EP294: Samantha Hunter, Managing Director at Recruitable Staffing Solutions - Never judge a book by its cover!

Samantha Hunter, Managing Director of Recruitable Staffing Solutions, shares her remarkable journey from starting her first recruitment agency at the age of 27. She scaled her first business to over £2 million in turnover within two years before exiting five years later. Now, through her second venture focused on freight forwarding, Sam takes a more refined and purpose driven approach to recruitment.

Sam reflects on her early career, including her transition from an HR path to excelling in recruitment sales and how her experience managing over 200 stakeholders led to the creation of her first business plan. After pitching the plan to investors and receiving four offers, she launched her company with confidence, crediting a well thought out business strategy as a key to success.

Throughout the conversation, Sam opens up about the challenges of being a young female founder, particularly dealing with ageism and sexism in the business world. She emphasises the value of resilience and shares how those early struggles helped shape her character and leadership style. She also talks about the lessons learned from her first business and how those insights inform her decisions in her current venture.

The discussion also explores the evolving nature of recruitment, with Sam offering thoughtful insights into hiring strategies, the importance of cultural fit and the value of building long term relationships. She discusses her plans to onboard apprentices and train the next generation of recruiters using creative, non traditional approaches like video content and social media engagement.

Samantha and Lysha also dive into the topic of hybrid work, exploring the balance between flexibility and productivity and how trust and outcome focused performance are essential. They touch on the risks of burnout for young professionals and the importance of personal development in sustaining long term success.

As the episode wraps up, Sam shares her views on the responsibility of today’s leaders to create job opportunities for younger generations in a world shaped by AI and automation. Her passion for recruitment, people and creating meaningful career paths is evident throughout the conversation. This episode is packed with insights for aspiring entrepreneurs, recruitment professionals and anyone navigating the challenges of leadership, growth, and change.

Connect with Samantha here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/samanthahunter1/

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