How a $4M Recruiting Firm Rebuilt After a Brutal Year, with Josh Volinsky

A hot market can hide a lot of problems.

Josh Volinsky and his partners launched Synergy Search in September 2020, and the accounting and finance recruiting firm has reached as high as $6M in revenue. When the market normalized, recruiters who had learned to work transactionally struggled to adapt, a run of hires didn't work out, and the founders recognized that they weren't tracking the activity behind their results.

"We got sloppy. And when you aren't tracking activity in any way, you can't see it coming."

In August 2025, a breakfast conversation between the three founders became the start of what Josh calls the reboot. That October, three recruiters each billed over $100K in a single month. At the time of recording, Synergy has 15 employees and revenue in the mid- to upper-$4 M range.

Josh explains how they introduced accountability into a firm built on freedom, what their scorecard now measures, and why shared office days became part of the reset. He also discusses supporting the team following the death of their colleague Cara, and the training process that has helped accountants become successful recruiters.

In this episode:

How a strong market can disguise weaknesses in your recruiting business

The breakfast question that prompted Synergy's reboot

How conversion data encouraged a top biller to improve

Why Josh prioritizes client interviews, job orders and calls

How a Bullhorn-connected phone system reduced manual administration

Why Synergy hires accountants and trains them to recruit