Broken Britain to Building a Recruitment Business: The Wild Journey of Mark Hopkins

In this episode of Get Rich or Die Hiring, host Will Grashoff sits down with engineering & manufacturing recruitment veteran Mark Hopkins — founder of Thomas Lee Recruitment — for one of the most brutally honest, funny, and wide-ranging conversations you’ll hear in the recruitment space.Mark’s story is wild: from fixing cars at the RAC, to a chaotic entry into aerospace recruitment, to bosses who shouted at him for using Google (yes, really), to interviews with epileptic fits, pyramid-scheme training courses, and “weekend car” agencies where resourcers drove Aston Martins. And that’s just the first 20 minutes.Together, Will and Mark dive into:The reality of “Broken Britain,” Brexit fallout, minimum wage changes & their impact on UK businessesMark’s accidental plunge into aerospace recruitment and the culture shock of early-2000s agenciesOld-school recruitment vs. modern tools: when using LinkedIn got you bollockedThe crazy interview experiences that shaped Mark’s career (two people interviewed at once, epileptic fits, and golf-putting CEOs)Surviving redundancies, PSL-heavy sectors & starting a recruitment business during economic chaosWhy he finally launched Thomas Lee Recruitment in 2016The niche world of manufacturing & engineering recruitment explained in real English (“If you bend it, smash it, weld it — I find the people to do it”)Winning business today: LinkedIn presence vs. dying cold-call tacticsHis philosophy on AI in recruitment: solve the problem first before automating itMark’s insane personal transformation: losing 6.5 stone through sheer discipline, calorie control, fitness and consistencyThe long-term goal: hitting 15 stone, running a marathon, and staying fit into his 50sOh, and yes… he’s writing a book (and it’s part-recruitment, part-comedy, part-chaos).This is an episode packed with lessons, laughs, failures, resilience, entrepreneurship, and some painfully relatable recruiter trauma.Who This Episode Is ForRecruiters who’ve lived through bad bosses, boiler-rooms & bizarre interviewsFounders thinking of launching their own agencyAnyone working in manufacturing, engineering, STEM or technical hiringRecruiters questioning the role of AI in their workflowPeople who love a brutally honest career storyAnyone on a fitness or weight-loss journey who needs a kick of inspiration🔗 Connect with the guestMark Hopkins: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-hopkins-engineering-recruitment/🔗 Connect with the hostWill Grashoff: https://www.linkedin.com/in/willgrashoff/Check out Will’s Talent: https://www.willstalent.com/#RecruitmentPodcast #GetRichOrDieHiring #ManufacturingRecruitment #EngineeringRecruitment #RecruitmentLife #AgencyOwner #RecruiterStories #UKManufacturing #BusinessGrowth #RecruitmentFails #AIPerspectives #WeightLossJourney #FounderLife