The RAG Podcast - Recruitment Agency Growth Podcast

Mathew Gollop found Hong Kong in the back of Recruiter magazine. A glossy advert, a Chinese temple, a palm tree. He flew out, signed the contract, and landed in February 2001.
The dot-com bubble had just burst. Then 9/11. Then SARS.
Within a year the founder wanted out, and Mathew took the business over. It was the only way to keep his job.
When the market finally turned, it turned hard. Connected Group went from 7 people to 85, across 5 offices inside 5 years.
Then the financial crisis hit. £800k gone in little over a year. Six months of runway. An investor brought in, his shares diluted, offices closed one by one.
“I had dumb confidence, I think, at that time.”
On this episode of The RAG Podcast, Mathew Gollop breaks down the full arc. The scale, the near collapse, and the decision that rebuilt the business: giving recruitment away for free.
Mathew is the first to admit he loved running 85 people across five offices, and wasn't actually good at it.
If you have ever wondered whether purpose can survive a brutal market, this episode has the blueprint.
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Episode Sponsor: Atlas
Admin is a massive waste of time. That's why there's Atlas, the AI-first recruitment platform built for modern agencies.
It doesn't only track CVs and calls. It remembers everything. Every email, every interview, every conversation. Instantly searchable, always available. And now, it's entering a whole new era.
With Atlas 2.0, you can ask anything and it delivers. With Magic Search, you speak and it listens. It finds the right candidates using real conversations, not simply look for keywords.
Atlas 2.0 also makes business development easier than ever. With Opportunities, you can track, manage and grow client relationships, powered by generative AI and built right into your workflow.
Need insights? Custom dashboards give you total visibility over your pipeline. And that's not theory. Atlas customers have reported up to 41% EBITDA growth and an 85% increase in monthly billings after adopting the platform.
No admin. No silos. No lost info. Nothing but faster shortlists, better hires and more time to focus on what actually drives revenue.
Atlas is your personal AI partner for modern recruiting.
Don't miss the future of recruitment. Get started with Atlas today and unlock your exclusive RAG listener offer at https://recruitwithatlas.com/therag/
------------------------------------------
Episode Sponsor: Hoxo
Every recruitment founder is investing in LinkedIn, but AI has turned templated posts and outreach into a commodity. When everyone sounds the same, the market stops listening. The recruiters winning now are the ones the market trusts.
At Hoxo we help recruitment founders become the most influential name in their niche, using AI to multiply output while trust stays the product. Our clients turn their existing networks into £100K to £300K in new billings within months. Watch the free RAG listener training to see how: https://hubs.ly/Q03lBpYC0

Greg Fischer did not plan to spend ten years in recruitment. He joined a solo healthcare practice in LA as employee number one, figured it would pay the bills, and planned to open a gym someday. He never left.
Instead he built one of the most profitable staffing businesses in the US. $4.2 million in NFI, $1.4 million net profit. 38 people and a seven-figure equity stake with a $50 million exit on the horizon.
But he walked away with nothing!
The push toward the exit had quietly changed how the business ran. “I think we started looking at people as much more like resources and just a means to an end than actually people.” Greg had spent a decade building his career on the opposite belief. But the drift was so gradual he hadn’t noticed it.
“I couldn’t be the person I wanted to be and be in a good, healthy working dynamic. It was going to be one or the other.”
On this episode of The RAG Podcast, Greg Fischer, founder of Well Oiled Machine, tells the full story. The gym that cost him $150,000. The 10 years building someone else’s company. The walk away. And how he built a lean, profitable rec-to-rec from a mountain town in Colorado with no cold outbound and twenty clients in year one.
Greg Fischer is not chasing the big exit this time. He is building something small, profitable, and built entirely around the person he decided he wanted to be.
If you have ever wondered what it actually costs to chase a number, and whether the person collecting it is still someone you recognise, this episode has the blueprint.
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Episode Sponsor: Atlas
Admin is a massive waste of time. That's why there's Atlas, the AI-first recruitment platform built for modern agencies.
It doesn't only track CVs and calls. It remembers everything. Every email, every interview, every conversation. Instantly searchable, always available. And now, it's entering a whole new era.
With Atlas 2.0, you can ask anything and it delivers. With Magic Search, you speak and it listens. It finds the right candidates using real conversations, not simply look for keywords.
Atlas 2.0 also makes business development easier than ever. With Opportunities, you can track, manage and grow client relationships, powered by generative AI and built right into your workflow.
Need insights? Custom dashboards give you total visibility over your pipeline. And that's not theory. Atlas customers have reported up to 41% EBITDA growth and an 85% increase in monthly billings after adopting the platform.
No admin. No silos. No lost info. Nothing but faster shortlists, better hires and more time to focus on what actually drives revenue.
Atlas is your personal AI partner for modern recruiting.
Don't miss the future of recruitment. Get started with Atlas today and unlock your exclusive RAG listener offer at https://recruitwithatlas.com/therag/
Episode Sponsor: Hoxo
Every recruitment founder is investing in LinkedIn, but AI has turned templated posts and outreach into a commodity. When everyone sounds the same, the market stops listening. The recruiters winning now are the ones the market trusts.
At Hoxo we help recruitment founders become the most influential name in their niche, using AI to multiply output while trust stays the product. Our clients turn their existing networks into £100K to £300K in new billings within months. Watch the free RAG listener training to see how: https://hubs.ly/Q03lBpYC0

Paul Strouts has run a business of four people.

His first business, James Harvard, quickly grew beyond 100 people and sold to Hays for approximately £20 million at 32.

He then spent a decade running Hays Life Sciences globally. Got headhunted to PE Backed Acacium and quickly made two strategic acquisitions.

He now runs:

3 brands.
250 people.
12 countries.
Contingent, SOW, RPO and Solutions revenue
Predicted £45 million GM in 2026.
£12 million EBITDA target.

He has seen every stage of headcount growth. The good version and the expensive version.

This week on The RAG Podcast, Paul Strouts gives the most direct answer we have had on this show about when headcount creates value and when it just creates cost.

We cover:

- The first question Paul asks any founder who wants to grow from 5 to 20 people
- Why you need a minimum of £500K to grow headcount properly, and what happens if you don't have it
- When headcount genuinely creates value in a recruitment business, and when it becomes a cost
- The ceiling Paul believes exists in life sciences, and why going beyond it risks diluting everything you built
- How Acacium Life Sciences grew from 160 people to a £45 million GM operation through two targeted acquisitions
- Why Paul sold James Harvard to Hays three years ahead of plan, and whether it was the right call
- What working inside a global corporate taught Paul that founding a business never could
- Why AI will not kill specialist boutique recruitment, but will change the lower end of the market permanently

Growing headcount is not the right move for every recruitment business. Paul is the first to say that. But if you are building a people-based business and you want to know exactly what it takes to do it properly, what it costs, when to bring in outside funding, and where the ceiling actually is, this is the episode.

If you've ever wondered when headcount creates value and when it becomes a cost... this episode has the answer.

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Episode Sponsor: Remote Recruitment

Hiring shouldn’t be slow, stressful, or expensive. That’s why there’s Remote Recruitment — the smart hiring partner for modern businesses.

They don’t just help you find great people. They help you access elite South African talent that’s ready to deliver. No PAYE. No NI. No bloated overheads. Just trained, remote professionals who integrate seamlessly into your team.

Their process handles everything: sourcing, shortlisting, onboarding, and retention. Fully managed. Fully supported. Fully remote.

And now, Remote Recruitments has entered a new chapter. From ops to admin, sales to strategy, we’re helping businesses scale smarter with people they trust, at a cost they can afford.

Clients have seen:
* Up to **60% productivity boosts**
* **300% ROI** on BD roles
* **30% faster completion** of operational tasks

No overhead burden. No talent shortage panic. Just growth-focused hiring that makes business sense.

Remote Recruitment is your flexible hiring solution for the modern era.

**RAG Listeners:** Get 5% off your first hire + a free strategy session at www.remoterecruitment.co.uk/rag

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Episode Sponsor: Hoxo

Every recruitment founder is investing in LinkedIn.

Spending thousands on Recruiter licences. Building connections. Posting content. Sending outreach.

But here's the problem. AI has turned all of that into a commodity. The same templated messages. The same AI-written posts. The same automated outreach landing in the same inboxes.

When everyone sounds the same, the market stops listening.

The recruiters winning right now are not the ones shouting the loudest. They are the ones the market actually trusts.

That's what we build at Hoxo. We help recruitment founders become the most influential name in their niche. A niche audience that knows you, respects you, and comes to you when they need someone in your market.

We use AI to multiply your output. Faster content, smarter research, better engagement. But trust is the product, and trust cannot be automated.

Our clients are turning their existing networks into £100K to £300K in new billings within months. Not through volume. By becoming the recruiter their market comes to first.

To show you how it works, we've made a short training video exclusively for RAG listeners.

In less than 10 minutes, you'll learn why most recruiters are getting zero measurable ROI from LinkedIn, how small, niche teams build the kind of trust that generates consistent inbound, and how to turn LinkedIn from a commodity channel into your most profitable one.

Fill in the form today to see how this could become your agency's most profitable channel: https://hubs.ly/Q03lBpYC0

Nathan O'Connell spent nine years as a British military officer. Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan. He finished on the withdrawal with 16 Air Assault Brigade and left the forces two weeks before his 30th birthday with no sales background, no LinkedIn profile, and no recruitment experience of any kind.
He got into rec-to-rec by accident. Spotted an advert on his wife’s Instagram, joined R2R Global, and was given a cold desk focused on energy and renewable energy recruitment companies in London. Within 12 months he was their top biller in London. By year two, he was number one globally.
Then he left. And instead of replicating what he’d done, he built the opposite. O’Connell Search Partners runs retained mandates with a maximum of four clients per geographic region. A team of four billing from Liverpool, covering London, New York, and Texas. In four months they invoiced £427,000.
“I had nothing to sell at the time. So it was truly just a genuine interest.”
This week on The RAG Podcast, Nathan breaks down how a military background shaped the most deliberate rec-to-rec model you will hear about this year.
We cover:
How a British military officer with zero sales experience became a global top biller in rec-to-rec within two years
Why Nathan limits his client base to four per region and how he selects between startups, scale-ups, and executive search boutiques
The retained model in a space where most rec-to-recs work contingently, and what happens when mandates stay open for months
How he reconciles being anti-headcount whilst running a business that depends on agencies wanting to grow headcount
Why he gives clients 12 to 18 months grace before considering headhunting from businesses he has placed into
The Atlas CRM and Device integration that he says saves a week of work per retained search
What he sees across dozens of agencies about which ones attract top talent and which ones struggle
His plan to personally bill £1m across three international locations with one researcher
Why he wants to be financially free by 45 and has no intention of building a big team

Nathan O’Connell is not building a rec-to-rec empire. He is building a business designed around financial freedom, genuine relationships, and a small team where everyone bills.
If you run a recruitment agency and you have ever wondered what a rec-to-rec headhunter actually thinks about your business, your culture, and your ability to attract talent, this episode will tell you.
__________________________________________
Episode Sponsor: Remote Recruitment
Hiring shouldn’t be slow, stressful, or expensive. That’s why there’s Remote Recruitment — the smart hiring partner for modern businesses.
They don’t just help you find great people. They help you access elite South African talent that’s ready to deliver. No PAYE. No NI. No bloated overheads. Just trained, remote professionals who integrate seamlessly into your team.
Their process handles everything: sourcing, shortlisting, onboarding, and retention. Fully managed. Fully supported. Fully remote.
And now, Remote Recruitments has entered a new chapter. From ops to admin, sales to strategy, we’re helping businesses scale smarter with people they trust, at a cost they can afford.
Clients have seen:
* Up to **60% productivity boosts**
* **300% ROI** on BD roles
* **30% faster completion** of operational tasks
No overhead burden. No talent shortage panic. Just growth-focused hiring that makes business sense.
Remote Recruitment is your flexible hiring solution for the modern era.
**RAG Listeners:** Get 5% off your first hire + a free strategy session at www.remoterecruitment.co.uk/rag
__________________________________________
Episode Sponsor: Hoxo
Every recruitment founder is investing in LinkedIn.
Spending thousands on Recruiter licences.
Building connections. Posting content. Growing networks.
But here’s the question almost no one can answer:
How much revenue is LinkedIn actually bringing into your business?
Most founders have thousands of connections but no clear process to turn that attention into cash.
That’s the problem we solve.
At Hoxo, we help recruitment founders build predictable revenue systems on LinkedIn, not just noise or vanity metrics.
Our clients are turning LinkedIn into £100K–£300K in new billings within months, using their existing networks and a simple repeatable process.
To show you how it works, we’ve created a short training video exclusively for RAG listeners.
In less than 10 minutes, you’ll learn:
- Why most recruiters are getting zero measurable ROI from LinkedIn
- How small, niche teams are generating consistent inbound demand
- The 3X Revenue System we use to turn LinkedIn into a predictable cash-generating channel
So fill in the form today to see how this system could transform LinkedIn into your agency’s most profitable channel: https://hubs.ly/Q03lBpYC0

Emily Angeloni co-founded WOW Recruitment in Sydney at 22. No salary for six months. Just her laptop, working from a building set for demolition. Nine years later: a team of 18 across every major Australian state, New Zealand, and the United States. One of the most respected boutique sales and marketing agencies in the country.

The year she became a mother, her co-founder told her he was leaving. She came back from maternity leave to a business that had saved every problem for her return, hit a serious road block, and stood in a strategy offsite thinking she could not do it anymore. She needed to rediscover her why.

She did. WOW has since had its strongest period in nine years. But then she had a valuation done. And as she says herself: valuations can be a pretty uncomfortable truth.

This week on The RAG Podcast, Emily breaks down what it actually looks like to lose a business partner, build something you are not sure you even want to continue, find the clarity, and watch everything change.

We cover:
- How a co-founder exit right before maternity leave forced Emily into the driver's seat for the first time
- Why she seriously considered walking away from nine years of work, and what made her stay
- The rookie hiring model that cost WOW its billing average, its culture, and its margins
- How she redesigned her role entirely around what she loves: external focus, 18 people, zero internal ops
- The five-year plan to build an asset with freedom of choice, not a job she cannot leave
- Why a recent valuation was an uncomfortable truth and what it sharpened her focus on
- What AI is actually changing for WOW's delivery model right now
-Why personal brand has been her competitive advantage since 2017 and how it converts to real revenue

Losing a co-founder. Building something you are not sure you even want any more. Then getting clear on the why and watching everything change.
More founders have been down this road than would ever admit it. Emily is just prepared to say it out loud. Nine years in, she is building something worth having on her own terms, and working out exactly what that is worth.

If you've ever wondered what it looks like to rebuild a business around a life you actually want to live, this episode has the blueprint.

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Admin is a massive waste of time. That's why there's Atlas, the AI-first recruitment platform built for modern agencies.

It doesn't only track CVs and calls. It remembers everything. Every email, every interview, every conversation. Instantly searchable, always available. And now, it's entering a whole new era.

With Atlas 2.0, you can ask anything and it delivers. With Magic Search, you speak and it listens. It finds the right candidates using real conversations, not simply looking for keywords.

Atlas 2.0 also makes business development easier than ever. With Opportunities, you can track, manage and grow client relationships, powered by generative AI and built right into your workflow.

Need insights? Custom dashboards give you total visibility over your pipeline. And that's not theory. Atlas customers have reported up to 41% EBITDA growth and an 85% increase in monthly billings after adopting the platform.

No admin. No silos. No lost info. Nothing but faster shortlists, better hires and more time to focus on what actually drives revenue.

Atlas is your personal AI partner for modern recruiting.

Don't miss the future of recruitment. Get started with Atlas today and unlock your exclusive RAG listener offer at https://recruitwithatlas.com/therag/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Every recruitment founder is investing in LinkedIn.

Spending thousands on Recruiter licences. Building connections. Posting content. Growing networks.

But here's the question almost no one can answer:
How much revenue is LinkedIn actually bringing into your business?
Most founders have thousands of connections but no clear process to turn that attention into cash.

That's the problem we solve.

At Hoxo, we help recruitment founders build predictable revenue systems on LinkedIn, not just noise or vanity metrics.

Our clients are turning LinkedIn into £100K-£300K in new billings within months, using their existing networks and a simple repeatable process.

To show you how it works, we've created a short training video exclusively for RAG listeners.

In less than 10 minutes, you'll learn:
Why most recruiters are getting zero measurable ROI from LinkedIn
How small, niche teams are generating consistent inbound demand

The 3X Revenue System we use to turn LinkedIn into a predictable cash-generating channel

So fill in the form today to see how this system could transform LinkedIn into your agency's most profitable channel: https://hubs.ly/Q03lBpYC0