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March 15, 2024

11 recruitment influencers you should follow

John Kim
Co-founder @ Paraform

To level up as a recruiter, it’s worth learning from those who have been there and done that.


There are plenty of influencers in the recruitment world who can offer you valuable tips and insights into becoming a top biller and placing a variety of candidates into the best companies.


We all need a Mr. Miyagi to teach us resilience, hard work, and how to become the best version of ourselves. So in no particular order, here are 11 recruitment influencers to follow that will lead you on the path to excellence.

James Caan

James Caan
James Caan

James Caan is undeniably the godfather of the recruitment world. His career in recruitment started all the way back in 1985, 18 years before LinkedIn, when he founded talent solutions company, Alexander Mann.

James sold that company in 2002 after scaling it to a turnover of £130 million ($165.5 million).

In 2014, he started Recruitment Entrepreneur, an investment firm that supports recruiters in starting their own recruitment agency. Over the last decade, they’ve enabled dozens of recruiters to pivot and start their own agency with funding, advice, support, and staff.

James Caan is a hugely popular figure on LinkedIn with over 3.3 million followers, making him one of the most followed profiles on the platform.

Follow him for insights into recruitment, talent trends, and the labor market.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamescaancbe/

Mark Whitby

Mark Whitby
Mark Whitby

Mark Whitby is a Recruitment success trainer who helps recruiters & recruitment agencies maximize billings, increase profits, and accelerate business growth. He’s been running recruitmentcoach.com for over 20 years where he teaches dozens of courses on how to be a successful recruiter.

He’s also the host of the Resilient Recruiter Podcast, a weekly show where he interviews recruitment industry leaders on the secrets to their success.

In the show, you’ll hear in-depth conversations that uncover the habits, strategies, and attitudes of highly successful recruiting, staffing, and search firm owners.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwhitby/

Resilient Recruiter Podcast

Hung Lee

Hung Lee
Hung Lee

Hung Lee is a seasoned recruiter with over 2 decades of recruitment experience under his belt. He co-founded 2 recruitment agencies and in 2017, created the highly popular Recruiting Brainfood newsletter.

This weekly newsletter is a goldmine for the talent industry and covers AI, Blockchain, recruitment culture, the future of work, employer branding, sourcing, tech hiring, and more.

His LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hunglee/

Recruiting Brainfood: https://www.recruitingbrainfood.com/

Meghan Biro

Meghan Biro
Meghan Biro

Meghan Biro is a globally recognized talent management and HR tech thought leader. She is the founder of TalentCulture, an online community for recruitment and HR leaders.

She started the popular hashtag #WorkTrends and creates content covering workplace culture, career strategy, talent management, and HR technology.

She has also written for the likes of Forbes and Huffington Post about the HR world.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meghanmbiro/

Liz Ryan

Liz Ryan
Liz Ryan

Liz Ryan is the founder of Human Workplace, a coaching, content, and consulting firm that offers courses on career development, talent acquisition, leadership, and HR.

She is a Top Voice on LinkedIn with almost 3 million followers who read her Recruitment Q&A, career development, and industry insights content. 

She’s also written over 2500 articles on recruiting and HR for Forbes magazine, generating 8 to 10 million page views monthly.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizryan/

Brianna Rooney

Brianna Rooney
Brianna Rooney

Brianna Rooney is an expert when it comes to recruitment and has been in the game for nearly 20 years. She started her tech recruiting agency at 24, scaled it, and sold it at 36.

She’s a millionaire recruiter and an expert at finding and placing software developers in their dream roles at some of the biggest tech companies.

Brianna is a Top Recruiting Voice on LinkedIn and mentors others in the recruitment space. She also runs a podcast, a YouTube channel, a coaching firm where she builds other millionaire recruiters, and a recruitment agency.

Follow her for everything there is to know about recruitment, talent acquisition, becoming a millionaire biller, and running a business.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bmarie/

Podcast: https://talent-takeover-unfiltered.transistor.fm/

Coaching: https://www.thriversity.io/

Recruitment Agency: https://www.talentperch.com/

Lou Adler

Lou Adler
Lou Adler

Lou Adler is a multifaceted force in the Talent Management world.

He’s the founder and CEO of The Adler Group, a consulting and training firm helping companies implement "Win-Win Hiring" programs using his Performance-based Hiring System.

He’s been in the recruitment game for over 30 years and has trained clients such as Lincoln Financial, AIG, Paycom, LinkedIn, McKinsey, and Disney on how to set up hiring systems and hire the best talent.

Lou has been featured on Fox News and his articles and posts can be found in Inc. Magazine, BusinessInsider, Bloomberg, and The Wall Street Journal. He’s a top voice on LinkedIn and has a weekly newsletter with
over 250,000 subscribers.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louadler/

Stephanie Yu

Stephanie Yu
Stephanie Yu

Also known as The Unicorn Recruiter, Stephanie Yu is a recruitment vet with over 12 years of experience in recruiting for some of the biggest names in tech, including Google, Uber, and Square.

Stephanie is a sourcing wizard and has placed highly talented candidates into various roles across tech. She’s also a career consultant and content creator who creates content about the world of recruiting.

She has a quarter of a million followers on LinkedIn and posts daily tips, insights, and talent trends.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-yu-the-unicorn-recruiter/

Johnny Campbell

Johnny Campbell
Johnny Campbell

Johnny Campbell is the CEO and Co-Founder of Social Talent, an E-learning platform for hiring and talent management, which is used by millions of people in over 100 of the leading companies in the world.

He hosts a number of events on LinkedIn and his talent leadership newsletter amasses over 39,000 subscribers.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnnycampbell/

Preston Park

Preston
Preston

Preston is the founder of KickStart Finder, an executive search firm that has placed candidates in some of the biggest companies across the United States.

He has been in the recruitment game for over a decade and runs the KickStart podcast where he invites executives and founders of big brands to come on and talk about everything related to hiring, the workplace, and their journey to the top.


He also runs a popular Youtube Channel that covers all things recruiting with 26.5k subscribers.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prestonpark1/

Agency: https://www.kickstartfinder.com/

Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1nBZreWJArdFgiIu3BTeGw

Tim Sackett

Tim Sackett
Tim Sackett

Tim Sackett is an HR, talent analyst, influencer, and content creator with over 30 years of experience in the recruitment world. He regularly posts on LinkedIn about the state of the recruitment industry and his work as a recruiter, HR executive, and entrepreneur.

He has also written several books on recruitment including The Talent Fix and The Talent War.

Follow him: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsackett/


There's a lot of folks who you could reach out to - happy recruiting!

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