EPISODE 4 of our special AI WEEK with AI GuestXperts Lucinda Ridd and Lee Whitaker on Getting Started with AI and Seeing ROI Sooner.

EPISODE 3 of our special AI WEEK with AI GuestXpert John Bourke on How Recruiters Can Win With Claude.

EPISODE 2 of our special AI WEEK with AI GuestXpert Andrew Rodger on the AI Wars; ChatGPT v Claude + What Recruiters Need To Know.

EPISODE 1 of our special AI WEEK with AI GuestXpert Amrit Rupa on Practical AI Automations for Busy Recruiters.

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE.

Managing people, pressure and high stakes conversations while staying in full control.



Have you ever had a tough conversation and afterwards wished you had handled it differently?

Or maybe you find it hard to get your point across even though it makes perfect sense in your head?

Then this webinar is for you.

Emotional intelligence is a well used phrase, yet still a mystery to many people. It is the key to negotiation & building strong relationships.

When understood correctly it can help you manage people, perform under pressure, have difficult conversations all while staying in control & achieving the result you want.

This webinar will teach you:

• How to read people better

• To respond rather than react

• How to take control of conversations without damaging relationships

• Reduce the emotional rollercoaster & act like a high performer

If you would like to improve your negotiation skills, gain more control & be seen in the world as a good operator, join this webinar, with former million dollar biller, Jarrod Ross.

DRIVING BETTER BD!

Seasoned recruitment trainer, Michael Jones, shared practical strategies for strengthening business development (BD) in the recruitment industry. He reframed recruitment as fundamentally a sales role, emphasizing that consistent BD activity is key to building both confidence and results.

A central concept he introduced was the “Hot 100” — a targeted list of client contacts, supported by a goal of making 100 purposeful calls each month to nurture and grow relationships.

Jones stressed the importance of working to a clear sales plan, aligning KPIs directly with fee targets to ensure measurable progress.

He also encouraged recruiters to approach client outreach with intent, using a variety of value-driven reasons to engage rather than making generic check-in calls.

To continuously improve performance, Jones highlighted the role of coaching, role-playing, and ongoing learning in sharpening BD skills and maintaining a competitive edge.

RECRUITMENT BEYOND 2026

In this very thought-provoking session, Jarrod Ross explored the future of recruitment beyond 2026, focusing on how professionals must understand and adapt to the growing influence of AI. He structured the session around four key areas: how to approach AI, shifts in the recruitment market, preparing for the future, and protecting business desks.



Ross emphasised that while AI can significantly enhance workflows and efficiency, it still requires human oversight due to its inconsistencies. He warned against prioritising speed over quality, reinforcing that strong judgment remains a critical differentiator.

He also highlighted the enduring importance of human elements in recruitment—particularly building strong client relationships, developing a personal brand, and staying informed on industry trends. These, he argued, are essential for long-term success in an AI-driven landscape.

THE DATA DRIVEN EDGE

Nigel Harse from Staffing Industry Metrics delivered a data-driven overview of the Australian recruitment market, drawing on sales data from 104 agencies. He highlighted post-COVID trends across both temporary and permanent recruitment.



Temporary sales have rebounded strongly overall, although recovery in blue-collar sectors has been more gradual.

In contrast, permanent placements peaked in March 2023 and have been in decline since, signalling a shift in market dynamics.

Harse emphasised the importance of closely tracking key performance metrics, including temp margins, gross profit per team member, and profit as a percentage of GP.

He also underscored the growing need for automation, disciplined sales strategies, and proactive trend management to remain competitive.

Additionally, he pointed to the necessity of recalibrating bonus structures in the post-COVID environment and highlighted the increasing influence of AI on recruitment operations and performance.

BUSINESS PLANNING FOR THE NEW FINANCIAL YEAR

Laura Cole shared a practical approach to making business planning both more effective and more engaging.

Rather than overcomplicating things, she centres everything around five key questions: what does success look like, what constraints are in the way, which behaviours need to change, what activities will drive results, and how progress will be reviewed.

She encourages setting clear, SMART goals across five core areas: profit, pipeline, process, professional development, and personal achievements. A big focus is identifying and removing friction points within workflows, while committing to specific, measurable behaviours and actions that actually move the needle.

Finally, Laura recommends building in a quarterly review rhythm—using it as a checkpoint to assess progress, refine the plan, and ensure everything stays aligned with the bigger picture.

BELOW IS THE BUSINESS PLANNING DOCUMENT THAT ACCOMPANIES THIS SESSION. GOOD LUCK.

AI IN RECRUITMENT: HOW LONG WILL YOUR JOB LAST?

Jess Kimber explored the real impact of AI on recruitment — cutting through the noise to focus on what actually matters.

While AI is rapidly transforming the industry by automating admin-heavy tasks, it won’t replace the core of great recruitment: building relationships, influencing decisions, and negotiating outcomes. That human edge remains the differentiator.

What AI does unlock is speed and efficiency. Agencies leveraging AI are up to 5x more likely to fill roles within 20 days, with automated tools reducing resume screening time by as much as 71%.

It’s no surprise that 78% of recruiters are now using AI to streamline their workflows.

The takeaway? AI isn’t replacing recruiters — it’s raising the bar.

Those who embrace it, upskill, and learn how to work alongside it will gain a significant competitive advantage.

THIS WEBINAR IS IP PROTECTED AND WAS NOT RECORDED - but Maz will be back!

Maz Farrelly: "What I learned about storytelling from making the shows you loved to hate".

TV is all about the story. Every single show you have watched and loved, or watched and loathed, has one thing in common - killer storytelling. It’s all we do. Every singe show is the story of us, set against a variety of backdrops, cooking, singing, modelling, DIY, being a Housewife - it’s all storytelling, every single one, but at an Olympic level.

Tell a great story and your audience/clients are engaged, entertained and will take action. They will remember you and be able to repeat your story - it matters. 

This session cracks the code of how to tell the perfect story - it’s my three part strategy and it works, so expect to captivate your audience, have them remember you and very probably love you more than their own family. 

CANDIDATE CONTROL

In Episode 91 of the Recruitment United webinar series, Jarrod Ross explored one of recruitment’s biggest challenges: candidate control and ghosting.

Jarrod shared practical strategies to help recruiters better understand and manage candidate behaviour, drawing on the Big Five personality traits — openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism — as a framework for predicting how candidates may respond throughout the hiring process.

He emphasised that strong candidate relationships are built on transparency, urgency, and consistent communication.

By setting clear expectations from the outset and regularly qualifying candidates as the process progresses, recruiters can reduce the risk of surprises late in the process.

Jarrod also highlighted the importance of identifying potential risks early, such as competing interviews, wavering motivation, or the likelihood of counteroffers. Proactively addressing these factors can dramatically reduce the chances of ghosting.

One practical tactic he recommended was the “break-up email” — a message designed to prompt honest feedback and confirm whether a candidate is still genuinely engaged in the opportunity.

LEVERAGING MORE OFF YOUR CUSTOMERS

In this bonus episode of the Recruitment United webinar series, Pete Watson welcomed recruitment industry stalwart David Wolstenholme to share practical strategies for extracting more value, insight, and opportunity from existing clients.

David opened with a simple but powerful belief:

👉 Recruiters who become obsessed with their customers outperform those who don’t.

Rather than constantly chasing new business, he encouraged recruiters to go deeper with the clients they already serve, uncovering new opportunities, strengthening relationships, and positioning themselves as genuine business partners.

David then shared 20 practical activities recruiters can implement immediately to leverage more from their customers.

The 20 Ideas David Shared:

1️⃣ Interview Hiring Managers After Placements

After a successful placement, interview the hiring manager to understand the true business impact of the hire.

2️⃣ Turn Client Conversations into Case Studies

Record those interviews and transform them into case studies or marketing content that demonstrate real results.

3️⃣ Focus on Impact, Not Just Placements

Instead of talking about who you placed, highlight what changed in the business because of that hire.

4️⃣ Refer Clients to Trusted Suppliers

Look for opportunities to introduce clients to other service providers who can solve problems outside recruitment.

5️⃣ Help Clients Solve Wider Business Problems

Recruiters who solve broader problems become trusted advisors rather than suppliers.

6️⃣ Map Out the Client’s Organisation

Take time to understand organisational structures and decision-makers, not just the hiring manager.

7️⃣ Build Relationships with TA and HR Leaders

Speak regularly with Heads of Talent or HR to understand their biggest hiring and organisational challenges.

8️⃣ Spend Time with Teams Inside Client Businesses

Go beyond hiring managers — meet the teams you recruit into to better understand culture and dynamics.

9️⃣ Use Team Insights to Improve Recruiting

These insights help you position candidates more effectively and refine your messaging.

🔟 Create Co-Branded Content with Clients

Collaborate with clients to produce joint content that promotes both brands.

1️⃣1️⃣ Balance Promotion with Genuine Partnership

Ensure co-branding feels authentic rather than purely self-promotional.

1️⃣2️⃣ Clearly Define Your Ideal Client and Candidate

When asking for referrals, be very specific about the type of business or person you're looking for.

1️⃣3️⃣ Ask Clients for Targeted Referrals

Clients often know other leaders in similar businesses who could benefit from your services.

1️⃣4️⃣ Support Clients with Succession Planning

Recruiters can add value by helping clients think about future leadership pipelines.

1️⃣5️⃣ Offer Market Mapping and Competitor Insight

Provide data on talent pools, competitors, and market movement to help clients plan ahead.

1️⃣6️⃣ Understand Your Client’s Customers

Dig deeper into the end-customers your clients serve to better understand their commercial drivers.

1️⃣7️⃣ Capture Video Testimonials from Clients

Short video testimonials provide powerful social proof and strengthen your credibility.

1️⃣8️⃣ Help Improve Clients’ Internal Hiring Processes

Offer feedback or training to improve how clients interview, assess, and hire talent.

1️⃣9️⃣ Seek Mentorship from Great Clients

Some clients can become valuable mentors, offering business insight beyond recruitment.

2️⃣0️⃣ Implement Structured Post-Placement Care

Develop a clear post-placement framework to support both client and candidate long after the hire.

Key Takeaway

David’s overarching message was clear:

💡 Your existing clients represent your biggest untapped opportunity.

Recruiters who go deeper — learning more about their clients’ businesses, people, and future plans — position themselves as long-term partners rather than transactional suppliers.

And those relationships ultimately lead to more trust, more opportunities, and more revenue.

ADVANCED ACCOUNT GROWTH

Former million-dollar biller, Jarrod Ross, delivered an insightful session on advanced account growth strategies within recruitment, focusing on how recruiters can unlock significantly more value from existing client relationships rather than constantly chasing new business.

Ross emphasised that true account growth comes from deeply understanding a client’s organisation — not just the hiring manager you work with, but the broader ecosystem around them. He encouraged recruiters to systematically identify key stakeholders, understand internal business processes, and uncover untapped hiring opportunities that often exist within different teams or business units.

Central to his approach are four key pillars:

People — Mapping decision-makers, influencers, and future champions across the organisation, ensuring relationships extend beyond a single contact.

Process — Understanding how hiring decisions are actually made, including approval structures, budgets, and internal workflows.

Growth — Actively identifying expansion opportunities by analysing company direction, team structures, and upcoming business initiatives.

Time Frames — Anticipating hiring needs ahead of demand by aligning recruitment strategy with business cycles and forecasting future talent requirements.

Ross stressed the importance of adopting a proactive mindset. Rather than reacting to job briefs, recruiters should map entire organisations, track organisational change, and position themselves as long-term talent partners. He encouraged recruiters to regularly review accounts to identify gaps, cross-selling opportunities, and areas where competitors may not yet be embedded.

A key part of his success lies in relationship depth. Ross highlighted the continued power of face-to-face meetings, noting that in-person interactions build trust faster, create stronger commercial conversations, and often uncover opportunities that would never arise over email or video calls.

He also reinforced several performance principles drawn from his own billing success:

Focus on quality over quantity in both clients and activity.

Be consistent and tenacious in follow-ups and account development.

Remove emotion from decision-making and treat recruitment as a commercial discipline.

Approach account management strategically, not transactionally.

Ultimately, Ross’s message was clear: the biggest growth opportunities for recruiters often already sit within their existing client base — but unlocking them requires structure, curiosity, and deliberate relationship building.

SELLING RETAINED IN AUSTRALIA!

Jordan Taylor from Retrained delivered a brilliant session on why so many recruiters are shifting from contingent to retained — and why the firms that are making the move are pulling away from the rest of the market.

He shared clear data showing that retained search firms are experiencing strong double-digit revenue growth, while many contingent recruiters are facing declining revenues, increased competition, and less predictability.

The key difference? Retained search positions you as a true advisor, not just a supplier.

Jordan explained that retained recruiters deliver far more than candidate introductions — they provide market intelligence, talent mapping, stakeholder alignment, and structured search processes. In return, they command upfront fees, exclusivity, and far greater control of the process.

He also shared powerful real-world examples of recruiters who’ve made the transition successfully — achieving fill rates of 95–100%, significantly improving client relationships, and creating far more consistent, predictable revenue.

One of the most practical takeaways was around pricing — charging a percentage of the total fee per role, collected in stages — which fundamentally changes cashflow and reduces the feast-or-famine cycle many contingent recruiters face.

Jordan also offered Recruitment United members a free strategy session to explore how retained search could work in their specific market — and how to make the transition in a commercially safe, structured way.

PLAYING THE ODDS.  THE PSYCHOLOGY OF WINNING IN RECRUITMENT!

Episode 88 of the Recruitment United Webinar Series featured Marcus Lynch (Zinger) unpacking the psychology of winning in recruitment.

Marcus challenged the idea of trying to control outcomes, instead encouraging recruiters to play the odds by focusing on consistent, high-quality inputs.

He shared practical frameworks for increasing deal flow, including carrying sufficient live work, grading roles using a traffic-light system, and maintaining disciplined, repeatable sourcing activity to build momentum.

Marcus also reinforced the importance of never stopping candidate sourcing, creating broader shortlists, and managing both candidates and clients based on their probability of success—not hope.

The session was a clear reminder that sustainable recruitment success comes from process, volume, and consistency, not chasing perfect outcomes.

10 THINGS YOU SHOULD BE DOING IN JANUARY TO GET YOUR BUSINESS ROCKING AND ROLLING!

Laura Cole delivered a no-nonsense playbook for kick-starting 2026 with momentum — and putting recruitment businesses in a position to win early.

In this high-impact session, Laura broke down 10 practical, revenue-driving activities every recruitment firm should be tackling right now. She showed attendees how to audit performance with intent, pinpoint their most profitable clients, and confidently renegotiate fees from a position of value — not hope.

Laura challenged recruiters to sharpen their value proposition, moving beyond “we’re good recruiters” to tangible client value-adds that genuinely differentiate — from interview guides to salary benchmarking that clients will actually pay for.

She also tackled the hidden growth killers: inefficient processes, messy CRMs, under-optimised LinkedIn profiles, and reactive workflows. Attendees walked away with clear actions to clean up their data, streamline candidate and client management, and build workflows that scale — not stall — growth.

Crucially, Laura showed how to set focused quarterly goals, align marketing and sales activity, and prepare now for the inevitable uptick in workload — so success doesn’t become chaos.

Bottom line: this wasn’t theory. It was a practical reset for recruitment leaders who want to start 2026 organised, confident, and commercially sharp — with systems, pricing, and positioning working for them, not against them.