The Staffing RecOps Podcast

In this episode, James Lawton speaks with Ben Hansen, The Profit Doctor, about the common traps scaling firms fall into, which he terms "Profititus"—solid revenue growth but flat net profitability. Drawing on his experience building a multi-million dollar staffing business, Ben advocates applying the Pareto principle (80/20 rule) to profitability, starting by eliminating the worst 20% of low-perfo...

In this episode, Sean McNicholas, Senior Commercial Manager at The OPRA Group, discusses the company’s shift from traditional transactional recruitment to a project-based model. This approach aims to align with a client's broader business goals, whether they are scaling up, launching new initiatives, or undergoing a transformation. Sean explains how this involves a comprehensive project implementa...

Host James Lawton speaks with Stephanie Bateman, Owner and Managing Director of Educate Staffing, about the complex process of buying out her initial investor. Stephanie discusses the initial investment that launched the business, the support the investor provided in the early years , and her eventual decision to seek full ownership around year six or seven of the business. She shares a candid and...

In this episode, James Lawton speaks with Richard Caldicott about a critical topic often overlooked by businesses—device management. Richard, a seasoned IT professional, explains how a lack of proper device management is a "real big miss," especially for recruitment firms that handle a lot of personal data. He discusses the importance of securing devices to protect against data loss from stolen la...

In this episode, Matthew Evans , Director at MRG, talks about the company's aggressive international expansion. Matthew discusses the strategic decision to open offices in Mumbai and Gurugram, India, a market he describes as "one of the, if not the fastest growing, real estate economies in the world." He shares insights on the unique challenges and opportunities of entering a new country, from nav...

In this episode, we sit down with Claire Proudlove , Group Director of Client Program Services at The Serocor Group. With nearly three decades of experience in recruitment and workforce solutions, Claire has built and scaled client program services that unify multiple brands under one strategic vision. She shares how her team drives operational improvements, integrates recruitment technology, and...

When Toby Briant , founder and managing director of Rutherford Briant Recruitment, decided to change the firm’s long-standing CRM and ATS provider, he knew the stakes were high. In this episode, Toby shares how his team evaluated the market, why vendor alignment with company values was as important as the technology itself, and what made their final choice the right fit. He dives into lessons on p...

In this episode, we’re joined by Tom Beastal l, Executive Director at Rullion, a UK-based recruitment agency with deep roots and ambitious plans. Tom shares the story behind Rullion’s sweeping technology transformation—from proprietary legacy systems to a flexible, cloud-first architecture. We unpack the leadership lessons learned along the way, including the political dynamics of driving internal...

In this episode, Mason Barendrecht , Director if Technology and Systems at Hales Group, discusses the role of AI in business development. Mason shares how his team is using AI tools and large language models to surface warm leads, deliver contextual prospecting insights, and help recruiters shift their focus from cold outreach to high-impact relationship building. He breaks down how Hales piloted...

In this episode, Glyn Blaize , COO at La Fosse Associates, shares the story of how he transformed two staffing businesses by designing and implementing scalable, fully automated systems across HR, finance, and delivery. Glyn reveals how he helped one firm grow from 200 to over 1,000 employees by connecting recruitment to onboarding, payroll, and ERP systems — all without ballooning the ops team. A...

In this episode, Kate Harding , Marketing Manager at Montreal Associates, shares how she built a vibrant, personality-driven recruitment brand as a one-woman marketing department. She takes us behind the scenes of launching Careers in the Cloud , the agency’s flagship tech podcast, born during lockdown as a way to engage candidates and clients in an authentic, value-driven way. Kate explains how s...

In this episode, Sam Porter, IT Director at Morgan Hunt, shares the story of a sweeping digital transformation in their staffing operations. Facing fragmented systems and rising pressures from AI and automation, Sam and his team undertook a full overhaul of their CRM, onboarding, and pay-and-bill platforms — all at once in a “big bang” approach. He explains how they used a detailed time and motion...

In this episode, James sits down with John Gargan, Head of Operations at Manpower Northern Ireland, to discuss how they transformed a highly manual hiring process by integrating AI. The conversation explores how this shift streamlined operations and boosted recruiter productivity. The  SROP  is hosted by  James Lawton : ex-recruiter, now helping enterprise-level companies with high...

Introducing The Staffing RecOps Podcast hosted by James Lawton. Want to be on our podcast? See our website for all the details and get in touch with us. https://www.staffingrecops.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In today’s episode, our host and founder James takes a moment to reflect on the incredible journey we've had on The Staffing RecOps Podcast and we dive into the highlights of the past quarter. Throughout the quarter, we had the pleasure of hosting 4 amazing guests,  Mason Barendrecht ,  Frank Gullo ,  Martin Allen  and  Michael Whitmer . A recurring theme in our...

In this new episode, James talked with Michael from RGF Staffing about all things AI and data related. Michael talked about leveraging AI in matching, using tools in deep learning and natural language to manage both active candidates and to match passive candidates with open job opportunities. They are utilizing boolean search strings and refining them by examining skills in their taxonomy of data...

In this new episode, James talked with Martin about the significance of treating data as a valuable asset, emphasizing the importance of thoughtful consideration regarding its input and utilization, rather than merely viewing it as a byproduct of output. Martin advised that we need to start with why, why and what are we looking to achieve and very importantly how do we deliver on it. Mar...

In this new episode, James talked with Frank about the shift in organisational focus since Nov 2022, and the excitement and the concerns around AI. Frank talked about the need to understand the business strategy and the problems that need to be solved before thinking about where to invest in AI. Assessing what resources are available to the business, and what the use cases are. Frank talked about...

In this new episode, James talked with Mason about data, the quality of data, and migrating that data. Mason specified the key challenges for this; volume, complexity & ensuring have the right data. The importance of making sure the data you migrate into your new system is relevant, so clean the data before the move. Retention of data is always Mason's biggest concern and perceived risk,...

In today's episode, James recaps on the last quarter where he talked about customer & candidate care, automation & messaging with the SROP guests.  The idea behind the Staffing RecOps Podcast is that by interviewing professionals from high volume staffing & recruitment firms about the operations strategies and business processes they have implemented or are implementing,...

In this new episode, James talked with Graham about moving from one marketing automation tool to another, evolving the way of engaging with talent based on behavioural marketing and connecting with candidates at a moment in time using trigger points to deliver relevant marketing. They also talked about issues with data, the importance of data quality, potential process change and the human factor...

In this new episode, James talked with Matt about how Astute started 5 years ago with a vendor in the automated messaging space. The catalyst of that project was the introduction of GDPR in 2018.  They also talked about the importance of project management. Mapping out the process in detail, what messages are sent manually and having the right person or team run the project.  The&nb...

In this new episode, James talked with Ed about Johnson Service Group's journey with automation and engagement. Three years ago a major client requested specific requirements for an automation and engagement tool. Johnson Service Group took the plunge and implemented these features.  Currently, they are only scratching the surface with 40% of the tool's capabilities. The next s...

In this new episode, Cameron talked with James about their Total Talent Engagement project, utilizing multiple technologies working together to improve communication. This makes their recruiters more efficient, improves redeployment by 25% and increases their NPS score.  Cameron shared some challenges Matlen Silver faced on their journey, and had some guidance and advice for ot...

In this new episode, James and Neil talked about Neil's perspective on what to consider when you as a staffing & recruitment agency are looking in to implementing automated messaging in your business. Automated messaging will bring some change management so it is important to give the descision due consideration.  The  SROP  is hosted by  James Lawton : ex-recruit...