Has Recruitment Lost Its Sales Culture? | Adam Turner (EP 101)

Why are recruiters becoming afraid to pick up the phone?

In this episode of The 1% Better Recruitment Podcast, I'm joined by Adam Turner, founder of Global Veterinary Careers (GVC). Having worked in veterinary recruitment since 2007, Adam has built GVC into an international recruitment business operating across the UK, US and Australia.

We discuss why recruitment needs to get back on the phone, what's happened to sales culture since COVID, and why phone-first recruiters can instantly differentiate themselves in a world dominated by emails, LinkedIn messages, automation and AI.

Topics Discussed:

✅ Why recruitment needs to get back on the phone

✅ Has sales culture declined in recruitment?

✅ Why younger recruiters can be more reluctant to make calls

✅ Building confidence and overcoming rejection on the phone

✅ Creating a phone-first recruitment culture

✅ Why recruiters shouldn't hide away to make sales calls

✅ Learning by osmosis and the importance of the sales floor

✅ Relationships vs transactional recruitment

✅ Standardising processes across international recruitment teams

✅ Giving recruiters structure without removing individuality

✅ Balancing AI and automation with traditional recruitment fundamentals

✅ Why over-reliance on AI could impact recruiter development

✅ Why consistency is a superpower in recruitment

⏱️ Timestamps:

00:00 – Introduction & welcome

02:27 – Adam's recruitment journey and building GVC

03:24 – What happened to phone-first recruitment?

06:16 – Gen Z, rejection and getting recruiters on the phone

12:28 – Has recruitment become too transactional?

14:44 – How the recruitment boom changed what "good" looks like

16:50 – Short-term BD vs building long-term relationships

20:32 – Why relationships and customer service still win

23:15 – Why recruiters hide away to make phone calls

27:34 – Building confidence on the sales floor

35:31 – Dealing with imposter syndrome as a founder

39:48 – Standardising processes across international teams

43:57 – Building recruitment playbooks people actually use

48:19 – Different learning styles and recruiter development

50:06 – Giving recruiters freedom within a structured process

53:04 – Balancing AI with traditional recruitment fundamentals

59:31 – Is AI making recruiters less capable?

01:01:16 – How to get 1% better in recruitment

01:02:54 – Closing thoughts

🐋 Podcast Sponsor – SourceWhaleThis episode is sponsored by SourceWhale, the multi-channel outreach platform I personally use and recommend to recruiters and founders.SourceWhale helps you combine email, LinkedIn, calls, and tasks into one structured, consistent BD workflow, without relying on spray-and-pray automation.

👉 Book a demo here:https://sourcewhale.com/book-demo/?utm_source=partner&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign&utm_term=charles_kyriakou&utm_content=book_a_demoMention The 1% Better Recruitment Podcast or my name, Charles Kyriakou, when you book.

Connect with Adam:

💻 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-turner-gvc/

Connect with Me:

💻 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charleskyriakou1 📲 TikTok: / charles.kyriakou

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