The Lone Recruiter

Brett Clemenson
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  • Updated Biweekly

Welcome to the Lone Recruiter Podcast! Each week, we bring you short, fast and high energy podcasts designed to give you the motivation, mindset & resilience you need to be your best recruitment self. So grab a coffee, get comfortable, join us and let’s take your recruitment career to the next level.

  1. 1d ago

    Ep 335 - Stop Picking Up the Phone! Why Recruiters Should Let It Ring

    Today, I’m giving you permission to do something that sounds completely wrong for a recruiter: don’t pick up the phone. Hear me out. We’re trained to answer calls. Client calls, candidate calls, callbacks... the phone rings, we pick it up. But what happens when you answer and you’re not actually ready for the conversation? I recently watched a colleague do exactly that. A callback came through, they couldn’t quite remember what they needed to discuss, but they answered anyway. The result? A clunky conversation spent fumbling around trying to remember the point of the call. And it made me think: why did you have to answer it right then? Tune in for: 👉 Why you don’t need to answer every call immediately 👉 The difference between being responsive and being prepared 👉 Why every recruitment call should have a clear purpose 👉 How 20–30 seconds of preparation can completely change a conversation 👉 Why letting a call ring out can actually make you a better recruiter If a client or candidate calls and you’re not crystal clear on what you need from that conversation, let it ring. Pull up your notes. Gather your thoughts. Know what you want to achieve. Then call them straight back. The goal isn’t to spend less time on the phone. It’s to make the calls you do have count. As always, have an amazing day and make all your deals come true.

  2. 5d ago

    Ep 334 - What Recruiters Need to Know Right Now with SEEK Chief Economist Blair Chapman

    The Australian jobs market is slow, tougher and uncertain right now. But what does that actually mean for us as recruiters? I’m joined by SEEK Chief Economist Blair Chapman to cut through the headlines and look at what the data is really telling us about the Australian employment market. Employment is still growing, but at a much slower rate than we’ve become accustomed to. Job switching is at historic lows, candidates are more hesitant to move, businesses are watching costs and some sectors are facing a much tougher outlook than others. But it’s certainly not all doom and gloom. There are still pockets of strong demand, and some major demographic shifts could create significant opportunities for recruiters over the next five years. We cover: 👉 Why employment growth has slowed and what that means for recruiters 👉 The industries currently doing it toughest 👉 Where Blair is seeing stronger demand and growth opportunities 👉 What’s happening with advertised salaries 👉 Why job switching could be one of the most important numbers for recruiters to watch 👉 How AI and offshoring are affecting the employment market 👉 What needs to happen before the market really turns a corner 👉 Why Australia’s ageing workforce could create a huge replacement market 👉 The labour market indicators I’d be watching if I were running a recruitment agency There’s a lot of noise around the jobs market right now. Blair brings the numbers, but more importantly, helps translate those numbers into what they could actually mean for your recruitment desk.

  3. Aug 30

    Ep 333 - The 4 Stages of Mastery: Where Are You?

    Have you ever felt like you KNOW how to do something, but it still takes a huge amount of effort to get it right? That’s where the four stages of mastery come in. In this episode, I break down the journey from having absolutely no idea what you’re doing to reaching the point where a skill becomes almost automatic. For recruiters, this can apply to everything from interviewing and taking a job brief to BD, closing deals, leadership and eventually running your own agency. 👉 The four stages of mastery 👉 Why being aware of your incompetence is actually progress 👉 The frustrating stage where you’re good, but it still takes serious brainpower 👉 What true mastery looks like 👉 How I’ve reached “autopilot” in recruitment after 20 years 👉 Why I’m definitely NOT there yet when it comes to leadership Knowing where you sit on the mastery scale can make the learning process a whole lot less frustrating and give you something tangible to work towards.

  4. Aug 26

    Ep 332 - What Top Recruiters Want From Agencies in 2026 with Andrea Collins

    The recruitment market is changing, but where are the real opportunities right now? Today I’m joined by Andrea Collins from Connecting Recruiters, she has spent more than 20 years in recruitment and the last decade specialising in Rec2Rec. She recruits across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, giving her a pretty unique view of what’s happening inside agencies across the country. We talk about what senior recruiters are looking for now, why some agencies are attracting great people while others are losing them, and what the recruitment market could look like by the time the next Census rolls around. 👉 Why senior recruiters are looking for a career “rebirth” 👉 The growing divide between Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane 👉 Why executive search is booming 👉 What recruiters now expect from AI, automation and productivity tools 👉 The surprising link between external PR and attracting great recruiters 👉 Why relationships are becoming even MORE valuable in an AI-driven market 👉 The graduate recruiter shortage and what it means for agency growth 👉 The commission structures keeping top billers from going out on their own 👉 Why big agencies are losing talent to boutiques 👉 Andrea’s prediction for recruitment in 2031 There are some really interesting shifts happening beneath the surface of our industry right now, and Andrea has a front-row seat to them. If you’re a recruiter, recruitment leader or agency owner wondering where the market is heading next, this one is well worth a listen.

  5. Aug 23

    Ep 331 - Need a New Recruitment Market? Check the Census!

    The 2026 Census has added 349 new occupations. So naturally, my recruiter brain went straight to one question: Where's the opportunity? If you're looking for a new recruitment market, the Census could give you some very interesting clues. Tune in for: 👉 Why 349 new occupations creates potential new recruitment markets 👉 What changing industries and technology mean for recruiters 👉 How to spot genuine demand rather than simply chasing job volume 👉 Why national skills shortages can point towards strong recruitment opportunities 👉 How to find markets where recruiter competition is relatively low 👉 Why the best market isn't necessarily the biggest one 👉 How to use publicly available data to research your next desk If you're looking for a new market, feeling stuck in your current desk or trying to find an area where you can build a competitive advantage, this episode is for you. Don't just find a market with jobs. Find a market with opportunity.

  6. Aug 19

    Ep 330 - Stop Asking “When?”: Get the Interview Booked Faster

    This simple recruitment tactic can significantly shorten the time between getting a client interview request and actually getting the interview booked. The key idea is simple: don’t ask “when?” Instead, know your candidate’s availability and give the client a specific option, ideally today or tomorrow. Rather than asking, “When can you meet them?”, try, “I’ve got them available at 3pm today. Can you make that work?” This small change creates urgency, keeps momentum, and stops interviews from being pushed into the end of the week or even the following week. I also explain why recruiters need to take control of the scheduling process and why asking an innocent question like “when are you free?” can unintentionally slow the entire deal down. No when. Try it on your next interview and see how much faster you can get things moving.

  7. Aug 16

    Ep 329 - Hit Your Target. Take Friday Off!

    What if your best incentive wasn’t more money, but more time? In today's ep, I sit down with Zakary Nash, Co-Founder and Director of HarperLloyd Recruitment, to unpack one of the most interesting incentives I’ve come across in recruitment. Hit your quarterly target, and you earn Fridays off for the entire next quarter. It sounds simple, but the psychology behind it is fascinating. Zakary shares: 👉 Why HarperLloyd introduced the four-day incentive 👉 How consultants are using their Fridays differently 👉 Why time can be a more powerful motivator than commission 👉 What happened to performance once Fridays became something worth earning 👉 How the incentive is helping people create more space for family, travel and life outside recruitment For me, this is a great example of thinking differently about what actually motivates people.

  8. Aug 12

    Ep 328 - Redefining Success: When Your Role Changes

    I’ve spent 20 years measuring my success from behind a recruitment desk. Placements. Revenue. Generation. Deals.  But now my role is changing. As the agency and the podcast grow, I’m moving away from full-throttle desk recruitment and into more of a leadership role. I’m not disappearing from recruitment. I still love the clients, the candidates and the deals. But I can’t keep doing everything myself. And that’s where things get interesting... 👉 The metrics that made me successful on the desk aren’t necessarily the metrics that will make me successful as a leader. 👉 Career transitions are rarely as smooth as they look from the outside. Your habits, routines and definition of a “good day” all have to change. 👉 Whether you’re moving into leadership, starting a business, taking on staff or simply stepping into a bigger role, you need to redefine what success looks like for where you are now. The question is simple: What does success look like when the role you’re in starts to change? Because as your responsibilities, priorities and role evolve, the way you measure a successful day needs to evolve with them.

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About

Welcome to the Lone Recruiter Podcast! Each week, we bring you short, fast and high energy podcasts designed to give you the motivation, mindset & resilience you need to be your best recruitment self. So grab a coffee, get comfortable, join us and let’s take your recruitment career to the next level.

Information

  • Creator
    Brett Clemenson
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    339
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2023 All rights reserved. Powered by ALRA Recruitment.
  • Show Website
    The Lone Recruiter

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