the added value of having chartered accounts as leading recruiters for the finance industry.
 
[01.05] Overview of Darwin Hawkins & What makes them different
[01:37] Mind set of moving from charted accountancy and into recruitment
[07:53] Decision to start up their own recruitment company
[09:18] Mark's thoughts on starting up Darwin Hawkins
[16:58] Darwin Hawkins going international
[22:58] Adapting strategies to the location
[25:11] Meeting James Caan and the decision to secure investment
[30:11] Access to Recruitment Entrepreneur Portfolio for ongoing support
 
Links:
Mark's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/markbakeraca/
Niall's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/acabig4accacima/
Darwin Hawkins LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/darwinhawkins/
Darwin Hawkins Website - https://www.darwinhawkins.com/

Ep11: 30 Minutes with Richard Waterson & Gemma Murphy - How Hayward Hawk has successfully navigated consistent and sustainable growth.

Welcome to Ep11 of The Recruitment Entrepreneur Podcast!
 
This week, we travelled over to Belfast to meet with our partners, Richard Waterson Co-Founder and Gemma Murphy Director of the Hayward Hawk group.
 
Hayward Hawk started out as a tech-based recruitment business and officially launched in 2016. After 3 years in business, they were receiving more requests for professional services roles within their industry.
 
Gemma was then introduced to the company in 2019  when they wanted to expand their offering in professional services. Gemma came with a wealth of knowledge within that sector allowing Hayward Hawk to become the all round recruitment business they are today.
 
We discussed with Richard and Gemma how Hayward Hawk has successfully navigated consistent and stable growth since they launched.
 
[01:00] Hayward Hawk's Beginning
[02:37] Gemma joining Hayward Hawk to expand their offering
[03:54] Overcoming the challenges of launching within an already competitive market
[06:13] Initial business plan of tackling the US market
[07:37] Visiting clients and incentivising the team with planned US trips
[08:27] Gemma's business plan and strategy for Hayward Hawk Professional Services
[09:42] Why did Gemma merge her business in 2019 with Hayward Hawk
[11:49] Transition of the 2 businesses becoming one
[13:38] Review of the market compared to 2022
[15:15] What makes Hayward Hawk different from their competitors
[18:29] What Hayward Hawk will look like in a years time
[20:28] How the Recruitment Entrepreneur Partnership has support their growth
[22:00] Looking back 7 years, would Hayward Hawk us the same business plan as before?
[25:03] Advice from Gemma and Richard on those looking to start a recruitment business
 
Links:
Richard Waterson LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-waterson-085a3a13/
Gemma Murphy LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/gemma-murphy-9717a036/
Hayward Hawk Website - https://www.haywardhawk.com/
Recruitment Entrepreneur Website - https://recruitmententrepreneur.com/