What should recruiters refuse to automate? For April Ben-Sabat, the answer is simple: the human connection. Automation can help with efficiency, but once a conversation begins, candidates can immediately tell when the interaction feels generic or AI-generated. And in a crowded market, that matters. One candidate even responded after being…
April is speaking at Finish The Year Strong (Sept 28 - Oct 5) and her session has the most RSVPs of the entire summit. All live sessions are free. Register here: https://recruiters-finish-the-year-strong.heysummit.com/ Atlas, the CRM that actually understands context: https://recruitwithatlas.com/ 90% of April Ben-Sabat's business comes from referrals. She has…
Knowing your market can justify charging a premium. Ryan Sheppard shares how he priced his first retained search at 40%—higher than the usual 35% contingency fee—because he knew exactly how difficult the search would be. He understood the competitors. He knew the Japanese market. He had followed the space for…
He lost $500K in fees in six months. Then he went retained, wrote a book, and ran the launch like a search. Finish The Year Strong kicks off September 28 through October 5. All live sessions are free. Replays and VIP available. Register here: https://recruiters-finish-the-year-strong.heysummit.com/ This episode is brought to…
Sometimes the mess is the opportunity. Greg Benadiba shares the story of a candidate who stepped into a company with years of inefficient systems and processes. Instead of seeing the dysfunction as a reason to leave, he encouraged her to understand why the business had operated that way for so…
Rejected at 24, he came back, bought the firm, and wrote the 20 principles that make a recruiter irreplaceable in the age of AI. Finish The Year Strong 2026 kicks off September 28 through October 5. All live sessions are free. Register: https://recruiters-finish-the-year-strong.heysummit.com/ This episode is brought to you by…
A recruiter’s job is not to convince someone to take the job. It is to give them enough information to make the right decision for themselves. Dan Lambert explains why he prioritizes long-term placements over simply closing the deal. His approach is simple: be transparent, share the facts, and trust…
He never made a marketing call. He billed over a million dollars eight times and bought the firm. Here's the whole system. Register free for Finish The Year Strong 2026, September 28 to October 5: https://recruiters-finish-the-year-strong.heysummit.com/ This episode is sponsored by Atlas, the CRM that actually understands context. Atlas captures…
In an industry where everyone is trying to stand out, sometimes the best strategy is simply being yourself. Randee Staats believes people want to work with people they genuinely like and trust—which means your personality can become one of your strongest business advantages. But authenticity also requires honesty. What you…
Laid off at 5 weeks postpartum. 2.5 years later: $1.3M in revenue working 30 hours a week. Julia Arpag shares the 10 principles behind all of it. This episode is powered by Atlas, the CRM that actually understands context. Every call, email, and LinkedIn message captured automatically, plus the next…
Accountability can completely change the way you work. Randee Staats shares how she spends one hour every day on a Zoom call with Mike Ostria, simply dialing in, working, and staying productive together. It creates the feeling of being in an office with someone, even when you are working remotely.…
Recruiting success starts with one thing: filling the funnel. Randee Staats explains that it is not just about placements or revenue. It is about consistently taking the actions that create opportunities. More conversations. More outreach. More relationships. More chances for something to convert. A strong pipeline also changes how you…
Here's the YouTube package. Title: From $500 In The Bank To $870,000 Billed In One Year | Randee Staats Description: Randee Staats had $500 left in his bank account. One year later he billed $870,000 as a solo recruiter. This is the session where he shows you how. Finish The…
Even with AI transforming recruitment, the human element still matters. Dan McCarthy says the common thread throughout his career has always been putting people first. Whether you are coaching, bartending, recruiting, or running a business, you cannot do the job well without understanding the person in front of you. And…
You cannot control everything that happens to you, but you can control what you do next. Dan McCarthy shares one of the biggest lessons he has learned: events themselves are not always inherently good or bad. Much of their impact comes from how we interpret and respond to them. Getting…
Automation can make outreach faster, but personalization is what makes it memorable. Brian Adams explains why he does not rely on traditional sequences alone. Instead, he tries to make every follow-up feel like a real continuation of the original conversation. That means remembering details. A Red Sox game. A hiring…
Recruiting's newest role didn't exist 2 years ago. a16z talent engineer Dan McCarthy (Zapier) breaks down how to step into it. LAST CALL: The Recruiting Agents Workshop with Seb Sharp, August 25 and 26. Two live build-along sessions where you build an autonomous lead agent, a placement agent, and connect…
Sometimes the best business ideas come from combining what you already know with a niche nobody else is serving. Brian Adams realized that project management played directly to one of his biggest strengths: relationship building. Understanding candidates. Learning their career goals. Figuring out what they really want. Building trust with…
Cold email is dying. Brian Abrams 4X'd his staffing firm by going old school: showing up where the decision makers actually are. Want to actually make money with AI instead of just talking about it? Join me and Seb Sharp for The Recruiting Agents Workshop, August 25th and 26th. Two…
No college degree. Eight years in the Coast Guard. Then a career in recruiting. David Fishman explains that not having a degree sometimes meant certain opportunities were simply unavailable to him. So he took a different route. He built his own business. He worked harder. He kept his head down.…
Recruiting is not an 8-to-5 job, and great placements do not happen by accident. David Fishman explains that when markets are strong, it can be easy to mistake favorable conditions for mastery. But when the market shifts, the real work becomes impossible to ignore. Success requires more than waiting for…
No college degree. 30 years on a desk. $1.5 million a year. David Fishman breaks down exactly how he built it. David Fishman of Sparrow Company started on a temp desk after eight years in the Coast Guard, launched his firm in 2009 in the teeth of the recession, and…
At 18, Kimberly Laipple was a single mother—and someone told her, “I guess you’re never going to get a degree.” At the time, she felt women were often presented with a choice: build a career or have children. Kimberly refused to accept that. She had always pictured herself building a…
During one of the most difficult periods of her life, Kimberly Laipple was facing foreclosure while learning the executive search business. Her greatest fear was not simply losing her home. She feared that the people who believed she had ruined her life might be right. She questioned whether she was…