Recruiting Alchemy Ep.16: Simon Ryan on Scale, Embedded Talent & Steven Bartlett

In this exceptional episode of the Recruiting Alchemy Podcast, host Andy Simpson sits down with Simon Ryan, Director at Chapter 2 and Co-founder of Chapter 2 Health Talent, for a deep dive into building, scaling, and disrupting the recruitment industry.

Simon shares his powerful origin story, the keys to navigating market crises, and the future of hyper-efficient talent acquisition, which has attracted the investment of Steven Bartlett.

⏱️ Key Timestamps

• 01:47 - Simon Ryan's Origin Story: Growing up in Stratford and selling drawings with his identical twin.
• 05:07 - The unlikely start: How soccer coaching in Camp America led to his first recruitment job at Reed.
• 06:44 - Starting just before the 2008 Financial Crisis and how he became the top perm consultant.
• 10:48 - The achievement: Becoming the youngest-ever Business Manager at Reed (age 25).
• 14:14 - The 11-year rocket ship: Scaling Your World Healthcare from 75 to 500+ staff and growing margin to £45M.
• 16:09 - The strategy: How Simon helped Leo Harrison and joined Chapter Two by adding value first.
• 19:47 - The Question: What's it like working with Steven Bartlett?
• 21:09 - Steven Bartlett's Recruiting Secret: Why he spends 30-40 hours a week on recruitment.
• 22:57 - The Disruption: Achieving 175 hires in six months with a Cost Per Hire of only £2.5k.
• 25:52 - The Chapter Two Model: The three pillars of success (Talent, Tech, and Employer Branding).
• 33:31 - Managing the "bench" and the financial risk of the embedded model.
• 44:40 - High-growth areas in Health Tech and Health AI.