EP 69 - How He Sold a £2.1M RPO: The Future of Recruitment w/ Nicholas Thomas
In this episode of The 1% Better Recruitment Podcast, I’m joined by Nicholas Thomas, CEO and Founder of Everhire, one of the fastest-growing civil engineering and renewable energy recruitment firms operating across the UK, US and Scandinavia. Nicholas has scaled multi-office teams, built a high-performance culture and sold multi-million-pound subscription hiring models, including a £2.1M RPO. This conversation is a masterclass in value-based recruitment, commercial thinking and understanding how to position yourself as a genuine strategic partner, not just another CV supplier. Nicholas breaks down exactly how he sells retainers and subscription models, why delivery-only recruiters will struggle in the next 5 years, and how AI will force consultants to become better humans, not better spammers. He also opens up about his own path — starting in a corporate, learning retainers on his own, building Everhire from scratch, and the mindset + habits that allow him to scale internationally while keeping culture standards high. This episode is brutally honest, highly practical and packed with gold for recruiters, founders and anyone wanting to elevate their service and sell more high-value work. We cover: ✅ How Nicholas sold a £2.1M subscription / RPO (and why the client said yes) ✅ Why recruiters struggle to sell retainers and how to fix it instantly ✅ The mindset shift from “cost” to “investment” in recruitment ✅ The customer journey from cold prospect to signed RPO ✅ How to position yourself as a partner, not a vendor ✅ Why delivery consultants will be replaced by AI (and what replaces them) ✅ The exact process Everhire uses to win and deliver retainer work ✅ Internal standards, culture and why most consultants avoid discomfort ✅ What founders should look for when hiring 360s ✅ Why environment, habits and presence matter more than ever ✅ How Nicholas avoids burnout, dopamine traps and distraction culture ✅ Building multi-office teams in the UK, Sweden, Denmark and Texas Timestamps: 00:00 – Welcome & intro 01:00 – Who is Nicholas Thomas & Everhire? 02:30 – Selling a £2.1M RPO: the real story 07:00 – Why recruiters can’t sell retainers (and how to shift it) 12:00 – Turning recruitment into an investment, not a cost 16:00 – The customer journey: cold prospect → RPO 20:00 – Why most pitches fail (and what clients actually care about) 25:00 – UK vs Sweden vs US recruitment cultures 32:00 – Market myths, skillset vs hot desks & real billers 38:00 – Why delivery-only recruiters will be replaced by AI 45:00 – Internal process, standards & culture at Everhire 52:00 – Trainees, objections & how to negotiate terms 01:00:00 – Discomfort, resilience & why people avoid the hard stuff 01:05:00 – Dopamine, presence & reducing digital distraction 01:12:00 – Nicholas’ advice for founders scaling internationally 01:17:00 – His 1% Better tip Connect with Nicholas Thomas 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/everhire-nicholas/ 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/ ... 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/46LjJfw ... 📰 LinkedIn Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7244346543967731712/ 👇 Enjoyed this? Like, comment & subscribe — and share it with someone who needs this episode.
