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 becoming its first CEO. Since then he has sat on the board of his hometown football club, run a life sciences recruiter through the hardest market in decades, and returned to Cobalt as Executive Chair, while building an M&A advisory business on the side.

Andy Simpson talks to James about why a CEO role is five years, why a good leader should be making themselves redundant, how he took a business from 90-odd percent perm to 50/50 in two years, what a recruiter's instincts are worth at a football club's board table, and why he thinks the firms that adapt will be the ones left standing.

Recruiting Alchemy is sponsored by ryvr.ai, the conversational intelligence platform built specifically for recruitment and staffing businesses. Produced by Vertical Drop.

Key Moments

07:18 Sandhurst, six years as an infantry officer and Iraq in 2003

20:19 Cobalt goes international: Abu Dhabi, Germany, Singapore and New Zealand

35:23 Why a CEO role is five years

37:32 On the board of his hometown football club: transfer fees, kits and doubling the crowd

49:20 CEO of a life sciences recruiter in the toughest market in decades

Host

Andy Simpson, founder of ryvr.ai

ryvr.ai https://linkedin.com/company/ryvrai

https://recruitingalchemy.com

Guest

James Wakefield, Executive Chair, Cobalt Recruitment

https://linkedin.com/in/jtwakefield

https://linkedin.com/company/cobalt-recruitment

Produced By Vertical Drop https://vertical-drop.com

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 million in turnover, around £28 million in gross profit and offices from Seattle to Taiwan, and it has stayed independent without private equity.

Andy Simpson sits down with Jim, CEO of ERSG, to talk about how a business plan he now calls naive became the go-to specialist for the offshore wind industry. They get into verticalisation and why ERSG throws jobs away, building a career structure so growth becomes automatic, opening entities across Europe, the US and Asia, the 2022 and 2023 bump that very nearly knocked the business over, and why Jim thinks AI is already changing support roles long before it touches an engineer on a turbine.

Recruiting Alchemy is sponsored by ryvr.ai, the conversational intelligence platform built specifically for recruitment and staffing businesses. Produced by Vertical Drop.

KEY MOMENTS

• 17:22 Starting ERSG on the day Lehman went
• 21:51 Offshore wind projects and the Blackpool private jet
• 38:36 Verticalisation: specialise and throw jobs away
• 45:03 The Jaws on the beach moment
• 49:17 Why ERSG stayed independent

Guest, Jim Ryan: linkedin.com/in/jiryan
Company https://www.ersg-global.com/en-US/

Host, Andy Simpson linkedin.com/in/andyhsimpson

Sponsor, ryvr.ai https://ryvr.ai/

Produced by vertical-drop.com

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 2008 credit crunch wiped out half his contractors, and why he says you can always cut your cloth when the market turns. He explains how an MBO nearly fell through before Engage came in as backer, why GCS has never dual desked and now runs at around 95% contract, and what changes when a recruiter takes accountability for the outcome instead of sending a CV. They also get into why every CV now looks the same, the 305 applications for one role, and why David thinks AI is highly underestimated and dreadfully overestimated.

Recruiting Alchemy is sponsored by ryvr.ai, the conversational intelligence platform built for recruitment and staffing businesses.

KEY MOMENTS

• 16:40 Every CV now looks the same, so who explains the human?
• 20:30 Joining GCS in 1996: a 10k offer over a 16k one, on a chat about music
• 30:55 October 2008: the credit crunch takes half the contractors
• 37:20 The MBO that nearly fell through, and forecasting within 5%
• 49:20 From 50/50 to 95% contract, and never dual desking
• 54:12 Taking accountability for the outcome, not the CV
• 1:02:10 AI: highly underestimated and dreadfully overestimated

LINKS Guest linkedin.com/in/davidbloxham1
Company linkedin.com/company/gcs-recruitment-specialists
Host, Andy Simpson linkedin.com/in/andyhsimpson
Sponsor, ryvr.ai www.ryvr.ai
Produced by vertical-drop.com