How to Build a Recruiting System That Scales Without You

If your recruiting still depends on you doing everything—calls, follow-ups, research, messaging—you're not building a system. You're building burnout. In this episode of Recruiting Conversations, I break down how to structure a recruiting system that still reflects your voice and values but doesn't require you to do it all.

Whether you're growing fast or just trying to stay consistent, this episode will help you reclaim your time while still driving results.

Episode Breakdown

[00:00] Introduction – The core challenge: how to scale recruiting without it being 100% dependent on you.
[01:00] Mindset Shift – Stop treating recruiting as a task. Start treating it like a system.
[02:00] Step 1: Map the Full Recruiting Process – From lead gen to onboarding, lay out each step and assign ownership.
[03:00] Part 1: Candidate Research – Get this off your plate. Use a VA or sourcer and clearly define your avatar.
[04:00] Part 2: Outreach and Messaging – Document your voice. Create templates. Let others reach out without losing your tone.
[05:00] Part 3: Follow-Up Cadence – Build a 7x7 system. Automate the reminders. Track it in a shared tool.
[06:00] Part 4: The Vision Conversation – This is the one part you hold on to. Step in when the candidate is qualified and ready.
[06:30] Part 5: Weekly Scoreboard – Host a recruiting huddle. Track leads, responses, calls booked, and progress through your pipeline.
[07:00] Final Challenge – Audit your recruiting process. Start delegating what others can own. Focus your energy where it matters most.

Key Takeaways

• If You're Doing It All, You're the Bottleneck – Systems succeed when they're not tied to one person.

• Document and Delegate – Create tools, scripts, and playbooks so others can execute without reinventing the wheel.

• Keep Your Voice in the System – You can scale without losing the personal touch if you lead with intentionality.

• Track What Matters – Weekly visibility into your recruiting pipeline creates momentum and accountability.

• Lead Where You’re Most Valuable – Focus on high-trust conversations, not task management.

The best leaders don't do everything. They build systems that reflect their standard and let others run with it. That’s how you scale recruiting without sacrificing quality or burning out.

Want help designing a recruiting system that grows with you? Subscribe to my weekly email at 4crecruiting.com or book a strategy session at bookrichardnow.com. Let's build the system your growth needs.

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
So the big question is this, how dorecruiting leaders like us who have
12 to 15 other job responsibilitieswin at this game of recruiting?
How do we build a system that allowsus to recruit effectively in a minimal
amount of time while motivatingrecruits towards meaningful change?
That is the question, and thispodcast will give you the answers.

(00:21):
My name is Richard Mulligan, andwelcome to Recruiting Conversations.
So the big question is this, how dorecruiting leaders like us who have
12 to 15 other job responsibilitieswin at this game of recruiting?

(00:42):
How do we build a system that allowsus to recruit effectively in a minimal
amount of time while motivatingrecruits towards meaningful change?
That is the question, and thispodcast will give you the answers.
My name is Richard Mulligan, andwelcome to Recruiting Conversations.

(01:04):
Hey everybody.
Welcome back to Recruiting Conversations.
I'm Richard Milligan, and todaywe're getting into a question that
every growing leader eventually hasto ask if they want to scale their
recruiting efforts without burning out.
How do I build a recruiting systemthat doesn't depend on me making
every call or doing every follow up.

(01:26):
Now, if you're like most recruitingleaders I talk to, you probably
started out doing everything yourself.
You sourced the candidates, you madethe calls, you wrote the messages, you
did the follow up, you closed the deals.
And for a season that worked.
But now you're hitting capacity.
Your business is growing, your teamis growing, and you're realizing if

(01:47):
recruiting still depends entirelyon you, you are the bottleneck.
And that's a tough place to be.
Because you still want to recruit.
You still care about the quality ofhires, but you also know that for this
thing to scale, you've gotta builda system that others can run with.
So today we're gonna talk abouthow to create that system.

(02:08):
One that still reflects yourvoice, your values, your standards,
but doesn't require you tobe the one doing everything.
Let's start with the first mindset shift.
You have to stop thinking ofrecruiting as a task and start
thinking of it as a system.
A task is something you do.
A system is something thatruns with or without you.

(02:28):
So when I coach leaders through this,we begin by mapping out the entire
recruiting process end to end fromidentifying the candidate all the way
through onboarding, and then we startassigning ownership at each stage.
Think of it like an assembly line.
Who is responsible for research?
Who owns the first outreach?
Who is tracking follow up?
Who books the meeting?

(02:49):
Who leads the vision conversation?
Who nurtures cold leads?
Who tracks pipeline data?
When you see it all laid out, itbecomes clear where you can delegate.
Now let's break thisdown into five key parts.
Part one is candidateresearch and lead generation.
This is the first thing mostleaders need to get off their plate.
You do not need to be the one diggingthrough LinkedIn for two hours every week.

(03:13):
That's not the best use of your time.
You can hire a virtual assistant.
You can use a sourcer.
You can use a a tool like HireZ or LinkedIn Sales Navigator.
But the key is to define the criteria.
Who are we targeting?
What's the avatar?
What markets are we focused on?
What kind of production?
What kind of tenure?
If you define that clearly,someone else can pull the list.

(03:36):
Now you're no longer starting from zero.
Each week you're receiving a clean list of10 to 20 candidates that meet your specs.
Part two is outreach and engagement.
Now, this one scares some leadersbecause they feel like no one can
write or speak in their voice.
But here's a solution.
Document your voice.
Create templates and scriptsthat reflect your personality,

(03:57):
your values, and your approach.
Record a few sample videos.
Write out three types of email intros.
Create a few variations of LinkedInmessages, then store them in a shared
doc or CRM that your team can access.
Now when someone else is doing theoutreach, it still sounds like you,
and even better, you can use tools likeChat GPT to generate variations of those

(04:18):
messages so they don't sound canned.
Part three is follow-up cadence.
This is where a lot of leaders lose steam.
You make the first contact andthen you forget to follow up or
you follow up twice and drop it.
So here's what you do.
Build a seven by seven cadence,seven touches over seven weeks.
Email, video, text, LinkedIn,phone call resource personal note.

(04:46):
Map it out.
Automate reminders in your CRM orhand it off to a team member or
va. Even better create a sharedpipeline tracker where everyone can
see what stage each candidate is in.
Now, follow up isn't guesswork.
It's systemized.
Part four is the vision conversation.

(05:07):
This is the piece I tell leaders tohold on to the longest because this
is where your belief matters most.
This is where your energy matters.
This is where the recruit needs to hearfrom the person who's building the vision.
But here's the trick.
You only want to be in that seatonce a candidate has already

(05:27):
been qualified and warmed up.
That means.
Someone else has alreadydone the research.
Someone else has done the outreach.
Someone else has confirmed that theperson is at least open to a conversation.
Now, when you step in, it's tocast vision and close alignment,
not to do all the discovery.

(05:47):
That's how you protect your timeand stay in your sweet spot.
Part five is tracking and accountability.
You need a scoreboard.
You need visibility.
You need a weekly rhythmwhere you and your team.
Review the recruiting pipeline.
How many new leads, how many outreaches,how many responses, how many conversations
booked, how many vision calls completed.
This is what I call the recruitinghuddle, 15 to 30 minutes every week.

(06:10):
It's not about pressure,it's about visibility.
If you're not trackingit, you're not leading it.
Now, I want to zoom out andgive you the big picture.
When you build this system, you'renot removing yourself from recruiting.
You're repositioningyourself in recruiting.
You're stepping out of the weedsand into the parts that matter most.
You're focusing your energy onhigh trust moments and high impact

(06:32):
conversations, and you're empoweringothers to carry the weight with you.
That's not just scalable,that's sustainable.
So here's, here's yourchallenge this week.
Map out your recruitingprocess step by step.
Then go through each step andask, do I need to own this?
Can someone else own this?

(06:52):
What tool or system can make this easier?
Start documenting.
Start delegating.
Start building the system thatfrees you to lead at the level
your business now requires.
That's all for today's episode.
Go build a system that works withoutyou doing it all, and I'll see you
next time on recruiting conversations.

(07:12):
Want more recruiting conversations?
You can register for my [e-mail].
If you need help creating your ownunique recruiting system, you can book
a time with [e-mail].
I.