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The RAG Podcast - Recruitment Agency Growth Podcast

Sean Anderson
Recruitment
Recruitment Industry
Linkedin
Entrepreneurship
Work-Life Balance
Covid-19
AI In Recruitment
Personal Branding
Recruitment Agency
Life Sciences
Private Equity
Cybersecurity
Business Growth
Remote Work
Rec2rec
Dubai
IT Staffing
HM Staffing
Remote Working
Mental Health

We’re having real and raw conversations with successful recruitment entrepreneurs about what is happening in their businesses right now and their plans to navigate market changes.

PublishesWeeklyEpisodes200Founded8 years ago
Number of ListenersCategories
CareersBusinessEntrepreneurship

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Artwork for The RAG Podcast

Latest Episodes

Max Learmonth was a professional rugby player who fell into recruitment by accident. He answered one trainee ad at Robert Half, started two weeks later, and never looked back.

He climbed fast. £180,000 in his first year, £300,000 in his second, then... more

YouTube

Scott Lechley started Lechley Associates with £10,000, a new baby at home, and six months of recruitment experience. Twenty four years later he is still the only person in the business, and he is on track for the best year he has ever had.

Lechley A... more

YouTube

Louise Archer spent more than twenty years as a contingent recruiter. She believed retained was probably smoke and mirrors, something dressed up to justify a bigger fee, and definitely not a pool she was ever going to swim in.

Then her employer hand... more

YouTube

In 2022, EVONA had eighty staff, a Manchester office, a six-hundred-thousand-pound monthly cost base, and had just spent three hundred thousand pounds flying the whole company to Monaco. Tom Kelly calls it the moment four first-time founders lost per... more

Key Facts

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Recent Guests

Scott Lechley
Founder of Lechley Associates, 24-year solo recruiter turned retained-search specialist
Lechley Associates
Episode: Season 9 | Ep39 Scott Lechley: How a Solo Founder Went 100% Retained and Had His Best Year Yet
Louise Archer
Founder of Retrained Search
Retrained Search
Episode: Season 9 | Ep38 Louise Archer: From Zero Retained Revenue to £12M and 1,500 Recruiters Trained
Tom Kelly
Founder of Evona, specialist in space recruitment
Evona
Episode: Season 9 | Ep37 Tom Kelly: £10M NFI in Space Recruitment With 35 People
Mike Ames
Founder/CEO who sold two recruitment companies and now coaches founders
Flair (consulting)
Episode: Season 9 | Ep36 Mike Ames: £39M in Exits. The Life He Almost Missed Building It.
Oliver Paull
Founder of Rec Gen (Construction Technology recruitment), solo operator
Rec Gen
Episode: Season 9 | Ep35 Oliver Paull: £800K in 3 Years, Solo, From a London Flat
Mat Gollop
Founder/CEO, Connected Group Hong Kong
Connected Group
Episode: Season 9 | Ep34 Mathew Gollop: 7 to 85 People, a Near Collapse, and the Free Idea That Paid Him Back
Greg Fischer
Founder and former owner of AMI recruitment firm; later built Well Oiled Machine
Well Oiled Machine / AMI
Episode: Season 9 | Ep33 Greg Fischer: $4.2M Revenue, $1.4M Net - Then He Left With Nothing but a Handshake
Paul Strouts
CEO, Acacium Life Sciences (Proclinical, R&D Partners, DRA)
Acacium Group
Episode: Season 9 | Ep32 Paul Strouts: When Growing Headcount Is a Strategy and When It Is Just a Cost
Nathan O'Connell
REC2REC founder, founder of O'Connell Search Partners (OSP)
OSP
Episode: Season 9 | Ep31 Nathan O'Connell: Building a £1M R2R business on 4 x Retained Clients

Hosts

Sean
Host of The RAG Podcast - Recruitment Agency Growth Podcast
Ben Richardson
Co-CEO of LHi Group; frequent guest discussing leadership, governance, and succession

Reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars from 133 ratings
  • Episode with Brent Orsuga

    Since last March, I have listened to many of the podcasts hosted by Sean, this has to be one of my favourites.

    Lots of energy and really inspiring!

    Chirag

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    ChiragTRS
    United Kingdom5 years ago
  • Ruella Crouch

    Fantastic podcast. Great learns from every episode.

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    RubyRu16
    United Kingdom6 years ago
  • Insightful and honest

    Brilliant podcast, would highly recommend it to anyone ambitious in the recruitment industry (and anyone else who wants to learn how successful business owners think)

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    night_owl4
    United Kingdom6 years ago
  • ceo

    Since listening to the RAG podcast and using a guests advice, I have had x2 meetings which resulted in business. Congratulations @Sean Anderson you have a number of fans here at Mana Search.

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    lloyd wahed
    United Kingdom7 years ago
  • Relating to S1 E10

    Episode 10 of season 1 was the podcast I could relate to most. I have been in recruitment for a year now after taking over a dying agency. I jumped straight into it after having 0 days experience in recruitment and it’s been a very tough year. Still on my own now, I have some support which has made it easier, but the hardest part is being on your own and listening to this podcast is extremely helpful. I’m in the Education sector and I want to build a business rather than get rich quick so it wou... more

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    A.Brown24
    United Kingdom7 years ago

Listeners Say

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

Many note the show's openness about challenges and failures.
The format is seen as actionable for scaling recruitment agencies.
Listeners praise the practical insights and energy of the host and guests.

Chart Rankings

How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.

Apple Podcasts
#87
United Kingdom/Business/Careers
Apple Podcasts
#245
Australia/Business/Careers
Apple Podcasts
#203
Denmark/Business/Careers
Apple Podcasts
#245
Norway/Business/Careers
Apple Podcasts
#248
Singapore/Business/Careers

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

Season 9 | Ep38 Louise Archer: From Zero Retained Revenue to £12M and 1,500 Recruiters Trained
Q: What was the catalyst for Louise deciding to move away from contingent recruitment and into retained search?
Louise explains that a combination of the airSwift transition, a pivotal review of client engagements, and a desire to understand how to do retained properly led her to pursue retained search, initially testing the model with big clients and then expanding it across regions.
Season 9 | Ep37 Tom Kelly: £10M NFI in Space Recruitment With 35 People
Q: What is the next phase of growth and how do you plan to achieve it?
The plan is to scale Launchpad by expanding to four pods with 1.5-2 deals per head, grow Orbit Managed to five bigger, long-term client relationships (e.g., Cesium Astro, Viasat), and maintain a lean contract team within Launchpad. The company will also push offshore expansion and strengthen the CPO role to manage people and culture as growth continues.
Season 9 | Ep37 Tom Kelly: £10M NFI in Space Recruitment With 35 People
Q: Talk me through the org chart and what Evona looks like today.
The leadership structure centers on the founder-led Evona operations, with a clear separation into the Launchpad direct-hire pods, the Orbit Managed client-lead model, and the GRAM executive-search arm led by Steve Finder. There is a tight core team (head of operations, head of compliance, head of marketing, and a fractional CFO) plus a fully aligned leadership group across the Evona and Gram entities, with a focus on delivering 1.5-2 deals per head in each pod and maintaining strong client relationships.
Season 9 | Ep32 Paul Strouts: When Growing Headcount Is a Strategy and When It Is Just a Cost
Q: What would you ask a founder who wants to grow from 5 to 20 in 18 months?
How much cash do you have, what is your funding plan (self-funded or interim investment), what markets and profiles are you targeting, and what is your risk appetite? Also ensure you have a realistic runway—roughly half a million pounds for a solid start.
Season 9 | Ep32 Paul Strouts: When Growing Headcount Is a Strategy and When It Is Just a Cost
Q: When do you think headcount genuinely creates value, and when is it a cost?
It heavily depends on the sector and market. In life sciences, anything above around 275 heads starts to become a cost, and going bigger risks dilution of delivery quality; the US market represents the bigger growth opportunity, but you must maintain high standards and plan around capital and risk.

Audience Metrics

Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.

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Frequently Asked Questions About The RAG Podcast

What is The RAG Podcast about and what kind of topics does it cover?

The show features candid conversations with recruitment entrepreneurs who are actively navigating growth, margin, and market shifts. Episodes repeatedly surface themes like scalable business models, leadership transitions, the role of AI and data in recruitment, offshore delivery, and the tension between fast growth and sustainable profitability. A standout angle is how founders balance personal life, brand-building, and long-term value, often through differentiated service offerings, strategic acquisitions, or niche specializations. This mix offers tangible lessons for agencies aiming to scale with purpose, including how to structure leadership, partnerships, and client relationships in dynamic markets.

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How many listeners does The RAG Podcast get?

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To see how many followers or subscribers The RAG Podcast has on Spotify and other platforms such as Castbox and Podcast Addict, simply upgrade your account. You'll also find viewership figures for their YouTube channel if they have one.

Which podcasts are similar to The RAG Podcast?

These podcasts share a similar audience with The RAG Podcast:

1. Recruitment Mentors Podcast
2. The High Performance Podcast
3. The Resilient Recruiter
4. RecTalk Podcast - Explore Recruitment Insights
5. The Rugby Pod

How many episodes of The RAG Podcast are there?

The RAG Podcast launched 8 years ago and published 200 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 The RAG Podcast?

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 The RAG Podcast?

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What guests have appeared on The RAG Podcast?

Recent guests on The RAG Podcast include:

1. Scott Lechley
2. Louise Archer
3. Tom Kelly
4. Mike Ames
5. Oliver Paull
6. Mat Gollop
7. Greg Fischer
8. Paul Strouts

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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