Harrison Wright built his recruitment business to nearly $400,000 in billings within six months.Then the market turned.Hiring froze. Searches disappeared. For six months, nothing came in while he was burning $30,000 a month to stay afloat.Most recruiters would respond by doing more.More calls. More CVs. More pressure.He did exactly that.It didn’t work.Harrison is the founder of The Blockchain Recruiter, a search firm specialising in crypto and Web3 talent. After the crash, he rebuilt the business around retained search, tighter positioning, and a more deliberate recruitment process.Today, he runs a retained model with an interview-to-placement ratio of 2.16 to 1 and has won clients worth more than $350,000 in lifetime value through inbound alone. After shifting into institutional crypto, he’s on track for $1.2M to $1.6M in 2025, despite a difficult market.This conversation gets into what actually changed.Why he treats recruitment as a sales process. Why he doesn’t pitch the job on the first call. And how doing more work upfront changes what happens at offer stage.In this episode:Why more activity doesn’t fix a broken recruitment modelHow Harrison qualifies candidates before a CV ever gets sentThe thinking behind a 2.16-to-1 interview-to-placement ratioWhy he avoids pitching the job early in the processHow positioning led to higher-value retained clientsThe shift into institutional crypto and why it changed his pipelineWhat most recruiters get wrong about deliveryEpisode highlights:[1:06] From zero to $400K in six months[1:21] The crash: no revenue and $30K monthly burn[13:17] The 2.16-to-1 interview-to-placement ratio[15:14] The 90-minute candidate interview[21:37] Why pitching first creates problems later[49:10] The institutional crypto pivot[1:00:46] What a retained proposal looks likeAbout Harrison WrightHarrison Wright is the founder of The Blockchain Recruiter, one of the OG search firms in crypto and Web3. As an avid student of business and the craft of recruiting, Harrison built his business by prioritizing tight positioning, exceptional delivery, and retained client partnerships in a market where most recruiters compete on speed, volume and contingency.Connect with HarrisonLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harrisonwrightWebsite: https://theblockchainrecruiter.comConnect with Mark WhitbyGet your FREE 30-minute strategy call:https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/strategy-session/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwhitby/Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkWhitbyInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/RecruitmentCoachSponsorsRecruiterflowRecruiterflow is the AI-first operating system for recruitment agencies and executive search firms, combining ATS, CRM, and AI in one platform.👉 https://recruitmentcoach.com/recruiterflowTrusted Voice VideoYou already know video works. You just don’t have time to create it.One 30-minute session each month. Thirty days of short-form LinkedIn video content, planned, filmed, edited, and ready to post.👉 https://recruitmentcoach.com/videoFree Recruitment ScorecardNot sure what’s slowing your agency’s growth?👉 https://recruitmentcoach.com/scorecardIf your market feels tough right now, this is worth a listen.