Retrained Search

David Plummer had already “made it.”

He’d built and sold a recruitment business.
The money was there. The cars were there. The houses were there.
From the outside, it looked like success.
But standing at the top of the mountain he’d spent years climbing, he found himself asking a question many founders quietly face:
“Is this it?”

In our latest podcast, David shares the raw truth about chasing success and the deeper lessons he learned about identity, leadership, and meaning.

We talk about:
• Why tying your identity to your business is dangerous
• The difference between building to sell vs building something worth selling
• Why culture (not strategy) created the real value in his company
• And the question every founder should ask themselves: How will other people measure your life?

One of the most honest and thought-provoking conversations we’ve had.

Listen here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0sQkh50

A £140,000 fee.

Nine months of work.

The hire left.

Contractually?
The search was complete.
The guarantee had expired.
There was no obligation to replace.

But here’s what happened next.

Instead of pointing to the T&Cs…
He found a replacement.
In his spare time.
And didn’t charge a penny.

Why?

Because retained isn’t just a commercial model.

It’s a partnership model.

Full podcast episode here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0s2drv0

“You want a purple squirrel.”
And when you walk through Richmond Park…
how many purple squirrels do you see running around?
Exactly. None.
When a client asks for something that doesn’t exist, most recruiters say:
“Of course, we’ll find it.”
The best recruiters say:
“It doesn’t exist. Here’s why.”
And then they prove it.

Full podcast episode here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0s2fkn0

I hadn’t seen Shoanak Mallapurkar (Sean) in 5 years.
In recruitment-tech years, that’s basically a lifetime.

Sean is the Founder & CEO of Recruit CRM and one thing stood out immediately:
They’re not winning because of a shiny feature.
They’re winning because they obsess over adoption.

Sean shared that their human support response time averages around 40 seconds (24/7 across time zones). And AI now resolves a huge chunk of tickets instantly - not as a gimmick, but as a way to keep humans free for what matters.

We also got into the bigger picture:
Recruitment is splitting into two worlds:
- Admin-heavy work that gets automated/offshored
- Higher-value search work where rigour and outcomes win

If you’re building a firm and trying to move up the value chain, this conversation will give you a lot to think about.
Listen to our latest podcast episode here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0rxCkG0