EP 50 - What It Takes To Be A Great Recruiter & Founder w/Elaine Tyler
In this episode of The 1% Better Recruitment Podcast, I’m joined by Elaine Tyler, CEO & founder of Venatrix, London’s No 1 SDR and GTM Sales Talent partner, supporting sales leaders of the fastest growing companies in the world; helping them build out their sales teams quickly and effectively. We go deep on what it really takes to scale a delivery-led recruitment agency in 2025, from building candidate trust and BD confidence to leveraging content and personal brand as part of your outbound strategy. Elaine shares practical strategies and hard-won lessons from scaling Venatrix into a go-to-market recruitment powerhouse, all while staying true to the candidate-first model and hiring recruiters with no previous sales experience. We explore: ✅ Why 50% of placements come from referrals ✅ What every 180 recruiter must know about their niche ✅ The danger of lazy automation and AI hype ✅ How to coach BD confidence into new recruiters ✅ Why recruiters ghost clients (and what to do about it) ✅ Building delivery-first teams without cutting corners ✅ The power of personal content in business development ✅ How to turn your LinkedIn posts into meetings ✅ What makes a recruiter genuinely stand out in 2025 Whether you’re scaling a team, starting your own agency, or just trying to cut through the noise, this one’s packed with clarity, structure, and practical perspective from one of the sharpest operators in the industry. ⏱ Timestamps: 00:00 – Elaine joins the 1% Better Podcast 01:23 – What makes a great recruiter in 2025 05:48 – Founders with no CRM? 🚩 09:34 – Why output ≠ results in BD 12:42 – The recruiter’s value in an AI world 15:23 – 50% of placements come from referrals 18:48 – Coaching recruiters who don’t love their niche 23:31 – Performance development for new consultants 26:40 – Why anyone can do BD (if coached right) 28:24 – “Everyone uses the toilet” — humanising senior clients 30:44 – Stop wasting time with bad cold openers 32:46 – The BD script you should stop using 34:41 – Why clients ghost (and how to handle it) 38:14 – Info-gathering: what separates the top 10% 41:25 – Advice for first-year recruiters 43:48 – The 10-year evolution of Venatrix 48:03 – Using delivery to win new clients 51:21 – Building proof of value through testimonials 56:08 – LinkedIn: why personal always beats perfect 59:16 – Last question: How do you stay 1% better? 🔗 Connect with Elaine Tyler LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elainetyler/ 🔗 Connect with Charles Kyriakou LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charleskyriakou1/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@charles.kyriakou Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1-better-recruitment-podcast/id1775201502 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/46LjJfw... Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7244346543967731712/ 👇 Like, comment & subscribe if you got value from this!
