Digital Recruiter Podcast

Episode Summary Clark Willcox pulls Ross Mayfield in front of the mic for an inside look at what's actually driving results on LinkedIn right now. Ross has spent five years as Director of Customer Success at Digital Recruiter, guiding over 300 recruiters through the content workshop, with results ranging from a $300K project win to a pipeline that made up 60% of one firm's revenue. The conversation starts with the trap of writing for other recruiters instead of hiring managers, and why the posts that get the most engagement are often the ones doing the least business development. Ross breaks down the math behind why lower impressions can mean a post is working exactly as intended, and Clark backs it up with real numbers from his own posts to prove it. They get into the fear of "giving away the farm," why specificity feels risky but filters for the right buyer, and how AI content falls flat when it's asked to write a LinkedIn post instead of being fed real expertise first. The second half covers a business development mistake costing recruiters signed agreements, the difference between calling out a pain point and shaming someone into buying, and why studying copywriting matters more than any business book on the shelf. For recruiters who are getting impressions but not inbound, or who are unsure whether AI is helping or hurting their content, this is the episode to start with. Ross's Bio Ross Mayfield is the Director of Customer Success at Digital Recruiter, where he's spent five years coaching recruiters, consultants, and B2B service providers on how to turn LinkedIn into a client-generating machine. He's guided 300+ recruiters through the Digital Recruiter content workshop, many reporting their first inbound job orders within weeks, and has coached clients to outcomes ranging from landing a $300K project to building a pipeline that accounted for 60% of a recruiting firm's revenue. Ross's philosophy is simple: most business owners are excellent at serving their clients but struggle to prove that to strangers on the internet. That's the gap he fills, through content strategy, outreach, and a results-tracking approach that takes the guesswork out of what's actually working on LinkedIn. Connect with Ross at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mayfieldrossw/  Check Out Our Sponsor at: https://signaturebackoffice.com/ For more information about Digital Recruiter, click HERE https://linktr.ee/thedigitalrecruiter  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode Summary: What started as a post-graduation trip to Bogota in 2008 turned into 18 years abroad and three companies.  Eric Tabone, Managing Director of Nearshore Business Solutions, joined Clark to break down what nearshore actually means, why the myths about Latin America are holding US companies back, and how recruiting agencies can use the LATAM talent pool to scale faster and smarter. Clark and Eric cover the full picture: the origin story of someone who arrived in Colombia not speaking a word of Spanish and built a career and family there; why hiring someone in Latin America is no more complicated than hiring across US state lines; how the cost math works; and what the AI operations role looks like inside a modern recruiting firm. The conversation also gets into the recruiter mindset: why ten targeted calls beat a hundred cold ones, why AI grammar is killing authenticity on LinkedIn, and how to think about content as a long game rather than a one-and-done exercise. For any recruiting agency owner wondering whether nearshore is right for their team, or trying to figure out how to scale without blowing up their overhead, this is the episode to start with. Eric's Bio Eric Tabone is the Managing Director of Nearshore Business Solutions, a firm that connects US companies with remote professionals across Latin America and the Caribbean. Originally from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Eric moved to Bogota, Colombia in 2010 with no job and no Spanish, and never left. Eighteen years later, he has built three companies in the region and become what he calls the unofficial ambassador of Colombia to the world. Nearshore Business Solutions works with US businesses to source, recruit, and employ talent from Mexico to Argentina, including the Caribbean islands. The model helps companies scale faster and cut costs by as much as 70%, while giving LATAM professionals access to US-based roles that represent a genuine step up in their careers. Eric specializes in services, operations, AI, tech, and sales roles including SDRs and BDRs, and works closely with recruiting agencies looking to build out their teams or offer nearshore solutions to their own clients. Connect with Eric on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ericrtabone  Check Out Our Sponsor at: https://signaturebackoffice.com/ For more information about Digital Recruiter, click HERE⁠ https://linktr.ee/thedigitalrecruiter⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode Summary Clark Wilcox and Ross Mayfield go internal for this one. Ross has been with Digital Recruiter since the beginning - Director of Marketing, Lead Coach, and the person behind the content strategy driving results for dozens of recruiting firm owners every month. This episode is a behind-the-scenes look at what's actually working on LinkedIn right now, and what most recruiters are still getting wrong. The conversation starts with the biggest misconception in AI-assisted content, writing it yourself and having AI clean it up, and why that approach produces generic content that blends into the feed. Ross breaks down why specificity is the single most important word in LinkedIn content right now, and Clark backs it up with real impression numbers from actual client posts to prove the point. They get into the awareness vs. conversion distinction that most recruiters miss entirely, why post length is the wrong thing to obsess over, and how one placement story can generate dozens of pieces of content if you know how to pull it apart. The second half covers lead magnets, the algorithm rewarding niche expertise, and why the full funnel - profile, content, outreach, personalised follow-up - still works when you stay disciplined about it. For recruiters who feel like they're running out of things to post, or posting consistently but not getting inbound from it, this is the episode to start with. Ross's Bio Ross Mayfield is the Director of Customer Success at Digital Recruiter, where he's spent five years coaching recruiters, consultants, and B2B service providers on how to turn LinkedIn into a client-generating machine. He's guided 300+ recruiters through the Digital Recruiter content workshop, many reporting their first inbound job orders within weeks, and has coached clients to outcomes ranging from landing a $300K project to building a pipeline that accounted for 60% of a recruiting firm's revenue. Ross's philosophy is simple: most business owners are excellent at serving their clients but struggle to prove that to strangers on the internet. That's the gap he fills, through content strategy, outreach, and a results-tracking approach that takes the guesswork out of what's actually working on LinkedIn. Connect with Ross at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mayfieldrossw/  Check Out Our Sponsor at: https://signaturebackoffice.com/For more information about Digital Recruiter, click HERE https://linktr.ee/thedigitalrecruiter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode Summary Tracy Glynn didn't take the typical path into agency recruiting. She started in real estate, pivoted to a small boutique agency after the 2007 crash, and spent the next 15 years climbing the internal ladder, eventually becoming VP of Talent for a private equity-backed healthcare startup that grew so fast she hired 20 internal recruiters in 15 months. When that company was acquired by Optum, the entrepreneurial itch she'd carried for years finally won out. Two years ago, she launched Glynn Associates Search Partners and built it into a behavioral health search firm that's now adding team members of its own. The conversation gets into what most internal-to-agency transitions get wrong, why so many recruiters chase volume when quality wins, and how Tracy built a BD rhythm that doesn't require a hundred calls a day to work. She talks about reframing investments as ROI math instead of expenses, why pleasantly persistent outreach pays off six and twelve months later, and how to vet split partners hard enough to actually make the relationship work. Her behavioral health niche came from the intersection of pragmatism and passion, not just spotting a gap in the market. In this episode, Tracy joins Clark to unpack the realities of going from internal to agency, the mindset shifts that have to happen along the way, and why vetting bad searches before signing the contract has become one of her most valuable habits. They dig into the split partnership question every solo recruiter eventually wrestles with, what value-add actually looks like beyond making a placement, and the long game of building rapport at scale when life keeps everyone too busy to reply on the first message. Her closing reframe lands harder than expected: the real job security isn't a corporate title or a senior internal seat. It's having the agency to sit down at your computer and make something happen without needing anyone's permission. For recruiting firm owners thinking about making the leap, or veterans trying to sharpen how they vet clients, splits, and searches, this is one of the most grounded conversations we've had on the show. Tracy's Bio Tracy Glynn is the founder of Glynn Associates Search Partners, a behavioral health executive search firm. Before launching Glynn Associates two years ago, Tracy spent 15 years in healthcare recruiting, including a role as VP of Talent for a private equity-backed national healthcare startup that she helped scale through rapid growth and a successful acquisition by Optum. Her experience spans both internal leadership and agency execution, with deep expertise placing psychiatrists, psychologists, and behavioral health leaders across community-based, PE-backed, and healthcare startup environments. Tracy's approach blends pragmatism with personal investment in the work. Her behavioral health niche grew out of both the organizational knowledge she built over a decade and a half in the space and a genuine interest in the brain-body connection and the impact mental health work has on the people her placements serve. She's known for a steady, relationship-first BD style and a willingness to have hard conversations with clients about what's realistic before a search ever gets signed. Connect with Tracy at https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracy-glynn/ Check Out Our Sponsor at: https://signaturebackoffice.com/ For more information about Digital Recruiter, click HERE https://linktr.ee/thedigitalrecruiter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode Summary Sanket Chauhan didn't set out to build an ATS. He set out to solve a research problem. Three years ago, when AI models were just starting to get good, he and his co-founder built a Chrome extension to automate sales research and a wave of recruiters found it first. That accidental discovery turned into a research agency, which turned into a hard truth: not a single recruiting firm they worked with actually liked their ATS. So they built a better one from the ground up. StarDex is an AI-native ATS and CRM built specifically for search firms. The difference between AI-native and AI-augmented isn't just marketing language, it's architecture. Legacy systems were built on structured databases and are now reverse-engineering their way toward AI. StarDex was designed from day one so that every record lives in both a structured and a vector database simultaneously, meaning recruiters can search by similarity, not just by keyword, and stop relying on perfect data entry to surface the right candidates. In this episode, Sanket joins Clark to break down what that actually means in practice and why it matters more than ever in 2026. They get into why most recruiters go to LinkedIn before their own database (and why that's backwards), how vibe coding is unlocking a new era of customizable headless ATS workflows, and why the best recruiters Sanket knows are spending less time on AI tools, not more. The conversation also covers the switching ATS question every firm owner wrestles with, the 80/20 rule for AI adoption, and why the human relationship, not the tech stack, is the actual moat in a world where everyone has access to the same models. His closing advice: open Claude, describe what you want automated, and just start. You'll get further than you think. For recruiting firm owners trying to figure out where AI actually fits and where it doesn't, this is one of the most practical conversations we've had on the show. Sanket's Bio Sanket Chauhan is the co-founder of StarDex, an AI-native ATS and CRM built from the ground up for search firms. Before StarDex, Sanket and his co-founder ran an AI-powered research agency serving executive search firms, an experience that revealed both the inefficiencies baked into most recruiting workflows and the near-universal frustration firm owners had with their existing systems of record. That insight became the foundation for StarDex, which was architected from day one to combine structured and vector database search, support custom workflows via MCP servers and open APIs, and scale with the pace of AI rather than lag behind it. StarDex serves solo recruiters through firms of 50+ and has been building MCP server infrastructure since before most ATSs had it on their roadmap. Sanket regularly runs free workshops on LinkedIn covering Claude automation, daily workflow shortcuts, and practical AI implementation for recruiting teams. Connect with Sanket at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanketchauhan/ Check Out Our Sponsor at: https://signaturebackoffice.com/ For more information about Digital Recruiter, click HERE https://linktr.ee/thedigitalrecruiter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of the Digital Recruiter Podcast, Clark Willcox sits down with former professional poker player turned recruiter, Joe Sebok, to talk about his wild career journey. Joe was part of the poker boom in the 2000s, playing on televised World Series of Poker tables, running his own media company, and even building an early social media platform for poker pros. But when the online poker industry collapsed in 2011, he had to reinvent himself—eventually landing in the world of recruiting, where he’s now building a thriving business. Joe shares the lessons he’s learned from poker that apply directly to recruiting and business: reading people, managing risk, and knowing when to go all-in. He talks about the power of reinvention, why so many recruiters fail because they avoid doing the actual work, and how leaning into your strengths can give you a real competitive advantage. He also opens up about navigating public scrutiny, handling high-pressure situations, and overcoming mental blocks that hold people back from success. If you’ve ever felt stuck in your career, doubted your next move, or struggled to stand out in a crowded market, this episode is packed with insights on mindset, personal branding, and making strategic bets on yourself. Don’t miss this one! *HIGHLIGHTS* 00:00 - Introduction & Digital Recruiter Newsletter 01:00 - Welcoming Special Guest: Joe Seabock 02:00 - Joe’s Background: From Poker Pro to Recruiter 04:00 - Life After Poker: A Reset in Wine Country 06:00 - Transition to Recruiting & Career Growth 09:00 - The Power of Strategic Advantages 12:00 - Social Media & Content Marketing for Recruiters 15:00 - Joe’s Journey into Professional Poker 18:00 - The Poker Boom & Media Evolution 22:00 - Lessons from Poker Applied to Recruiting 27:00 - Recognizing Industry Trends & Pivoting 32:00 - The Mental Game of Business & Success 38:00 - The Role of Confidence & Commitment 45:00 - Overcoming Setbacks & Navigating Change 50:00 - Social Media Challenges & Haters 55:00 - Recruiting, Market Trends & Career Advice 1:00:00 - Final Thoughts & Takeaways *JOE's BIO* After beginning his career as a professional poker player in 2005, winning several titles and competing in both the World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour, Sebok ceased playing full-time in 2009 to make his shift into media and business. He did so effectively, helping spearhead poker’s first televised media reporting program, as well as several of poker’s most popular radio programs across the globe. Sebok joined the recruiting and talent acquisition ranks in 2015 and won awards while at the largest creative recruiting agency in North America before transitioning to work in-house and build several entire teams from scratch. His additional experience in marketing, sales, and operations further strengthens his robust proficiency in understanding clients’ open positions and what is required to staff them both effectively and expeditiously. You can find Joe on LinkedIn at Get the best and most current digital recruiting insights, tips, and strategies every Sunday—straight to your inbox, for free: https://www.digitalrecruiter.io/drnewsletter For more information about Digital Recruiter, click HERE ---＞ https://linktr.ee/thedigitalrecruiter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices