The Best Recruiters Always Raise The Average | Sachin Ruparelia (EP 100)

How do the best recruitment leaders consistently raise the average across their teams?

In this episode, I'm joined by Sachin Ruparelia, CEO of Camino Partners and Camino Search.

Having spent more than 14 years building one of the recruitment industry's most respected businesses, Sachin shares the leadership lessons he's learned through rapid growth, losing key people, and rebuilding a high-performance culture. We discuss why great recruitment businesses aren't built around star performers, how leaders can consistently raise the average across their teams, and why communication, coaching and accountability are the foundations of long-term success.

Topics Discussed:

✅ Building a high-performance culture that isn't reliant on one individual

✅ Why the best leaders hire people who raise the average

✅ Creating consistent recruiter performance through standards and accountability

✅ Coaching experienced recruiters, not just trainees

✅ Leading through change and communicating with transparency

✅ Building recruitment businesses that scale beyond the founder

✅ Why AI should enhance recruiters, not replace them

✅ How recruitment leaders can get 1% better every day

⏱️ Timestamps:

00:00 – Introduction & welcome

01:44 – Sachin's journey and building Camino Partners

03:27 – Losing a key leader and rebuilding the business

09:18 – Leadership lessons from difficult periods of change

17:56 – Hiring people who genuinely raise the average

20:48 – Experienced hires vs trainee academies

27:40 – Why recruiter consistency beats motivation

35:18 – Non-negotiables, accountability and performance standards

42:02 – Balancing empathy with accountability as a leader

45:37 – Defining "what good looks like" in recruitment

49:06 – The founder's role in growing a recruitment business

51:16 – Recruitment, relationships and the role of AI

57:10 – Sachin's advice on becoming 1% better

58:48 – Why Sachin chose to support MILO

01:00:15 – Closing thoughts

🐋 Podcast Sponsor – SourceWhale.

This episode is sponsored by SourceWhale, the multi-channel outreach platform I personally use and recommend to recruiters and founders.

SourceWhale helps you combine email, LinkedIn, calls, and tasks into one structured, consistent BD workflow, without relying on spray-and-pray automation.

👉 Book a demo here:

https://sourcewhale.com/book-demo/?utm_source=partner&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=&utm_term=charles_kyriakou&utm_content=book_a_demo

Mention The 1% Better Recruitment Podcast or my name, Charles Kyriakou, when you book.

Connect with Sachin:

💻 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sachinruparelia/

🌐 Camino Partners: https://www.caminopartners.co.uk/

🌐 Camino Search: https://www.caminosearch.co.uk/

Connect with Me:

💻 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charleskyriakou1/

📲 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@charles.kyriakou

🌐 INF1NITE Learning: https://www.inf1nitelearning.com/

🌐 Podcast Website: https://www.the1percentbetterrecruitmentpodcast.com/

🤖 MILO – Tell Me More: https://ask-milo.com/