Giig It A Rest

This week on Giig It A Rest, we balance the heavy with the hilarious in a truly cathartic episode.Andy kicks things off with a bizarrely casual weekend encounter involving a tent, a full English breakfast, and Lewis Capaldi. We then shift gears into a much more personal and reflective conversation as Luke talks about the recent passing of his grandmother. From making the tough call to rush up and see her, to the bizarre reality of clearing out a 50-year family home and sneaking 22 bags of clothes into the local tip, Luke shares the highs, the lows, and why using humor is sometimes the only coping mechanism that works.On the business front, we pull back the curtain on a stressful week at Giig HQ, including dodging a major PHP vulnerability, pushing the highly requested new CV formatter live, and rolling out the new "refresh job advert" feature. Luke also gives us a breakdown of his inaugural (and perilous) "IBS Club" webinar, and we close out with Lee's Lunchbox, looking back at our fondest—and funniest—memories of our grandparents.In This Episode 00:00 - The Capaldi Encounter: Andy’s minimalist camping trip and eating a full English breakfast next to Lewis Capaldi.07:30 - Saying Goodbye: Luke reflects on the passing of his grandmother, the relief of her finding peace, and the reality of clearing out a 50-year family home (and sneaking 22 bags of clothes into the tip).30:45 - IBS Club: Andy’s perilous speed-awareness-style webinar for his stomach issues and the launch of the "Absolutely Striders" run club.41:15 - Giig Product Updates: Surviving a stressful week of PHP vulnerabilities, the new CV formatter launch, website SEO, and a fresh batch of "Claude Nuggets."52:30 - Lee's Lunchbox: Remembering Big Norm at the ski center, dodging Punch and Judy on the beach, and the logistics of getting a fish stuck in a tree.

This week on Giig It A Rest, we recap our live appearance at a recent TEAM event, complete with Andy's mid-sentence on-stage freeze. Freezing in front of a crowd is everyone's worst nightmare, but despite inventing a few new idioms on the spot, he managed to compose himself and pull it back.We dive into the key takeaways from the event, highlighting Michelle Flynn's powerful advice that "everyone needs an Ian" in their corner, and a backstage chat with Dave Irons about embracing the liberating mindset of simply not caring what other people think as you get older. The conversation takes a deeper turn as we discuss the incredible stress-management techniques used by ICU doctors to compartmentalise life-or-death decisions in the hospital.On the Giig software front, we share the bizarre story of a scammer who hacked a free user's email account, attempted to extort £5,000 from us, and resorted to calling us cheapskates using Microsoft Paint. We also discuss how we are integrating Claude to fully automate administrative tasks and give a sneak peek at the upcoming CV formatter update.00:00 - Live Event Recap: Public speaking nerves and mixing up classic idioms on stage.09:15 - Industry Insights: Takeaways from Michelle Flynn and Dave Irons.23:40 - Managing Stress: How an ICU doctor uses "three bins" to compartmentalize trauma.38:50 - CRM Updates: Using Claude to automate workflow tasks and the highly requested CV formatter.47:30 - The MS Paint Hacker: Dealing with a scammer demanding £5,000 for a fake breach.53:15 - Lee's Lunchbox: The childhood myths we believed for way too long (and why Sai thought the entire country celebrated his birthday).Enjoy x

This week on the Giig It A Rest podcast, we are covering everything from holiday board game strategies to major CRM updates. Andy is back from a chilled-out week in Montenegro (where he survived a "petrol spritz"), and we immediately dive into the realities of balancing a packed demo schedule with ongoing product development.We recap Jamie's recent recruitment event, sharing a brilliant (and slightly aggressive) email hack for re-engaging clients who have ghosted you. We also discuss Sam Rasdall's fascinating marketing experiment where he planted a "fake" recruitment agency at the event to test subconscious advertising.On the tech side, Luke explains how he is using Claude to automate his own admin (building a custom prep-sheet and email sequence in seconds), while James defends his £7 AI coding subscription that saved the team weeks of development time (that was quite the squabble over £7). Plus, we pull back the curtain on our latest product updates, including the new Tasks menu and the upcoming overhaul of the CV formatting tool.In this episode:00:00 - Welcome back! Montenegro recaps, rollercoasters, & "petrol" spritzers10:15 - The ultimate holiday board game tier list (and the infamous Pass the Pigs photo)21:30 - Event Recap: The one-line email hack to re-engage ghosted prospects28:45 - Marketing Psychology: Planting a fake recruitment agency at a live event35:20 - Product Updates: The CV formatter overhaul & using Claude to speed up coding49:10 - Lee's Lunchbox: If you knew you couldn't fail, what would you do? (And dealing with our first hate comments)

This week on the Giig It A Rest podcast, we are finally talking about the Ironman! After six months of grueling training, Andy successfully crossed the finish line at Ironman Wales, and we break down the highs (the Tour de France-style crowds on Heartbreak Hill) and the lows (the mental battle at the 30km mark of the marathon). Even better, together with the Giig community, we raised nearly £5,000 for charity!With the Iron Man out of the way, we dive back into the realities of running a bootstrapped software company. Luke reflects on his trip to the Winston Churchill War Rooms and how Churchill’s quote—"success isn't final, failure isn't fatal"—perfectly mirrors our own three-year journey of building and rebuilding the Giig CRM.We also pull back the curtain on some major UI updates hitting the platform this week. Luke explains why moving the Tasks menu to the new right-side panel is a massive workflow upgrade, and we discuss the realities of balancing product development, marketing, and a packed demo schedule as a small team.00:00 - Intro, hydration tablets, and post-Iron Man pints02:30 - Iron Man Wales Recap: Heartbreak Hill & the Tour de France atmosphere08:15 - Crossing the finish line (and ruining the professional photos)14:30 - Surviving the 2-mile sea swim and getting kicked in the face20:45 - Winston Churchill’s 18-hour work days & the War Rooms visit24:20 - "Failure isn't fatal": Looking back at the early days of Giig Plus29:50 - Bowling nights, Montenegro prep, and the official AI Plan launch38:15 - Major Product Updates: The new right-side panel & Tasks menu overhaul42:40 - The founder struggle: Balancing product development, demos, and YouTube content

"I made a pair of shoes with Jamie Oliver.""I built a recruitment agency without making a single cold call.""I cuddled pandas in China."Those are Michelle Flynn's three statements this week. One of them's a lie. Our job was to figure out which.I headed down to Michelle's for the weekend with Kate O'Neill and Saeed Bor: breath-work on the beach in the morning, podcast in the afternoon. So there's a full debrief on the breathwork, including a move called "dragon peering out of the cave" and a Labrador that gatecrashed the whole session. Saeed's also joined the Shoreham-by-Sea Facebook group to keep up with his new beach mates.Michelle tells us she puts Giig It A Rest on when she doesn't want to learn anything, and that KOSI is her favourite podcast. Cheers, Michelle.We also have a proper catch-up on how everyone's finding the recruitment industry right now (spoiler: mixed). Perm placements have been dropping since October 2022, yet somehow we're all having our best years. We get into why that's not luck, just a lot of graft and a fair few lows along the way.Then it's Kate's turn to try and fool us:"I was in a theatre production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat as a child.""I have slept with a Grand Slam Welsh rugby player.""I will not wash my hands unless I have access to hand cream."We wrap up with the "Are you okay, hun?" lunchbox question, which gets interrupted by a dragonfly flying into the fan. It survived. Just.Enjoy x

We are taking a deep dive into the psychology of recruitment marketing this week with Sam Rasdall, founder of Potent Marketing!Sam has one of the most interesting backgrounds of anyone we've had on the pod. Armed with a master's degree in psychology (where he studied the effects of psychedelics), he jumped into recruitment at S3, quickly pitched management to let him run his own training academy, and later built a sales and marketing team that took an agency to seven figures in just one year.In this episode, Sam rips apart the traditional idea of a recruitment "USP." He explains why relying on generic values like "trust" and "transparency" is actually damaging your brand, and how to use your genuine personality as your ultimate differentiator.We also get into the weeds of practical marketing for small agencies. Sam explains why you shouldn't just post on LinkedIn for the sake of it, and shares his exact framework for turning one piece of content into a high-converting business development campaign.I felt like I spent the whole hour picking his brain for marketing advice.. If you're running a small business there's plenty of actionable tips in here! Enjoy x

"Welcome to Giig, where the only limitation is your imagination..." 🤨This week on the podcast, we are diving deep into how AI is fundamentally changing the way recruiters work. Luke dropped an "AI hand grenade" right before going on holiday by launching our brand new Claude MCP integration, and sending Andy's diary link to 7,000 recruiters. We break down exactly how you can connect Claude directly to your CRM to automate hours of admin from instantly updating candidate fields using call transcripts, to using our new AI "Coach" persona to audit your BD calls and point out the questions you forgot to ask.We also pull back the curtain on the SaaS side of the business, as Andy shares what it was like to roll out Giig's first-ever price increase after keeping the Starter plan locked for three years.But of course, it wouldn't be Giig It A Rest without the weekly catch-up. Luke returns with a string of ailments (including a terrifying 24-hour warning about an eye floater and his official initiation into the "IBS Club"), Andy recaps a devastating loss at his annual golf scramble, and we crack open Lee's Lunchbox to reveal why Andy is terrified of public speaking... unless you give him a microphone.In this episode:00:00 - Welcome to the IBS Club (Luke's eye floater & health updates)12:04 - Andy's golf scramble defeat & Lucy's elite resting heart rate21:02 - Dropping the "AI Hand Grenade" before going on holiday32:22 - How the Claude MCP connects AI directly to your recruitment database33:35 - The Giig AI Assistant vs. AI Coach (Auditing your sales calls)40:00 - "The only limitation is your imagination..." (Birth of a terrible slogan)42:34 - SaaS realities: Navigating our first-ever price increase48:13 - Lee's Lunchbox: Public speaking fears & imposter syndromeIf you want to see what AI can actually do for your recruitment desk, book a demo with Andy (he loves it when you fill up his calendar).🔗 Check out Giig: https://giighire.com/

In one of our most high-energy episodes to date, we are joined by Jahisha, the marketing powerhouse behind TEAM.Before making waves in the recruitment industry, Jahisha was a Division 1 track and field star on a full scholarship in the US, breaking records and securing the historic "double double" in the long jump and triple jump. But after hitting the qualifying standards for the Commonwealth Games and inexplicably getting passed over by the politics of the system, she made a life-changing pivot. The very next day, she applied for her first marketing role.Jahisha walks us through her incredible journey from the runway to recruitment. We discuss finding your authentic self on camera, why unpolished "yap content" is taking over social media, and how she navigated the transition from TRN to helping drive the TEAM network forward. Plus, we get the inside scoop on her epic 48-minute wedding outfit change and the launch of the brand new TEAM Women initiative.What we cover in this episode:- The Commonwealth Games Snub: The heartbreaking politics of elite athletics and how she took control by pivoting overnight.- The D1 Athlete Mindset: Applying a 20-year athletic discipline to building a career in recruitment marketing.- Finding "Jahisha the Marketeer": Transitioning from TRN to TEAM and learning to lean into her authentic, high-energy personality.- TEAM Women: Breaking down the new internal network initiative designed to help recruiters Build, Scale, and Lead.- Marketing Quick Wins: Why recruiters need to stop overthinking video production, overcome impostor syndrome, and embrace raw, authentic content.Enjoy x

Welcome back to the pod! In this candid episode, we dive into the rollercoaster of life and business. From the physical and mental hurdles of training for an Ironman, including a painful run-in with some deer through to the ongoing challenges of scaling a bootstrapped recruitment tech startup.We get real about the difficulty of acknowledging small victories amidst the constant pressure to move on to the next big thing. We also share personal anecdotes, from navigating family dynamics to the unexpected adventures of dog sitting.On the business front, we discuss our recent product launches, the focus on enhancing customer success, and the exciting (and slightly daunting) pivot towards integrating AI into our platform.Enjoy

Get your tickets to the The Recruiter Revenue Summit HERE! - https://go.jamieburrows.net/recruiterrevenuesummit#section-Zzl570uUMMThis week on the pod, we are joined by Jamie Burrows, and his journey into recruitment is one hell of a story! Before he was in the game of coaching recruiters to get more out of the industry, Jamie was the golden boy of Ted Baker—until a wild turn of events (and a bolted-down chair in a security office) saw him escorted out the door and straight into a 2008 recession-era recruitment desk.We dive into what it actually takes to survive those grueling first 18 months on the phone, the reality of scaling an agency from a garden shed to 37 staff, and why splitting from business partners is rarely a clean break.What we cover:Growing up in a Crystal Palace pub and navigating the Millwall family stand.The Ted Baker "cult" culture and getting sacked for doing the right thing.Starting in recruitment just as the 2008 credit crunch hit (and hating BD).Bootstrapping an education agency to 37 staff and the messy reality of exiting.Surviving COVID by carrying his dad’s gas-fitting toolbox.Why one-day recruitment training is basically a "speed awareness course" for underperformers.Enjoy x