EP326: What Really Matters? A Founder’s Wake-Up Call - Caroline Kingsley, Kingsley Recruitment

In this heartfelt and inspiring episode of The Recruiter’s Recruitment Podcast, Lysha Holmes sits down with long-time industry friend **Caroline Kingsley**, co-founder of **Kingsley Recruitment**, to explore the realities of building, scaling, and reshaping a recruitment business through life’s biggest challenges. Caroline shares her unconventional route into recruitment after starting her career as a surveyor, and why industry experience gave her a unique edge in the property recruitment market. Together, Lysha and Caroline reflect on the highs and lows of launching a business during the 2008 financial crash, the lessons learned from scaling to 28 staff, and why they both now believe “less is more” when it comes to sustainable growth. Most powerfully, Caroline opens up about her cancer diagnosis and recovery journey, and how that life-changing experience completely transformed her perspective on stress, success, family, and what truly matters. The episode is an honest reminder that behind every LinkedIn profile is a human being navigating challenges we rarely see. You’ll also hear about Caroline’s exciting next chapter as she prepares to launch her own podcast focused on senior leaders across the built environment and data centre sectors. 🔗 **Connect with the guest** Caroline Kingsley: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolinekingsley1/ Kingsley Recruitment: https://www.kingsleyrecruitment.co.uk/ 🔗 **Connect with the host** Lysha Holmes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lyshaholmesr2r/ Qui Recruitment: https://www.quirecruitment.co.uk/ Follow the podcast on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts: https://www.youtube.com/@therecruitersrecruitmentpod https://the-recruiters-recruitment-podcast.captivate.fm/ —————— The Recruiter's Recruitment Podcast is proudly sponsored by **Paiger**, and partnered with **Needi**, **Keybridge IT Solutions**, **Bristow & Hardy** and **Diversity in Recruitment**. **Our sponsor:** **Paiger** - Making Recruiters Smarter and Faster. Paiger helps recruiters build personal brands, identify new business opportunities, attract candidates, and have better conversations. Find out more about Paiger: https://paiger.co/ **Our partners:** **Needi** is a concierge gift-matching service using psychology and AI, to pinpoint the perfect gifts and experiences for your recipient, from the best local independent businesses. Their team of expert gift finders save companies time and money with their complimentary corporate gifting service. https://needi.co.uk/ **Bristow & Hardy** partners with SME recruitment agencies to accelerate growth through sales enablement and recruitment marketing. With over 7 years’ experience, we specialise exclusively in the recruitment sector, delivering strategy, branding, websites, marketing campaigns, and sales support. Our proven growth suite of products helps agencies attract more clients, win more business, and scale efficiently. https://www.bristowandhardy.co.uk/ **Diversity in Recruitment** helps recruitment businesses understand diversity, equity, and inclusion in a way that makes sense. Our training and advisory work is designed to attract diverse talent, recruit inclusively, improve your candidate journey and confidently partner with their clients. DE&I doesn’t have to be complicated and scary - it’s simply about fair, ethical and high-quality recruitment. https://diversityinrecruitment.com/ **Keybridge IT Solutions** is a London-based Fully Managed IT Support and solutions Provider - Providing 24×7 Support to all Customers. Specialities include Microsoft Cloud, including Office 365, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Azure, Security, Internet Connectivity, VoIP, and much more. https://www.keybridgeit.com/ **#RecruitmentPodcast #RecruitmentLeadership #WomenInRecruitment #PropertyRecruitment #FounderStories #RecruitmentCareers #BusinessGrowth #Resilience #RecruitmentIndustry #TheRecruitersRecruitmentPodcast**