Why do some recruitment firms struggle to grow past a handful of people while others scale to 50+ employees and win multiple industry awards? Anthony Lewis, Managing Director of Tile Hill, has cracked the code and his approach might surprise you.
Tile Hill has been awarded Best Company to Work For and Best In-House L&D at the 2024 REC Awards, and was voted the #1 interim service provider by the Institute of Interim Management. Even more impressive: 86% of their candidates rate them as net promoters (9 or 10 out of 10), and they’ve maintained just 3-5% annual turnover in an industry notorious for churn.
In this episode, Anthony reveals how focusing obsessively on candidate experience became their primary business development strategy, why psychological safety drives performance better than traditional KPIs, and how treating recruitment as a purpose-driven profession transforms culture and results. You’ll also learn why Anthony calls cold BD meetings “the least efficient use of time” and hear his framework for turning candidates into clients through exceptional service.
Episode Outline and Highlights
- [2:17] How Anthony chose recruitment as a career (not by accident).
- [9:39] Why purpose is essential to sustaining motivation in recruitment.
- [12:40] Tile Hill’s growth story: nearly 50 people and multiple awards.
- [18:49] The training approach that works for both experienced and inexperienced recruits
- [24:53] What “psychological safety” means in recruitment and why it drives performance
- [29:30] Handling generational differences in business development.
- [35:30] Why every person has unique KPIs instead of homogeneous targets
- [41:52] Their strategy to reduce LinkedIn dependence and focus on warm relationships
- [45:43] Why candidate experience became their unique differentiator.
- [50:26] Using candidate feedback (NPS) to continuously improve.
- [55:31] Anthony’s biggest challenge leading through growth: avoiding complacency.
Stop Burning Money on Cold Outreach
Anthony’s team tracked everything last year: 1,500 cold BD meetings and 27 placements. Do the math, that’s £50+ per meeting in salary costs alone, not counting travel, prep time, or opportunity costs.
“I’d rather our team focus on people we already know,” Anthony says. “These are people we’ve got a relationship with that we’re having good touch points with.”
The shift: treat candidates like future clients, not placement inventory. Every candidate gets feedback via Talent Analytics, managers call promoters to understand what worked, and Anthony personally calls detractors to fix what went wrong. When your former candidates get promoted, they remember how you treated them. When they need to hire, you get the first call.
Candidate Experience as Your Competitive Advantage
Most firms think candidate experience is fluffy. Anthony’s 86% candidate NPS score proves otherwise. It’s become their primary business development engine because exceptional treatment creates compound returns.
“You’ll never remember, Anthony, but you once said this one thing to me and it changed things,” is feedback he regularly receives from people who later become hiring managers. The lesson: stop thinking placement, start thinking relationship.
Purpose Prevents the Recruitment Commoditization Trap
“If you lose sight of purpose, recruitment becomes about chasing fees. It becomes a transaction. And customers feel that,” Anthony explains. This isn’t about mission statements, but preventing your business from becoming a commodity.
When recruiters only care about fees, they rush processes and treat candidates like numbers. Clients notice and start shopping based on price. Anthony’s team places people in roles that keep society running, such as bin collection, transport, and public services. That purpose is shown in every candidate’s conversation, allowing them to charge premium fees because the service feels premium.
The business case for purpose:
- Recruiters stay motivated during tough markets
- Candidates feel the difference in how they’re treated
- Clients pay premium fees because the service feels premium
- Staff turnover drops (purpose-driven people don’t job-hop)
Find yours. Manufacturing? You’re building Britain’s industrial backbone. Tech? You’re powering digital transformation. Finance? You’re moving the money that makes everything work.
