The Resilient Recruiter

LinkedIn has changed how it decides who sees your content, and many recruiters are feeling the impact. Reach is down for most creators, engagement is changing, and tactics that worked a year ago are becoming less effective.

Richard van der Blom has spent years studying those changes. His annual LinkedIn Algorithm Insights Report is now in its seventh edition, built from the analysis of 1.3 million LinkedIn posts published in the first half of 2026. His latest research suggests LinkedIn has fundamentally shifted from rewarding who you know to rewarding what you want to be known for.

In this episode, Richard explains what those changes mean for recruiters, how topic fingerprinting influences your visibility, why random posting is hurting more than helping, and how AI is changing the way LinkedIn evaluates content. He also shares the four content pillars behind high-performing posts, why newsletters are becoming one of LinkedIn's most underused tools, and what recruiters should change now to stay visible.

In this episode, you'll discover:

Why LinkedIn's latest algorithm changes are reducing reach for many recruiters

How topic fingerprinting determines who sees your content

The four content pillars behind most high-performing LinkedIn posts

Why your profile matters as much as the content you publish

How LinkedIn is detecting AI-generated content

Why newsletters are becoming one of LinkedIn's biggest opportunities

What recruiters should change immediately to improve their visibility

Episode highlights:

[04:47] LinkedIn's shift from a relationship graph to an interest graph

[08:41] Topic fingerprinting and why your profile matters

[19:19] The four content pillars behind successful LinkedIn content

[38:38] Which LinkedIn formats are performing best in 2026

[43:27] The LinkedIn Loop Cycle explained

[48:05] AI detection on LinkedIn and the reach penalty

About Richard

Richard van der Blom is the founder of Just Connecting, a LinkedIn training and consultancy agency. He has been helping businesses use LinkedIn since 2010 and has published the LinkedIn Algorithm Insights Report every year since 2020. His latest report analyzes 1.3 million LinkedIn posts and is widely referenced by organizations including Salesforce, PwC, and Nestlé.

Connect with Richard:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardvanderblom/

Website: https://www.richardvanderblom.com/

LinkedIn Algorithm Insights Report 2026: https://sales.richardvanderblom.com/content-algorithm-playbook/

Connect with Mark Whitby:

Free Strategy Session:
https://recruitmentcoach.com/strategy-session/

LinkedIn:
https://linkedin.com/in/mwhitby

Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter so you never miss an episode.

Recruiters don't need AI to replace conversations with candidates or clients. They need AI to give them more time for those conversations. That's the philosophy Jordan Shlosberg has built his entire business around.

Jordan is the founder of Atlas, an AI-first CRMx built for recruitment agencies. Before Atlas, he built proSapient, an expert network platform, scaling it to $40 million in revenue and 300 people across four or five offices before stepping back from the business in 2022.

In this episode, Jordan explains where AI is already helping recruiters bill more, and where he thinks it has no place at all. He argues that business development, not delivery, is the real constraint on agency growth. He also shares why he uses Claude alongside his CRM to run his own business, and the simple test he applies to every new piece of technology. If you've been experimenting with AI but aren't sure how to turn that into more billings, this conversation gives you a clear way to think about it.

In this episode, you'll discover:

Where AI helps recruiters bill more, and where it shouldn't be used

Why specing a candidate to a client used to take a day, and what that looks like now

How Jordan decides whether to use Claude or his CRM for a given task

Why business development, not delivery, is the real constraint on agency growth

What "micro AI" means, and why Jordan avoids building one big flashy feature

The one test Jordan applies to every new feature before it ships

What Jordan thinks every recruiter should try in the next 90 days

Episode highlights:
00:54 From building proSapient to $40 million to launching Atlas
08:23 The hiring mistake that dropped Jordan's Glassdoor score to 2.2
30:18 Where AI is genuinely good in recruitment today, and where it isn't
34:20 Why Jordan uses Claude over ChatGPT to run his own business
47:19 The search Atlas can run that no one else can do yet
59:39 Why business development, not delivery, is the real constraint on growth

Podcast Partner: This episode is sponsored by Atlas, the AI-first CRMx built for recruitment agencies. For more information, visit recruitmentcoach.com/atlas.

About Jordan: Jordan Shlosberg is the founder and CEO of Atlas, an AI-first CRMx built for recruitment agencies. He previously founded proSapient, an expert network platform, which he built to $40 million in revenue and 300 people across four or five offices before stepping back from the business in 2022.

Connect with Jordan:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanshlosberg/

https://recruitwithatlas.com/

Connect with Mark:
Free 30-minute strategy call: recruitmentcoach.com/strategy-session/
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mwhitby
Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter so you never miss an episode.

Emily Audibert billed $1.29 million in 2025. She did it while eight and a half months pregnant with her third child, living in a 750-square-foot cottage for six months during a home renovation with her husband, two young boys, and a 70-pound dog.
Emily is the founder of EA Associates, a search firm specializing in go-to-market roles. The year before, she'd billed $800K. She knew she was capable of billing seven figures, but a bad RPO client was quietly eating the difference. She came home from a conference determined to make some changes, fired the client, worked with her sister, Amanda, to overhaul her processes and technology, and by spring had landed a major new contract.
In this episode, Emily walks through that whole sequence, along with the early years of her career, including five failed attempts at the same CPA exam before she ever considered recruiting, and the moment she stopped copying her trainer's script and started sounding like herself on the phone. Today, she's off the phone by 4:30 most afternoons to be with her kids, and she explains exactly how her business is built to make that possible.
In this episode, you'll discover:
How to tell a good RPO from one that's quietly draining your business
Why the type of contract you sign never fixes a role that's hard to fill
What changed when Emily brought her sister on as her operations partner
Why she spend nearly her whole day on the phone and almost nothing else
The three things that took her from $80K to $390K in her second year
Why a softer, more personal approach outperformed a memorized script
The daily habits she leans on to stay calm during a demanding week
How half her breakthrough year came from work she was already doing
Episode highlights:
02:26 Life with three kids under five
08:13 How 2025 became her breakthrough year
09:01 The RPO client she fired
14:41 Failing the CPA exam five times before finding recruitment
21:54 From $80K to $390K in year two
26:46 Finding her own voice on the phone
46:04 Why hiring her sister as integrator changed everything
52:43 A great RPO versus one you should fire
Podcast Partner: This episode is brought to you by Recruiterflow, the AI-first ATS and CRM built for recruitment agencies and search firms. recruitmentcoach.com/recruiterflow
Free Resources:
7-Figure Freedom Scorecard: https://mark-rf1pexbm.scoreapp.com/
Book a Strategy Session: recruitmentcoach.com/strategy-session/
About Emily: Emily Audibert is the founder of EA Associates, a search firm specializing in go-to-market roles across marketing and sales. She began her career at Hobson Associates, trained under Danny Cahill, and has spent nearly 10 years in recruiting. She was inducted into the Pinnacle Society in 2025. That same year, she billed $1.29 million, up from $800K the year before.
Connect with Emily:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilyaudibert/
https://ea.associates/
Connect with Mark:
Free 30-minute strategy call: recruitmentcoach.com/strategy-session/
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mwhitby
Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach
Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter so you never miss an episode.

How many search assignments have you turned down because they were outside your niche, outside your geography, or you simply didn't have the capacity?
In this special sponsored panel episode, Mark Whitby is joined by Heather Gardner, Jeff McGraw, and Jen Anderson from NPA Worldwide to discuss how split-fee partnerships help independent recruiters make more placements without taking on more clients.
Heather made six split placements in her first year with NPA Worldwide. Jen has completed more than 55 split placements over the past decade. Jeff has been making split placements since 1994. Together, they explain how split fees work, how to build trusted recruiting partnerships, and how collaboration has helped them fill searches they would otherwise have declined.
What You'll Learn:
How a standard 50/50 split fee works, including the fee paid back to the network
What questions to ask before agreeing to work on someone else's job order
How Jeff brought a partner onto an intake call and filled an optics engineer role he couldn't have qualified alone
How Jen builds trust with a new partner by copying them on every email with the client and candidate
How Heather turned six split placements into a steady first year with NPA Worldwide
What separates a partner worth working with from one worth turning down
Timestamps:
00:00 Why recruiters turn away good search assignments
07:45 How split fee partnerships work
10:43 Heather's first year: six split placements
22:16 Jeff's optics engineer success story
26:10 How to qualify a split opportunity
28:57 The university client Jen won with a partner's help
37:39 Why collaboration beats competition
45:57 What makes a great split recruiting partner
Guest Panel
Heather Gardner is the owner of High Sierra Talent in California and made six split placements during her first year with NPA Worldwide.
Jeff McGraw is with William Charles Search Group in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and has been making split placements through NPA Worldwide since 1994.
Jen Anderson is the owner of Prestige Recruiting Firm in Clearwater, Florida. She has been an NPA Worldwide member for 10 years, has completed more than 55 split placements, and currently serves on the NPA Worldwide Americas Board.
If you've ever turned down work because it sat outside your specialty, this conversation will change how you think about the next one.
This episode is sponsored by NPA Worldwide, a global, member-owned network of independent recruiters built around split fee placements.
Learn more about NPA Worldwide: https://npaworldwide.com
Mark Whitby: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markwhitby/
The Resilient Recruiter: https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/podcast/

Michael Chambers didn't come into recruitment through the usual route.
Before becoming a recruiter, he spent eight years running a bakery with his mother in Charlotte, North Carolina. Then his father passed away from cancer, leaving behind a recruiting business that had barely gotten started. Michael decided to take it over despite having no recruiting experience.
A few years later, after navigating Covid, relocating across the country, and completely changing niches, Michael relaunched his business in manufacturing and battery recruitment across the Southeast United States.
By month two, he was billing $100,000 a month as a solo recruiter.
His business development strategy is unlike anything we've featured on the podcast before.
Michael combines the Dream 100 methodology with personalized market intelligence reports, handwritten notes, LinkedIn videos, voice messages, phone calls, and in-person visits. In one campaign discussed on the show, 25 personalized mailers generated 15 responses and 10 booked conversations.
He even shows up at target companies with cakes featuring their logo printed in icing.
In this conversation, Michael breaks down exactly how the system works, why he went all-retained after Covid, how he built a niche in the Southeast Battery Belt, and why giving away value before asking for anything has become the foundation of his business.
What You'll Learn
• How Michael went from bakery owner to a six-figure monthly recruiting desk
• Why he switched to a retained-only business model
• The complete Dream 100 campaign and follow-up sequence
• How personalized market intelligence reports open doors with target clients
• Why physical mail still works in a digital world
• How AI helps him create highly customized reports efficiently
• The thinking behind his two-year replacement guarantee
• How he became known as a specialist in battery manufacturing recruitment
Timestamps
[1:24] Michael's unusual route into recruitment
[8:23] Taking over his father's recruiting business
[15:21] Starting in 2019 and navigating Covid
[17:47] Going all-retained and becoming more selective
[21:51] Sending market intelligence before pitching anything
[28:14] Relocating and relaunching in the Battery Belt
[29:38] Billing $100K/month from month two as a solo recruiter
[39:28] Why physical mailers outperform digital outreach
[47:22] Dream 100 campaign breakdown: 25 mailers, 15 responses, 10 conversations
[53:09] Showing up unannounced with a logo-printed cake
[58:59] Inside a 30-page market intelligence report
[1:00:38] The two-year replacement guarantee
About Michael Chambers
Michael Chambers is the founder of The Chambers Group, a retained search firm focused on manufacturing, operations, aerospace, and semiconductor recruitment across the Southeast United States. He entered recruitment in 2019 after taking over the business his father had started before his passing. Today, he specializes in helping manufacturing organizations hire critical leadership and operational talent across the Southeast Battery Belt.
Connect with Mark Whitby
Free Strategy Session:
recruitmentcoach.com/strategy-session
7-Figure Freedom Scorecard:
recruitmentcoach.com/scorecard
LinkedIn:
linkedin.com/in/mwhitby
Instagram:
@RecruitmentCoach