The Manchester Recruitment Leader Experience 2026
About this Event
The end of the year is coming. Make it count.
2026 has been a year. For some, a breakthrough. For others, a grind. For most, a bit of both.
Before you step into 2027, it's worth stopping. Taking stock of what worked, what didn't, and what you're going to do differently - that will move the dial during the 2026 run-in and set the tone for next.
That's what this event is for. Reflect. Reset. Rise
What to expect
A half-day of honest conversation, practical insight, and genuine connection - designed specifically for recruitment agency owners, directors, and future leaders who want to finish 2026 strong and hit the ground running in 2027.
Most of what you learn running an agency, you learn alone. This is a few hours out of the office with people who've worked through the same problems.
Held at JMW Solicitors' swanky new Deansgate office, this is a focused, collaborative session covering the things that actually move the needle: legal, marketing, revenue, wealth creation, and exit readiness.
On the agenda
- Legal: What's happened and what's coming with the Employment Rights Act 2025 - unfair dismissal, family leave, trade unions, and where the live consultations stand
- Marketing: How search has changed in 2026, what's coming in 2027, and what your website needs to be read and recommended by AI models like ChatGPT and Gemini
- Revenue: A live scoring exercise revealing how exposed your business is to contingency, and what a more resilient, recurring revenue model could look like
- Exit Readiness: The checklist that decides whether your business can run without you - and what buyers actually look for
Who should attend
SME recruitment agency owners, directors, marketing leads, and business leaders ready to reflect on 2026 and set a clear course for 2027. Future leaders who want to be in the room where the real conversations happen.
As always, this event will conclude with networking drinks.
Thanks to Keybridge IT Solutions and Shazamme for sponosoring.
Paul Chamberlain, Head of Employment and People Solutions - Specialist Recruitment Lawyer
I provide solid, pragmatic and effective legal advice to employers, recruitment agencies, employees and workers in relation to the world of work.
Talk Title: What's Happening with the Employment Rights Act 2025?
The Employment Rights Act 2025 is a major UK law that received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025. It changes the rules for workers and employers by ending zero-hours tricks, restricting fire-and-rehire, and updating family leave.
Paul will summarise progress on the Act and where the live and completed consultations stand , especially the one on zero and guaranteed hours.
Plus:
- Unfair Dismissal: Cuts the qualifying period to claim unfair dismissal from two years to six months, effective 1 January 2027
- Family Leave: Paternity and unpaid parental leave became day-one rights from 6 April 2026 - no qualifying period required
- Fair Work Agency: A new enforcement body, live since April 2026, set up to enforce labour rules
- Trade Unions: Minimum service level rules repealed and the recognition threshold lowered, giving unions easier workplace access
- Fire-and-Rehire: New restrictions come into force from October 2026
Dan Jones, Founder, Kaizen SEO
10+ years in SEO for recruiters, several before that as a recruiter. The only UK recruitment SEO specialist who's actually placed candidates on a recruitment desk. Built KaizenIQ, a recruitment-specific AI search platform, because the generic tools don't understand the sector
Talk title: Why Your Best Clients Will Never Find You Again
A direct look at how search has changed in 2026, what's coming in 2027, and what every agency in the room can do about it - without a big budget or a technical team.
Format: 30-minute talk. Practical, data-led. Written for founders of agencies with 1–20 heads.
What I'll cover:
- How search has shifted in 2026 - Google AI Overviews now appear on 48% of queries, ChatGPT and Perplexity are entering recruitment workflows, and most agencies haven't noticed what that means for their visibility
- The four lies the SEO industry is selling recruitment agencies right now - and why most are quietly burning budget on them
- A 2027 outlook on agentic search, AI browsers, brand mentions overtaking backlinks, and where the real advantage lies for micro-agencies
- Five questions every founder can answer on Monday morning to audit their own visibility - no tools, no agency required
- A recruitment-specific lens throughout. I worked a desk before I worked search.
What you'll leave with:
- A printed audit sheet you can use straight away
- Clarity on where to invest and where to stop wasting money
- Three concrete shifts you can make in the next 90 days
- An optional paid next step if you want to go deeper
Catherine Henderson, Fractional CMO, Boudicca Consulting
With nearly 25 years in marketing - 16 specialising in recruitment - Catherine builds embedded, revenue-focused strategies that turn marketing into a genuine growth driver, not just a cost centre. Trusted by leadership teams, she's known for making the connection between marketing and the bottom line impossible to ignore.
Miles Lloyd, Strategic Advisor, Leadership Coach, NorthStar People
With over two decades helping recruitment leaders build profitable, sustainable businesses, Miles works as NED, Business Mentor, Strategic Advisor, Fractional CCO and Interim CEO - drawing on strategy, performance, proposition, growth, leadership and inclusive hiring to turn ambition into serious commercial results. His mission: leaders becoming their best, and businesses achieving serious, lasting success.
A Practical Guide to Building Predictable Revenue in Your Recruitment Business (and weaning off contingency)
Contingency recruitment is under more pressure than ever - commoditisation, market volatility, and an AI-driven race to the bottom on fees. Most agency leaders know the model needs to evolve. What's missing is a structured path to doing it.
Format: 30-minute talk. Hands-on, live-scored. Written for agency leaders who feel exposed but haven't mapped why.
What we'll cover:
- Why contingency is structurally weaker than it was five years ago - and why AI accelerates the squeeze, not just the competition
- The Recurring Revenue Readiness Test, run live in the room - a real-time scoring exercise against the metrics that actually predict resilience
- What your score exposes: where your revenue is concentrated, how exposed you are to a single client walking, and where the gaps sit
- The recurring revenue models working in recruitment right now, and which one fits a business like yours
- What changes operationally when you move from placement-led to recurring - pricing, delivery, client conversations
What you'll leave with:
- Your Recurring Revenue Readiness score
- A clear picture of what an alternative model could look like for your business
- Three shifts you could make in the next quarter to start the move
Matt Fox, Business Advisor, Investor, Strategic Coach
Having built, sold and exited my recruitment business I now work with business owners to help them plan their individual journey, set goals and achieve the sale, exit, MBO, growth milestone or income goal that they set.
Talk Title: Sharpening Your Business for Future Gain
Every recruitment business is being built for something - even if you haven't named it yet. Maybe it's an ongoing income machine. Maybe it's an exit. Either way, the same checklist decides whether you get maximum return. This session walks you through it.
- The essential checklist that makes any recruitment business fit for its aspirations - one desk or fifty
- What buyers actually look for, and why most agencies aren't ready, whatever their size
- Your billings don't set your valuation. Your systems do.
- If the business can't run without you, you don't own an asset - you own a job. (Practical fixes for solopreneurs included.)
- What to fix before you even think about going to market
- Why the best time to start preparing for exit is long before you need one
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
GBP 22.38 to GBP 27.80
