Recruiter Wins

A job seeker walked into a staffing agency looking for temp work.

No HR experience. No degree. No obvious reason for a recruiter to go the extra mile.

But Stephanie Mattice saw something most people would have missed.

A firm handshake, eye contact and a follow up message that same day are the kind of soft skills you can't teach. 

So instead of filing her away, Stephanie did something different.

She sat down with this candidate, rew...

Zero industry experience. No relevant title. Not even close to what the client asked for.

Most recruiters would've moved on to the next candidate without a second thought but Sam Hodz didn't.

I sat down with Sam on this week's episode of Recruiter Wins and this story is a masterclass in what separates order takers from true recruiting partners.

Here's what happened: A business owner came to Sam looking for a techni...

Most big recruiting wins don’t start with a perfect plan.

They start with one curious question asked at the right moment.

In the newest episode of Recruiter Wins, Zack Gallinger sits down with David Case (20-year vet in engineering + construction recruiting) to unpack a win that literally helped set the trajectory of his firm.

Here’s the short version:

David was a few months into building Advastar. He had no CRM, no database and no pai...

Recruiting for a market leader is easy mode.

Recruiting for an underdog in a commoditized space where reps are basically “carrying feathers to a gunfight”?

That’s where you need a skilled recruiter.

In the newest episode of Recruiter Wins, I sat down with Steve Faulkner, a 23 year employee benefits recruiting vet, to unpack his biggest win.

What I loved about this conversation: Steve gets candid about the fine line between storytelling...

Many recruiters try to win business with a cold InMail and then wonder why nothing sticks.

This week on Recruiter Wins, I sat down with Ben Watkins (Executive Recruiter at Intrinsic Search) to discuss how his “biggest win” started by hosting paid, high-quality in-person events for senior B2B SaaS leaders.

A conversation at one of those events turned into a multi-year partnership helping a CEO build an entire European commercial team ...

Some placements happen fast.

The best ones happen because you played the long game.

On the newest episode of Recruiter Wins, I sat down with Lindsey Bozzio (COO, SurfSearch) to unpack a recruiting win that every recruiter will recognize:

• Found the perfect Design / Product Development Engineer
• Candidate wasn’t ready to move
• The client paused the search
• Four weeks after restarting? Offer in hand

A few takeaways from this episode:

Most recruiters talk about “quality.”

Richard Lock built an entire firm around it.

On the latest episode of Recruiter Wins, I sat down with Richard Lock, founder of Lock Search Group, and instead of one “big recruiting win,” Richard shares the playbook behind building a national agency that’s thrived through recessions, industry booms and massive shifts like LinkedIn + AI.

A few highlights:

- He started as a one-person shop… and drove ...

Most recruiters say they “specialize” in an industry.

Daryl Rosenstein actually lives his niche.

In the latest episode of Recruiter Wins, Daryl Rosenstein of The Rosenstein Group shares how one recruiting win turned into 16 placements with the same company.

What stood out most from this conversation:

• Follow your passion, not just a vertical - Daryl’s interest in the product and space made him naturally go deeper than a transactiona...

What does it really look like to turn a high-pressure search during COVID into a long-term win for the client and the candidate?

On this week’s episode of Recruiter Wins, I sat down with Aman Sodi, recruiter at Summit Search Group, who shared how she navigated a Director of People & Culture search in late 2021, right in the middle of school closures, parenting chaos and shifting employee expectations.

This wasn’t just “fill the r...

What does it actually take to fill a niche Director of Dairy Sourcing role in the middle of Wisconsin… when the client isn’t even sure what they really need yet?

That’s the recruiting challenge we unpack in the latest episode of Recruiter Wins with George Blomgren, Recruiting Manager at Kinsa Group and 20-year talent acquisition veteran in food & beverage.

This one hit home for anyone working tough, specialized searches where eve...

Every recruiter remembers their first placement.

But what if that one placement didn’t just launch your career…

…it became the clearest proof that AI will never replace what you do?

On this week’s episode of Recruiter Wins, I sat down with George Santos, Managing Director & Head of Marketing at 180 Engineering, to unpack the story of his very first placement and how it shaped his entire view of recruiting.

George went from retail t...

What if your “biggest win” as a recruiter wasn’t a placement but helping someone buy the company they were hired to run?

That’s exactly what happened in this week’s episode of Recruiter Wins with my guest, Matt Erhard, Managing Partner at Summit Search Group.

Matt tells the story of a commercial cleaning company in Winnipeg (yes, one of those “unsexy” industries candidates usually don’t line up for) that needed a GM so the founders c...