Recruiter Startup - Recruitment Podcast - Hosted by Dualta Doherty

The recruitment market is recovering.

But only the most disciplined agencies will benefit.

This full live Recruiter Startup Podcast event from Sydney brings together recruitment founders, M&A advisors, and tech leaders to discuss where the recruitment industry is heading next.

Across both panels, the discussion covers:

* Recruitment market recovery trends

* AI in recruitment and modern ATS systems

* Recruitment agency pro...

The recruitment industry is not going back to 2022.

And the agencies waiting for it to will fall behind.

In this live Recruiter Startup Podcast event from Melbourne, recruitment founders, tech leaders, and top billers break down what smarter growth really looks like in today’s recruitment market.

This full-length recruitment industry panel covers:

* AI in recruitment and ATS evolution

* Recruitment agency productivity and pe...

What genuinely drives value in a recruitment business?

In panel 2 of the Recruiter Startup Podcast live show in Sydney, our host Dualta is joined by two industry leaders with deep insight into building, scaling, and selling agencies.

Paul Masters is the founder of Sovereign Private, a specialist advisory and M&A firm for recruitment businesses, having worked on multiple high-value agency transactions and growth strategies...

How are recruitment businesses actually adapting to AI, automation, and changing market conditions?

In part 1 of the Build Back Better live show in Sydney, our host Dualta Doherty is joined by Manu Vanderveeren (Co-Founder & COO, Spott), John Bourke (Founder, RecView & Starting Point Recruitment), and Victoria Kirwin (Business Growth Specialist, APositive).

Together they discuss:

- Where AI and automation are genui...

In Part 2 of the Build Back Better live show in Melbourne, host Dualta Doherty is joined by Matthew Cossens, Chief Growth Officer at xrecruiter and former leader behind Aurec’s growth and acquisition by Randstad.

Together, they discuss what’s driving recruiter performance today - from the shift from billing to building businesses, to how activity, behaviour, and leadership still outperform tools, even in an AI-enabled world. The...

Dualta Doherty is joined by Manu Vanderveeren (CEO & COO at Spott), John Bourke (Founder of RecView & Start In Recruitment), and Victoria Kirwin (Business Growth Specialist at APositive), each working directly with recruitment businesses across product, automation, and funding.

They discuss where AI and automation are delivering value, how tech decisions impact profitability, what leaner agency models look like, and how lead...

In this episode of the Recruiter Startup Podcast, Dualta Doherty is joined by Russell Thompson – a 30-year recruitment veteran in the London market, former founder/leader behind LMA, and now advisor through Ascentia Advisory.

Russell shares the real story of scaling LMA inside a backed entrepreneur model to 85+ staff across London and Singapore, and what it takes to build an agency that attracts and retains top performers.

T...

Building a company almost never goes the way you expect.In this conversation, Lander and Manu, CEO and COO of Spott (YC W25) sit down with Dualta Doherty, co-founder of RecWired, to share the real story behind how Spott was built, including the wrong turns, the pivots, and the hard decisions that forced them to rethink everything.They talk about Why they realized early they were building the wrong product What three intense mon...

In this live episode, industry leaders Alex Elliott and Chris Evans share real-world insights on building, scaling, and exiting recruitment businesses during challenging economic times. From productivity and profitability to leadership, tech-first models, MBOs, and the future impact of AI—this conversation is packed with honest advice, lessons learned, and practical strategies for recruiters and founders.

If you’re navigating growth...

In Part 2, Dualta brings Bullhorn’s Gary Cordery into the conversation alongside ReferRec’s Dave Cahill to talk about what scaling really looks like when you get your tech right.

They get into founder-led agencies thinking like tech companies, the post COVID push to do more with less, and what it means when one Bullhorn client is running 185 live automations and winning back hundreds of consultant hours. Gary breaks down Bullhor...

In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, Dualta sits down with ReferRec co-founder Dave Cahill to unpack his journey from joining Liquid as a rookie to helping scale it into a high-performance machine that eventually sold for life-changing money.

Dave shares what shaped him early on: intense standards, work-hard-play-hard culture, leadership that pushed people to operate above their limits, and the mindset that turned him into ...

In this episode of The Recruiter Startup Podcast, Dualta Doherty reconnects with Stuart Mitchell, Founder of Hampton North, for a candid look at how recruitment has evolved through the chaos of recent years. From LA to Connecticut, he dives into the realities of building a lean, scalable business in a shifting market - where AI, automation, and personal brand are redefining what it means to be a recruiter.

Expect sharp takes on...

The US staffing market is a $180B opportunity, and more UK recruiters are making the leap than ever.

In this episode, our host, Dualta Doherty, chats with Charles Causey, Founder of Agile Partnering, about what it really takes to scale in the States. From choosing the right niche and city to tackling compliance and payroll, Charles shares the hard-won lessons behind helping UK firms grow across the Atlantic, and they also dive i...

Chris Allaire built his recruitment firm in the heart of New York, surviving market crashes, dodging hype, and growing through pure focus on niche expertise and real relationships. Now leading a fully remote team from South Carolina, he joins our host Dualta Doherty to unpack how he scaled his business without chasing trends, what it actually takes to break into the US market, and why great recruiters won’t be replaced by AI anytim...

In this episode of the Recruiter Startup Podcast, host Dualta Doherty speaks with Wendy McDougall, CEO of Firefish, about the evolving world of recruitment technology. They discuss Wendy’s journey from top-billing recruiter to tech entrepreneur, the challenges of building an ATS, and the future of AI in hiring. Wendy shares insights into recruitment market cycles, the importance of customer service in tech, and how automation is re...

Justin McGuire has been running MCG Talent for 15 years, expanding across Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Riyadh. In this episode, he breaks down what actually works in recruitment today, why he moved away from the traditional 360 model, and how he built a leaner, more profitable business. He shares the biggest money traps recruitment firms fall into, the challenges of expanding into Saudi Arabia, and why most recruiters have forg...

In this episode of the Recruiter Startup Podcast, Anthony Kelly, founder of Deep REC AI, reflects on his first year in business, navigating a challenging market, and expanding into high-value AI recruitment. He shares insights on hiring mistakes, business development, working with VCs, and why he’s keeping operations in the UK instead of opening a U.S. office. Host Dualta Doherty and Anthony also discuss AI’s impact on recruitment,...