The Resilient Recruiter

Why do some recruiters post content every week and still struggle to book meetings? While others quietly turn short LinkedIn videos into real sales conversations that actually close.

Mike Mello has lived both sides of that question.

After 10 years in staffing, Mike had built what most recruiters would call a dream run. Over 1,300 placements. More than $100 million in revenue sold. Nearly 140 contractors are billed as enterprise salespeople.

Then he walked away.

Not because staffing stopped working.
But because buyer behaviour had changed, and most recruiters were still relying on volume instead of context.

In this episode, Mike shares how he used LinkedIn video alongside outbound automation to warm up prospects before sales conversations ever happened. The insight that changed everything was simple but powerful: senior decision-makers were watching his videos quietly, building familiarity and trust long before replying to an email or taking a call.

Today, Mike is the founder of Simple Side AI, where he helps staffing agencies combine content and outbound in a way that creates better conversations, shorter sales cycles, and higher-quality meetings.

This conversation goes well beyond tools. It’s about how buyers actually decide, why pain-point content consistently beats ROI messaging, and why most meaningful meetings don’t happen on email one or two.

If you’re posting content but not seeing it turn into a pipeline, this episode will help you know what’s missing.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why visibility now matters more than outbound volume
• How LinkedIn video builds context before the first conversation
• Why senior buyers watch content without ever liking or commenting
• The difference between pain-point content and ROI content
• Why unscripted video outperforms polished AI content
• How long do outbound sequences really need to run in staffing
• Why Mike’s best meetings happen around email six or seven
• Why sales skill still matters more than any tool or platform

Episode highlights

[05:40] How Mike made 1,300 placements and sold $100M before launching Simple Side AI
[09:05] The LinkedIn video that changed everything and grew one account to 50 contractors
[10:36] Why fear of judgement stops recruiters from posting video
[12:04] The analytics that proved LinkedIn video beats cold calling
[13:56] Why your best clients watch your content but never engage publicly
[19:02] Why content and outbound must work together
[23:11] Pain-point content vs ROI content
[26:42] Why imperfect video builds more trust
[43:53] The observation–problem–solution–CTA email structure
[52:19] Turning video viewers into warm sales calls
[56:01] Why reactivating past accounts often beats cold outreach

Guest Bio

Mike Mello is the founder of Simple Side AI, helping staffing agencies turn LinkedIn content and outbound automation into real sales conversations. Before launching Simple Side AI in 2024, Mike spent 10 years in staffing sales, making over 1,300 placements and selling more than $100 million in revenue. As an enterprise salesperson, he built and managed a book of nearly 140 contractors and ranked as the number two salesperson at his company following the acquisition. Mike is based in New York City.

Connect

Mike Mello
LinkedIn: Mike Mello - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-mello-7884b059/
Website: Simple Side AI - https://simplesideai.com/

Mark Whitby
Get your free 30-minute strategy session: recruitmentcoach.com/strategy-session
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mwhitby
Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

Why do some recruiters command premium fees while others compete on speed and price? It’s not talent or experience. It’s whether they’ve packaged their service as a product.

Andrea Hoffer learned this lesson the hard way.

Before launching her consulting business, Andrea spent 10 years running a Massage Envy Spa franchise. She led a team of more than 30 employees. Her therapeutic staff stayed. Her front-desk hires didn’t. Turnover was constant. She hired fast, hoped for the best, watched people struggle in a sales-driven role, then repeated the cycle.

Eventually, she stopped and asked herself a simple question:
“I’ve been trained better than this.”

That question changed everything.

Andrea rebuilt her hiring approach from scratch and turned it into a branded, repeatable system she now calls the Dream Hire framework. It worked so well that other franchise owners began asking for help.

Today, Andrea runs AHA Talent Consulting, where she helps business owners build “hiring machines” that consistently attract the right people. She charges $10,000+ for setup and $3,000+ monthly subscriptions. No placement fees. She’s not selling placements. She’s selling a system.

In this episode of The Resilient Recruiter, we break down how to package your recruitment process as a signature solution, why story-based discovery beats traditional intake calls, and where AI genuinely adds leverage without replacing human judgment.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

Why packaging your process matters more than speed or experience

How the Dream Hire framework works and why Define is the most skipped (and costly) stage

Why asking for stories reveals more than job descriptions ever will

How to assess culture fit without relying on gut feel

Where AI creates real value in hiring and where it doesn’t

How to use technology to scale insight without losing trust

Episode Highlights

[4:10] The hiring nightmare that forced Andrea to rebuild her entire process
[7:38] Why changing the job posting language repelled the wrong candidates
[9:31] The 90-minute group interview where candidates self-select out
[12:24] Breaking down the Dream Hire framework: Define, Reach, Engage, Assess, Motivate
[13:23] Why most recruiters skip defining and pay for it later
[30:20] Assessing culture fit by asking for stories, not descriptions
[36:08] The CAR technique for behavioral interviewing
[39:58] Where AI creates the most value in hiring
[41:02] Using AI chatbots to screen minimum qualifications
[52:20] How Andrea uses AI to extend reach without extending hours

Guest Bio

Andrea Hoffer is the founder of AHA Talent Consulting and creator of the Dream Hire framework. She helps business owners attract, hire, and retain the right people through structured hiring systems and disciplined use of AI.

Before consulting, Andrea spent 10 years as the owner and operator of a Massage Envy Spa franchise, where she led a 30+ person team and experienced firsthand the cost of hiring without structure. Today, she works primarily with multi-unit franchisees and small business owners who want predictable hiring outcomes without constant churn.

If you’re ready to stop competing on speed and price and start owning your process, your positioning, and your outcomes, this episode is a must-listen.

There’s a lot of noise around AI in recruitment.

Some people are selling it as a silver bullet. Others are predicting a job apocalypse for recruiters.

Neither is true.

In this episode of The Resilient Recruiter, Mark Whitby sits down with Rebecca Hastings to talk about what’s actually happening inside businesses using AI right now and what recruiters are getting wrong.

Rebecca advises CEOs, boards, and AI leaders on strategy, governance, and implementation. She’s reviewed hundreds of real-world AI transformation case studies and brings a grounded perspective most recruiters never see. Alongside that, she’s built a retained-only executive search firm focused on senior AI leadership and a sales system that consistently books high-quality meetings without volume-driven hustle.

This conversation isn’t about tools or tactics. It’s about judgment, trust, and process.

You’ll hear why AI doesn’t make work faster unless human capability is already in place, how weak sales systems are exposed when automation is added, and why recruiters who can explain how they use AI will earn more trust, not less.

Rebecca also breaks down how she thinks about sales as a system, from market focus and listening time to multichannel outreach and AI-supported preparation. The result is fewer calls, better conversations, and more consistent meetings.

If you want to understand where AI genuinely helps recruiters and where it quietly causes damage, this episode will change how you think about it.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

Why there won’t be a job apocalypse for recruiters

How AI shifts bottlenecks instead of removing them

Why trust and psychological safety matter in AI adoption

How to build market expertise AI can amplify

The sales system Rebecca uses to book more meetings with less effort

Episode highlights:
[3:42] How Rebecca billed £360,000 in her first year
[14:08] Lessons from market downturns
[32:17] Why listening time beats talk time
[59:37] What actually happens when AI is introduced
[1:15:26] The multichannel sales system behind consistent meetings

Guest bio:
Rebecca Hastings is the founder of Lucent Search, specialising in senior AI leadership appointments globally. She works with CEOs, CTOs, heads of AI, and boards on AI strategy, governance, and transformation, and is an AI and systems coach with Recruitment Coach.

This episode brings together the ten most listened-to conversations of 2025.

They weren’t popular by accident. These episodes resonated because they spoke directly to the challenges recruiters were dealing with day to day. Planning your time. Building pipeline. Positioning retained search. Recovering from burnout. Staying relevant as the market and LinkedIn both shifted.

If you missed any of these conversations the first time around, consider this your shortlist for heading into 2026 with a clearer plan and stronger focus.

In this episode, you’ll hear insights on:

How to plan your day so you stay out of reactive work

How to build business development into your week without burning out

How to position retained search with confidence

Why systems create more consistency than chasing placements

How relationship-building compounds over time

Why LinkedIn's reach dropped and what actually matters now

Episode timestamps:

00:01 Introduction

02:30 Allicia Birch – The 15-minute planning system

09:15 Rachel Filby – One BD day per week

14:20 Carol Wenom – Positioning retained search

21:05 Stuart Barnes – The three-bucket BD model

28:40 Jenny Diaz – Writing your plan by hand

34:10 Deedee Doke – Differentiation and innovation

39:45 Jessica Hamilton – Systems over placements

45:30 Brandon Glyck – Relationship compounding

52:00 Karolina Willis – From breakdown to breakthrough

58:15 Richard van der Blom – Why LinkedIn reach dropped

If you want to future-proof your recruitment business without burning out, this episode is a must-listen.

Tonya Leadman went nine months without a single placement.

Seven searches were put on hold. Two offers fell through. Cash flow tightened. And her accountant called to check if she was okay.

Tonya is the owner of Leadman & Associates, a national executive search firm serving the food, beverage, and CPG manufacturing industries. After building her career as a top performer in the MRI Network and later moving in-house as a Fortune 500 talent acquisition leader, she launched her own firm in 2022.

Then the market turned — and placements stopped.

In this episode of The Resilient Recruiter, Tonya shares what actually keeps a recruitment business alive during a prolonged downturn — without dropping fees, spamming clients with resumes, or compromising standards.

She also breaks down the candidate presentation system behind her 92% interview rate, why she only submits the top two or three candidates, and the activity that kept her visible when most recruiters disappeared.

This is a real conversation about resilience, discipline, and leadership when placements stop.

You’ll learn:

What to do when your recruitment business goes months without a placement

How Tonya maintained standards during a nine-month drought

Why submitting fewer candidates builds more trust with clients

The candidate presentation process behind a 92% interview rate

How staying visible during a downturn pays off when the market turns

Why Tonya fired a client when cash flow was tight

How career services helped stabilise revenue without losing focus

How fast recruiting can turn around when momentum returns

Episode timestamps:
00:00 Nine months without a placement
01:40 Returning from maternity leave to a layoff
03:10 The habits that shaped Tonya’s early success
14:35 The candidate presentation system behind a 92% interview rate
18:19 Why Tonya submits only the top 2–3 candidates
30:33 Launching a firm during a tough market
39:00 Seven searches on hold and the drought begins
43:02 The activity that kept her business alive
44:30 Firing a client during a downturn
49:17 Career services as a stabiliser
51:05 How recruiting can turn around fast

Guest: Tonya Leadman
Owner, Leadman & Associates

If you run a recruitment agency and want to survive market downturns without lowering your standards, this episode is essential listening.