Season 9 | Ep13 Pete Watson: 22 years as a solo Rec2Rec in Australia (and why he'd never do it again)

Pete Watson: 22 years as a solo Rec2Rec in Australia (and why he'd never do it again)

Pete Watson is the longest-serving boots-on-the-ground Rec2Rec in Australia.

22 years running Mint R2R. Thousands of placements. A recognisable name across the entire Australian recruitment market.

But 18 months ago, he was at the gym when he asked himself one question:

"Would I do it all again?"

His answer was immediate: "A fast no."

Not because he failed. But because of what success actually cost him.

"Even though people look at 22 years as a business owner and go 'that's amazing, congratulations' - it's been brutal. It's been lonely. It's been isolating. It has not been good for mental health."

So that afternoon, he knocked up a logo on Canva and launched Recruitment United.

Within a week, 70 agency owners joined a WhatsApp group.

Within four months, 500.

Today, there are 330 subscribing members accessing weekly training, mate rates discounts, and a proper community of peers.

This week on The RAG Podcast, Pete tells the full story.

We cover:

1. Why 22 years as a solo Rec2Rec nearly broke him mentally
2. The gym moment that changed everything
3. How he built a 500-member community in four months with zero plan
4. Why the majority of his members have no intention of scaling
5. The rise of lifestyle businesses over exit strategies
6. Navigating divorce, becoming a stepdad, and buying back his family home
7. 13 years alcohol-free and why he finally started talking about it

This isn't about building an empire.

It's about a founder who realised that isolated recruitment success was killing him—and built something to solve that for himself and others!

If you've ever felt lonely as a solo founder, or wondered whether there's another way to build, this episode is for you.

__________________________________________

Episode Sponsor: Atlas

Admin is a massive waste of time. That’s why there’s Atlas, the AI-first recruitment platform built for modern agencies.

It doesn’t only track CVs and calls. It remembers everything. Every email, every interview, every conversation. Instantly searchable, always available. And now, it’s entering a whole new era.

With Atlas 2.0, you can ask anything and it delivers. With Magic Search, you speak and it listens. It finds the right candidates using real conversations, not simply look for keywords.

Atlas 2.0 also makes business development easier than ever. With Opportunities, you can track, manage and grow client relationships, powered by generative AI and built right into your workflow.

Need insights? Custom dashboards give you total visibility over your pipeline. And that’s not theory. Atlas customers have reported up to 41% EBITDA growth and an 85% increase in monthly billings after adopting the platform.

No admin. No silos. No lost info. Nothing but faster shortlists, better hires and more time to focus on what actually drives revenue.

Atlas is your personal AI partner for modern recruiting.

Don’t miss the future of recruitment. Get started with Atlas today and unlock your exclusive RAG listener offer at https://recruitwithatlas.com/therag/

__________________________________________

Episode Sponsor: Hoxo

Every recruitment founder is investing in LinkedIn.

Spending thousands on Recruiter licences.

Building connections. Posting content. Growing networks.

But here’s the question almost no one can answer:

How much revenue is LinkedIn actually bringing into your business?

Most founders have thousands of connections but no clear process to turn that attention into cash.

That’s the problem we solve.

At Hoxo, we help recruitment founders build predictable revenue systems on LinkedIn, not just noise or vanity metrics.

Our clients are turning LinkedIn into £100K–£300K in new billings within months, using their existing networks and a simple repeatable process.

To show you how it works, we’ve created a short training video exclusively for RAG listeners.

In less than 10 minutes, you’ll learn:

- Why most recruiters are getting zero measurable ROI from LinkedIn

- How small, niche teams are generating consistent inbound demand

- The 3X Revenue System we use to turn LinkedIn into a predictable cash-generating channel

So fill in the form today to see how this system could transform LinkedIn into your agency’s most profitable channel: https://hubs.ly/Q03lBpYC0