For episode 103 of the Quinntessential Questions Podcast, host Paul Quinn sat down with our CEO and co-founder Roger Olofsson for a long, personal conversation. It starts in Luleå, near the Arctic Circle, and runs through Roger's arrival in Singapore in 1996 as an exchange student and almost three decades of recruitment in Asia, up to the decision to build his own firm. The second half turns to AI: the personal crisis it triggered, what pulled him through it, and what he learned turning a traditional recruitment firm into an AI-native business.
From Luleå to Singapore
Roger grew up in Luleå in northern Sweden, near the Arctic Circle, and arrived in Singapore in 1996 as an exchange student with a backpack and a suitcase. The first part of the episode follows that journey, from a childhood far from Asia to job hunting through the Asian financial crisis. It is the backstory to nearly three decades of recruitment in the region.
How recruitment found him twice
Roger narrowly missed out on medical school and ended up in recruitment anyway: recruitment, as he tells it, found him twice. The conversation covers the discreet headhunting call that led him to Robert Walters, what happens when a yes actually means no, and the counteroffer lesson that followed.
Building the firm
The middle of the episode is the founding story: the point at which Roger realised the path he was on was not the life he wanted, meeting his co-founder, the coffee that started the company, and the day in January 2018 when the lights went on. Along the way Paul and Roger explore the difference between being interested, passionate and obsessed.
The AI crisis, and the AI-native firm
Near the end, Roger describes the existential crisis AI sparked for him, what pulled him through it, and why he believes professional services firms that keep working the same way are putting their own future at risk. He then explains how we are building AI agents for recruitment, with the aim of supercharging recruiters rather than replacing them. This is the thinking behind the AI platform our consultants run every search on.
Career advice for the AI era
The episode closes with two pieces of career advice for anyone navigating AI, whether that means a move, a new business or simply staying relevant in their current role. The theme throughout is reinvention.