In this episode of the Recruitment Founders Podcast, Lindsay Hartland and Greg Elton sit down with industry veteran and Blair Recruitment Consultancy founder Mike Ames, a man who’s built, scaled and sold two recruitment businesses, and then had to work out what life after the cheque actually looks like.
Mike shares the story of losing a co-founder in a car accident and being thrust into the MD role, building one of the UK’s early MSP models, selling to a US buyer, then later creating Crimson and exiting again to Harvey Nash. From there, he unpacks why “scale for sale” is far less common than LinkedIn suggests and why most owners would be better off building a high-profit lifestyle business.
Key Takeaways
Build for profit and safety, not vanity growth.
Headcount and top-line are “vanity”; net profit and resilience are “sanity”. Mike warns against “scissor businesses” where turnover rises while profits fall, usually because founders hire ahead of productivity and bake waste into the model.
Average billers + strong tools beat volatile superstars.
Mike would rather have a stable team of consistent £120k–£180k billers than a revolving cast of “rock stars”. Well-designed processes and tools should amplify average recruiters so they deliver outstanding results, and are easier to replace if they leave.
Don’t scale on a pure 360 model.
High-growth, high-profit firms are hard to build around traditional 360 roles. Mike prefers a layered model: the owner handles strategic BD and key client relationships; others focus on candidates or delivery; tactical BD can be done by the team or offshore support. Losing one person should mean losing a function, not an entire revenue stream.
Client care is bigger than account management.
Hitting SLAs isn’t enough. Mike’s painful story of losing a £3m account despite great numbers shows how the experience for hiring managers matters more than internal conversion ratios. A proper Voice of the Customer (VOTC) programme should actively invite criticism and drive continuous improvement.
Be a business owner who recruits, not a recruiter who owns a business.
Founders must learn to switch between the short-term, transactional recruiter hat and the longer-term, strategic owner hat. Some of the most important moves, like defining your niche “flavour” of recruitment, building a client-care programme or courting high-value accounts, may not pay off for 18–24 months, but are what make the business valuable and sustainable.
Best Moments
“Three years to get a viable business, four years to make it high profit… and if you run it for another eight, that should make you independently wealthy.”
“Most people are building turnover, not profit. They’re hiring before the people they’ve got are anywhere near maximum productivity.”
“I once lost a three-million-pound client. The SLA numbers were great… the hiring managers hated the experience.”
“I’d sooner have a stable team of average recruiters than a volatile team of high billers coming and going.”
“Never hire more than 10% of your workforce every three months, it takes that long just to onboard someone properly.”
About the Guest
Mike Ames is a veteran recruitment entrepreneur who has built, scaled and sold two recruitment businesses, including IT consultancy Crimson, now part of Harvey Nash. Starting his career as a computer programmer, he moved into recruitment in 1988, later pioneering one of the UK’s first MSP models before exiting to a US buyer. Today he runs Blair Recruitment Consultancy, advising founders on profit, client care and building safe, high-performing recruitment businesses.
About Recruitment Founders Club
Recruitment Founders Club is your launchpad to owning a successful recruitment business. We provide comprehensive mentorship and cover your start-up costs for the first 12 months. Coupled with our robust network and ongoing support, we not only help you start your own business, we ensure you thrive.
Find out more: https://recruitmentfoundersclub.com/
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