For 20 years, Maria Sinclair watched other people get promoted while she stayed stuck in her own head.
She questioned whether she belonged. She worried constantly about how people perceived her. She second-guessed every decision.
Then Covid hit.
Cobalt furloughed 45 of its 55 UK staff. Only ten people stayed working. Maria was one of them. She picked up multiple desks, worked across different specialisms, and kept the operation together.
That’s when it hit her. She’d been underestimating herself for years.
Today, Maria is the managing director of Cobalt, ranked 49th in the UK’s top recruitment firms based on GP per employee. She’s been with the company for 23 years, working her way up from recruitment consultant to MD.
“I just turned 50 this year. I know I’m good at what I do and I should have a bit more belief in it. But it’s taken me a long time to get to that point.”
In this episode, you’ll hear how Maria focuses on job quality instead of call volume, why honest conversations about struggles like perimenopause actually improve performance, how Cobalt hires for work ethic and trains for market knowledge, and what it takes to lead with confidence when self-doubt has held you back for years.
Episode Outline and Highlights
- [6:00] How Maria joined recruitment at 23 after being rejected eight times by the same company
- [18:29] The confidence struggle: why it took until age 50 to truly back herself
- [24:09] Navigating death by a thousand paper cuts: 2009, Brexit, Covid
- [25:36] The Covid moment that changed everything: picking up multiple desks with 45 people furloughed
- [28:49] The promotion that confirmed what everyone else already saw
- [30:44] Being open about perimenopause and fertility struggles in the workplace
- [36:17] Why talent retention depends on creating a culture where people can be honest
- [41:37] The KPI question: why Maria focuses on job quality instead of call volume
- [50:18] How Cobalt identifies hard workers at interview stage (and asks for proof of billings)
- [54:29] Training recruiters from other sectors: patience pays off in year two
- [58:13] Becoming an industry expert, not just a recruiter
- [1:01:06] Closing rate problems and what they reveal about candidate and client control
The Covid Crisis That Changed Everything
Lockdown forced Maria’s hand.
Cobalt furloughed 45 of their 55 UK staff. Only ten people stayed working.
Her CEO looked around the room. “We’ve got these desks. Who’s going to pick them up?”
Maria raised her hand. “Well, I can. I can cover that and I can cover that.”
She picked up multiple desks. She shifted across specialisms. She held clients steady through complete uncertainty.
“I realized my joke about being a jack of all trades and a master of absolutely sweet FA was really coming into its own.”
It wasn’t her best billing year. But it was the year she proved something to herself that everyone else had already known.
Two weeks later, Marcus promoted her to director. He’d just returned from Singapore after Cobalt closed that office. He’d barely been back in the country a fortnight. He hadn’t worked closely with her for years.
“I was like, wow. That’s quite a bold move. Could crash and burn.”
But Marcus saw what she couldn’t yet see.
“Someone does actually believe that I can do this.”
That moment became the turning point in her leadership journey.
Why Honest Conversations About Struggle Actually Drive Performance
At 38, Maria found out she wouldn’t have children.
Her hormones had crashed. She’d been pushed into early perimenopause while holding down a senior role in recruitment.
She’s now 50 and still not through the other side. Twelve years of navigating brain fog, exhaustion, and hormonal chaos while leading a growing team.
“I can be midway through a conversation and just lose my train of thought. The mind clouds over and I’m like, where’s that gone?”
Her advice? Don’t suffer in silence.
She’s been open with her team about what she’s dealing with. That honesty has given other women permission to speak up about their own struggles.
And this isn’t “soft leadership.” It’s retention strategy.
“Really good talent is hard to find and you want to retain people. The way to do that is to create a culture where people feel like they can be open.”
Cobalt ranks 49th in the UK based on GP per employee. They’ve been growing for 23 years. They have consultants with ten-plus years of tenure.
Kindness didn’t dilute performance. It strengthened it.
Job Quality Over Call Volume: How Maria Actually Drives Performance
Cobalt runs KPIs. But not the kind most recruiters recognize.
Maria doesn’t care about hitting 250 calls a week. She cares about job quality, client commitment, and pipeline strength.
“None of our desks operate in the same way. It makes no sense to treat them the same.”
They work across the built environment. Some desks turn roles in four weeks. Others take six to twelve.
So Maria measures what actually moves revenue:
Client meetings. Real conversations, not vanity activity.
Job pipeline. Genuine mandates versus beauty parades.
Candidate and client control. Where deals fall apart.
Closing rate. And the behaviours behind it.
CVs and interviews. The right candidates, properly managed.
Her reaction to hearing candidates describe 250-call weeks?
“When are you meeting your clients? When are you meeting your candidates? How do they judge the quality of your work? And they’re like, ‘We didn’t do that.’ I’m like, the hell is going on?”
Maria’s approach is simple. Give consultants autonomy. Make them industry experts. Focus on the KPIs that actually predict revenue.
“I feel like I’m a real estate expert. I’m not a recruiter. I’m a real estate expert.”
That’s the standard she sets for her team. Someone who understands how the economics of real estate work. Someone who knows what clients are dealing with. Someone who can recognize when a client is genuinely committed or just window shopping.
It’s not about hitting 250 calls a week. It’s about building the kind of expertise that makes clients come back.
Hire for Work Ethic, Train for Market Knowledge
Cobalt can’t always hire from direct competitors. Their competitors have strong tenure too.
So Maria brings in experienced recruiters from other sectors and trains them in real estate.
But she’s strict about one thing. Proof of billings.
“We’ve just got better at interrogating that and asking for proof of billings, which seemingly no one does anymore.”
Some candidates drop out as soon as Cobalt asks. The right ones don’t.
Once they’re in, they get time to ramp up. Six to twelve months depending on the desk.
One consultant came from four years in recruitment but had never worked in real estate. She found the learning curve steep.
“Maria, you could be talking Irish, like gibberish to me right now. Like, I’ve got no idea what you’re saying.”
There were moments she questioned whether she’d made the right move.
But Maria stayed patient. “You’ve just got to give it this time.”
Now, heading into her third year, that consultant is having her strongest year since joining.
“There’s more belief on our side that we can get people to where we want them. And it’s happening less that people don’t get there.”
The lesson? Hire the work ethic. Teach the market. Play the long game.
