The Big Questions Recruiters Are Asking in 2025

In 2025, we hosted more live events than ever before, with podcasts in Manchester, London, Glasgow, Sydney and most recently, Austin.

We have pulled some of the best questions, as well as those that kept cropping up and answered them directly here in this newsletter edition.

From shifting client expectations to the move toward retained to what it really takes to reach £1M billing, these are the challenges recruiters are focused on right now, with practical ideas you can put into play.

How are client expectations shifting and how do recruiters stay ahead?

Clients don’t just want CVs anymore. They want proof you understand their business.

The shift we’ve seen in 2025 is clear:

• They expect partnership.

• They expect market intelligence.

• They expect you to advise, not just provide a service.

Recruiters who win are the ones showing up as consultants, not suppliers.

That means:

• Salary benchmarking.

• Competitor + Market insights.

• Rebuilding their hiring processes.

But it goes deeper. The recruiters really setting themselves apart are the ones helping to build interview processes, assessments, and candidate journeys with their clients.

They’re not just filling roles, they’re consulting on how to attract, engage, and retain the best people in the market.

Because here’s the truth: the biggest constraint to a client hitting their business goals is usually people.

Not just hiring them, but keeping them. If you can identify what’s holding them back on both fronts, that’s when you move from recruiter to advisor.

👉 Practical ways to stay ahead:

• Run quarterly “state of the market” updates for your top clients.

• Add one question to every job brief: “What’s stopping you from hitting your hiring goals right now?”

• Challenge briefs. Don’t just take them at face value. Shape them.

What’s the biggest obstacle in moving to exclusive/retained search?

The number one blocker? Mindset.

Most recruiters can rattle off the benefits of exclusivity for themselves. Fewer can clearly explain why it’s better for the client. That’s where it breaks down.

If your pitch for exclusivity is “it’s cheaper” you’ve already lost.

The client doesn’t care that you’ll feel less stress. They care about reduced risk, better quality, and higher confidence in making the right hire.

The other obstacle? The ability to walk away.

Too many recruiters are scared to say no. But unless you’re willing to stand firm, you’ll stay stuck in contingent land.

Once mindset shifts, the process becomes easier: tightening up job briefing calls, presenting a clear go-to-market plan, and showing how you’ll represent their brand better than anyone else.

👉 Practical steps to level up:

• Reframe how you sell it. Call it leadership recruitment, not “executive search.” It lands better with clients.

• Document all of the reasons why this way of working will provide a 10x better service for the client not why it will be better for you the recruiter.

• Back yourself to walk away. Exclusivity only works when you genuinely believe you’ll deliver.

Where does AI/automation really add value in recruitment?

The obvious place is admin. Note-taking, formatting CVs, cleaning up databases.

That’s where AI saves you hours, and you should absolutely lean into it.

But here’s the warning: I’ve lost count of the recruiters who went down the AI rabbit hole this year and ended up back at square one.

Why? Because they tried to outsource the core of recruitment - building pipeline, having conversations, and winning trust.

That doesn’t work.

The right move is to get AI to do the heavy lifting around the edges so you can double down on human interaction where it counts.

👉 What to automate right now:

• Briefing calls: use tools to transcribe and auto-summarise job briefs and candidate calls.

• Interview follow-ups: easily create branded recap emails to clients/candidates within 24 hours.

• Coaching: drop call notes into ChatGPT to find out how you could have handled that meeting or BD call 10x better.

Recruitment will always be won in conversations. Use AI to free up more time for those, not avoid them.

Starting over as a 360 consultant, what would your BD strategy be?

If I started tomorrow in a brand-new sector, I wouldn’t try to hack my way to success.

I’d go all in on the basics.

👉 Here’s my 90-day plan:

Step 1: Obsess over the niche.
Get crystal clear on the roles, companies, and hiring challenges. If I didn’t know something, I’d research, ask, and stay curious until I did.

Step 2: Build a Top 100 list.
50 target clients, 50 standout candidates. That’s my ecosystem.

Step 3: Nail the inputs.
Get a proven daily activity plan from my manager and follow it for 30 days straight. No shortcuts, no hacks. Just reps and momentum.

Step 4: Ask better questions.
Dig deeper in candidate calls: “What’s the real motivation for moving?” / “What do you actually want from your career and why?”

Step 5: Shadow and role-play.
Learn from top billers, cringe-listen to my own calls, and practice twice weekly.

Step 6: Be present.
I wouldn’t work from home early on. I’d be in the office, soaking up every conversation.

Step 7: Get visible.
Post twice a week on LinkedIn: what I’m learning, insights, testimonials. Free visibility.

Step 8: Focus on one skill per month.
Month 1 → Candidate qualification.
Month 2 → Cold outreach.
Month 3 → Discovery/job qualification.

Step 9: Track everything.
Not just KPIs, but wins: every call, every CV, every interview. Seeing progress builds belief.

Do this for 90 days and the desk starts to build itself.

How do billers go from £300–500k to £1M?

It’s rarely about grafting harder. It’s about changing gears.

At this level, mindset is still crucial. Dropping bad habits, saying no to low-value roles, and getting ruthless with time.

Resilience too: setbacks are bigger at the top, so you need the ability to adapt fast.

But the real level-up comes from strategy and process.

The biggest performers don’t just make one or two placements with a client.

They go deep and turn that into five, ten, fifteen.

They squeeze every ounce out of existing accounts and grow them into long-term, high-value partnerships.

👉 What makes the difference:

• Personally: Audit your week. Cut or delegate 20% of tasks that don’t move the needle.

• Market: Transition more of your desk to retained/exclusive. Position yourself for higher-value work.

• Process: Build out your account growth playbook. Go from “winning jobs” to “owning clients.”

Look at Mollie Gunn, who we had on the podcast. She became a $1M+ biller.

Her inputs never dropped, but her focus shifted: better conversions, sharper decisions, and deeper accounts.

That’s the real difference between £500k and £1M.

P.S. Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

#1: Do you listen to my podcast? I release a weekly episode with either a top-performing recruiter or recruitment entrepreneur to find out how they achieved their success so you can learn directly from their journey Check out my latest episode and subscribe to the show.

#2 Take the recruitment High-Performance Team Scorecard
Get instant clarity on where your team is strong, where they’re falling short, and what to focus on next. 👉🏻 Take the Scorecard

#3: Want to win more business, book more meetings, and level up your billings? Our Hector-certified courses are built by top billers who’ve been where you are and cracked it. No fluff. Just real, proven strategies you can use immediately >>>> Browse Courses – Start Closing More Deals Today (Use code Limitless_Learning at checkout for 15% off: exclusive to newsletter readers)