While much of the recruitment industry was flat last year, Sachin Ruparelia grew billings by 33% and kept hiring. Sachin is the Founder and Managing Director of Camino Partners and Camino Search. Over the last couple of years, his businesses have grown net fee income by 20% and then 33%, while scaling to around 37 people across London and Tampa. A big part of that growth has come from community-led business development. Instead of calling prospects to ask if they're hiring, Camino creates reasons for clients and prospects to want to speak with them. They run events, CFO dinners and networking sessions. They publish salary surveys and a 120-page Global Report for the private equity market. Sachin calls it "the art of selling without selling." In this conversation, Sachin explains how those events and insights turn into real recruitment opportunities, including the important step recruiters often miss: making the commercial ask after they've earned the conversation. You'll also hear how Sachin approaches the other side of scaling: people. He shares how to know when it's time for your next support hire, why an operations manager can be one of the smartest early hires for a growing firm, and his A's, B's and F's approach to hiring people who are better than you in the areas where you're weak. Sachin also speaks openly about growing up in a violent household and the two years of psychodynamic counseling that helped him understand how those experiences had shaped his behavior. He explains how that self-awareness made him a better husband, father, friend and leader, and why he now speaks openly about mental health in recruitment. In this episode, you'll learn: How Camino grew NFI by 20% and then 33% while scaling to around 37 people How community-led BD creates conversations without leading with a sales pitch Why Sachin runs one to two events a month and how he gets the right people into the room How a 120-page insight report creates multiple reasons to contact prospects How to turn events and content into actual recruitment opportunities When a growing recruitment firm should make its first operations hire How the A's, B's and F's test helps founders hire around their weaknesses Why is self-awareness becoming increasingly important as you build a larger team Episode Highlights [08:50] Setting up the business at 31 and appointing a chairman [09:33] The two years of therapy Sachin calls game changing [17:20] Two verticals, 37 people and 33% growth in a flat market [22:51] The first scaling lesson: hire people better than you [29:25] Community-led BD: the art of selling without selling [39:07] Insight-led BD and Camino's 120-page Global Report [52:55] The first operations hire for a scaling recruitment firm [54:50] The A's, B's and F's approach to hiring around your weaknesses Sachin Ruparelia Bio Sachin Ruparelia is the Founder and Managing Director of Camino Partners and Camino Search. He launched Camino Partners in 2012 with two former colleagues, initially specializing in accountancy and finance before expanding into "mission control" roles within recruitment businesses. Camino Search works within the private capital ecosystem, placing CFOs and other senior finance professionals, along with corporate development, M&A and origination talent, into private equity-backed technology-enabled and business services companies. The business operates from London and Tampa and has grown to around 37 people. Over the last two years, Camino's NFI grew first by 20% and then by 33%. Sachin's next plan, Mission 234, is to double headcount and triple NFI over four years. Connect with Sachin Sachin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sachinruparelia/ Camino Partners: http://www.caminopartners.co.uk Camino Search: http://www.caminosearch.co.uk Sponsors This episode is brought to you by Recruiterflow, an AI-native ATS and CRM built for serious recruiting businesses. Learn more: https://recruitmentcoach.com/recruiterflow It is also brought to you by Juicebox, the modern AI platform for recruiting. Juicebox combines more than 30 datasets with AI models to support search, outreach, and pipeline management in one workflow. Learn more: https://recruitmentcoach.com/juicebox Connect with Mark Whitby Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call: www.recruitmentcoach.com/strategy-session/ Mark on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwhitby/
