How UK Recruiters Can Break Into the US Market | Charles Causey, Agile Partnering

Nitin speaks with Charles Causey, founder of Agile Partnering, about how UK recruitment businesses can expand into the US market. The US staffing market offers larger scale, higher margins and less competition for small-to-mid-sized recruiters, but expansion requires careful planning. Charles outlines a practical roadmap for testing, launching and scaling in the US, covering whether to use an Employer of Record, when to establish a US entity, and how to navigate contracting, worker classification, compliance and payroll complexities.

The conversation emphasises that operational complexity should not prevent recruiters from selling. Instead, successful US expansion starts with finding a niche, winning the first client and making the first placement, then bringing in specialist partners to handle back-office operations. Charles and Nitin also explore emerging opportunities across financial services, life sciences, AI, data centres, energy, automation and robotics, and discuss the mindset needed to succeed: backing yourself, being specific about niche and geography, and understanding what success means to you.