BASE Mindset

The business coaching, NED and recruitment advisory services I provide includes a powerful & comprehensive process for ongoing personal development, transformation, & achievement. 

🔹Leadership Development - Mentorship & Advisory. 
🔹Staffing Solutions - Perm, Interim, Temporary.
🔹Retained, RPO, SOW, Exclusive, Job Control 
🔹BD/Networking/Markets/Nurturing Customers.
🔹Talent Management - Attraction, Onboarding.
🔹Retention & Development - Motivations/Drivers. 
🔹Organisational Development, Strategy & Execution
🔹Mission, Values & Vision/Career Maps/Packages.
🔹How to be Fit for sale MBO/MBI/Exit. 
🔹Thought Leadership - Branding/Marketing/Linkedin
🔹Day Plans, Week Plans, 90-Day Plan
🔹Mindset, Pitch, Tone, Rapport Building, Job Qual
🔹Speccing in candidates, email, sequencing
🔹Goal and Target Setting, Personal Development 

chris@basemindset.com
www.basemindset.com
Tel: 07796 304469

Leadership, Performance and Wellbeing Coach / NED

The Purpose-Led Leadership Podcast

The place that helps you communicate, engage and lead with purpose.

We lift the lid on what it takes to be a great leader.

Our guests share tips, principles, wins and failures that will educate and inspire you to lead your own team and business, with purpose.

Check us out on Spotify, iTunes and Buzzsprout

Host

Sinclair James

Working with the founder to deliver scale

NED & Business Mentor

HM Staffing Ltd

Working with the owner and the entire business to drive revenue, expansion and scale.

NED and Business Mentor

Purpose-Led Leadership

Founder

FWD Thinking Recruitment

FWD Thinking isn’t just about finding you a job, it’s about shaping our clients and candidate’s futures. 

I am tasked with making sure we exceed expectations and our career consultants live up to our 3 brand values – bravery, positivity and thoughtfulness.’

As the proliferation of social media gives clients greater access to active candidates, our role as a partner and trusted source of advice and expertise has never been more significant. 

The last six years has seen us build and nurture deep rooted business relationships. Our Ambition and bravery to continue this process is as strong as ever.

chris.oconnell@fwdthinkingrecruitment.co.uk / 0796304469

Managing Director

Angel Recruitment

Working with the owners and the entire business to drive revenue, expansion and scale.

SourceCo Recruitment Agency

Supporting the owner and business to achieve tangible business growth

Absolute Industrial Recruitment Ltd

Supporting the owner and business to achieve tangible business growth.

TrioTech Recruitment

Business Mentor 🥇 I Scaled & Sold My £25M Recruitment Business🔥Now I Empower Recruitment Leaders To Do The Same ⚡️Leadership Coach 🔥NED🚀Host: Purpose-Led Leadership Podcast🎙️Book Call

Ex-global top biller at SThree and £25M Recruitment business owner turned purpose-driven NED and coach.

Almost all business problems are people problems. Because people without a purpose have no centralised reason driving them to perform. 
 
After exiting my last business, I now coach leaders on how to build purpose-led businesses that perform. 

The services I provide includes a powerful and comprehensive process for ongoing personal development, transformation, and achievement.
 
I work with leaders in service-based businesses on: 

🔹Leadership Coaching 
🔹Vision, Mission and Values
🔹Get Fit for sale MBO/MBI/Exit
🔹Career Maps and Pay Packages
🔹Career and Organisational Development
🔹Business Development and Account Growth
🔹Talent  Attraction, Retention & Development
🔹Mindset, Pitch, Tone, Rapport Building, Job Qual
🔹Thought Leadership, Branding & Linkedin Content
🔹Robust value propositions and marketing strategies
🔹Retained, RPO, SOW, Exclusive, Job Control & Closing
🔹Day Plans, Week Plans, 90-Day Plans, Team Coaching
🔹Goal and Target Setting,  Personal Dev, Share Schemes
🔹 Boards Packs, Board Meetings, Strategy and Execution
🔹Speccing in candidates, email, sequencing,call to action 

chris@basemindset.com
www.basemindset.com
Tel: 07796 304469

 
I’m an outspoken advocate of Mental health (MHFA), mindset and self care. 

I’m the proud dad to three incredible boys and am not afraid to tell you how it is. 
 
If you’re a service-based business owner looking for serious growth, DM me to arrange a chat and let’s start growing! 😃

➡️ www.basemindset.com 

➡️ chris@basemindset.com

PS: speak to my clients…! Here’s feedback from one - check my other recommendations too! 🚀👇

🔥Chris is an exceptional coach with extensive knowledge of the recruitment market. 

🔥We engaged with Chris when we were looking to enter a new market, and his expert advice and knowledge helped us gain traction very quickly. 

🔥 Chris has become a trusted advisor and a friend, and I highly recommend Chris to anyone looking for a Coach/Mentor.

________________________________________________

To get to know me a little better, listen to my podcast The Purpose-Led Leadership Podcast 🎙 (Spotify and Apple Podcasts) or follow me on Instagram: @chrisoconnellcoach

https://open.spotify.com/show/72edQlrSeUvLmC2LsqOrQG?si=lPPWojsFTey7BKEyj-8hpg

22 million views. 300,000 likes. 10,000 comments. 2,000 reposts. From ONE post.

You know how much business I got from it?

Fuck all.

I’ve been in recruitment 27 years.
I’ve got 100,000 total followers.
I was S3’s worldwide top biller, 7 figures a year.
I’ve built a £25,000,000 business
I’ve hosted 100 podcast episodes.
Been a guest on another 100.
Next month I turn 49.

And if there’s one thing I’ve learned through all the noise?

it’s that numbers matter, but they are not everything.

KPIs. Ratios. Data.
All important.

But the thing that’s kept me in the game, year after year?

Resilience.

My willingness to act and do - not talk and think.

No one’s coming to save you.
You can have all the likes, comments, and validation in the world.
You can even graft your arse off, hit every KPI.
That’s half the battle.

The real battle?

Attitude. Behaviours. Mindset.

Stop complaining about the market.
Stop moaning about the candidate who ghosted,
the client who changed the spec again,
the one with champagne expectations and lemonade budgets.

You are a product of your thoughts, your actions, your environment.

Market conditions don’t define you.

Mindset does.

The greats?
They don’t complain.
They achieve.
They deliver.
They execute.

They don’t listen to the noise.
They don’t panic.
They persevere.

They don’t posture.
They pause, pounce, and penetrate.

They see through the masks, the shouting, the falseness.

So here’s the truth:

Stop waiting. Stop whining.
Get your head down.
Get on the phone.
Make it happen.

Do you want to win?

I’m running mindset and leadership development programmes that don’t just talk a good game. 

They deliver.

DM me for details / check out my website store 🔥

Chris O’Connell🍀

Ex-global top biller at SThree and £25M Recruitment business owner turned purpose-driven NED and coach.

Almost all business problems are people problems. Because people without a purpose have no centralised reason driving them to perform. 
 
After exiting my last business, I now coach leaders on how to build purpose-led businesses that perform. 

The services I provide includes a powerful and comprehensive process for ongoing personal development, transformation, and achievement.
 
I work with leaders in service-based businesses on: 

🔹Leadership Coaching 
🔹Speccing in candidates, email, sequencing,call to action
🔹Vision, Mission and Values
🔹Thought Leadership, Branding & Linkedin Content 
🔹Talent Management, Retention & Development
🔹Robust value propositions and marketing strategies
🔹Retained, RPO, SOW, Exclusive, Job control & closing
🔹Boards Packs, Board Meetings
🔹Strategy and Execution
🔹Get Fit for sale MBO/MBI/Exit
🔹Staffing Solutions - Perm, Interim
🔹Career Maps and Pay Packages
🔹Career and Organisational Development
🔹Business Development and Account Growth
🔹Day Plans, Week Plans, 90-Day Plans, Team Coaching
🔹Mindset, Pitch, Tone, Rapport Building, Job Qualification
🔹Goal and Target Setting,  Personal Dev, Share Schemes 

chris@basemindset.com
www.basemindset.com
Tel: 07796 304469

 
I’m an outspoken advocate of Mental health (MHFA), mindset and self care. 

I’m the proud dad to three incredible boys and am not afraid to tell you how it is. 
 
If you’re a service-based business owner looking for serious growth, DM me to arrange a chat and let’s start growing! 😃

➡️ www.basemindset.com 

➡️ chris@basemindset.com

PS: speak to my clients…! Here’s feedback from one - check my other recommendations too! 🚀👇

🔥Chris is an exceptional coach with extensive knowledge of the recruitment market. 

🔥We engaged with Chris when we were looking to enter a new market, and his expert advice and knowledge helped us gain traction very quickly. 

🔥 Chris has become a trusted advisor and a friend, and I highly recommend Chris to anyone looking for a Coach/Mentor.

________________________________________________

To get to know me a little better, listen to my podcast The Purpose-Led Leadership Podcast 🎙 (Spotify and Apple Podcasts) or follow me on Instagram: @chrisoconnellcoach

https://open.spotify.com/show/72edQlrSeUvLmC2LsqOrQG?si=lPPWojsFTey7BKEyj-8hpg

🥇Scaled & Sold My £25M Recruitment Business | NED 🔥Now I Mentor Recruitment Leaders To Do The Same 🚀Speaker 🎙️ Host: Purpose-Led Leadership Podcast 😃Elite Leaders M&A 📈 BUY MY NEW PRODUCTS ⬇️

Recruitment is sales. If you don’t like sales, get out of recruitment.

Let’s stop sugar-coating it.

Every call is an opportunity.
Every CV is an opportunity.
Every candidate is an opportunity.
Every client conversation is an opportunity.

There is business intel everywhere - if you are switched on enough to see it.

The best recruiters aren’t lucky.
They’re curious.
They’re inquisitive.
They ask the 100th question when everyone else stops at 99.

If you’ve got 5 good roles and you think you’re “busy”?
You don’t have enough roles.
If you think you’ve done something well?
Ask how to do it better.

Great consultants sniff out opportunity.
Good consultants wait for it.

That’s the difference.

And BD isn’t this big, scary, mystical thing everyone makes it out to be.
It’s not some dragon waiting at the end of the phone.
It’s simply what you’re already doing, every single day:

• Posting on LinkedIn
• Commenting
• Asking candidates where else they’re interviewing
• Getting references
• Understanding reporting lines
• Asking clients what other departments are hiring
• Getting referrals from clients, candidates — even their colleagues
• Meeting, messaging, networking, following up
• Turning one conversation into three

I’ve won entire accounts just by asking:
“Thanks for the business - is anyone else hiring?”
The amount of doors that one question has opened… unreal.

The problem isn’t BD.
The problem is the word BD.
People hear it and freeze.

Call it what it actually is:
Creating opportunity.
Creating income.
Creating your future.
Creating your lifestyle.

Recruitment is a human-to-human, opportunity-to-opportunity business.
You’re not “cold calling”.
You’re building the life you want.

So get off the high horse about “the phone is dead”.
Get curious.
Get intentional.
Get hungry.

Because in recruitment, if you really want to succeed…
everything is business development.
And every interaction is your next deal.

Recruitment leaders be careful what you wish for.

The future of work is coming full circle.

Remember when remote working was the dream?

No commute.
More flexibility.
Freedom to work from anywhere.

And then COVID hit and suddenly, “remote” became the new religion.

Agencies rebranded themselves around it.

Leaders promised they would never go back to the office.

But here’s the thing…
The tide’s turning.

I was listening to Steven Bartlett recently - he’s designing his new office like a coffee shop.

Couches, community spaces, gardens, people together again.

Because he’s realised what’s really driving success today is 

IN-REAL-LIFE connection.

After years of hyper-tech, endless Zoom calls, voice notes, and digital updates, people are craving belonging again.

They want energy, culture, creativity and that doesn’t happen through a screen.

We are entering a new phase.

Where “in-person” becomes the competitive advantage.
Where collaboration beats convenience.
Where culture isn’t built on Slack - it’s built in shared space.

So if you’re running a recruitment business, here’s the watch-out:

Don’t follow every trend.
Don’t bet everything on “remote forever.”

Because the agencies that win in the next wave will be the ones who:

✔️Create environments people want to be part of
✔️Rebuild the lost art of conversation
✔️Use technology to enhance human connection, not replace it

Recruitment has always been a contact sport.
And the smartest leaders are realising…

it still is.

My final take:

You can not build a winning culture remotely - it’s that simple. 

What do you think?

The loudest leader isn’t the strongest.

Usually, they’re the weakest.

Real leaders don’t need volume.
They need honesty.

Humility when things go well.
Accountability when things don’t.
Awareness always.

Everything else is ego and noise.

Quiet leadership builds empires.
Loud leadership burns them down.

Seen this in your career?
What would you add?

You Have to Love Recruitment to Be Great at It

I had a great conversation with a client yesterday about what really makes someone great at recruitment.

And the truth is…

You have to intrinsically love it to truly excel.

Sounds simple, but many don’t.

A lot of people have done quite well in good markets

They’ve smashed and grabbed, maximised the money

Ridden the wave.

But now? Many are struggling.

Because they never actually loved recruitment.
They saw it as a means to an end.
A commodity.

The ones who are thriving right now - they get it.

They understand the fabric of what it takes to be great:

🧠 Emotional intelligence
🤝 Deep people skills
🎯 Intuition and influence
⚙️ Adaptability, organisation, hunger, passion

It’s not about putting a bum on a seat.
It’s about anticipating what a client really wants.
It’s about sensing, responding, influencing - even shifting someone’s mindset.

Recruitment, done properly, is an artform.

And only a small percentage of people can truly do it well.

Because a lot of people can talk about recruitment.
Few have lived it.

They haven’t built desks from scratch.
Hired, trained, scaled teams.
Delivered £1m+ years.
Grown real businesses.

Recruitment isn’t about noise, content, or self-promotion.
It’s about the craft.
The nuance.
The love for what you do - even when it’s hard.

Because if you don’t love it,
you’ll never last in it.

Do you think recruitment is something you can learn to love

or is it something you either have or you don’t?

The market is picking up 

but don’t make the same mistakes again.

Every time the market turns, I see recruitment companies panic.

They stack them high.
They rush into it.
They hire fast… and regret it later.

Recently, I helped three clients make game-changing hires - not because we moved quickly, but because we moved intentionally.

We hired in alignment with our mission, vision, and values.
We didn’t just buy the next shiny thing that came along.
We took our time. We identified. We headhunted.

And we made each candidate feel part of the fabric of the business before they even joined.

They understood our why.
We understood their why.

We built career defining roadmaps before the offers were even on the table - ones that connected their destiny to the company’s destiny.

It wasn’t just about money.
It was about learning, influence, and ownership.

We invited them to build a business within our business.
We mapped out the next three years - scale, growth, and eventual succession planning.

Because here’s the truth:

Money isn’t the top motivator anymore.
It’s usually third.

What people really want?

- A seat at the table.
- A voice in decisions.
- A future they can believe in and shape.

So before you hire the next “big biller,”

- Get the chemistry right.
- Get the vision right.
- Get the values right.

Do that - and you’ll fly. 🚀

Want help in identifying, attracting, hiring, onboarding and developing your next star?  

Drop me a line and tap into my network and resources. 😃

The most dangerous person in a recruitment business?

The current top biller with no consistency

One big quarter.
One big deal.
One big client.

Then nothing.

Everyone loves the person at the top of the leaderboard.

Big deals. Big bravado. Big story.

When I look at data at board level, I don’t look at the top first.

I look at the middle.

Because that’s where the truth sits

With the one doing the work no one celebrates:

	•	consistent BD
	•	consistent nurturing
	•	consistent calls
	•	consistent touchpoints and CV’s out
	•	consistent interviews
	•	consistent pipeline
	•	consistent delivery
	•	consistent resilience

No feast and famine.
No drama.
No ego.

Behaviours.
Habits.
Activity.
Resilience.
Consistency.

Anyone can have a great month/quarter.
Not everyone can repeat it.

You scale a business with consistency, not noise.

And the “middle performer” who does the basics relentlessly?

That’s your real top biller in waiting.

Want a mentor to help you identify and develop more top billers? DM me for more!

Your recruitment business isn’t dying because of the market.

It’s dying because all your data is on your consultants’ iPhones

And any one of them can walk out tomorrow and leave you with nothing but a logo.

This is the mistake I see again and again - even in “established” agencies:

- Jobs sitting in WhatsApp chats
- Candidates saved in someone’s personal phone
- Clients managed through Telegram
- Resumes sitting in Slack threads
- Talent pipelines living in private spreadsheets
- BD notes buried in iMessage
- Conversations and intel scattered across 10 apps

It feels fine today.
It feels “easy.”

But the moment someone resigns - your entire operation falls off a cliff.

Because you never owned your data.

They did.

And here’s the uncomfortable truth:

You cannot scale anything without centralised, coded, trackable data.

Not your pipeline.
Not your training.
Not your forecasting.
Not your ratios.
Not your team performance.
Not your strategic decisions.
Not your legacy.

Your database is only as good as what’s on it.
Your tech is only as powerful as the data you feed it.
Your processes are only as strong as your adoption.

You can have the best ATS, CRM, automation, AI and intel on the market…

If your people aren’t putting data in the system,
you’re building a house on sand.

Get every data point out of your consultants’ pockets and into your system - fast.

Candidate pools.
Client pools.
BD notes.
Interview notes.
Ratios.
Touchpoints.
Pipeline stages.
Training gaps.
Trend data.

Because the moment your people leave,
you should still own:

your relationships
your insights
your intel
your pipeline
your future revenue
your competitive advantage

Otherwise?

You don’t own a business.
You’re renting one from your consultants.

Find a way to get your data onto the system.
Or watch your business walk out the door with it.

PS: I mentor recruitment agencies to build & scale and have done for 27 years - DM me - I’ll show you how 🚀

Leaders who hide behind email 
breed people who hide behind email.

Come on… we’re in recruitment, not admin.

If your idea of leadership is sending another email from your ivory inbox

don’t be shocked when your team start doing the same with clients.

You have created an army of keyboard warriors.

No calls. No conversations. No connections.

Just more f***ing emails.

Here’s the truth no one wants to hear:

How you communicate internally is exactly how your team will communicate externally.

If you’re hiding behind a screen - so will they.
If you don’t pick up the phone - neither will they.
If your “leadership” is another “per my last email”…

then congratulations, you’ve built a culture of copy-and-paste recruiters.

Recruitment is people-to-people.
It’s energy, tone, timing, connection.
It’s messy, human, real.

So before you start moaning about your consultants not BD’ing or closing deals - ask yourself:

When’s the last time you actually spoke to your team?

When’s the last time you led by example and made the bloody call?

Because if you’re silent behind the screen…
your business will be too.

Do you think the way you and your business communicates could improve? 

Watch/Listen to Episode 79 of my “The Purpose-Led Leadsrship Podcast in Spoiltify/Apple/Youtube 🔥🎙️

You don’t escape what you suppress 

you become it.

You grow up thinking suppression is strength.
Hold it together.
Push it down.
Get on with it.

But the truth is this:

Everything you bury in yourself eventually shapes you.

Here’s how:

1. Suppress your anger - it becomes people pleasing

You’re so terrified of conflict, you abandon yourself to keep others comfortable.

2. Suppress your sadness - it becomes numbness

You don’t just lose the pain - you lose the joy too.

3. Suppress your fear - it becomes control

You grip everything tightly so nothing can hurt you again.

4. Suppress your shame - it becomes perfectionism

You chase “flawless” hoping it will finally make you lovable.

5. Suppress your guilt - it becomes over-giving

You sacrifice yourself trying to earn redemption that was never required.

6. Suppress your insecurity - it becomes arrogance

You posture and perform to hide the part of you that feels “not enough.”

7. Suppress your jealousy - it becomes judgment

You attack in others what you secretly wish you had the courage to pursue.

8. Suppress your hurt - it becomes sarcasm

Humour becomes your armour; wit becomes your shield.

9. Suppress your need for love - it becomes independence addiction

You convince yourself you don’t 
need anyone - but it’s loneliness in disguise.

10. Suppress your truth - it becomes self-abandonment

You dim who you are to be accepted, and lose the relationship that mattered most - the one with yourself.

Your shadow isn’t dangerous - it’s wounded.

It’s the part of you that:

Needed comfort and got silence.
Needed softness and got hardness.
Needed presence and got absence.
Needed love and got conditions.

It learned to cope, not thrive.

Your shadow doesn’t need punishment.
It needs understanding.

So how do you heal?

By turning toward what you’ve spent years running from.
By feeling what you taught yourself never to feel.
By offering compassion to the parts of you you’ve exiled.
By telling the truth - first to yourself, then to the world.
By letting your inner child unclench their fists.

You don’t become light by escaping the darkness.
You become light by meeting the darkness with love.

STOP suppressing what’s real.
START listening to what your shadow has been trying to say for years.

That’s where freedom begins.
That’s where self-respect begins.
That’s where you begin.

Remove the tech and you would bill more money!

It’s a bold statement 

But with all the automation, sequencing tools, AI platforms, and shiny new recruitment toys… we’ve forgotten the basics.

Everyone’s obsessed with the next workflow hack.
The next extension.
The next bot.
The next “AI-powered sourcing machine.

And yes the tools are brilliant.
They really are.
I use them. You use them. We all use them.
But here’s the truth nobody wants to say out loud:

👉 If you took all the tech away… most recruiters would genuinely struggle.

Because the fundamentals matter now more than ever.

Give me:

- Market mapping
- Speaking to candidates
- Speaking to clients
- Relationship building
- Getting on the phone
- CV stripping
- Extracting business intel
- Understanding context
- Reading tone
- Becoming an actual consultant
- Pitching
- Closing
- Objection handling
- Building rapport
- Learning the art of conversation
- Using intuition
- Sensing red flags and green flags
- Spotting opportunities by feel, not by dashboard

That’s the craft.
That’s the art.
That’s the part AI will never replace.

Recruitment is and will always be a people business.

And ironically, the more tech floods the industry, the bigger the opportunity for the true pros to rise above it.

Yes, use AI to create efficiency.
Use automation to free up time.
Use tools to remove friction.
But don’t kid yourself:

No piece of software can replace instinct.
No robot can replace intuition.
No workflow can replace the feeling you get when you’re in front of a client, reading the room, seeing the whites of their eyes, understanding their culture in real time.

Zoom won’t give you that.
Teams won’t give you that.
Slack won’t give you that.
WhatsApp won’t give you that.

Meetings.
Conversations.
Human connection.
That’s still the edge.

So yeah keep your tech.
But if you gave me just a phone, a pen, and a market to map…
I’d bet I’d out-perform most of the industry using nothing but the basics.

Because the basics aren’t basic.
They’re the difference.

The top billers in recruitment are resourcers first.

Get your trainees resourcing for the first 3-6 months to really learn the market:

👉build quality candidate pools 
👉market map
👉CV strip 
👉lead gen

It works better and builds them into becoming rounded consultants

They will transition into 360 with more knowledge, confidence and clarity of their markets.

They feel much more confident talking to clients

They are better able to manage the whole 360 qualification process

They become candidate acquisition masters

By setting them resource targets that include:

- finding candidates 
- pulling roles 
- candidate BD'ing 
- speccing out

it gives them an incentive and sense of progression to learn and grow!

That's the best way to transition a 360 person from trainee 

They are much more likely to be excellent with clients as subject matter experts

They are much more likely to be excellent with clients as subject matter experts

They are able to demonstrate market knowledge to clients.

Throwing a trainee straight into the 360 deep end and expecting them to do it all from scratch means they become 

👎 average at candidate acquisition 
👎 average with clients 
👎 average billers

It's better to slow them down first to then speed them up after 3-6 months,

and more often than not they turn out to be much bigger billers!! 😃

So build a culture of "you have to build it yourself"
not expect roles and candidates to be handed to you on a silver platter. 

Because you've gotta be a great sous chef first before you claim to be Gordon Ramsey, right?

What would you add?

PS: I have mentored over 50 recruitment businesses to build & scale, check out my recommendations. DM to secure call.

Why do people act like you have to choose?

Why do people assume that if you’re vulnerable, you can’t be ambitious?

If you are compassionate, you can’t be driven?

If you are purpose-led, you can’t also want to build wealth?

If you are calm, you can’t also be powerful?

I’ve been through more adversity, trauma, loss, and reinvention than most people will ever know.

And by all logical standards, I “should” be angry.

I should be hardened.

I should be aggressive and guarded and closed off.

But I’m not.

And here’s the part that seems to confuse people:

I can be vulnerable without being weak.
I can be compassionate without being soft.
I can be purpose-driven and still be hungry, focused, ambitious, and unapologetically building a big life.

Why can’t I be both?

Why can’t I sit in boardrooms with CEOs and be direct, assertive, and strategic…

and then go home and lead with openness, emotion, presence, and heart?

Why can’t I want money, success, growth, and impact…

while also wanting peace, connection, healing, and depth?

Why can’t I be ruthless with my standards
but gentle with my people?

Why can’t I be a man who feels 

and a man who achieves?

Nobody gets to tell me I can’t hold both.
Nobody gets to tell me who I “should” be based on what I’ve lived through.

Strength isn’t choosing one side.
Strength is integrating both.
Leadership is integrating both.
Power is integrating both.

And presence - real presence - comes from owning every part of who you are.

I’m not choosing.
I’m not toning it down.
And I’m not apologising for being a man who is both:

Heart-led and high-performing.
Compassionate and relentless.
Vulnerable and powerful.
Driven and grounded.

That’s the man I am.
That’s the man I’m becoming.
And that’s exactly why I lead the way I do.

What about you?

Every call is an opportunity 

If you’re not asking relevant questioning on every call

Having a mindset of what information can I obtain  here

Creating opportunities for revenue with the conversations you’re having 

You’re leaving money on the table 

If you are 90, 180, 270, 360 or whatever terminology you want use 

If you have 100 jobs on, or and 1000 candidates to speak to

Business Development and lead generation should be ingrained as a normal thing

It’s how you go from average to good to great to world class

What do you think?

10 Reasons Recruitment Consultants Don’t Succeed (and how to avoid them):

1. They don’t master the basics.

Candidate & Client Control. Qualification and Follow-up. These aren’t “nice to haves” - they are the difference between busy and billing!!  Many consultants focus on “activity” instead of effective conversations that drive outcomes.

2. Poor time management.

Too reactive. Too much admin. Not enough pipeline-defining abd revenue generating activity. Top billers guard their time like their life depends on it. They protect their pipeline with aggressive prioritisation.

3. No real specialism.

Generalist recruiters struggle because clients can’t see their expertise. Specialists win. Authority comes from depth, not breadth.

	•	Command higher fees
	•	Access hidden talent
	•	Build trust faster
	•	Win retained work

Lack of niche focus = lack of authority.

4. Fear of business development.

They hide behind delivery, avoid tough conversations, and wait for roles to land in their lap. BD avoidance kills careers.

The ones who win are doing this: 

	•	Making outbound calls
	•	Challenging clients
	•	Pitching retainers / exclusive 
	•	Running proper BD campaigns

5. Weak client qualification.

They take on every role. Even the ones that are:

	•	Unfillable jobs
	•	Low-fee clients
	•	Businesses with broken processes
	•	Clients who won’t commit

This leads to wasted time, burnout, and pipeline collapse. It destroys time, energy, and confidence.

6. No real talent network.

Job boards aren’t a strategy. Community, referrals, content, and relationships are +++

	•	Community building
	•	Referral systems
	•	Market mapping
	•	Content-led attraction

Recruitment is a relationships game - not a job-board game.

7. Lack of consistency.

The biggest performance killer is inconsistent:

	•	BD
	•	Candidate sourcing
	•	Follow-up
	•	Content
	•	Account nurturing

Consistency compounds. Inconsistency resets progress.

8. Poor Resilience & Emotional Regulation

Rejection, drop-outs, counteroffers, slow months - these are part of the job. Consultants who take everything personally create emotional spikes that derail performance. Resilient consultants keep moving.

9. Not Using Data & KPIs Properly

Low performers see KPIs as punishment.
High performers use:

	•	Pipeline data
	•	Conversion rates
	•	Forecasting
	•	Activity ratios

To identify gaps, measure effectiveness, and optimise.

10. They Don’t Develop Themselves

The industry evolves but many consultants don’t.
They stop learning, stop seeking coaching, stop adapting, and fall behind on:

	•	Tech
	•	AI tools
	•	Market knowledge
	•	Sales methodology
	•	Personal mindset

Stagnation = decline.

In summary:

The reasons consultants don’t make it are often the same and rarely about talent.

They are about mindset, habits, and how you operate.

This industry rewards those who treat it like a profession - not a job.

If you are serious about growth you’ll make these changes - not just talk about them 😉

taplio

Chris O’Connell🍀's Linkedin Analytics

Chris O’Connell🍀

Performance ScoreChris O’Connell🍀's LinkedIn Performance

What is Chris talking about?

Who is engaging with Chris

Chris O’Connell🍀's Best Posts (last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

.css-6ytdur{background-image:linear-gradient(284deg, rgba(39, 43, 72, 1) 0%, rgba(33, 47, 183, 1) 100%);color:transparent;-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text;}Chris O’Connell🍀's Linkedin Analytics

Chris O’Connell🍀

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);}Chris O’Connell🍀's LinkedIn Performance

What is Chris talking about?

Who is engaging with Chris

Chris O’Connell🍀's Best Posts .css-1emoo84{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:400;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);}(last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Chris O’Connell🍀's Linkedin Analytics

Performance ScoreChris O’Connell🍀's LinkedIn Performance

Chris O’Connell🍀's Best Posts (last 30 days)