Episode 303

EP303: Wendy McDougall, Founder of Firefish - Predictions for 2026 from an Exited Female

Published on: 8th December, 2025

This Week’s Episode: Predictions for 2026 from an Exited Female Founder with Wendy McDougall

This week's episode is with the incredible Wendy McDougall, founder, trailblazer, and the powerhouse behind Firefish, one of the most respected CRMs in the recruitment industry. Wendy has built, scaled, and successfully exited a business in a space where few female founders have paved the way, and in this episode, she opens up about the realities behind that journey.

We dive into Wendy’s story, how she built Firefish by putting data at the heart of the recruitment process, and why a CRM isn’t just software, but the engine that drives a modern recruitment business.

Key topics we explore:

• Buying behaviours in RecTech

• The true value of data - and why most agencies still aren’t leveraging even half of what they have

• What the cost of candidate acquisition really is - and what recruiters overlook when calculating ROI

• Predictions for a successful 2026

Connect with Wendy here https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendymcdougall/

----------

The Recruiter's Recruitment Podcast is proudly sponsored by Paiger and partners to Needi, Keybridge IT, Bristol & Hardy and Diversity and Inclusion .

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 details on Paiger here - https:// paiger.co/?utm_source=podcast...


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 . Find out more here -https:// needi.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 anidence 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.


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 didence 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.

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. Find out more here – https:// bristowandhardy.co.uk

Next Episode All Episodes Previous Episode

Listen for free

Show artwork for The Recruiter's Recruitment Podcast

About the Podcast

The Recruiter's Recruitment Podcast
The podcast destination for all levels of recruiters seeking inspiration to become the best in class.
Welcome to The Recruiter's Recruitment Podcast!

The Recruiters Recruitment Podcast is listened to from all corners of the globe.
Created in the global lockdown of 2020, our audience drop in knowing that they are going to listen to a guest who is a knowledgable leader in their industry willingly sharing their professional and often personal journeys to enable YOU, our precious listener, a chance to learn, self-development and above all else, reflect on your own life and experience. A safe place where we hope to allow you to learn something.

Our host - Lysha Holmes has been in the recruitment industry for almost a quarter of a century and for most of that duration, has championed best practise in the Rec2Rec sphere. A vocal advocate for well-being, Lysha talks openly about sobriety, and her life as a solo parent all whilst running a recruitment business.

Here we are now in 2025- with Season 6 which will focus on the holistic approach to leadership with more experts and inspiring voices from across the recruitment industry and beyond, sharing their experiences with you, our cherished listener!

The Recruiter's Recruitment Podcast is for those who are aspiring future leaders, those who want to improve themselves on their recruitment journey and also those who are running companies now to learn from their peers.

Above all else, we hope you find the podcast to be a positive inspiring place to be.

Watch all the episodes over on our YouTube channel- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEiVMynhdhSz4Qzu2gguHG

----------
This podcast is proudly sponsored by Paiger and a partner to Needi, Diversity in Recruitment, Keybridge IT, & Bristow & Hardy

Sponsor:
Paiger - Making Recruiters Smarter and Faster. Paiger helps recruiters build personal brands, identify new business opportunities, attract candidates, and have better conversations. https://paiger.co/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=sponsor&utm_campaign=recruiters-recruiter

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.
Lou’s team of expert gift finders, save companies time and money, with their complimentary corporate gifting service. From thank-you gifts for small start-ups to well-being events for FTSE 100 companies, Needi helps companies motivate and retain the best staff and clients, through thoughtful, affordable gifting, events and experience days.

Diversity in Recruitment helps recruitment businesses understand diversity, equity, and inclusion in a way that makes sense. Our training and advisory work is designed and delivered by experienced recruiters, giving your teams the insight, tools, and confidence 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.

Keybridge IT Solutions; Providing 24×7 Support to all Customers.
Established in 2010, Keybridge IT Solutions is a London-based Fully Managed IT Support & solutions Provider.
Specialities include Microsoft Cloud - Office 365, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Azure, Security, Internet Connectivity, VoIP, and much more.
Working with many different industries, including Recruitment, Finance, Leisure and the Charity Sector.

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. Find out more here – https://bristowandhardy.co.uk

Don't forget to like and subscribe to our podcast and stay tuned for our episodes!

About your host

Profile picture for Lysha Holmes

Lysha Holmes