Clark Willcox

I help recruiters + consultants build and leverage their brand to attract more of their ideal clients (and candidates).

You didn't become successful by accident.

You got there by making more calls, closing tougher roles, and outlasting everyone who quit early. 

You built real skill, running great meetings, understanding the market, and delivering results that speak for themselves.

But today, being a high performer isn’t enough to get new business. Or even referrals.

The digital landscape is louder, more crowded, and full of “AI-first” recruiting agencies that look polished online but crumble once a real sales conversation starts. They don’t have your experience, your instincts, or your ability to run a consultative call.

You still win the meeting.

You’re just not getting enough of the right meetings.

That’s the real problem, not your ability, but your positioning.

Most top recruiters never learned marketing. Why would you? 

You were too busy billing. But in today’s market, authority is currency. And if your ideal clients don’t see you as different before the call, they assume you’re the same as every other recruiter DM’ing them.

That’s where I come in.

We’ve helped 100s of recruiters + consultants create consistent inbound demand, elevate their authority, and regain clarity and time.

You don’t need more tech.
You need a better strategy and likely someone to run it for you.

To get what you want which is...

Shorten sales cycles
Book more warmed-up calls
Increase client quality
Use their story, skill, and expertise as a competitive edge

In short, you stop chasing and you stop 

And we do the work for you, strategy, messaging, content, outreach, and systems.

No more pointless cold calling.
No more AI fluff.
No more tech stack collecting dust.
No more roles that were never going to close.

Your experience is your leverage.

I help the market finally see it.

How we can help:
Fractional Sales + Marketing: I run your entire inbound + outreach engine.
LinkedIn Sprint: A fast, proven campaign and content system.
Digital Recruiter Academy: Build a full-funnel recruiting business.
1:1 Coaching: Customized growth and positioning strategy.

“Every post I make, I get an inbound lead.” - Rachel Brown, Founder + PT Recruiter

A little more about me:

10+ years in recruiting and sales, door-to-door, agency, entrepreneurship. I’ve failed, rebuilt, and grown through every season. By the grace of God, I went from being orphaned to having a family of my own and a career I love.

Message me if you’re ready to market like a top performer, not a commodity.

Founder

Growth partner to solo recruiters and small recruiting agencies. 

Need to improve your LinkedIn presence + outbound/inbound approach?

Looking to train up your current crop of recruiters?

Looking to add candidates with potential and a training partner to help them achieve it?

Welcome to the Digital Recruiter

https://testimonial.to/recruiter-accelerator/all

“You guys are awesome and have taken a huge burden off of my shoulders.  Trying to build a business (unexpectedly) while navigating my husbands career demands, my family demands is majorly stressful. You totally delivered and I can focus on what I’m actually good at.”

Tara Rochelo, Founder, Four Corners Search

Let’s see how we can help:
https://calendly.com/thedigitalrecruiter/strategy

Who was cutting onions here? 

Watching this with my almost 1 and 3 year old boys, getting the oldest to do his first U-S-A chant when they won in OT… super fun.

Then team USA showed what brotherhood and being proud of where you’re from and not forgetting your missing brethren other families….

Waterwork city. 

Good one them for keeping Johnny Gaudreau’s legacy going and making sure his children know the positive impact he had. 

Having lost parents at a young age, pictures are a thousand words but the greatest gift is hearing stories from family and friends about who they were. 

God bless those kids 🙏🏼

Founder @ The Digital Recruiter || Fractional Sales + Marketing || We fix and create your business development engine so your prospects actually start responding to you

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My man, Greg Fischer, CPP 👊 

This is all him btw. I gave him pointers and bumpers, but he is consistent with posting and engaging with his market. 

It's been incredible to witness and raises my own bar for staying consistent.

"The market's been tough for all recruiters, right?"

No, not necessarily.

Is money falling out of the sky like 2021-2022? No. And if you thought that could last...

Come on now. Let's live on Earth together. 

What you're experiencing.

Companies being much pickier.

But they are still hiring.

This is a game of musical chairs. 

And you can level up, figure out the competition you're up against.

Don't rely on "what you've always done"

Learn how to evolve. 

AI is rampant? Get better at building rapport and relationships WITHOUT needing a referral. 

Always used to MPC but email slowed down? Figure out a new channel and approach.

Tried something and it didn't work? Try it for longer.

Or find someone that you resonate with more and try that approach.

Staying stagant and b*tching will get you exactly what you want.

Which is zero improvement.

Producers don't have time for a lengthy pity party. 

You get one night to sleep off a bad day. 


h/t Daniel Miller

Astonishing how much push back I got for saying you need great reqs first and foremost.

Why would your unicorn candidates matter at all without great roles that pay their bills and yours?

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The success story that almost never was....

Isaiah Gibbs booked a call then canceled! 

I asked him for his reasoning and he goes "I have LinkedIn on lock, I need BD help"

Hmm ok, well that's one of my main focuses. We should still chat.

Within 2 weeks of that conversation he had a new client.

More importantly, Isaiah was extremely coachable. And still is. 

He tried everything we discussed. And every week he was sharing a win.

Then sharing different stories he wanted feedback and support with.

There are many ways to capture ROI...and all those ways require the student to invest their energy and attitude.

Isaiah is breaking through previous ceilings, leveraging tech to buy back his time and his content is much more geared to convert quality leads.

Then his actual conversations have skyrocketed in quality. Because he knows his value prop and his boundaries. 

Put all that together, you become dangerous. 

Congrats my friend, here's to many more successes.

Recruiting Top Sales Talent for Equipment Finance & Working Capital Lenders| Founder @ Gibbs Talent Group

"The best money I've ever spent in 29 years of recruiting." 

Now, that only happens when you show up, implement, work through the struggle/pain and keep going.

That's what Dan Regovich did. 

Used to referrals and the "old way of doing things" but that wasn't enough anymore.

The system and approach was good but not enough. Anyone can sign up for automation or make some posts.

We focused on the follow up. 

What are hiring managers reacting to right now in 2026.

There's way more competition than 20 years ago. 

Understanding the landscape and reacting accordingly is critical. 

That's what leads to conversions. 

And the text that Dan sent me today.

"Top of funnel is full."

Music to my ears

If you're struggling with how to hire a good recruiter, domestic, near shore, off shore...this is who you should talk to...

Greg Fischer, CPP 

He's one of the more genuine people I've met in my life but also insanely good at what he does. Rare combo. 

He's helped us navigate hires plus giving me sound advice and feedback on ways to improvement my own management style (I'm a big work in progress).

He's gone out of his way to connect me to so many people as well and so I want nothing else except to fill up his calendar with recruiters that are serious about investing in hiring and training the right people, the right way. 

Whether you become a client of his or not, you won't regret having him in your corner and you will be more knowledgable about hiring best practices after a conversation with him.

Recruiting top 1% Recruiters Globally | Founder @ Well Oiled Machine | admittedly obsessed with the Mountains ⛰️

2 reasons recruiters don't build pipelines on LinkedIn.


1) They aren't consistent with outreach and/or content. 

I've hammered this point over and over, won't do so again right now. 

2) They don't know how to talk to people.

"but Clark, I've recruited forever, I know how to talk to people"

Candidates get a free service.

There is no cold calling a candidate.

There is no true sales.

It's more like getting people to switch energy services and they just get a lower bill. 

Getting managers to buy into you and then pay a fee.

That takes a different level of skill.

You have to know the nuance.

And have to be OK getting left on read. 

And knowing if and when to follow up directly. Or indirectly.

It's quite the web to internalize. 

The only way to win is to dive in head first, and figure it out for yourself. 

If you need help getting more reps, well that's where we come in.

Niche or don't niche? Really what you want to know is, what do people who don't know me need to see? Here's the shift you need to make....

Own your lane...don't defend it. 

The Digital Recruiter clients come in, own a lane, and go for it, get the results they want.

The people we don't work with. They waffle on a lane, are worried about having prospects tune out.

I've seen this paralyze recruiters that have relied on referrals for years. They turn to cold outreach and get frazzled. 

Worry about people that aren't relevant. 

Those prospects are almost always the ones not worth chasing. 

Stop trying to convince about prospects that will never buy.

Understand your strengths. 

Get clear on the type of business you want more of. 

And unapologetically go after it.

"I focus on relationships and rapport." 

Amazing. Now how do you scale that? 

And that right therein lies the answer as to why this platform is so powerful.

Did I scoff in 2018 when I learned people were getting clients from Facebook? Yes, yes I did.

I stopped real quick when seeing how some people had sales on autopilot.

All from digital marketing?

Yes. That's the power of taking a skilled producer, and amplifying their reach.

Not to just anyone.

But their ideal market. 

Your next great "cold" client is looking for the solution you provide.

Instead of overthinking your website, think of how you're going to get in front of them, and stay in front of them...

Without being a pest. 

Easy. Leverage your past success and experience on here in an entertaining way (you don't need video).

Connect with them. Start a real conversation. (Don't let AI write messages for you.)

Focus on them.

The formula is simple.

Executing consistently is the challenge.

If you're a hard working recruiter, that gets your client results 👇 

Get those stories out there. 

It's not just for new connections.

Your current network will notice too.

It's endless the amount of veteran recruiters we've help showcase their stories...

In a way that's relatable and readable (no AI slop)

And it's turned into immediate meetings, deals, and/or prospect awareness.

Timing is everything in sales.

Instead of only working through the call list 1 by 1.

Get in front of 1000 of them at a time. Consistently.

We can have a full month of content for you in one hour of your time.

What's the hold up?

I was poking around a client's campaigns yesterday and gave him a heads up on an old lead. What he responded with is the reason he's so successful...


"Oh ya, I emailed him last week. Trying to lock him down"

The original lead? From April 2025. 

That relentless follow up is what is key.

We help you open doors to more conversations all day.

But without staying on top of it, most leads fall through the cracks.

"We closed a $35k fee and have a $40k offer out thanks to your candidate messaging and sequence for LinkedIn." - nice voice memo to start the day with. the catch? 

"But the sales side is still TBD"

And that's fairly normal. When you're use to the cold email/call game, it can be an adjustment navigating LinkedIn and doing more rapport building.

Candidate outreach almost always clicks first. The service is free on their side, so fixing messaging to resonate more with their incentives changes their behavior quickly into what you were always looking for.

Client side? They need a bit more time to earn that trust. And that's where consistency comes into play.

Trying different wants to open up conversations. Finding ways to add value without just needing an open role.

Having "feel" is a critical part of becoming better at biz dev. When the immediate opportunity doesn't present itself, how do you approach it? 

Improving your systems and approach on the candidate side = more opportunity to get the time and reps on mastering biz dev.

What's you get all that in place, you become dynamic, and you always know how to "catch your own fish."

That's when $35k and $40k doesn't just happen on a good week, but it happens over and over again.

"I don't want to look like my feed." This is 100% the right way to think if you're a recruiter. Because most recruiters' posts aren't leading to business.

...Unless you're following a bunch of Digital Recruiter members. 

But if you're seeing a bunch of selfies, em dashes, rocketship emojis, complaining, etc...

You're right. Those people aren't building a pipeline of quality leads with that content. 

There is a formula that works.

One that when inputed with YOUR voice and stories, make it unique to you.

And that's what resonates with your market.

***Assuming you're connecting with them daily.

***And that you're profile is optimized to drive them to see you as a solution. 

See? There's a lot of pieces to put together.

And that's why people struggle with marketing.

Because it's not ONE thing.

It's all the things put together. And you have to know how to interpret the signals.

Who to follow up with. And when. And what to say.

That's how you build a pipeline. 
Warm up your sales calls. 
Close better clients. 
Raise your fees. 

If you don't want to sound like a generic recruiter on LinkedIn.

You have to be intentional in doing so.

Texas is in the house today. Got some gold to share with y'all TSRSA in about 90 minutes. Even if...

...there's a missing L in Willcox 😂 I hold no grudges

Join us on February 26th for an insightful session with Clark Willcox:
“Building a Consistent Recruiting Ecosystem”

Clark brings over 12 years of sales and recruiting experience, starting his career at Aerotek, the largest privately held staffing company in the U.S. Today, he owns and operates Digital Recruiter and Digital Recruiter Talent Group, helping firms build scalable, repeatable recruiting systems that actually work.

If you’re looking to:
✅ Create consistency in your recruiting efforts
✅ Build systems that support sustainable growth
✅ Align sales, recruiting, and digital strategy. You won’t want to miss this session.

🔗 Connect with Clark Willcox

Register now: https://lnkd.in/gWAbCuZ4 

#TSRSA #RecruitingLeadership #StaffingIndustry #RecruitingEcosystem #TalentAcquisition #ProfessionalDevelopment
Jessica Wheeler Judy Collins Nancy Martinez Beth Hammond, CTS Gayle Tapps Mike Lejeune Tiffany Wallace Ui Culbertson Chris Myers Dana Laramore, CPC

I keep coming back to the same idea when it comes to AI in recruiting...

The tool matters less than how teams actually use it.

This conversation with Josh Kirkham was a good example of that. 

We talked about where AI genuinely helps agency recruiters, where human judgment still matters, and why systems, enablement, and consistency end up being the real differentiators over time.

A lot of ground covered, from write ups and ATS hygiene to onboarding, execution, and building workflows that people actually stick with.

If you’re thinking about scale, efficiency, and sustainability inside an agency, this one is worth your time.

The episode is live now.
YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gTT6yugx
Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gRemXc5V
Apple: https://lnkd.in/gjyMprXg

podcasts.apple.com

Digital Recruiter Podcast

VP Revenue | #1 AI Assistant for Recruiting Agencies

You don’t need 2 hours to write a great LinkedIn post.

But you also don’t want AI doing all the thinking for you.

Because if it’s generic, it just adds to the noise.

Here’s a simple template that actually works:

Find a real hiring problem your market is feeling.

(Too many interview steps? Offers getting rejected?)

Share your insight.

“I worked with a client who had a 7-step process. We cut it to 3, got clear on the must-haves, and filled the role in weeks instead of months.”

Give a takeaway.

“If roles are sitting open, your interview process might be the issue. Simplify it.”

If you’re a recruiter doing good work

You already have stories like this.

Start writing them down.

Share what you’re learning.

That’s how you build trust with hiring managers before the first message.

"How do I come up with content?"

Here ya go....

Does your ideal client read it and think,

“Yep. That’s exactly what I’m dealing with."

That's it. The best part...

You already have this content.

It’s inside your all your discovery and client calls.

For example...you ask a hiring manager,

 “Have you worked with agencies before?”

They say yes. You ask, “What went wrong?”

They say, “They just sent resumes.” or “They didn’t understand our product.”

That’s a post.

Or when HR says, “We don’t use agencies.” Instead of pushing back, you think,

“That makes sense, until a role sits open 4 months and delays your roadmap.”

That’s a post.

Or when they push back on fees and you ask, “How much revenue is delayed because this role isn’t filled?”

That’s a post.

Content that sells is translating real conversations into teaching moments.

It's explaining what you see.

That’s what builds authority, inbound leads and increased replies in your outreach.

Keep It Human in the AI Era

AI is everywhere in recruiting right now.

But here’s the real question we got into on our latest episode:

How much of the human aspect are we pulling out when we lean too hard on automation?

Michael Malinowsky, Director of Recruiting at Lean Synergy Solutions, started his recruiting career in the U.S. Army. 

In the military, recruiting meant hunting.
-Finding people where they actually are
-Thinking outside the box
-Building real relationships
-Earning trust with candidates and families

That mindset carried over to the agency world.

We talked about the difference between the art and the science of recruiting. The science is KPIs and numbers. The art is reading people, building relationships, negotiating based on what someone actually values, and caring enough to personalize every touchpoint.

One line that stuck with me:
“Keep it human. Don’t forget there’s a living, breathing person behind every resume.”

In a world where filters auto-reject candidates in seconds and messaging can be written by a robot, the recruiters who win are the ones who personalize their outreach, take time to actually review resumes, focus on fit, not just keywords, and build relationships that help with retention and negotiation

We also got into his “humanity audit” idea, reviewing auto-rejections and asking whether filters are set for compliance instead of potential.

If you’re a recruiter trying to balance AI with authenticity, or a hiring manager wondering why great people slip through the cracks, this conversation is worth your time.

You can listen to the full episode here:
YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gFKD_w9M
Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gvm7n9jM
Apple: https://lnkd.in/gW9PvRE7

Open article: Digital Recruiter Podcast by tinyurl.com

Worried about posting content? 

Here’s a motto that’l reduce posting anxiety 

Likes don’t equal Leads.

You’re optimizing for dopamine when chasing likes. Not deals.

There’s been numerous posts from myself and recruiters we’ve helped across multiple industries that get leads with posts in the single and low double digit lien range. 

Here’s the formula that drives inbound and powers content-led outbound:

Authority – Prove you know what you're doing. Speak like an expert.

Process – Show how you help. Be specific.

Story – Your journey. Client stories. Candidate stories Be real, show that you’re in the trenches.

Results – Provide numbers. Metrics. Proof. And share it in an interesting way. 

That’s how you build trust.

That’s how you attract clients who already want what you offer.

Not by hoping for likes. No selfies. No hashtags. No complaining. 

But posting for the follow up.

And by showing you can solve the exact problems your next best client is trying to fix.

I started Future State Careers with the goal of building a place people love to be, and a firm that helps other companies do the same.

After a decade in recruiting, I kept meeting amazing people who were getting overlooked, not because they lacked the skills, but because their stories weren’t being heard. That’s when we built WholeStory.me... to give every person a way to share who they really are, beyond bullet points.

Today, through both Future State Careers and WholeStory.me, we help companies turn hiring from a headache into their strategic edge. Our Accounting & Finance searches are fast, transparent, and pressure-free, focused on fit, not fluff.

We’re not just here to fill roles. We’re here to help reshape cultures and make hiring human again.

Hiring well shouldn’t feel like guesswork.  And work shouldn’t feel like a chore.

I love my family, my friends, and the Chicago Cubs. Always happy to help where I can.

jacob@futurestatecareers.com | WholeStory.me

Jacob Stripling

“We know the market pays more. We just can’t pay that, because our current people are quite a bit below that number.”

Hear this fairly frequently, and I do get it.  It makes sense on paper, and I actually believe it usually comes from a place of care and trying to be fair… trying not to create problems that’ll be tough to unwind.

Pretty often though, the result we see play out over time is that people figure out they’re not being paid market and end up making a change so that they are. And so the company doesn’t just miss out on new talent, but eventually lose existing people as well.

We just watched a client run into this exact predicament and decide not to work around it. They were very receptive to feedback, recognized the gap, restructured meaningful parts of their comp plan, and adjusted existing employees so they could hire at the level the market actually requires.

Obviously this took a lot of planning, but the action was immediate, pretty uncomfortable, and definitely not cheap… and this isn’t a small company where moves like that are easy to absorb.

Partnering with a company like this is a privilege to say the least. Instead of talking about caring about their people or prioritizing great hires, they make it undeniable.  Facing these realities early and head-on tends to preserve more trust (and people) than avoiding it does.

I'm definitely not advocating that  every company can or should do this. And when this hasn’t been possible, we’ve still seen teams handle it in healthy ways… being transparent with their people about the gap, making partial adjustments where they can, setting clear expectations around what will change and when, and not pretending the market reality doesn’t exist or that there's nothing they can do.

I really just want to put a spotlight on moments like this when we see our partners take this level of action. I think it’s encouraging for people to hear that there are organizations operating like this, especially when so much of the conversation is negativity, call-outs, and pessimism.

Founder @ Future State Careers + WholeStory.me | Helping companies build teams & candidates tell their stories

“Just trust us. You won’t regret talking with them.”

We’ve said that to candidates more times than I can count.

Client tours are one of my favorite parts of this job. You usually know almost immediately. From the time you park. Walking in.  Being greeted at the front desk. Passing people in the hallway. Hearing how conversations sound. Seeing how people greet each other. The energy is usually obvious... good or bad.

Everything looks similar beforehand. Job descriptions blur together. Even the best websites are met with some skepticism... "Of course you’d say that about yourself."

People sometimes write off companies because of how they look online. Then you walk the space and realize it’s so much better than you ever would’ve expected.

taplio

The Battle

Clark Willcox

Jacob Stripling

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreClark Willcox's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreJacob Stripling's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Clark Willcox

Jacob Stripling

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);}Clark Willcox's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreJacob Stripling's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreClark Willcox's LinkedIn Performance