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Artwork for Recruiting Alchemy

Recruiting Alchemy with Andy Simpson

ryvr.ai
Recruitment Industry
Recruitment
International Business Expansion
Arrows Group
Gary Elden
Recruitment Business Scaling
ERSG
Offshore Wind
Annapurna Recruitment
International Expansion
Culture
Chapter 2 Health Talent
Embedded Talent
AI In Recruitment
Gross Profit Per Head
Ideal Client
Hays PLC
Life Sciences
Artificial Intelligence
S3 Group

Moving recruiters from the contingent carousel to repeatable, scalable, productised offerings.

PublishesWeeklyEpisodes30Founded2 years ago
Number of ListenersCategories
EntrepreneurshipBusinessManagement

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Artwork for Recruiting Alchemy

Latest Episodes

James Parsons was 25 when he quit his job at S3, two weeks after buying his first house, to start Arrows Group with business partner Adrian in 2003. By 2016 the business had more than 300 people in six countries, with sales north of 150 million. 

Ja... more

James Wakefield went from the parade ground at Sandhurst and six years as an infantry officer into recruitment at Michael Page. He then spent 14 years at Cobalt, setting up offices across the Middle East, Europe, Asia Pacific and the US before becomi... more

Jim Ryan left Ireland at 17, knocked on doors selling cable TV, and walked into MSB in Bromley in 1997 with no recruitment experience. Eighteen years on from starting ERSG on the day Lehman Brothers collapsed, he runs a staffing group with £185 milli... more

David Bloxham has spent 30 years in recruitment, almost all of it at GCS, the business he joined in 1996 and now leads as CEO. Andy Simpson asks how he got there, and what it cost along the way.

David talks through coming back to GCS just as the 200... more

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Recent Guests

James Parsons
Recruitment entrepreneur who founded Arrows Group and acquired Build Circle
Arrows Group
Episode: Recruiting Alchemy Ep. 30 Why Recruitment Firms Don't Scale with James Parsons
James Wakefield
Executive Chair of Cobalt Recruitment and former recruitment CEO
Cobalt Recruitment
Episode: Recruiting Alchemy Ep. 29 Why great CEOs make themselves redundant with James Wakefield
Jim Ryan
CEO of ERSG, a global staffing group specializing in offshore wind and renewable energy
ERSG
Episode: Recruiting Alchemy Ep. 28 Specialise to Scale with Jim Ryan
David Bloxham
CEO of GCS, later Engage Group, with deep IT recruitment background
GCS / Engage Group
Episode: Recruiting Alchemy Ep. 27 Surviving every downturn in recruitment with David Bloxham
Rory Gaston
Group CEO at Saragossa, staffing and technology solutions leader
Saragossa
Episode: Recruiting Alchemy Ep. 26: The Broken Economics of Contingent Staffing with Rory Gaston
Bradley Lewington
CEO and founder of Generative Group; former CEO of Spencer Ogden
Generative Group
Episode: Recruiting Alchemy Ep. 25 Why Recruiters Are Naive About AI with Brad Lewington
Gary Elden
CEO and recruitment industry veteran, OBE recipient
Alistair Business / former S3 leadership
Episode: Recruiting Alchemy Ep.19: Gary Elden - The £8K Bet That Built an Empire
Tom Way
CEO, UK and Ireland at Hays PLC
Hays PLC
Episode: Recruiting Alchemy Ep.18: Tom Way - How One Choice Transformed Everything
Jeremy Snell
L&D guru and industry leader in recruitment
Independent consultant / L&D expert
Episode: Recruiting Alchemy Ep.17: Jeremy Snell on Shifting from CV Vendor to Value Proposition

Host

Andy Simpson
Host of Recruiting Alchemy with Andy Simpson

Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars from 7 ratings
  • Great insights

    I usually hate business podcasts but this is actually super interesting and the insights shared are so relevant to the recruitment industry, anyone in this space needs to listen!

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    LiamMcA
    United Kingdom2 years ago

Listeners Say

Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.

Insightful and practical takeaways for the recruitment space.
Content is relevant to professionals across staffing, tech-enabled recruitment, and leadership.
Hosts and guests deliver actionable strategies, not fluff.
High-quality guests who share real-world challenges and wins.

Top Entrepreneurship Podcasts

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

Recruiting Alchemy Ep. 30 Why Recruitment Firms Don't Scale with James Parsons
Q: Do you still see yourselves as a recruitment business today?
Parsons says Arrows remains a recruitment business focused on LLM, AI and data, while the wider group is a professional services group because Build Circle delivers technology consulting and project outcomes.
Recruiting Alchemy Ep. 30 Why Recruitment Firms Don't Scale with James Parsons
Q: What would you ascribe, apart from your management genius, to why Arrows was able to outperform the average recruitment company and grow to 300 people and £150 million in turnover?
Parsons credits a shared operating blueprint, consistent hiring and training, clear service focus, and common standards. This helped the company deliver repeatable work without depending on individual personalities.
Recruiting Alchemy Ep. 28 Specialise to Scale with Jim Ryan
Q: Has it been a deliberate choice to stay independent and self-fund in that way?
Ryan says independence was deliberate because it allowed the founders to run the business through difficult periods without outside pressure. He remains open to considering the right private-equity partner to support future expansion.
Recruiting Alchemy Ep. 28 Specialise to Scale with Jim Ryan
Q: Reflecting on two decades in this space now, what do you think has helped you to scale to the position you are in today?
Ryan credits hiring people with strengths he lacks, specialising in clear verticals, turning away unsuitable jobs, and using transparent rules and career structures to make growth and promotion more consistent.
Recruiting Alchemy Ep. 29 Why great CEOs make themselves redundant with James Wakefield
Q: Why do you think you were successful at running international offices from a distance?
Wakefield says he became more effective with experience and learned to investigate the reasons for underperformance before making a judgment. Understanding the cause helps make any later decision more considered and fair.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Recruiting Alchemy

What is Recruiting Alchemy about and what kind of topics does it cover?

A pragmatic, founder- and leadership-focused show examining recruitment as a scalable, productized function. Guests are senior leaders, founders, and CXOs from across the recruitment and tech-enabled talent space, sharing career turns, growth plays, and how they've built scalable services, embedded talent models, and AI-driven offerings. Listeners can expect candid conversations about culture, governance, international expansion, and the evolving role of technology in talent acquisition. A notable throughline is transforming traditional staffing into strategic, multi-pillar platforms with strong leadership narratives and practical takeaways for building resilient teams and businesses.

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How many listeners does Recruiting Alchemy get?

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Which podcasts are similar to Recruiting Alchemy?

These podcasts share a similar audience with Recruiting Alchemy:

1. Carrot and Stick
2. Recruitment Mentors Podcast
3. The RAG Podcast - Recruitment Agency Growth Podcast
4. Recruitment TV
5. RecTalk Podcast - Explore Recruitment Insights

How many episodes of Recruiting Alchemy are there?

Recruiting Alchemy launched 2 years ago and published 30 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

How do I contact Recruiting Alchemy?

Our systems regularly scour the web to find email addresses and social media links for this podcast. We scanned the web and collated all of the contact information that we could find in our podcast database. But in the unlikely event that you can't find what you're looking for, our concierge service lets you request our research team to source better contacts for you.

Where can I see ratings and reviews for Recruiting Alchemy?

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What guests have appeared on Recruiting Alchemy?

Recent guests on Recruiting Alchemy include:

1. James Parsons
2. James Wakefield
3. Jim Ryan
4. David Bloxham
5. Rory Gaston
6. Bradley Lewington
7. Gary Elden
8. Tom Way

To view more recent guests and their details, simply upgrade your Rephonic account. You'll also get access to a typical guest profile to help you decide if the show is worth pitching.

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