Kieron Mayers

Paiger is built for recruitment teams who want to build pipeline, make more placements, and cut the admin. 

Paiger brings together everything recruiters need to win new business: 

→ Find direct employer vacancies before competitors. 

→ Research companies and hiring managers in a click. 

→ Get verified contact details instantly - no more dead ends. 

→ Format CVs and send personalised outreach, all in one place. 

→ Amplify job adverts and company updates on social media, via branded posts or employee advocacy.

Trusted by thousands of recruiters worldwide, Paiger makes your business development process faster, more consistent, and more effective. 
  
Stop wasting time. Start winning business.

Podcast Host & Community Contributor

Most recruitment leaders struggle with one thing: inconsistent performance.

Some recruiters smash targets. Others barely bill enough to cover costs.

After hundreds of conversations with founders on The Recruitment Mentors Podcast (80,000+ monthly listeners), I noticed one pattern:

The best leaders don’t just hire great recruiters, they build them.

That’s why I founded Hector: The all-in-one training platform for recruitment agencies with 10+ consultants who want predictable, consistent billings.

With 120+ courses from today’s top billers and hands-on implementation support, Hector helps teams:

Build consistent habits that drive billings

Develop recruiter skills that actually fit today’s market

Create a culture of accountability and high performance

If you lead a growing recruitment team and want to eliminate inconsistency,

👉🏻 Visit https://thisishector.com/ or drop me a DM to learn more.

Hishem Azzouz

Recruiters used to race to stop recruiting.

Get promoted. Go hands-off. Manage from the spreadsheet.

That era is over.

When I sat down with Mike Bott & Benjamin Richardson, I was very interested to hear their take on how important they felt it was for leaders to lead from the front in today's market.

And they shared the same belief I've seen consistently in other successful agencies.

90%+ of their leadership team have a number.

Not because they're understaffed. Because the market demands it.

Here's what Mike said:

"Everyone used to be in a race to be hands-off. But why would you put all that time and effort into becoming a market expert and then never use it again?"

It's a fair point.

What you knew about your market in 2021 is already outdated.

The knowledge gap between "in the market" and "above the market" is widening every quarter.

Their commercial leads are still doing 10-15 pitches a week.

Juniors can listen in.

Jump on calls.

Learn from people who actually know how clients are buying today.

Not "do as I say."

Do as I do.

This isn't just LHi Group. 

It's a pattern I've seen across the most successful recruitment businesses I've met over the last 12 months.

When I interviewed Joe Jani from Metric, he was extremely passionate about his leaders holding a number and leading from the front.

When I met Elliott White, he shared the same belief in building Hubscale.

When I interviewed Dan Harris from InterEx Group, this is something we discussed in depth when it comes to recruitment leadership today.

The leaders closest to the coal face are the ones building the strongest teams.

If you're a manager who hasn't spoken to a customer in weeks, you're losing touch faster than you think.

The best leaders now aren't necessarily hands-off.

They're hands-in.

#Recruitment

Helping Recruitment Leaders Build Consistent, High-Performing Teams | Founder @ Hector | Host of The Recruitment Mentors Podcast (80K+ Monthly Listeners)

I get asked all the time.

"What are the best episodes for making it in the States?"

"What are the best episodes for just starting out in recruitment?"

"What are the best episodes for becoming a top biller in contract?"

So over Christmas, I got to work.

And we've just launched the first-ever batch of The Recruitment Mentors Podcast Playlists.

7 curated collections of handpicked episodes by me.

https://lnkd.in/eGcXm_A9

⭐️ The Greatest Hits: Our most played episodes on the habits, standards, and systems top billers share, so you can apply them straight to your week.

Includes episodes with the likes of Rebeka Mulk, Mollie Gunn, Nicholas Thomas & Jamie Fraser.

🎯 Business Development Mastery: Win more clients without sounding like every other recruiter. Cold call frameworks, follow-up that lands, and meeting control from people who do it daily.

Includes episodes with the likes of Giulio Segantini, Adam Tiberius, Dom Taujanskas & Amber Penrose.

🏆 Rookie To Top Biller: Build the foundations early, avoid the common traps, and learn what top billers wish they’d done from day one.

Includes episodes with the likes of Liam Moir-Holland, William Johnson, MS, Kate Hill & Rob Legg.

💼 Contract Recruitment Mastery: More runners, better margins, less chaos. The principles and processes behind consistent weekly GP growth in contract recruitment.

Includes episodes with the likes of Ethan Hall, Joseph B., Jack Procter & Elliot Jones.

🇺🇸 Achieving The American Dream: How recruiters actually win in the US market. The shifts you need in positioning, outreach, and process to build real traction stateside.

Includes episodes with the likes of Dylan Hoyle, Edward Bray, James Holder & Ashley Jones.

🧑🏻‍💻 First Time Recruitment Founders: Thinking of going out on your own? The real lessons on runway, hiring, winning your first clients, and building something that lasts.

Includes episodes with the likes of Elizabeth Kennedy, Emma Lowman + Louise Garrison, Michael Green & Niall Simpson.

🚀 Scaling & Leadership: Scale without becoming the bottleneck. Hiring, standards, coaching, and operating rhythms that make performance repeatable.

Includes episodes with the likes of Alex Elliott, Alexander Woodhead, Matthew Sullivan, Marc Cohen + Graeme Hubert, Laura Clark 🚀, Emily Angeloni (McLeod) & Craig Harman.

These playlists alone are absolutely STACKED with knowledge.

I'm open to requests for other playlists to add to this collection!

#Recruitment

Imagine losing 80+ contractors. 

And your biggest client in the space of a couple of months.

That isn't a hypothetical nightmare scenario.

It's exactly what happened to Nasar Rehman when he was building ASAP Staffing Ltd.

One client. One decision. 

And a massive chunk of the revenue line vanished.

Most recruitment businesses would collapse under that pressure.

Nasar didn't just survive it. He rebuilt the entire engine.

Today, ASAP Staffing sits at: 

📈 120+ Contractors 
💰 £50k Weekly GP 
🌍 45 staff across London, Dubai, and Marrakesh

I sat down with Nas to unpack exactly how he turned that disaster into a bulletproof business model.

We go deep on:

👉🏻 The Morocco Blueprint: Why he built a 20+ person offshore hub in Marrakesh (not the usual locations) and how it actually functions.

👉🏻 Founder-Led Billing: How he still bills £1m+ personally while running a multi-office agency (and why it's both a blessing and a curse).

👉🏻 The Rebuild: The exact steps he took to land the next wave of centrepiece clients so he never faced that risk again.

This is a masterclass in resilience and strategic scaling.

If you're growing a contract business or thinking about offshoring, you need to hear this one.

🎧 Listen to the full episode now:

Spotify: https://lnkd.in/e6dvbuvq

YouTube: https://lnkd.in/eXzdMGqM

Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/ekmVNtsE

A huge thanks to our podcast partners this year, who are supporting our mission with the podcast

SourceWhale | Atlas - the Recruitment Platform | Raise 🔥

#Recruitment

I've noticed a shift on my feed over the past 6 months.

There's more content about intentionally not growing your recruitment business than I've ever seen.

Lifestyle over scale. Small team, big profit. 

And it's usually tied to the same narrative:

→ Cost to hire in the UK is brutal 

→ AI is giving you hours back 

→ You can hire offshore and stay lean

And the path to a highly profitable recruitment business with a small team has probably never been clearer.

But from my conversations, that's not always the real reason so many founders are content staying small.

I think it comes down to two things:

1. Skillset.

Did they develop the skills to become an operator, not just a revenue generator?

Leading a growing team is hard. Really hard. 

Especially after a few painful experiences of hires not working out.

2. Clarity. 

Do they actually know what they want? 

Or did ego drive them down a growth path that was never right for them in the first place?

I think a lot of founders ended up scaling because that's what you're "supposed" to do. 

Then looked around one day and realised they didn't like the business they'd built.

But here's the flip side.

If you do want to grow, the most important thing you need is clarity.

Clarity on the sacrifices you're going to have to make. 

The investment required and how hard it will be.

Because if you know what you're building and where you want to get to, the pain will be worth it.

Some days it won't feel like it. But it will be.

The danger is starting down that path without being clear on what you're signing up for.

Because when you're not clear, you'll see the lifestyle business content, think the grass is greener, and start doubting everything.

I'm pro-business. Pro entrepreneurship.

I run a lifestyle business myself.

But I don't fully buy the narrative of "why would you grow when AI can save you 100 hours a week and you can hire in South Africa?"

It's more nuanced than that.

Both paths can work. Both paths are hard.

The difference is intention.

#Recruitment

Mega week at Hector HQ.

2 world-class courses recorded. 5+ hours of elite-level content created🔥

Course 1: Adam Jennings "From Job Brief to Placement: The End-to-End Delivery Playbook" (3+ hours)

Everything you need to become exceptional at running a recruitment process from start to finish.

Search strategy. 
Engaging passive talent. 
Headhunting. 
Managing counter offers. 
Aftercare.

It's all in there.

Course 2: Elliot Jones "The Spec/MPC Operating System: A Modern Framework for Candidate-Led BD" (2+ hours)

People love to sh*t on taking candidates to market.

But it's consistently a tool I find the best recruiters have in their toolbox.

You can do it really badly. Or you can do it exceptionally well.

The interesting bit? 

The entire first half of Elliot's course isn't about what you write - it's all about gathering intelligence + market intel.

I also had a 1-hour+ prep session with Dylan Hoyle

He's working with us to build our most comprehensive course to date on succeeding in the US market 🇺🇸

Dylan walked & is walking the path. 

Last year, he broke his target of becoming a $1 million biller in the US market.

In this course, we're getting everyone the how.

Plus, we're welcoming two new recruitment companies this week.

And kicking off our Hector implementation with the brilliant teams over at FinTop Consulting and Love Recruitment Ltd 🚀

Let's gooooo.

#Recruitment

AI hasn't changed what great recruiters do.

It's changed what average recruiters can no longer get away with.

That's the message I'll be unpacking when I join the JobAdder's 2026 AI Action Plan webinar this Wednesday.

Here's the reality we're heading toward.

If AI removes 60-80% of the admin that slows you down, what are you actually left with?

The hard stuff. The human stuff.

World-class discovery. 

Consultative selling. 

Handling objections confidently. 

Challenging assumptions and influencing decisions.

When the admin disappears, recruiters don't become less valuable.

They become more exposed.

The real differentiator won't be who has the best tool.

It'll be who can sell, influence, listen, and build real trust.

Tools serve the skill. 

The skill always comes first.

I'm joining an excellent panel🔥

Chris South from Roi-AI on the technical and operational side. 

Teri Etherington MBA from APSCo, on people, culture and capability.

We want to help attendees turn "random acts of AI" into a real, measurable action plan for 2026.

If you want practical insights on where to focus, what skills matter most, and how to stop chasing every shiny tool, this one's worth joining.

Link to register for the event here: https://ter.li/ecpvz8

P.S. JobAdder are also running in-person Breakfast Club events across the country this year to help recruitment leaders make sense of topics that can feel confusing. 

I've heard brilliant feedback from those who've attended. If you're in or around Birmingham, they've got one on the 22nd January. Well worth checking out. 

Link in the comments 👊🏻

#Recruitment

One of the most incredible things about recruitment is how much you can achieve through your own development.

Consistently show up. 

Commit to getting better. 

Do the work.

There's very little that can hold you back besides yourself.

But here's something I've come to believe more strongly over the years.

Your success in this industry does have a glass ceiling.

And that ceiling is your market.

A brilliant post from James Doyle last week highlighting this.

You can be the most talented recruiter in your business.

You can outwork everyone around you.

You can nail your process, build incredible relationships, and do everything right.

But if you're in a market that's shrinking, dying, or structurally limited, there's only so far you can go.

Deciding on the market you work in has always been a multiplier.

Now, it has become critical to your success.

I've seen brilliant recruiters stuck on patches with no headroom.

And I've seen average recruiters thrive because they chose the right space at the right time or committed to the right space over a long period.

This isn't about blaming your market for poor performance.

It's about being honest with yourself.

If you've been grinding for years and hitting the same ceiling, it might not be you.

It might be where you're playing.

**The Important Caveat To Note**

Now, this doesn't mean your market is a silver bullet.

It doesn't mean you chop and change every year chasing the next hot sector.

Building expertise takes time. 

Relationships compound. 

Jumping around resets the clock.

But it does mean being intentional and strategic with your markets.

And if you're a recruitment leader, this is a top-down responsibility.

Where are we playing? Where's the headroom? Where are we vulnerable?

These aren't just desk-level decisions anymore.

Choose your market wisely. It shapes everything.

#Recruitment

One of the smartest hires I'm seeing in growing recruitment businesses right now isn't another recruiter.

It's someone dedicated to the bigger picture.

Someone who collaborates with your sales team but isn't measured on individual deals.

Someone who spots opportunities that busy recruiters miss.

Someone who can walk into a client meeting and position the full breadth of what the business offers, not just one desk's specialism.

The result?

More recurring revenue. 

Deeper client relationships. 

Better conversion on the opportunities you're already creating.

This came up recently when I was prepping for an upcoming podcast episode with Viki Dowthwaite from Trinnovo Group | B Corp™

She's in this exact seat as Commercial Director. 

Recruitment businesses that I see scaling will often have someone, or a small team, focused purely on:

Landing and expanding key accounts.

Positioning embedded solutions, SOWs, and multi-service offerings.

Joining pitches to help consultants sell the bigger picture.

Making sure the business doesn't leave money on the table.

This isn't new. 

Plenty of businesses have had commercial teams for years.

But I wanted to shine a light on it because I think it's going to become a must-have, not a nice-to-have.

Especially for agencies with multiple brands, multiple services, or ambitions to grow recurring revenue.

Recruiters are brilliant at their specialism. 

That's where they should stay focused.

But having someone who can connect the dots across the business and help clients see the full picture?

That's a multiplier.

If you've got someone like this in your business already, you'll know exactly what I mean.

If you don't, it might be worth thinking about.

#Recruitment

This week's Limitless Learning edition hit different.

50% open rate and a whopping 4,959 total opens from our readers.

And a lot of DMs saying, "This is exactly what I needed."

It's a practical breakdown of how to actually plan Q1 properly.

Not vague goal-setting. Not motivational noise.

A step-by-step framework, along with two interactive worksheets we built for the edition.

One Google Sheet, One Google Doc, so you can map it out yourself.

If you missed it (or you're not subscribed yet), here it is 👇🏻

Read the The Q1 Blueprint: How to Start 2026 Like You Mean It Edition: 

https://lnkd.in/ehGXgM7D

Download & use our Q1 work sheets:

If you love spreadsheets > https://lnkd.in/e8PQtVAd

If you prefer working with docs > https://lnkd.in/ekRPSxfR

P.S. 6,300+ recruiters get this newsletter every other week. If you're serious about 2026, you probably should too → https://lnkd.in/eSdiRzvc

#Recruitment

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Kieron Mayers

Hishem Azzouz

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Hishem Azzouz

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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);}Hishem Azzouz's LinkedIn Performance

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