Karolina Willis shares her remarkable journey building Intercare Recruitment from a struggling startup to a thriving healthcare staffing firm. After relocating from Dubai to the US, she faced rebuilding her business in an unfamiliar market while raising two young children.
Despite reaching a breaking point where she nearly abandoned her entrepreneurial dreams, Karolina implemented strategies that fueled explosive growth in just six months. She reveals how she created unique differentiators that justified retained contracts – employing former nurses as recruiters, offering comprehensive immigration services, and maintaining relentless face-to-face business development even when facing multiple rejections.
This episode offers practical insights for recruitment agency owners looking to scale their businesses through genuine market differentiation and strategic team building across multiple countries.
Karolina is a seasoned recruitment professional with 19 years of experience in the healthcare recruitment industry. As a CEO and Founder at Intercare Recruitment, she specializes in matching top-tier healthcare professionals with leading medical institutions, ensuring that both clients and candidates find the perfect fit.
Episode Outline and Highlights
- [01:53] From Poland, the UK, Dubai, and the US – Carolina’s recruitment journey.
- [07:27] The mindset that helped Karolina be successful in a short space of time.
- [10:16] How to generate candidates by organizing events.
- [13:39] The initial challenges of going solo and starting a recruitment business.
- [28:02] Relocating to Florida, relaunching their business, and overcoming a breaking point.
- [37:23] How Karolina approached the market differently in the US.
- [40:34] Key differentiators as a boutique company.
- [46:30] Strategies for growing her team.
- [51:59] Overcoming the recruiter paradox – how to identify potential members of your recruitment firm.
- [57:35] What would Karolina have done differently when looking back at her career?
Overcoming a Breaking Point and the Challenges of Launching a Boutique Firm
Karolina excelled quickly in her first recruitment role in the UK with the NHS, which became a solid foundation for her when she launched Intercare Recruitment in Dubai. Like many recruiters who aspire to build their business, she faced initial struggles and challenges along the way.
Karolina faced significant challenges when launching her recruitment firm in Dubai. Although finding candidates was relatively easy due to her strong existing network, the complexities of navigating healthcare regulations and business development were major hurdles. Karolina and her husband had to secure clients from scratch. Their strategy involved relentless, in-person business development—visiting hospitals unannounced, persistently requesting meetings with HR directors and CEOs. Despite initial rejections, her research-driven approach, industry connections, and sheer determination eventually led to success, with her 13th hospital visit yielding their first major contract. However, cash flow management became another major struggle, as collecting payments from clients was a slow and challenging process. The legal system in the UAE made it difficult to enforce contracts, ultimately influencing her decision to explore opportunities outside the Middle East.
When she moved to the US, the true breaking point came in 2022 when, after years of working for others, Karolina could no longer ignore her entrepreneurial drive. She had gained the necessary industry knowledge and confidence, but stepping away from the security of a full-time job was a daunting decision, especially as a mother of two young children with a mortgage to maintain. Despite the fear and financial pressure, she knew she had relaunched Intercare. With the unwavering support of her husband, she leaped, marking the start of Intercare’s second chapter in the U.S.
Building Key Differentiators as a Boutique Firm
I wanted to focus on Intercare Recruitment’s unique approach to providing the best solutions for its clients. Their service offering is retained and involves recruiting nurses internationally.
“So what I call ourselves, we are kind of boutique companies, small, quality-focused, concierge type agencies. We really go beyond with our services. We really get on side with our clients.”
Here are some of their differentiators:
- International Nurse Recruitment Expertise – They have an extensive referral-based network in the Philippines and partnerships with nursing schools, allowing them to source top-tier talent efficiently.
- Comprehensive Candidate Support – Unlike most agencies, they assist candidates beyond job placement, handling immigration, flights, onboarding, Social Security, and even driving licenses to ensure a smooth transition.
- Nurse-Led Recruitment Team – Their recruiters are former nurses, which helps build trust with candidates and ensures a deeper understanding of the industry’s needs.
- Retained, Upfront Payment Model – Instead of working on contingency, Intercare secures exclusive, retained contracts where clients pay upfront, covering immigration costs and reducing hiring risks.
- Extended Guarantee Period – They offer a 12-month guarantee, which is longer than industry standards, ensuring clients have long-term confidence in their hires.
- End-to-End Immigration Management – They fully integrate legal and immigration services into their process, partnering with immigration attorneys to handle all necessary paperwork.
What are your key differentiators as a recruitment firm? How do you stand out from the competition? The key to getting retained clients is to show a unique solution that solves your client’s problems that they can’t get anywhere else.
Overcoming the Recruiter’s Paradox – Finding the Right Member of Your Team
Karolina shared best practices in her approach to building her team. She has now expanded to 10 members – 5 in the US, 5 in the Philippines. This growth allowed her to grow her revenue from $5K/month to $300K/month in six months!
What are her key techniques in finding great team members?
“I see people’s motivation and ambition rather than skills. You can teach skills, but you cannot teach attitude.” Aside from doing a DISC assessment, they invest time in researching the candidate, from social media, LinkedIn, and conducting three to four steps interviews.
Once the team member gets hired, they focus on empowering and coaching them. Extensive training and tools for recruiters are provided while providing all the support needed for them to succeed.
