The Resilient Recruiter

What if one placement paid $100,000... but took two years to close?Few recruiters would touch that model. Darci Smith built her entire business around it.Darci is the founder of Roklyn, a wealth management recruiting firm based in California. She specializes in financial advisor transitions — moving established advisors between firms, often transferring hundreds of millions in assets. These aren't quick wins. Sales cycles run one to two years. Fees are paid in tranches across twelve months. Her first deal took two and a half years to close and paid $133,000.In this episode, Darci explains how she makes the model work.How she stayed solvent in year one by building a career coaching business on TikTok that generated $150,000.How she charges a $5,000 non-refundable deposit on most searches and why clients don't push back.How she niched down to California-only wealth management for five years and is now expanding nationally.And how she engineered her visibility on ChatGPT so new clients find her without her having to chase them.This is a different way to build a recruitment business.Fewer placements. Bigger fees. Stronger relationships.In this episode, you'll discover:How financial advisor transition fees work and why the sales cycle runs 1-2 yearsWhy a $5,000 non-refundable deposit changes the client relationship from day oneHow Darci built 300,000 TikTok and 100,000 Instagram followers posting from her phoneHer 30-minute AI-assisted video workflow for creating content consistentlyHow she engineered visibility on ChatGPT and the exact approach she usedWhy niching to one state and one industry for five years set up her national expansionHow staying involved through onboarding turns single placements into long-term partnershipsEpisode highlights: [4:09] How sport led Darci into recruiting and her first role at Cybercoders [9:01] Becoming a top biller at Athletes to Careers through in-person relationship building [14:25] Choosing wealth management with no industry background [18:43] First contract: a national wirehouse and 300 cold calls to get started [21:31] On cold calling: honest about hating it, clear about doing it anyway [24:49] How financial advisor transition fees work and why they take years to land [31:01] Building 300K TikTok and 100K Instagram followers while building Roklyn [32:16] Making $150K in year one from career coaching [45:29] Niching to California-only and the five-year payoff [47:35] How she engineered visibility on ChatGPT [49:49] The contained model: $5,000 non-refundable deposit [55:39] Supporting hires through onboarding and why clients keep coming backGuest Bio: Darci Smith is the founder of Roklyn, a wealth management recruiting firm based in California. She launched five years ago after roles at Cybercoders and Athletes to Careers, where she reached top biller. Roklyn focuses exclusively on wealth management, financial advisor transitions, and W2 recruiting, and operates primarily on a contained search model with a non-refundable deposit. Darci has built a social following of 300,000 on TikTok and 100,000 on Instagram.Connect with Darci:LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/darcismith/Roklyn website - https://roklyn.comThis episode is brought to you by:Recruiterflow — an AI-first ATS and CRM that monitors your database and alerts you when contacts change jobs. Book a demo: recruitmentcoach.com/recruiterflowTrusted Voice Video — a done-for-you video service that helps you create 30 days of content in just 30 minutes a month. Book a free strategy call: recruitmentcoach.com/videoConnect with Mark Whitby:Free 30-minute strategy session: recruitmentcoach.com/strategy-sessionFree scorecard — identify the biggest bottlenecks in your recruitment business: recruitmentcoach.com/scorecardMark on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/markwhitbyFollow on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoachIf you want to build a recruitment business with bigger fees and stronger client relationships, this episode is worth your time.

Seb Sharpe built a $4 million recruitment firm in seven years, profitable every quarter, working exclusively on retained and permanent placements.Then he made a decision most agency owners avoid.Instead of scaling headcount and doubling down on the traditional model, he stepped back and started building for where he believes the recruitment industry is heading next.Seb is the co-founder of Inventure, a specialist renewable energy search firm based in Los Angeles. He launched the business in 2018 with his co-founder Charlie Rawlings, starting with no clients, no track record, and an office above a subway line in a WeWork. Within a year, they billed $1 million. In year two, $2 million. The business has remained profitable every quarter since.More recently, they launched Generate, a platform designed for what they see as the next era of recruitment: more independent, more entrepreneurial, and built around the individual recruiter rather than the traditional agency structure.In this conversation, Seb shares the systems that drove Inventure's growth, including the one KPI that made revenue predictable, how to properly qualify vacancies so clients stay accountable, and why most recruiters are focusing on the wrong part of the funnel. He also explains why he believes recruitment is structurally overdue for change, how the shift toward independent recruiters is already happening, and where AI is genuinely adding value inside a modern recruitment business.If you're building a recruitment agency or executive search firm and want more consistent revenue, stronger client relationships, and a clearer view of where the industry is going, this one is worth your time.Episode Highlights [2:38] First year: $1M. Second year: $2M. Profitable every quarter [9:33] Why niching into renewable energy changed everything [13:34] The imposter syndrome behind early agency growth [15:05] The academy model for hiring and training [22:44] Landing a $30K retainer with no brand or track record[31:29] The KPI that predicts your revenue [33:51] How to calculate the value of a first-time interview [36:27] Why most recruiters lose control of searches [44:06] Why Seb is building Generate [53:26] The EXP Realty model and the industry shift [58:27] Where AI is changing recruitment [1:09:57] Mark's top two takeawaysGuest Bio and Contact Info Seb Sharpe is the co-founder of Inventure, a renewable energy executive search firm he built to approximately $4 million in annual revenue, and Generate, a platform for entrepreneurial recruiters. He launched Inventure in 2018 with Charlie Rawlings, billing $1 million in year one and $2 million in year two, with consistent profitability every quarter. Over seven years, the business has grown through 100% permanent placements. Seb began his recruitment career at GQR in Los Angeles and later helped launch a Chicago office. Originally from England, he attended UCLA and has been based in the US for over a decade.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sebsharpe Generate: https://wearegenerateai.com (verify) Millie AI: https://mille.ai (verify)Links and Tools Recruitment Scorecard: https://recruitmentcoach.com/scorecard Recruiterflow (Sponsor): https://recruitmentcoach.com/recruiterflow Trusted Voice Video: https://recruitmentcoach.com/videoConnect with Mark Whitby Free strategy session: https://recruitmentcoach.com/strategy-session LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwhitbyFollow The Resilient Recruiter on Apple Podcasts so you never miss an episode.

Harrison Wright built his recruitment business to nearly $400,000 in billings within six months.Then the market turned.Hiring froze. Searches disappeared. For six months, nothing came in while he was burning $30,000 a month to stay afloat.Most recruiters would respond by doing more.More calls. More CVs. More pressure.He did exactly that.It didn’t work.Harrison is the founder of The Blockchain Recruiter, a search firm specialising in crypto and Web3 talent. After the crash, he rebuilt the business around retained search, tighter positioning, and a more deliberate recruitment process.Today, he runs a retained model with an interview-to-placement ratio of 2.16 to 1 and has won clients worth more than $350,000 in lifetime value through inbound alone. After shifting into institutional crypto, he’s on track for $1.2M to $1.6M in 2025, despite a difficult market.This conversation gets into what actually changed.Why he treats recruitment as a sales process. Why he doesn’t pitch the job on the first call. And how doing more work upfront changes what happens at offer stage.In this episode:Why more activity doesn’t fix a broken recruitment modelHow Harrison qualifies candidates before a CV ever gets sentThe thinking behind a 2.16-to-1 interview-to-placement ratioWhy he avoids pitching the job early in the processHow positioning led to higher-value retained clientsThe shift into institutional crypto and why it changed his pipelineWhat most recruiters get wrong about deliveryEpisode highlights:[1:06] From zero to $400K in six months[1:21] The crash: no revenue and $30K monthly burn[13:17] The 2.16-to-1 interview-to-placement ratio[15:14] The 90-minute candidate interview[21:37] Why pitching first creates problems later[49:10] The institutional crypto pivot[1:00:46] What a retained proposal looks likeAbout Harrison WrightHarrison Wright is the founder of The Blockchain Recruiter, one of the OG search firms in crypto and Web3. As an avid student of business and the craft of recruiting, Harrison built his business by prioritizing tight positioning, exceptional delivery, and retained client partnerships in a market where most recruiters compete on speed, volume and contingency.Connect with HarrisonLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harrisonwrightWebsite: https://theblockchainrecruiter.comConnect with Mark WhitbyGet your FREE 30-minute strategy call:https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/strategy-session/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwhitby/Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkWhitbyInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/RecruitmentCoachSponsorsRecruiterflowRecruiterflow is the AI-first operating system for recruitment agencies and executive search firms, combining ATS, CRM, and AI in one platform.👉 https://recruitmentcoach.com/recruiterflowTrusted Voice VideoYou already know video works. You just don’t have time to create it.One 30-minute session each month. Thirty days of short-form LinkedIn video content, planned, filmed, edited, and ready to post.👉 https://recruitmentcoach.com/videoFree Recruitment ScorecardNot sure what’s slowing your agency’s growth?👉 https://recruitmentcoach.com/scorecardIf your market feels tough right now, this is worth a listen.

Jessica Multhauf, Director of talent solutions who moved from HR and org development into recruitment, and Lewis Waitt, Director of client solutions with deep experience in privately held firms, discuss Aliniti’s 12-month placement guarantee. They cover how consulting roots shape role clarity, challenging unrealistic briefs, post-hire onboarding and check-ins, and building stable revenue through multiple service lines.

One placement can be a transaction. Or it can be the start of a long-term enterprise relationship.Most recruiters treat it like the first. Brendan Thomas built his career on the second.He started recruiting at 36, got fired after his first $60,000 placement, and joined a new agency six months later with two clients. By the end of that year, he had built over $600,000 in billings.Six years on, he has generated more than $5 million in lifetime billings, averaged $1 million per year, and qualified for CEO Club every quarter.He did it by ignoring the advice nearly every experienced recruiter gave him. When he asked million-dollar billers how they did it, the one piece of advice he kept hearing was to avoid enterprise accounts. He ignored it.In this episode, Brendan breaks down exactly how he cracks major enterprise accounts, navigates HR and Talent Acquisition without getting blocked, and earns the kind of deep access - hiring manager calendars, ATS logins, long-term contracts - that turns one deal into recurring revenue.This episode is brought to you by RecruiterflowRecruiterflow is the AI-first operating system built specifically for recruitment agencies and executive search firms. It combines a powerful ATS and CRM with AI embedded directly into your recruiting process.Less admin. Smarter follow-up. More time spent on revenue-generating conversations.Request a demo: recruitmentcoach.com/recruiterflowIn this episode, you'll discover:Why Brendan ignored the advice to avoid enterprise accounts - and what happened when he didHow to lead with a real candidate to get hiring manager buy-in before HR enters the pictureThe three responses you'll get from Talent Acquisition - and how to handle each oneWhen to walk away from an account and the red flags that tell you it's timeHow to expand one placement into a long-term enterprise relationshipWhy Brendan never asks for referrals until the candidate has had at least a week in the roleHow to earn direct access to hiring manager calendarsWhat discipline actually looks like on a million-dollar deskEpisode Highlights:[0:38] The $60,000 placement that got Brendan fired and what he did next[1:01] Starting over: $600,000 in billings in six months[3:25] How Brendan entered recruitment at age 36[18:46] The question he asked million-dollar billers and the advice he rejected[23:16] Why enterprise accounts are harder to crack and why he pursued them anyway[28:15] How to approach hiring managers before going to HR[35:38] The three HR responses and how to handle each one[46:14] Red flags, yellow flags, and green flags - deciding which accounts to pursue[54:15] Expanding an account after your first placement[56:42] Earning direct access to hiring manager calendars[1:03:23] What "uptime" really means for a million-dollar billerAbout Brendan ThomasBrendan Thomas specialises in finance and accounting placements across manufacturing, construction, and technology industries in the United States. He joined Jobot in June 2020 and has since generated over $5 million in lifetime billings, averaging approximately $1 million per year.He has qualified for CEO Club every quarter and hit the $125,000+ quarterly threshold 22 quarters in a row. He is ranked third in lifetime billing at Jobot.He works nationwide and is available from 5am to 5pm Pacific daily.Connect with Brendan:linkedin.com/in/brendanwthomasConnect with Mark WhitbyFree 30-minute strategy call: recruitmentcoach.com/strategy-sessionLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mwhitbyInstagram: @RecruitmentCoach

Most recruitment agencies believe in training.Very few build a structured system that consistently produces top billers.Larissa Gerlach experienced the hard version first. In year one, she earned $40,000 and questioned whether she would make it in recruitment at all. By year three, she had reached President’s Club. Soon after, the CFO of a private equity-backed recruiting firm asked her to replicate her results across 25 offices.That request became the foundation of a national recruiter training programme.In this episode, Mark Whitby and Larissa unpack what actually drives recruiter performance, why activity metrics alone don’t create top billers, and how recruitment business owners can build scalable training systems that reduce ramp-up time and increase recruiter billings.If you are serious about recruitment agency growth, search firm leadership, and building consistent performance inside your team, this conversation goes beyond theory.It’s about systems.What You’ll Discover• Why 200+ calls per week worked — and why most recruiters still fail at high activity• The difference between knowledge and live desk performance• How to turn individual billing success into a national training framework• Why daily role plays accelerate recruiter revenue• The three structural reasons founders struggle to implement training• Why cohort-based onboarding produces stronger long-term performance• How to build recruitment agency systems that scale beyond one top performerEpisode Highlights[03:56] From fashion sales to recruitment after the 2009 recession[08:37] The $40,000 first year and the meeting where she nearly quit[12:35] Why most recruiters struggle in year one — and what actually starts to click[22:15] The 200-calls-per-week discipline that changed her trajectory[26:07] The CFO email that led to building a national sales training programme[28:17] What the training playbook looked like — from binder to LMS[35:51] Why daily role plays create elite performers[1:05:49] The three reasons most founders struggle to train their teams[1:10:29] Why group cohorts outperform one-to-one onboardingAbout Larissa GerlachLarissa Gerlach is the founder of Vibrant Talent Group, an executive search firm specialising in marketing, product, and design roles across New York and San Francisco. She has over 15 years of experience across billing, business development, national learning and development, and agency leadership. At a private equity-backed recruiting firm, she became the fastest-growing salesperson in company history before leading national recruiter training initiatives.Resources MentionedRecruiter Training Programmehttps://recruitmentcoach.com/trainingSeven Figure Freedom Scorecardhttps://recruitmentcoach.com/scorecardRecruiterflowhttps://recruitmentcoach.com/recruiterflowTrusted Voice Videohttps://recruitmentcoach.com/videoBook a free strategy session with Mark Whitbyhttps://recruitmentcoach.com/strategy-sessionIf you want weekly conversations with recruitment business owners, executive search leaders, and top billers focused on recruitment agency revenue, recruiter performance, and long-term business resilience, follow The Resilient Recruiter on Apple Podcasts.The difference between average billers and elite teams is rarely motivation.It’s structure.

Greg Savage, veteran recruitment entrepreneur and trainer who built multiple firms and the Savage Recruitment Academy, returns to debate AI’s real impact. He argues AI has made hiring harder, explores how screening tools and fraud disrupt shortlists, and warns the contingent perm model is under pressure. He outlines smarter AI uses, vendor vetting questions, and the rise of the ‘techno-empath’ recruiter.

James O’Brien, Managing Director and COO at i-intro with decades in recruitment, explains how to win retained work by shifting from transactional pitching to consultative value. He covers why retention, not recruitment, is the real problem. Short practical topics: measuring and monetizing retention, three questions that expose hiring failure, preparing to ‘wow’ clients, and using guarantees and accountability to justify premium fees.

Why do some recruiters get ignored while others hear, “I never respond to recruiters, but I had to respond to you”?Theresa Nordstrom has spent her career on both sides of the hiring table. Before launching her own search firm, she spent nearly 20 years as an HR leader. In one role, she cut agency spending by over $700,000 by building creative employee referral programs and filling roles in-house.Then she crossed to the agency side.In this episode of The Resilient Recruiter, Theresa explains why most recruiter outreach fails and what actually gets candidates to respond. Her answer isn’t more messages or better templates. It’s storytelling, relevance, and clarity.Theresa shares why job descriptions don’t recruit talent, how she uncovers the real story behind a role, and how video helps her cut through candidate noise without being pushy or salesy. She also breaks down why detailed submittals matter, how she uses AI to save time without sacrificing quality, and when it genuinely makes sense for companies to use external recruiters.Sponsor: RecruiterflowThis episode is brought to you by Recruiterflow.Recruiterflow is an end-to-end, AI-first ATS and CRM built specifically for recruitment agencies and executive search firms. It brings together ATS, CRM, sequencing, data enrichment, marketing automation, and AI agents in one clean, intuitive platform.Several recruitment leaders in our coaching community use Recruiterflow to execute faster, onboard new hires more easily, and spend more time on what actually matters: conversations with clients and candidates.You can learn more or request a demo at recruitmentcoach.com/recruiterflowIn this episode, you’ll learn:Why candidates respond to stories, not job descriptionsHow to get candidates to self-select early (and save time on both sides)Why progression examples outperform vague culture claimsHow video outreach cuts through noise without needing polishWhat most employee referral programs get wrongWhy detailed submittals increase interview ratiosHow to use AI to elevate quality, not replace judgmentEpisode highlights:[3:01] Why Theresa left a 20-year HR career to start her own search firm[6:41] The Harley Davidson referral program that saved hundreds of thousands in agency fees[9:22] How to elicit the story behind a role candidates actually care about[12:32] Why proof of progression beats generic culture messaging[23:21] How to partner with HR without getting blocked[44:20] The video outreach approach that makes candidates stop and respond[55:03] Why Theresa spends so much time on submittals[58:34] Mixing retained, exclusive, and selective contingent work strategicallyGuest bioTheresa Nordstrom is the founder of Talent Company, an executive search firm specializing in accounting, finance, HR, and C-suite roles. Before launching her firm in 2015, Theresa spent nearly 20 years as an HR leader, where she became known for creative employee referral programs that dramatically reduced agency spend. Her approach today centres on storytelling, multi-channel video outreach, and presenting candidates in ways that make interview decisions easy.If you want to future-proof your recruitment business without burning out, this episode is a must-listen.

Gerard Koolen, founder of Lugera and creator of a Recruitment Revenue Platform, built a multi-country agency and proprietary matching tech. He explains building an “all-seasons” service portfolio of eight revenue streams. Topics include monetising the unused candidate database, a decade-long AI matching build, automating work to replace large teams, and using outplacement as counter-cyclical income.