The Elite Recruiter Podcast

1. Episode Hook Most recruiters chase clients. Sarah Englade built a $1.5M firm by obsessing over candidates instead. Register now: 🎯 2026 Sales and BD Recruiter Summit https://bd-sales-recruiter-2026.heysummit.com/ 2. Why This Episode Matters If business development feels harder than ever, this episode flips the script. You’ll hear how a candidate-first strategy can unlock warmer clients, faster...

1. Episode Hook The old recruiting playbook is breaking. If your business development looks the same as it did 2–3 years ago, you’re already falling behind. 🎯 2026 Sales and BD Recruiter Summit https://bd-sales-recruiter-2026.heysummit.com/ 2. Why This Episode Matters AI is reshaping recruiting faster than most agencies are prepared for. In this episode, you’ll learn how elite recruiters are adap...

Why Top Recruiters Win Clients Without Selling 1. Episode Hook The best recruiters don’t sell harder. They win clients by becoming the most trusted person in the market. 2. Why This Episode Matters Most recruiters struggle with business development because they approach it like sales. This episode shows how top billers win clients, close more searches, and scale their desk by turning everyday recr...

LinkedIn Recruiting Secrets That Actually Drive Placements   🎙️ Episode Hook Most recruiters think LinkedIn “doesn’t really work.” She quietly proved them all wrong — and built a real hiring engine in the process. 🏆 Elite Recruiter Awards – Voting is Open Recognize the recruiters and leaders making a real impact. Vote now → https://benjaminmena.typeform.com/to/tK5kwRMe 🚀 Why This Episode Matters...

🎙️ Episode Title: How Recruiters Win Inbound Clients with AI Marketing 1. Episode Hook Your LinkedIn posts stopped working. Cold email is getting crushed by spam filters. So how are top recruiters actually generating inbound clients right now? 🏆 Elite Recruiter Awards – Voting is Open Recognize the recruiters and leaders making a real impact. Vote now → https://benjaminmena.typeform.com/to/tK5kwR...

How an Industry Insider Built a Recruiting Agency From Scratch (No Fancy Tools) 🏆 Elite Recruiter Awards – Voting is Open Recognize the recruiters and leaders making a real impact. Vote now → https://benjaminmena.typeform.com/to/tK5kwRMe Episode Hook He wasn’t a lifelong recruiter. He didn’t have a tech stack, automation, or AI hacks. Yet he built a profitable recruiting agency anyway — by doing...

🔥 SHOW NOTES — The Elite Recruiter Podcast Episode Title: How a One-Man Recruiter Closed 22 Executive Searches by Doing What Others Won’t 1. EPISODE HOOK Most recruiters overcomplicate this business. Craig Picken built a multi-seven-figure executive search practice by doing the opposite—and he did it as a one-man army. This episode reveals how. 2. WHY THIS EPISODE MATTERS If you're tired of incon...

EPISODE SHOW NOTES — The Outbound & Discovery Playbook: How Elite Recruiters Close More Deals (with Conor Kline) (The Elite Recruiter Podcast with Benjamin Mena) 1. EPISODE HOOK Most recruiters think their problem is lead generation. Conor Kline reveals the truth: your real bottleneck is your sales process — and it’s costing you clients, deals, and revenue. 🔹 SPONSORS 🚀 Atlas – AI-first ATS...

Advanced Closing Mastery: Steve Finkel’s Framework to Triple Your Placements From His Latest Book: Closing For Recruiters   Recruiters: Part 2 is where the real closing mastery begins. If Part 1 showed why closing matters, this episode gives you the exact frameworks, closes, and psychological triggers used by the top 1% of recruiters to turn hesitation into yes—and offers into revenue. Sponsors 🚀...

The Art of Closing: Steve Finkel Reveals Why Most Recruiters Lose Offers Recruiters: You’re not paid for sourcing—you’re paid for closing. And the hidden skill separating top billers from everyone else is the one most recruiters never train: what happens after the first interview. Why This Episode Matters If you’ve ever lost an offer after weeks of work, watched a great candidate vanish, or seen a...

The Pro Athlete Mindset That Creates World-Class Recruiters What happens when a former professional athlete brings elite discipline, visualization, and competitive fire into recruiting? You get a recruiter who treats the desk like a sport—and builds a fast-growing search firm in record time. In this episode of The Elite Recruiter Podcast , former pro athlete Jared Watts , founder of Next Play Sear...

In this powerful episode, million-dollar biller Emily Audibert breaks down how she went from six months without a single placement to becoming one of the most sought-after recruiters in the go-to-market tech space. Her turning point wasn’t a new tool or technique—it was understanding the balance between masculine and feminine energy in selling, sourcing, influence, and relationship-building. 🎯 20...

Is your recruiting desk—or your entire firm—running on chaos instead of systems? You’re not alone. Most recruiters feel the turbulence daily… but the top-performing firms operate differently. They run on an Operating System that eliminates chaos, drives consistent billings, and creates scalable growth. In this episode, Ben sits down with Kelsey Boyd , a transformational operator who helped overhau...

What does it really take to grow a recruiting business to $300M , scale contract staffing revenue, and execute a profitable exit— while keeping your team together ? In this high-impact episode of The Elite Recruiter Podcast , host Benjamin Mena sits down with industry veteran Jon Davis , who reveals the exact strategies that turned his firm into one of the most successful staffing organizations in...

If you loved Part 1, get ready for the blueprint. In Part 2, Derek Pittak returns to break down how recruiters can actually use EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) to scale—with simple, powerful tools that drive accountability, clarity, and focus. We cover everything from documenting processes (without 75-page SOPs) to running 90-day “traction” cycles, creating scorecards, setting rocks, and de...

Recruiting is chaos—and few people know how to tame it better than Derek Pittak , CEO of Lingo Staffing and certified EOS Implementer . Before joining the world of staffing, Derek worked inside the Department of Defense and a regional bank. Then one life-changing conversation pulled him into recruiting, where he went on to lead a $125 million portfolio of staffing brands and introduce EOS (Entrepr...

What happens when a $900K-a-year recruiter decides to stop building for others—and builds her own AI product instead? Jessica Oliver didn’t have a tech background. No coding degree. No startup team. But that didn’t stop her from vibe coding her own SaaS platform for government contracting—all while running her recruiting business and raising three kids. This episode is a masterclass for recruiters...

Recruiting can feel like total chaos—constant fires, endless admin, and a million moving parts. But what if there were a simple system that top firms use to triple revenue , double profitability , and finally calm the madness? That’s what you’ll learn in this episode of The Elite Recruiter Podcast with host Benjamin Mena and EOS Implementer & former Executive Recruiter Jackie Kibler . Jackie r...

What happens when a Marine-turned-headhunter takes on Wall Street? In this episode of The Elite Recruiter Podcast , host Benjamin Mena sits down with John Pierson , CEO of P2 Investments , to explore how he built a boutique firm serving hedge funds and elite investors—then reinvented the recruiting game with a candidate-first, talent agent model . From cold-calling billionaires at dawn to founding...

Ever wondered what it really takes to scale a recruitment agency from the ground up—and have the guts to walk away at the top? In this episode, Benjamin Mena sits down with Gregory Fischer , who built AMI Network to over $4M in gross margin and $1.4M EBITDA —then left it all to build a new agency his way, powered by offshoring, smarter processes, and AI . 🎯 2026 Sales and BD Recruiter Summit: htt...

Still just posting jobs on LinkedIn and hoping clients or candidates come to you? In a world where AI is changing recruiting fast, your personal brand and engaged network are your biggest competitive advantages. This episode of The Elite Recruiter Podcast goes beyond outdated tactics—host Benjamin Mena sits down with LinkedIn branding expert Alexis Albright Meschi to share the blueprint for buildi...

Are you a seasoned recruiter wondering if it’s time to move on from agency life? Maybe you’re itching to branch out but feel stuck by golden handcuffs—or curious about starting your own firm but unsure where to begin. This episode of The Elite Recruiter Podcast is your roadmap to clarity. 🎯 2026 Sales and BD Recruiter Summit: https://bd-sales-recruiter-2026.heysummit.com/ 🚀 Sponsorship: Atlas –...

Want to break into the million-dollar biller club—no matter your age or experience? In this episode, host Benjamin Mena sits down with Kent Depwe , who billed seven figures in his second full year as a recruiter—at just 25. If you’re ready for real talk on sales, mindset, business development, and using AI tools to smash your targets, this is the episode to accelerate your growth. 🎯 Finish The Ye...

Struggling to scale your recruiting desk, close bigger deals, or turn your agency into a powerhouse? This episode of The Elite Recruiter Podcast is your playbook for becoming a $500k+ biller and doubling down on the exact tactics powering the fastest-growing remote firms today. Host Benjamin Mena sits down with Dante Nino, co-founder of TLO, to unpack the uncompromising frameworks and high-convers...

Are you ready to break past your recruiting plateau and become a true recruiting leader? In this episode of The Elite Recruiter Podcast , host Benjamin Mena sits down with industry powerhouse Brent Orsuga to share strategies, mindset shifts, and tactical moves top recruiters need to crush it in 2025. If seven-figure years and becoming a recruiter of influence are on your vision board, this is requ...