AI in Recruitment: How Long Will Your Job Exist?

AI is rapidly transforming the recruitment industry. From sourcing and screening to automation and workflow tools, the way recruiters operate is changing fast. The question is no longer if AI will impact recruitment — it’s how much.

In this webinar, we’ll explore what parts of the recruiter’s role are being automated, what skills will remain irreplaceable, and how the most successful recruiters are adapting their approach to stay ahead.

You’ll walk away with practical insights on how to leverage AI, modernise your business development strategy, and future-proof your desk in an industry that’s evolving faster than ever.

WARNING: THIS WEBINAR WILL NOT BE RECORDED, AND YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS IT.

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. 

To be successful in recruitment, you not only need the right candidates, you need to keep them engaged, responsive & ensure they follow through.

Even the slightest hiccup can derail the whole recruitment process, that's why candidate control is essential to master. Too many recruiters leave it to chance, increasing the risk of drop-outs, ghosting & rejected offers.

In this webinar we explore the key elements to mastering candidate control, including:

Proper qualification

Spotting red flags early

Getting & keeping commitment

Staying in control of the process

How to manage candidates that go rogue 

And more.

Candidates are 50% of the equation, without them you don't have a deal. Tune in to learn candidate control from a former million dollar biller.

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.

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.