Season 5 | Ep 38 - Chris O’Connell on how he went from owning a £25m recruitment agency to a painful exit and subsequent suicide attempts

The RAG Podcast - Recruitment Agency Growth Podcast

On this week’s episode, I was joined by Chris O’Connell, a Leadership Coach, NED 🚀 and the host of The Purpose-Led Leadership Podcast.

A top billing recruiter at S3, in his early 20s Chris co-founded Timothy James Recruitment, which he and his business partner grew to £25 million in turnover within 9 years.

Chris had a life where he focused on the business 100% and sacrificed all else.

Over the next 3 years, everything came crashing down:

• He had a painful exit from the business
• His marriage ended
• He left the family home
• He tried to commit suicide

Thankfully, Chris managed to turn his life around and now works with recruitment businesses to ensure that they grow sustainably and avoid the mistakes that he made!

A super open and vulnerable guy who is an inspiration for many around the world, I hope you enjoy this episode as we can all no doubt relate to many of Chris’s experiences!

Vincere

A message to all recruitment leaders looking to upgrade their CRM: Before you sign the contract, be sure to read the terms at least twice.

Common traps to watch:

- Not understanding the pricing model

- Discounts limited to only the 1st year of contract length

- Monthly contracts - this could mean flexibility for the vendor to raise prices

- Data hosting - anything outside your country could mean compliance & legal issues

Get Vinvere’s10-step guide to keep your vendor due diligence & evaluation process airtight.: https://bit.ly/3C2G1s3