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Entrepreneur
06-08-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Why Hiring Needs a Hard Reset
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You're reading Entrepreneur United Kingdom, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. For decades, recruitment has been treated as little more than a numbers game - a transactional process focused on filling roles, not futures. But Leo Harrison is betting on a very different vision. As the founder of Chapter 2, a recruitment platform that straddles technology, talent strategy and employer branding, Harrison believes the old models are broken beyond repair. And he's not alone. With Steven Bartlett backing the mission, the future of hiring might finally be catching up with the future of work. Entrepreneur UK finds out more. You've scaled teams at hypergrowth pace - what's the first talent mistake fast-growing start-ups make? From my time building OLIVER Agency and a number of VC and PE backed businesses, I've learned a lot about scaling teams at a hyper growth pace, and if there's one talent mistake fast-growing start-ups tend to make, it's rushing the scaling process itself. At OLIVER, this was our biggest lesson. We quickly realised that trying to fill roles too quickly often led to compromises in talent quality or cultural fit. Instead, we found success by strategically using known and trusted freelancer communities as an interim solution. We treated these freelancers and an extension of our team. This ultimately allowed us to maintain our operational pace while giving us the crucial time to thoroughly vet and find the absolute best talent on the market to build our resilient, high-quality, and high-energy teams. It's also vital not to throw new starters into new client environments, but rather to prioritise candidates who truly understand the companies' methodology and DNA. This enables companies to continuously upskill existing employees and ensure they're aligned with the culture and flexibility that comes with rapid growth. How does re-engaging alumni and 'silver medalists' change the game for cost-effective hiring? Recruitment is often transactional and linear in nature. We spend a great deal of time, effort and often money, to reach and engage our targeted audience and secure the best talent. But once that all important hire is made, the job of the recruiter is often considered redundant. At Chapter 2, we look at talent differently as we help our clients move from recruitment to a full talent strategy, looking at talent in a way that optimises hiring and workforce planning through our Advisory services. There are several categories for talent and although the best individual will often secure the role, that doesn't mean that our runner up wasn't equally as suitable. This category is often referred to as "The Silver Medallist". You also get ex-employees or "Alumni," which, for the majority of companies, disappear without a trade, never to be seen again, even though they possess the necessary skills, context and IP of the business at hand and how they operate. Now if we were to presume that the majority of professionals will remain within their chosen field for a number of years and also assume that those who came to you once, did so for a reason and may again, why wouldn't you look to engage with these talent communities in a more meaningful way? In particular, engaging talent in a less linear and more cyclical manner. This is exactly why "Boomerang" and "Alumni hiring" initiatives are considered to be one of the fastest, most cost-effective hiring methodologies we can employ. In fact, each boomerang hiring initiative we have run at Chapter 2 has led to our clients having successfully re-hired up to 20% of their leavers within 12 months. This is because we actively look at those who might not be quite right for one role but may be perfect for another, up-skilling existing team members, and nurturing ongoing relationships with those who have left. What did traditional recruitment models get wrong - and how is Chapter 2 rewriting the script? Traditional recruitment models, especially contingent recruitment and outdated RPO, got a lot wrong by being overly transactional and failing to truly engage talent strategically. I've always felt they missed a crucial trick: viewing recruitment as a mere administrative process rather than a dynamic, marketing-led initiative. At Chapter 2, we're completely rewriting that script. We don't just "embed talent" within our clients' environments; we back that service with something truly unique, our very own engine called 'Candidate Conversion Content'. This means we're actively using marketing "nudge theory" and creating high-quality, employee branding content to make our clients incredibly attractive to top candidates. We also leverage our own proprietary technology, a platform which we're announcing very soon, which also gives us unparalleled access to active talent pools, understanding precisely where the talent is and what the competitive landscape looks like before we even start recruiting. In a talent market driven by flexibility and wellbeing, how can founders design cultures that people want to return to? The talent market has profoundly shifted, and from my perspective, the power balance has undeniably swung towards the candidate, especially for top-tier talent. This isn't a temporary blip; it's a fundamental change driven significantly by Gen Z's influence and a broader desire for more than just a paycheck. Founders designing cultures people want to return to must, first and foremost, understand that today's workforce, particularly Gen Z, is digitally savvy, purpose-driven, and incredibly confident in saying "no" to opportunities that don't align with their values. This ultimately indicates founders need to build companies that people are genuinely proud to work for, where the job fuels their life rather than just finance it. This means cultivating environments that prioritise wellbeing and flexibility, offering authentic, meaningful work experiences, and genuinely embedding purpose into the company's DNA, because in this new landscape, attracting and retaining the best talent hinges on offering a culture that truly resonates with modern expectations. From an investor's perspective, what do you think made Chapter 2 stand out to someone like Steven Bartlett? Having known Steven Bartlett for a few years now, and based on many of our chats in the lead up to his investing into Chapter 2 last year, I believe the company stood out to him because he truly understood our mission and could see that we're not just another recruitment agency. We're a genuine disruptor in a field which he also saw was broken. Bartlett often speaks to traditional recruitment's pain points, describing approaches as being expensive, having misaligned incentives and not understanding each company's culture - all of which are precisely the problem I founded Chapter 2 to solve. Our model, built on "People, Process, and Technology," directly addresses these issues by offering scalable solutions that integrate like an in-house team but with the agility of an agency. I also think he recognised our core philosophy: that talent acquisition is fundamentally a marketing challenge, not just a transactional one, and our data-driven approach is truly rewriting the script on how businesses attract and retain the best people. In fact, Barlett has taken this commitment to recruitment to heart, applying it directly to his own company's process at Flight Story. He has recently built a new cultural quiz survey, meticulously crafted to assess the companies' alignment with candidate's values, all of which complete before even reaching the interview stage. What one shift would you recommend every founder make in their hiring strategy today? One shift that I'd recommend any founder of a scaling business to do is to establish the power of your team's network. Bartlett has previously spoken about how 'your network is your net worth' - this is so true when it comes to talent acquisition. I guarantee that a large number of the talent founders are looking for, aren't in recruiters' databases, they're within the network of the team, so use that to cultivate talent pools. This has multiple benefits such as eliminating the recruitment fee and engaging known talent rather than unknown candidates - ultimately leading not only to great hires but hires that stay for the long term. What Harrison offers isn't disruption for its own sake, but a recognition that recruitment, as it stands, no longer fits the shape of modern work. In a landscape where culture and purpose increasingly outweigh perks and ping-pong tables, Chapter 2 treats hiring not as a funnel, but as an ecosystem - one that values continuity over churn, and long-term thinking over short-term placement. If the traditional model feels broken, it's because it was never built to last. Harrison's approach is a compelling start to a smarter, more sustainable conversation.
Globe and Mail
26-06-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Winning the Talent Race: Evolving Hiring Strategies to Drive Business Success
In today's increasingly competitive job market, employers face mounting challenges in attracting, hiring, and retaining top talent. From the disruptive rise of AI to evolving labour market dynamics, organizations are seeking real-time insights to gain a strategic edge in refining their hiring practices. On Friday, June 20th, The Globe and Mail gathered top talent acquisition managers, human resources leaders, and marketing professionals for a half-day hybrid event exploring the changing recruitment landscape in Canada. The discussions spotlighted how organizations can navigate shifting workforce demographics and intensifying competition for skilled candidates. Panelists shared insights into the growing significance of cultivating a strong employer brand and evolving talent strategies to align with rising employee expectations. Speakers stressed that attracting future-ready talent requires a commitment to agility, inclusivity, and a clear sense of purpose in every aspect of recruitment. Missed the live event or would like to view it again? Scroll down to the video below. Speakers: The Globe and Mail presented the event with sponsor support from Indeed Canada. To learn about upcoming Globe and Mail events visit Event summary produced by The Globe and Mail Events team. The Globe's editorial department was not involved.
Entrepreneur
14-06-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur UK's London 100: Welcome to the Jungle
Welcome to the Jungle is reshaping recruitment with AI-driven job matching and engaging employer branding tools Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You're reading Entrepreneur United Kingdom, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. Industry: Recruitment and Hiring Founded by Jeremy Clédat, Welcome to the Jungle is reshaping recruitment with AI-driven job matching and engaging employer branding tools. Following its 2024 acquisition of Otta, the company successfully expanded into the UK, growing its customer base by 25% and attracting 2.18 million job seekers — up 21% from the previous year. With a 60% average response rate, the platform helps candidates and companies connect more effectively, while branded content lets employers showcase their culture to attract the right talent. Backed by €80 million in funding, including a €50 million Series C, Welcome to the Jungle is now a trusted hiring partner for top companies like Airbnb, Deliveroo, Monzo, and Netflix, and is eyeing further expansion across the US and beyond.
