EP340: People, Passion & Profit - Jo Gregory, Recruitment Training & Growth Advisor, CEO & FounderEP340: People, Passion & Profit - Jo Gregory, Recruitment Training & Growth Advisor, CEO & Founder
The Recruiter's Recruitment Podcast
Recruitment trainer and charity founder Jo Gregory talks with host Lysha Holmes about keeping recruitment human in an AI-enabled market, shifting from transactional CV-sending to consultative partnerships, and supporting new generations of recruiters. They also touch on purpose-driven work, charitable projects and what a sustainable, high-performing recruitment business might look like over the next few years.
48:01•28 Sept 2026
People, Passion and Profit: Jo Gregory on Keeping Recruitment Human in an AI Age
Episode Overview
- Recruitment remains a people business where meaningful conversations, consultation and problem-solving beat transactional CV-sending.
- AI and technology should be used to enhance human skills, not replace them, with a strong focus on relationship-building and context.
- Hiring for behaviours such as coachability, curiosity and growth mindset is more effective than chasing past experience alone.
- Blended learning, proper induction and realistic timeframes are essential to growing new recruiters into high performers.
- Purpose, clear values and a people-first mission can lift performance, retention and long-term profitability across recruitment businesses.
“We don't just send cvs because quite frankly technology will eat us alive if that's all we're going to do.”
How can compelling narratives motivate and inspire others? This conversation between host Lysha Holmes and returning guest Jo Gregory shows how stories about people, passion and profit can reshape modern recruitment. Aimed at recruitment founders, leaders and ambitious consultants, the chat blends humour, straight-talking honesty and big-picture thinking.
Jo, a recruitment training and growth advisor who has trained thousands of recruiters, explains why AI should “enhance us, not replace us”, calling recruitment “a contact sport” where consultative thinking, proper conversations and problem-solving stay at the core.
You’ll hear sharp criticism of old-school, transactional CV-flinging: “We don't just send cvs because quite frankly technology will eat us alive if that's all we're going to do.” Instead, Jo argues for embedded, consultancy-style partnerships where recruiters help clients design better hiring, interviewing and retention strategies rather than racing to be “fastest finger first” on a portal. There’s also a strong focus on the next generation.
Jo and Lysha question whether Gen Z and Gen Alpha are being given the communication skills they need, and share practical ideas like blended learning, buddying new starters with experienced consultants and hiring for coachability, curiosity and growth mindset rather than just experience. Jo’s broader work in the not-for-profit sector, through The Hummingbird Project and free “freetail” hubs, adds another layer for anyone in recovery or reassessing their relationship with work and purpose.
Her message is clear: business can be both commercially sharp and people-first, and purpose has to sit at the heart of any high-performing recruitment firm. If you’re rethinking how you work, lead or hire in an AI-enabled era, this episode might just nudge you to ask: are you building a transactional agency, or a true people-centred consultancy?
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