Benjamin Mena

Select Source Solutions

We work with companies that are changing the world and protecting the world and bring them the Data Science, Cyber Security, and Recruitment talent that they need to enable that change. Recognizing that the single biggest driver towards results is people, we help our clients empower themselves with the right talent, in the right place, at the right time. 

➨ For Our Clients, we help find the best Cyber and Data Science talent allowing you to do what you do best, support your business growth and your own career.

➨ For Our Candidates, we put your unique Cyber and Data Science Talent in front of the decision-makers of the most cutting-edge companies in the world, and position you to blow your competition away, allowing you to take back control of your career trajectory.

Our area of specialization:
✓ Executive Retained Search (C-Level, VP, Director)
✓ Cyber and Data Science Direct Hire Search
✓ Recruiters 
✓ Contract Recruiters 

http://www.selectsourcesolutions.com/
Benjamin@selectsourcesolutions.com

Managing Partner

Pin.com - AI Recruiting

I’m partnering with the Pin.com team to bring real-world recruiting insights, help guide product development, and support adoption across industries beyond tech.

As host of The Elite Recruiter Podcast and organizer of recruiter summits, I’ve seen a lot of tools come and go. Very few truly move the needle—Pin is one of them. Its advanced search, smart messaging workflows, and clean ATS integration are built the way recruiters actually work, not how software vendors think we work.

My focus is on helping Pin shape the future of recruiting—making sourcing faster, smarter, and more human.

💡 Want to check it out? Use my code: BenjaminPin for a discount when you demo.

Strategic Advisor

The Elite Recruiter Podcast

The Elite Recruiter Podcast is the number one podcast for recruiting professionals.

This is where the top recruiters share: How they got there. What kind of work did it take. Tips, Tools, and Tricks. The Mindset needed to get them to where they are. What they are doing with their success. Goals and visions for the future. So please join me on this journey as I interview some of the best in our industry

https://www.eliterecruiterpodcast.com/

The Elite Recruiter Podcast Host

Decentralized Careers Podcast

Decentralized Careers is the number one podcast for learning how to land top talent for your Web3, Blockchain, Crypto company.

Learn from other leaders on how they were able to hire the right talent to build the products and help change the world.

https://pod.co/decentralized-careers

Decentralized Careers Podcast Host

DynCorp International

DynCorp International is a leading global services provider offering unique, tailored solutions for an ever-changing world. Built on more than six decades of experience as a trusted partner to commercial, government and military customers, DI provides sophisticated aviation, logistics, training, intelligence and operational solutions wherever we are needed. DynCorp International is headquartered in McLean, Va. For more information, visit www.dyn-intl.com.

The intelligence professionals of DynCorp International (DI) work daily, protecting the United States and its allies, enabling decision-making through agile, integrated intelligence solutions:
•Educating, Training and Certifying tomorrow’s intelligence professionals
•Enhancing Collection and Analysis to deliver decision-enabling intelligence
•Assisting the Intelligence Mission Globally through service in all locations and conditions

DI proudly serves in all locations, environments and conditions to support optimal decision-making and effective national security action by delivering balanced and ever-improving cross-discipline capabilities as a part of a single integrated team.

Sr Contract Intel and IT Recruiter

Vencore Inc.

Inspired by combining the word core with Latin words denoting respect, the name Vencore emphasizes that our high quality, high value services and solutions are at the core of our customers’ missions. 

Vencore has over 40 years of proven experience providing information solutions, engineering and analysis to the U.S. Intelligence Community, Department of Defense and Federal/Civilian Agencies. We support our customers’ missions by helping them solve their complex challenges while maintaining the highest level of integrity and accountability. 

Our people design, develop and deliver critical solutions as our customers’ trusted partner. Our innovations in cyber security, data analysis and technology, combined with our focus on research, ensure Vencore remains ahead of the ever changing demands in the market.

Vencore and its Applied Communication Sciences subsidiary employ 4,800 dedicated employees located throughout the Nation with a presence in 17 states and in select foreign countries. For more information on Vencore, please see our company overview data sheet.

Sr. Technical Contract Recruiter

United States Postal Service

Manage, develop and execute recruitment strategies in partnership with hiring managers to identify and cultivate a pipeline of top executive level candidates to fill positions across all business units within the US Postal Service.
Identify, recruit, and assess top senior, executive, and officer level talent for active and open positions across all business units within the Postal Service.
Responsible for developing long and short term recruitment strategies in order to attract and create an active applicant pool
Develop industry appropriate requirements for executive vacancies based on meeting with the hiring manager and external research to ensure candidates are best matched with the needs of the position.
Research, implement, and maintain leading edge, creative and cost effective sourcing tools and resources that improve applicant relationship development.
Develops candidate recommendations for hiring manager review and consideration.
Interview candidates during the final interviewing process to evaluate and provide recommendations to the hiring manager.
Network with potential candidates to build a rapport, turn passive into active candidates, maintain a viable talent pool and to engage them in the opportunity of working at the Postal Service.
Coordinate with and oversee the work of external recruitment agencies to recruit for officer level positions, ensuring agency personnel are informed of job content and requirements. 
Review proposals, develop statements of work, create task orders, verify invoices and monitor contract-related expenses.
Stay current with the Postal environment, industry changes and market trends related to the executive level talent pools.
Partner with leadership and talent management groups on the strategy and preparation for succession planning and current management needs.

Executive Sourcing Recruiter

BAE Systems

BAE Systems is the premier global defense and aerospace company, delivering a full range of products and services for air, land, and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, information technology solutions, and customer support services. With 105,000 employees worldwide, BAE Systems had 2008 sales of $34.4 billion.

Information Solutions is among the 10 largest IT providers to the U.S. government, serving most of the federal defense and civilian marketplace. It provides network-centric command, control, computing, and intelligence (C3I) solutions; wideband networking radio systems; information systems for the U.S. intelligence community; geospatial information services; and information technology services. Leveraging its knowledge of signals and data derived from signals, Information Solutions has attained a market-leading position in advanced information technology research, intelligence analysis and production, and geospatial exploitation software.

People are the greatest asset in any Company ... 

BAE Systems is committed to a high performance culture and provides an environment that challenges our employees to be remarkable and obtain their full potential.

Sourcing Recruiter - Talent Acquisition

L-3 National Security Solutions

* Responsible for full life-cycle hiring supporting the Executive Office of the President (EOP) along with various IT and Cyber Security programs based around DC Metro and various parts of the globe.
* Experience working with Cleared Professionals supporting various agencies and Department of Defense contracts and programs. 
* Responsible for full life-cycle hiring supporting the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) Dagger II contract, recruiting Imagery and Geospatial Analysts for a large program based out of Ft. Bragg, NC
* Also Responsible for surge efforts in support of Intelligence personnel on OCONUS programs supporting USF-I, ISS-A, to include: Intelligence Analyst, SIGINT Specialist, Collection Managers, MEDEX/DOMEX Specialist, Counterintelligence Support Specialist, Strategic Debriefer,, Screeners, and Database Managers, SharePoint SME, and Information Management Specialist
* Assisted with recruiting efforts, on the ISS-A contract win resulting in 95% fill-ratio within 3 months.
* Assisted in proposal efforts for ISS-A, AFSOC, ITA/CND, and various other  programs and task orders.  
* Proactively networked with other companies and contacts for new program leads.

Sr. Recruiting Consultant

Lockheed Martin

*Maintain the full-cycle recruitment process and pipeline of an average of 300+ requisitions 
*Maintained the pipeline for Entry Level Professionals/Interns/ and Co-ops for the Missiles and Fire Control Business Unit of Lockheed Martin
*Interface with all levels of management, Human Resource Business Partners, and Business Unit Managers for the hiring process for 7 Lockheed Martin sites within Missiles and Fire Control
*Sourced candidates, set up, and facilitated large scale recruiting events for the Lockheed Martin’s Leadership Development Programs
*Created strategies with each manager to source and hire top talent from our corporate and key schools.
*Worked as a Kaizen Team Lead in an office restructuring project to cut down wasted time and increase team inclusiveness. 
*Lead the Talent Acquisition Facility Rebranding Team in facility operations
*Helped set best practices in the communication standards that are set within local team

Corporate Talent Acquisition Recruiter

Need to hire? We can help! - Headhunter - Managing Partner

🎯 Having a tough time hiring for your Government Contracting Executive Team or GovCon AI teams?  There are way more openings than there are people to fill.  The top level talent your team needs are not even looking at your jobs ads. 🎯
** CLICK BELOW TO SEE MORE **

We understand how competitive the market is for top talent and how your career as a leader is impacted by the ability to attract and retain top talent.  

My name is Benjamin Mena, and for 15 years, I've built Data Science and Cyber Security teams for global Top Secret National Security programs.

Finding and attracting top-level people for our commercial sector is mission-critical. I know how right hire at the right time is vital for your team's growth and success.

SERVICES FOR CLIENTS AND CANIDATES 
💥 Executive Retained Search (C-Level, VP, Director)
💥 Direct Hire Search
💥 Employer/Candidate Value Proposition Development

Myself and my team are ready to help you 

🎯 To book a no-obligation, 15-minute Client Strategy or Candidate Career Call: https://calendly.com/benjaminmena
🎯 Email: Benjamin@selectsourcesolutions.com 
🎯 Phone: 703-297-8574

The Elite Recruiter Podcast is the number one podcast for recruiting professionals.

This is where the top recruiters share: How they got there. What kind of work did it take. Tips, Tools, and Tricks. The Mindset needed to get them to where they are. What they are doing with their success. Goals and visions for the future. So please join me on this journey as I interview some of the best in our industry

https://pod.co/the-elite-recruiter-podcast

Ever wondered how a recruiter becomes the first call for top venture capitalists, and carves a niche no one else can touch?

That’s the story of Norman Volsky🎙️, The Pinnacle Society Member.

He didn’t just want to fill a role. He wanted to dominate his market—and did it by playing a different game.

Norman’s path wasn’t linear. He started as an intern, failed gloriously at his first “dream” job (spoiler: watching a lot of basketball tape does not make you happy), learned from every mentor and moment of rejection, and found himself at the crossroad every ambitious recruiter faces: stick to what everyone else is doing, or think bigger.
He chose bigger.

✅ He became the recruiter attached to billion-dollar IPOs, riding alongside the fastest-growing startups in healthcare tech. 

✅ He turned a handful of key placements into a snowball of reputation and referrals—eventually leading to investors asking him to sit at the table, not just as a recruiter, but as a deal-maker. 

✅ He turned his unique market knowledge into investment opportunities, assembling groups of powerful insiders to help rocket companies forward (and benefit together).

But here's the twist: Norman’s secret isn’t just hustle. It’s radical transparency, relentless curiosity, and ALWAYS asking: 

“How can I help you?”  Even when it doesn’t seem directly tied to his bottom line.

That’s how he became the market. 

That’s why the best VCs call him first.

If you want to hear how someone built a true niche monopoly—and went from recruiter to influential investor—this is your episode.

Links below to the Pinnacle Take Podcast: Why Top VCs Call This Recruiter First: The Power of Niche Mastery with Norman Volsky

What’s one move you made in your niche that changed everything?

Make sure to also check out the episodes that dropped last week with with the following Pinnacle Society Members:

Rich Rosen
Pree Sarkar
Rob Bowerman
Justis Pederson

Most recruiters would have quit.
Imagine going six straight months without making a single placement.

New industry. New desk. New pressure.

Every day, picking up the phone… and nothing landing.

That was Emily Audibert at the start of her recruiting career.

But instead of walking away, she doubled down.

Listened to every training tape she could get her hands on.

Made twice the dials.

Took every bit of feedback—even the uncomfortable stuff.

And she kept showing up.

Then something unexpected happened:
She stopped trying to sound like every “hard-charging, script-driven” recruiter in the bullpen…
 and started leaning into her way of doing the job.

A softer approach.
More curiosity.
More intuition.
Less pressure.
More trust.

And everything changed.

She went from struggling to survive…
to becoming a million-dollar biller, landing multiple RPO contracts, and building a thriving agency rooted in authenticity—not aggression.

Here are a few of my favorite takeaways from the conversation:
🔹 Your energy matters more than your script:   Once Emily stopped forcing a style that wasn’t hers, deals started moving.

🔹 RPOs are a game-changer:    She breaks down exactly how she sold them, structured them, and turned them into predictable revenue.

🔹 Mindset is the real differentiator.
 Visualization, consistency, and refusing to quit—even when it felt hopeless—became her superpower.

If you’ve ever felt stuck… or wondered if there’s a “right” way to be successful in this business… Emily’s story is the reminder that you can build a wildly successful career by being fully yourself.

This is one of the most inspiring episodes we’ve done.

Thank you Atlas - the Recruitment Platform and Recruiters Websites for sponsoring this episode! 

Make sure to also sign up for the Recruiter Sales and BD Summit kicking off in Jan 2026!

Ohh and make sure to join The Elite Recruiter Community!

Just imagine if college football coaches had to deal with non-competes like the rest of us.
Coach leaves one university for another?

Sorry, you’ll need to sit out for a year.

Can’t work for a rival school.

And please don’t you dare call your old players or staff.

Sounds absurd, right?

Yet that’s exactly what happens every day in the corporate world.

Talented people blocked from opportunities by restrictive contracts.

Even as the game keeps moving, they’re benched.

Maybe it’s time we treated all professionals with the same fairness and mobility we give our coaches on Saturday.

If someone has a good reason to leave...  

Let them leave.

Most recruiters don’t lose deals because of sourcing.

They lose them because of what happens after the first interview.

A lot of recruiters don’t want to hear that.

But Steve Finkel said something on this week’s episode that stopped me in my tracks:

“Your worth to the client isn’t at the beginning.

It’s at the end.”
And he’s right.

We obsess over AI tools, outreach hacks, Boolean strings…
But we don’t obsess over the skill that actually gets us paid:

Closing.
Follow-up.
Debriefing.
Moving a candidate from a first interview to a second.

That’s where recruiters win.
That’s where recruiters lose.
And that’s where most of us leave the most money on the table.

Steve broke down EXACTLY why offers fall apart, how to fix it, and how elite recruiters use closing to add 30–50% more billing without working more hours.

This episode punched me in the gut in the best way possible.
If you’ve ever lost a deal you should have landed… or wondered how some recruiters have “insane” consistency year after year…

You need this one.

Listen to Part 1: The Art of Closing with Steve Finkel

Thank you Atlas - the Recruitment Platform and Recruiters Websites for helping make this episode possible!

What ATS do you use?  Why Do you love it?


I have had an influx of people asking my thoughts, I think its because everyone is gearing up for an awesome 2026! 

But share what you are using to help other recruiters out there looking right now.

Recruiters!  Who are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?

Tag who and why! 

I have some of mine down below.

The 3 Most Registered Talks so far for the 2026 Recruiter Sales and BD Summit!


1. Clark Willcox - Mastering LinkedIn Inbound 
2. Jordan Shlosberg, CFA - AI Meets Business Development 
3. Rebekah Brown - Scaling Your Book of Business

You don't want to miss this summit kicking off Jan 26th! 

All the live sessions is FREE!  

Follow: Benjamin Mena
Listen to and subscribe to The Elite Recruiter Podcast

Traveling this weekend and need a podcast to listen to.   5 episodes dropped in the last 24 hours! 

Jared Watts - The Pro Athlete Mindset That Creates World-Class Recruiters on The Elite Recruiter Podcast

Rich Rosen - Record-Breaking Recruiting: How Rich Rosen Had His Best Month Ever (Mindset, Tech & Tactics for Crushing It in Any Market) - Pinnacle Take Podcast 

Rob Bowerman - Why Niching Down Makes Recruiters Elite: Lessons from Luxury & the Pinnacle Society - Pinnacle Take Podcast 

Pree Sarkar - From Survival to Seven Figures: The Step-by-Step Playbook to Building a Million Dollar Recruiting Desk - Pinnacle Take Podcast 

Justis Pederson - Breaking the Recruiting Plateau: How Justis Pederson Went from Burnout to $1.5M with Digital Transformation and Sobriety - Pinnacle Take Podcast 

Check them out! All the links are below.

Who you surround yourself with has a bigger impact than you realize. 

I signed up for a 10K without really training. 

I run.  But have not trained and most of my runs are with a stroller.  

So my expectations were low.  

Goal was to finish and see where I might be at.  

But as I got to the start line.  

I realized I was about 50 runners deep from a 40 minute pacer.  

I tried to get closer but it was to crowded. 

I thought.  If I could just hang on for a little bit it just might be a good run.  

After the gun went off.  It took me a good half mile to catch up with the pacer.   

I could feel the lactic acid already filling up my legs.  

But I had to catch him.  At least for a while.

But when I caught him.  I didn’t just catch him.  I caught the pack.   A pack of about 40 runners.  

Sitting in the pack the miles started to fly by. 

I was able to hang to the group for about 4.5 miles.

Ended up finishing with a 40:26.

If I didn’t catch up with the pacer.  I still would have had a respectable time.  

But because I surrounded myself with the pack of other runners.  

I did even better.   

But this is the same thing with recruiters.  

We are all running the race for ourselves.  

But if you get the chance to run with others. 

You can go faster and further than if you were alone.  

I really don’t talk about it as much as I should.  But it’s been awesome to see everyone running together in The Elite Recruiter Community that recently launched.  

Having access to every summit replay is cool.   

But finding running buddies.  Is even better.  

Excited where it’s going to go over the next year.  

And I can’t wait to look back in Dec of 2026 and realize how fast the pack of recruiters running. 

Was able to accomplish.   

If you want to join us.  Hit me up.

Confession: I didn’t run the LinkedIn gender experiment.
Rosie Taylor did.

She flipped her gender setting from “female” to “male” for a week.
Nothing else changed – same profile, same bio, same posting cadence.

Her “people reached” went up 220%. Profile views up 174%. Impressions up 195%.

Her top posts as “Rosie” were doing 11–13K views.
As “Rosie the man”? 21K and 52K views.

Same person. Same thoughts. New gender. Wildly different reach.

Fortune’s Emma Hinchliffe has already covered this, along with other women who saw their content take off the moment the platform read them as men.
LinkedIn’s line is that gender is not a ranking signal and the feed is driven by things like network, activity and role.

But here’s where my recruiter brain kicks in:

In recruiting, this hits differently.

There are a ton of women actually doing the work in this industry, yet when you scroll “recruiter” content on here, it’s still mostly men who get seen, shared, and treated as the voices of the profession.

If the system is learning from years of men posting more, engaging more with each other, and being overrepresented in “power user” buckets…
…then any ranking model trained on that history is going to treat male-coded behaviour as the default “signal” and everyone else as the edge case.

So when we say “the best content rises”, are we really measuring quality?
Or are we measuring who the machine has already decided looks like a “leader” because of past behaviour?

I don’t think the answer is “women need to be more confident on LinkedIn”.
I think the answer starts with questions like:
- Whose posts do you comment on without thinking?
- Whose content do you reshare?
- Who do you tag for opportunities and intros?

Because that’s the data the algorithm is drinking every day.

What do your last 30 comments say about whose voices you’re helping the algorithm learn to love?

I really don't think of myself as a Recruiting Influencer.   

I think of myself as a GovCon Headhunter that also has a recruiting podcast and I just share the stories with all of you.

The #4 on the Atlas - the Recruitment Platform list is because of all of you guys tuning into The Elite Recruiter Podcast!

So thank you!

Also thank you Jordan Shlosberg, CFA and Nikos Karamolegkos for having me on this list with so many amazing people in our space!

View company: Atlas - the Recruitment Platform

Big News: 🔥

The Atlas30 Recruitment Influencers list for October is OUT NOW, and it’s full of surprises.

Joel Lalgee is back on top! 👑
Hishem Azzouz drops to #2 - but not by much.
Greg Savage climbs into the top 3!
Benjamin Mena is up 2 spots to land at #4.
Carolyn Christie drops to #5 - will she bounce back?

Following the Atlas30 is like having 30 mentors in your feed.

Daily inspiration.

Full blog in the comments! 👇

Most recruiting firms don’t fail because they’re bad.
They fail because they run on chaos.

No systems.

No scorecards.

No real accountability.

Just pure “white-knuckle and pray the deal closes.”

Kelsey Boyd lived inside that chaos and she shared the story on The Elite Recruiter Podcast.

She walked into a recruiting firm with 32 different brands, outdated processes, triple-entry time sheets, and a business model that was basically held together by grit and duct tape.

Most people would have tapped out.

She rebuilt the entire thing.
→ Rebranded the company
 → Unified the tech stack
 → Implemented EOS
 → Built the operating system that carried the firm into real growth

Not because she was asked to.

But because she saw a way forward when everyone else saw “that’s just how we do things.”

In this week’s episode, Kelsey breaks down the exact operating frameworks that help recruiting firms escape chaos and finally scale:
• How to spot the bottlenecks killing your billings
 • Why most firms plateau at the same revenue point
 • How EOS actually works inside a staffing company
 • What “right people, right seats” really means
 • Why consistency > talent in this business

If your desk or agency feels chaotic…

If you’ve hit a ceiling you can’t break through…

Or if you’ve wondered why some firms scale and others stay stuck…
This episode is the blueprint.

This is the final episode of the 3-part EOS Series for Recruitment Firms.
Part 1: Jackie Kibler
Part 2: Derek Pittak

And Kelsey Boyd is wrapping up the series with Part 3.


Thank you Atlas - the Recruitment Platform for sponsoring this episode.

What does it really take to scale a recruiting firm to $300M and pull off a dream exit? 
Spoiler: It’s not just about clever tech or working weekends.

The episode is finnaly live with Jon Davis on The Elite Recruiter Podcast. 

Honestly, there’s zero fluff here, Jon gets REAL about all the messy pivoting, the strategies that actually moved the needle, and mistakes that almost derailed everything.

Here’s what really stuck with me:
- Why recurring revenue (contract staffing) is the difference between a “small biz” and a business that buyers chase
- The hard reality of letting go of what’s working to chase what’s possible
- How relationships still beat out every tool or hack, even now
- Practical steps for owners & solo recruiters to start thinking about legacy—and exit

And a bunch of battle stories you won’t hear anywhere else

If you own or run a desk at a recruiting firm—and you’re thinking about scaling, selling, or just future-proofing your book—this is mandatory listening.

🎧 Grab the episode below and thank you Atlas - the Recruitment Platform for sponsoring this episode.

670,000 to 750,000 federal employees are furloughed.
Another 730,000 are working without pay during this unprecedented government shutdown.

But what about the government contractors—the backbone of getting things done?

The media and politicians rarely talk about them. 

Too often, they are forgotten.

Earlier this year, GovCon Recruiting hosted a Job Hunting Summit to support both federal employees and government contractors impacted by DOGE, layoffs, and furloughs.

Here’s a quick preview of the sessions we offered—full replays are linked in the comments below.

If you know government contractors affected by the shutdown, please share this post with them.

Summit Highlights:

From Fed to Private Sector: Rebranding Yourself and Your Projects for Commercial Success with Kelli Hrivnak, Knak Digital

The Mindset Pivot: You Can’t Land a New Role With an Old Identity
Tony Martinez 

Next Mission: Translating Federal Experience into Private Sector Success
Junius Currier, Director of Talent Acquisition, Maximus

Optimize Your Resume and LinkedIn Profile
Marcelle Yeager, President, CareerValet

Recruiter Screenings Decoded: What to Expect and How to Stand Out
Stephanie Holman, M.Ed, Metrostar

Making The Pivot: Panel Discussion on Transitioning From Federal Sector to Corporate Benjamin Sheffield, Sarah Johnston, Anthony Roman, Clint Hawkins, and Ciara Nasuti

Resume Bootcamp
Alyssa Thomas, Managing Partner, Select Source Solutions

What’s Next?: How to Pivot with Purpose in the Federal Space
Tommy Weinert 

Thank you to GAMA-1 Technologies for helping set this up! 

Please check the comments for all session replay links!

Sharing these FREE resources can be a game-changer for someone impacted.

So make sure to repost and comment so people impacted can see it.

There’s a moment in this interview where Steve Finkel said something that hit me like a freight train:

“Recruiters don’t lose deals because they can’t find candidates.
 They lose them because they can’t CLOSE them.”

And he’s right.

AI can source.
Internal teams can source.
Junior recruiters can source.

But closing?

Real closing?

The kind that rewires fear, dissolves hesitation, and guides someone through one of the biggest career decisions of their life?

That’s rare.

That’s a craft.

And that’s the skill the best recruiters in the world have mastered.
In this new episode and in his new book Closing for Recruiters, Steve breaks down:
- The “College Professor Close”
- The Fear-of-Change Close
- Why major closes require combinations
- How to structure a closing call like a pro
- How to blend logic and emotion the right way
- Why top billers review every call like elite athletes
- And how these strategies increase billing 30–50%

This isn’t theory.

This is the real playbook used by the recruiters who consistently dominate their markets year after year.

If you’ve ever lost a deal you should have won…

or wondered why some recruiters just seem unstoppable…

This episode is the missing piece.

🎧 Part 2 is live. If Part 1 changed how you think, this one will change how you CLOSE.

 (Link in comments)

Thank you Atlas - the Recruitment Platform and Recruiters Websites for helping this episode possible!

July of 2024 I got to sit down for a podcast interview with Nicolas Greppo!

We talked through so many things about the ins and outs of recruiting.  

The French Market! 

Family.

And what really drives him.  

This week I got the opportunity to finally meet him in person and it was awesome! 

One of the coolest things about the podcast.  

It’s how it brings people together and the relationships it helps create!

Excited that he is going to be launching his own Data podcast soon!  ;) 

But it was finally to finally meet in person!!!

No alternative text description for this image

The difference between a $3M firm and a $300M firm isn’t luck.
 It’s the systems you build when no one’s watching.

Most recruiters never see what scaling really looks like behind the curtain.

They hear about big exits, valuations, roll-ups, and “multiples”…

…but nobody talks about the messy middle.

The years where the phone never stops.

The deals fall through.

The processes are duct-taped together.

And the only thing keeping the team moving is belief + sheer stubbornness.
That’s why my conversation with Jon Davis hit so hard on The Elite Recruiter Podcast.

Before he became a CEO of Signature Back Office Solutions, he was part of the leadership team that helped scale a staffing firm to over $300M — and kept every single employee through the acquisition.

No ego.

No shortcuts.

Just systems, service, and doing the unsexy work most recruiters avoid.

In this episode Jon breaks down:
🔥 Why contract revenue is the true engine of valuation
 (firms with 50%+ contract get wildly higher multiples)

🔥 How to launch a contract staffing division even if you're 100% direct-hire today

🔥 Why recurring revenue protects you in downturns, attracts buyers, and grows margins

🔥 The real M&A playbook: documentation, process, relationships, and team stability

🔥 What founders get wrong about scaling — and why “more recruiters” isn’t the answer

🔥 How EOR/back office partners let you scale lean without blowing up margins

(Shoutout to Atlas - the Recruitment Platform for sponsoring this awesome episode) 

But my favorite part?

Jon’s perspective that any recruiter — not just the big firms — can build a business worth acquiring if they commit to systems, consistency, and relationships that can’t be automated.

No hype.

No “secret hack.”

Just the truth from someone who’s lived it.

If you run a desk, a team, or a staffing firm (or dream of starting one)…
 this is the episode you’ll replay twice.

🎙️ Listen to the full episode links below and make sure to sign up to see him talk at the Sales and Business Development Summit kicking off Jan 2026. 

What’s one system YOU wish you’d built earlier in your recruiting career?

You have to figure out what works for you.  This was a great episode with Emily Audibert

Open article: From 6 Months with No Placements to Million-Dollar Biller: Emily Audibert’s Feminine Energy, RPO Strategy & Mindset Shift by The Elite Recruiter Podcast • 12 min read

From 6 Months with No Placements to Million-Dollar Biller: Emily Audibert’s Feminine Energy, RPO Strategy & Mindset Shift

All hustle and no systems is a recipe for burnout, not a business.
Derek Pittak has helped fix that at 40 Recruiting Firms!

LinkedIn

li_at

JSESSIONID

Flair Business Growth Consultancy

Running a business coaching programme that endeavours to bring entrepreneurial flair to the corporate world. Each programme covers a range of business, life and work/life balance topics gradually building up a unique base of new skills and approaches.

Flair should be the last personal development programme you ever need to attend!

Founder and Scalability Consultant and Coach

Crimson Ltd

Crimson offer permanent and contract IT recruitment services with a heavy bias placed upon building and maintaining relationships. Almost all of our growth originates from referrals from satisfied clients and candidates.

 It is enormously useful still being in business and being a business development coach at the same time. My experience is fresh and I share many of the same challenges as the people who attend the programmes.

My role is to support the 2 main directors and act as a business development coach to any employees who need support.

Director and Business Development Consultant and Coach

Software Knowledge

A recruitment and professional services company based in Henley in Arden. Sold to Modis International in 1998.

I was responsible for new business development and managing the business development team. This included assembling the team and leading them on a day-to-day basis. It is also where I first tried my hand at being a fledgling Business Development Coach with some of the junior sales people.

Managing Director and Business Development Coach

Systems Resources

A privately held recruitment and professional services company based in Coventry. I was a junior sales person working for the late great Mike Sparkes. We both left after I had been there for six months to start our own business: Software Knowledge.

Recruitment Consultant

Various Companies

Various roles as a programmer, analyst, business analyst and data analyst.

Freelance Information Technology Consultant

GEC Computer Services

Programmer

Do you own an SME recruitment firm and feel mildly dissatisfied because you seem to work hard for your business rather than your business working hard for you? If so, it’s probably down to these 3 reasons.

You aren’t earning what you want, you’re not leading the lifestyle you and your family would like you to lead or, most of all, you’re no closer to financial security now than when you started.

What we at Flair do is work with people just like you to put a tick in each of those boxes.

★★PROOF I KNOW MY STUFF

I’ve grown and sold two multi-million-pound recruitment companies from scratch. The first sold for a headline price of £24m and the second for £15m. Only a handful of people can make that claim.

You can find more proof on my video testimonial page: https://www.flair.co.uk/testimonials/ and  my LinkedIn recommendations below.

★★PROOF WE ADD VALUE TO THE COMMUNITY WE SERVE

We run free webinars and publish regular podcasts and blog posts. We also have an ever-changing selection of free resources you can find here: https://www.flair.co.uk/online-growth-club/ 

★★HOW WE HELP OUR CLIENTS

Once we understand what income, lifestyle, legacy and financial security you want we can model what your business would need to look like to deliver them.

Then, we create a realistic plan to build that company.

Finally, we work together to make that plan a reality.

We have several ways we can work together depending upon your budget and priorities starting with a completely free option! 

All our work carries a 100% money-back guarantee, so you’ll always get value for money.

So why not call me on 01564 627 050 or email me at mike.ames@flair.co.uk to arrange an informal and completely confidential chat.

★★ON A PERSONAL FRONT

Married since 1983 (to the same person) ★ 3 grown up children and 4 grand kids ★ 2 Pekingese dogs ★ a bolt-hole in Wales ★ Wolves fan (I can say that now) ★ mad on impressionist art ★ aspirational golfer ★ ‘experimental’ cook ★ love train journey's.

Mike Ames

At 7:30am last Wednesday I had breakfast with a client. By 9:00am we’d swapped ideas, agreed a deal and were on our way to our places of work.

No reschedules and no interruptions, just focused conversation.

That’s the magic of breakfast meetings. This is why I think they are a great way to meet in person: -

🔹 Low cancellation rates: research shows cancellation rates are only 10–20%, far lower than lunches.

🔹 Commitment filter: if someone agrees to meet before the workday, they’re serious.

🔹 No diary clashes: by 9:00am the meeting’s done before their workday begins.

🔹 Fresh start psychology: morning energy is higher; people are sharper, more open, and ready to engage.

🔹 Efficiency: you leave with clarity and still have a full day ahead.

🔹 Hunger: everybody has to eat breakfast, right?

Yes, early starts can feel tough, and travel hiccups happen. But overall, breakfast meetings stick and they’re equally as good at building strong rapport as rushed lunches or late‑day catch‑ups (maybe better). 

So next time you want to build rapport and secure commitment via an in-person meeting, don’t book lunch, book breakfast.

Do you hold enough breakfast meetings?

I help owners of Solo and SME recruitment firms build a secure, high profit business that doesn’t need them to work in it all the time and will one day make them wealthy without selling up.

Would you like to know how many people read your LinkedIn posts as a percentage of its impressions? If so, read on McDuff!
 
Impressions tell you how often your content is seen, but views reveal how often people stop to read it.
 
LinkedIn doesn’t release this data so we can only guess, but I looked at several pieces of research (listed below) and noticed a convergence of results.
 
Here’s a summary of those results: -
 
1️⃣ Text-only posts: Often get wide reach but shallow engagement. On average, only about 1–2% of impressions convert into views.
 
2️⃣ Image posts: Adding a visual increases stopping power. Approximately 3–5% of their impressions become views.
 
3️⃣ Video posts: LinkedIn reports video posts earn 3x more engagement, but the impression-to-read ratio hovers around 1.5–2%.
 
4️⃣ Multi-page PDFs (carousels): as a reader swipes right it deepens intent, so they achieve about 3–5% view rates.
 
If I told you that you could share your wisdom with 40 potential prospects, would you do it?
 
Well, that’s what 1000 impressions gives you, so, it’s still worth posting.
 
❓We’re you surprised by these numbers ❓

(Sources: Social Insider, 2023; Hootsuite, 2024; LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, 2022; DemandSage, 2024)

———————————
👇👇👇👇👇👇

I coach owners of recruitment firms who are good at what they do but feel overwhelmed and submerged in their business. 

If that rings a bell, DM for an informal chat.

Being a coach who’s built and sold 2 rec firms for a combined value of £39m you’d think I’d be all, “join me and I can help you sell”. But I’m not.

It would be very insincere of me.

For a start, on average, each year only about 0.2% of recruitment firms end in a trade sale, MBO or float.

Plus, the truth is I was enormously lucky both times: the right place, at the right time doing the right thing. That's hard to recreate via a system.

Finally, the UK in the 90s and noughties was a great place to offer contract IT services, pre-IR35 and offshoring.

If companies wanted temporary IT staff, they turned to a contract agency and margins, even on volume deals, were great: 18% to 30%.

But even then to exit for big money, you had to tick certain boxes: size, niche, client estate, profitability, management team, contract over perm etc.

So, what can you do if you can’t sell?

The answer is to build a secure, high-profit business that doesn’t need you working in it all the time: a Profit, Lifestyle and Wealth (PLW) business.

You make enough money and have enough free time to have a great lifestyle with enough left over to invest in your retirement fund.

PLW businesses are organised and managed differently, and they also have a very different focus to traditional scale-4-sale firms.

But the good news is, anybody who’s good at recruitment can build one and so can retire in style without needing to sell their business.

If we ran a FREE webinar to explain how they work, would you come?

If we ran a free webinar to explain how a profit, lifestyle, and wealth business works (read this post to learn more). Would you come?

The author can see how you vote. Learn more

If you're one of the unlucky ones who find themselves in a market that is not doing so great, and wondering if a new market might be a better choice then you should check out this latest episode of the Recruitment Bracer. 

Full instructions on how to make the jump the smart way, leveraging the latest automation tools to support you.

An interview with Mike McGloin turned into a practical playbook for founder-led recruitment firms. Recruitment markets stall and many become saturated

Open article: Using AI to Switch Markets Without Starting From Scratch by Mike Ames • 8 min read

Using AI to Switch Markets Without Starting From Scratch

Something happened at the gym yesterday that triggered a long-lost memory. It was like a punch to the stomach for me.
 
I discovered that the sole was coming away from my left training shoe. So what, you may say.
 
Well, back in the early Sevs we were going thru a period of family austerity that was real bad. We had zero money.
 
One day, I noticed the sole was coming off one of my school shoes (my only pair of shoes).
 
I told my mom and asked for the money for a new pair, “sorry Michael I won’t have any money until the end of the month” she replied.
 
The next day I went to school in my trainers. The head of year pulled me up and told me that was a non-starter. He didn’t care about our situation.
 
So, every night I had to glue the sole on with contact glue but by the end of the day, it was flapping again.
 
In the end I had to tape it up with plumbers’ tape.
 
It was a time of shame an embarrassment for me, but it was also a turning point.
 
✅ I developed a heavy work ethic: two paper rounds and later, casual labouring.
 
✅ I started saving in my post office account – I wanted the security of a war chest.
 
✅ I made the decision that when I was older, I was NOT going to be poor.
 
My question is, did you have a shaping moment in your youth?

taplio

The Battle

Benjamin Mena

Mike Ames

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreBenjamin Mena's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreMike Ames's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Benjamin Mena

Mike Ames

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Benjamin Mena's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreMike Ames's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreBenjamin Mena's LinkedIn Performance