Who Survives, Who Thrives?
Change Is Already Here
I’ve written before about the barbell effect, and it’s becoming clear: the recruitment industry is entering a squeeze. Demand is dropping, client budgets are tighter, and agencies are under pressure to cut costs. In any agency, headcount is the number one expense. When push comes to shove, it’s the low performers who go first.
This isn’t just another cycle – it’s a reckoning. Recruiters who coasted in the good years, when jobs were plenty and clients less discerning, are going to be found out. The days of surviving on hustle alone, or just being “around” in the market, are ending.
This isn’t a doom-and-gloom message – it’s a guide. There are still clear ways to build a successful future in recruitment. But it takes commitment, and it takes the right mix of traits.
I believe there are three non-negotiables for anyone who wants not just to survive, but to thrive in this new era:
Be a trusted source of information
Have a strong work ethic and execution
Become an AI power user
When you map these three traits, you can see who will struggle, who will scrape by, and who will lead.
The Archetypes
Advisor – Trusted voice, credible and respected, but not grinding hard or using AI.
Operator – Works hard, gets things done, but lacks both trust and AI leverage.
Experimenter – Plays with AI tools, but without trust or strong execution it doesn’t stick.
Professional – Trusted and hardworking, the classic recruiter, but risks inefficiency without AI.
Innovator – Trusted and AI-enabled, but light on work ethic, gets by through efficiency.
Accelerator – Hustles hard with AI, but without trust it’s just a numbers game.
Leader – Combines trust, work ethic, and AI. The complete package, and the ones who will comfortably win.
Finding Balance
For me, the future isn’t just about creating more “Leaders” who dominate the market. Of course, I want some people to reach that level – hyper-successful with clients and candidates. But my real hope is broader: that everyone can find a sustainable equilibrium.
I’ve been the workaholic before. I’ve chased growth at the expense of balance, and looking back, I know what that cost. Many of my peers my age say the same – we regret not having more quality time with our families when our kids were young. That’s not a mistake I want to repeat, and it’s not one I want the next generation of recruiters to repeat either.
This is where AI can be a force for good. Not just in driving productivity, but in protecting well-being. If we’re smart, if we build trust and commit to working hard enough, then AI should give us the breathing room to step back – to reclaim time, to avoid burnout, to actually live as well as work.
The goal isn’t greed or endless hustle. It’s balance. And that’s a future I want to build into my business.
The Platform Effect: AI Without the Effort
One important point for us at TalentHub is how we’re building the platform. It’s designed so that every recruiter who uses it automatically becomes an AI power user.
We’ve embedded OpenAI into the features and functions of the system itself. That means you don’t need to be a “prompt expert”, or even think much about AI. It just works for you – behind the scenes, making you faster, sharper, and more effective.
I believe that’s the future of technology in recruitment. The AI is invisible, and the recruiter simply benefits.
Trust Defines Success, Work Ethic Shapes Its Depth
There’s an old rugby maxim: the forwards decide who wins the match, the backs decide by how much. The big burly forwards do a lot of the hard work using size and power, but the backs have the speed and agility to score a lot of points. The same logic applies here.
Trust is the forward pack – it determines whether you even win as it is a non-negotiable “must have” quality for success.
Work ethic and AI mastery are the backs – they decide the margin, how far you can go, and how much you deliver.
AI is going to flatten productivity. Suddenly, every recruiter can pump out job ads, run searches, and send “personalised” outreach at scale. That means activity itself won’t differentiate you. Everyone can look busy.
What will cut through is trust. In a noisy market, candidates and clients will lean harder on the people they believe in. Without trust, you’re just another transaction – and transactions can always be replaced.
Trust is the non-negotiable foundation. It determines whether you succeed or fail. But your work ethic and AI mastery define the scale of that success.
Taking Accountability
This disruption cycle is already here, and it won’t wait for anyone. Every recruiter needs to take action to stay ahead. Even if the disruption doesn’t play out as dramatically as I expect, you’ll still be stronger than peers who stood still.
Our destiny is in our own hands. If we act, we give ourselves a future. If we don’t, the responsibility lies with us and no one else.
So the real question is: which circle are you standing in?
