How One Recruitment Leader Increased GP by 50% (From £8K to £12K Monthly p/head ) in 6 Months

In the world of recruitment, few things are more valuable than learning from genuine stories of challenge and transformation. In this episode of Recruitment CEO, you join Katy as she sits down with Lucy Sinclair from TeamJobs—a recruitment leader and a graduate of the Rockit program who exemplifies what it means to achieve extraordinary outcomes by tackling everyday challenges head-on. Lucy’s journey from consultant to commercial team leader, and her candid reflections on change, confidence, and leadership, will resonate deeply if you’ve ever felt the pressure of scaling a growing team or shouldering seemingly endless responsibility.

From recognising what wasn’t working, to completely rethinking how recruitment teams can operate, you’re invited to explore not just business results, but genuine changes in mindset, workload, and work-life balance. Here’s how Lucy turned around performance and found new confidence, leading her team (and herself) to brighter days.

Starting in the Deep End: Lucy’s Step into Leadership

Lucy was an ordinary recruitment leader, but one “achieving the extraordinary.” Lucy’s journey with TeamJobs began as a consultant, slowly working her way through the ranks until she was promoted to run the commercial team. Like many, you might recall that daunting feeling when first stepping up to lead—a sense shared by Lucy when she admits the role was new and the expectations high.

Lucy recounts how she and her CEO saw the need for structure and performance growth, especially within an underperforming team operating without clear processes or direction. It wasn’t merely about boosting numbers; it was about understanding her team’s dynamics, restructuring roles, and finding a way to lift both business performance and morale. For Lucy, this eventuated in joining the Rockit program—a decision rooted in a sincere desire to succeed not just as a biller, but as a true leader.

Transitioning from desk ownership and the comfort of familiar routines into a fresh management position came with unique demands. Katy relates, as she notes the classic challenge: balancing personal billings with the responsibility of leading from the front, motivating, and nurturing a team. Lucy reflects honestly on the hardship of relinquishing her desk, sharing how she struggled to delegate, to coach, and to support those under her without carrying the full burden herself.

Stripping Back to Move Forward: Building Teams Around Strengths

One of the keys to Lucy’s transformation came in recognising what simply wasn’t working. When Lucy took stock, she discovered that TeamJobs operated with three 360 consultants, but the team’s natural strengths didn’t align with their broad job descriptions. The business, as Lucy describes, was underperforming, lacking structure and clear roles. Everyone was attempting to do everything, leading to time inefficiency, stress, and underwhelming results.

You’re reminded here how important it is to take a hard look at how responsibilities are distributed. Lucy, with support and guidance from the Rockit program, decided a major change was needed. Instead of persisting with an “everyone does everything” model, Lucy overhauled the structure:

• She removed the 360 consultant approach.
• Introduced delivery consultants who thrived on candidate management.
• Retained her own focus on business development, playing to her strengths.
• Brought in process for account management.

This restructuring wasn’t just about business logic; it paid real attention to talent dynamics within the team. For example, one of Lucy’s consultants, previously struggling in a full 360 role, was much better suited to focusing solely on the candidate journey. Lucy reveals how this simple swap had the consultant thriving. The new model fostered teamwork and allowed everyone to focus on what they did best, with much clearer understanding of each person’s place and responsibility.

The shift led to a much stronger, more cohesive team environment, where nobody felt isolated or overburdened and everyone was working within their strengths. If you’ve ever questioned whether standard models fit your team, Lucy’s experience encourages you to experiment and restructure to get the most from your people.

Smarter Processes for Better Results: Introducing Control and Qualifying Work

With the team restructure settled, attention turned to efficiency and quality. Lucy shares how the new structure instantly upgraded the candidate experience. The process for onboarding and candidate management was sharpened, with personal, face-to-face pre-interview screenings (either in-office or virtually through Teams). The result? TeamJobs built better relationships, took more control of the candidates’ journeys, and avoided losing candidates to other agencies.

But perhaps the biggest change Lucy made was around job qualification and what she called “gold jobs.” Previously, she admits, jobs were taken on without proper scrutiny—often just a tick-box exercise to please clients, without understanding if the role was fillable. She is candid about how this wasted her team’s time, with perhaps only half the listed roles truly fillable.

The gold job concept introduced a disciplined checklist for vetting new roles. Now, Lucy only accepts roles where:

• There is genuine buy-in and communication from the client.
• Exclusive or semi-exclusive terms can be secured.
• Timescales and expectations for feedback are agreed upfront.

Lucy herself carries this checklist to every client meeting. If a prospective job doesn’t score highly on their agreed criteria, it isn’t taken on. This clarity allowed the whole team to strip back their job book, only focusing on roles with a strong chance of success and a fair return on time invested.

If you ever feel run ragged working every possible job for every possible client, Lucy’s approach urges you to be choosy. Focusing on quality over quantity produces better results—and less frustration and wasted hours.

Growing in Confidence: Saying No, Securing Exclusivity, and Raising Fees

Katy and Lucy discuss how these changes sparked a refreshing transformation in confidence. No longer juggling unfillable roles or chasing after clients and candidates who offered little commitment, Lucy found herself empowered to say “no” where previously she’d have felt compelled to keep everyone happy.

She shares that she won’t now accept jobs from clients working with lots of other agencies at once. She’s learned that without a consultative relationship, her time is best used elsewhere. The gold job checklist provides the back-up she needs to push back on clients and to ask for—and receive—exclusivity more regularly, with both clients and candidates.

This newfound backbone also extended to fee structure. Lucy quietly but confidently moved her team from working at 10% rates to 17% or even 20%, focusing energy on roles and relationships that deliver higher returns for less effort. Increasing the average placement fee, simply by securing better terms, meant TeamJobs was able to grow their monthly GP from an average of £8,000 per head to around £12,000—a substantial jump, particularly as this came without a jump in hours or stress.

If you’re always agreeing to demands for low rates or feeling like you must undersell your service, Lucy’s lessons may encourage you: with process, confidence, and clarity, you can position yourself to command—and secure—better terms.

A Different Kind of Success: Work-Life Balance and Personal Growth

Perhaps the most affecting part of Lucy’s story is her description of how these changes have rippled into her personal life. As her systems improved, her stress levels reduced, and her working hours came more under control, Lucy felt able to leave work at work. The pressure that once had her doubting if she could keep going began to lift—she rediscovered a healthier work-life balance and felt supported by structured, reliable team processes. Even on holiday, she could trust that her team would perform without her being constantly on call.

Lucy observes that her newfound balance has made her both a better leader and a better person—able to switch off, rest, and then return with renewed energy. It’s a powerful reminder for you that success is not only a number on a spreadsheet; it’s also the ability to switch off at 5pm, to hand over work without guilt, and to enjoy confidence in your team’s capabilities. True leadership, as Katie reflects, is building systems that allow the business to function smoothly, even in your absence.

Lucy’s personal growth is also tied to her learning about consistency—the insight that sustainable business growth comes not from short bursts of heroic effort, but from measured, repeated actions and a long-term perspective.