RECRUITER HOT 100 COMPANIES 2016
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many other sectors, which go through regular cycles of boom and bust resulting in a roller coaster ride for recruiters, “the law is wonderfully cyclical in many respects”, says Shilton. The happy outcome for SSQ is that demand for lawyers remains constant through thick and thin. As Shilton explains, while economic booms spawn “enormous demand” for transactional lawyers, in tougher times the market shifts, resulting in more demand for employment lawyers and disputes lawyers. In bad times too, “there will be people forced to move upwards and downwards, and we can move them”, while “senior lawyers can move at any time”. “We thrive on boom, and we thrive on chaos, and the chaos that exists in several markets right now because of Brexit and because of America [the election of Donald Trump]. Out of chaos we can make serious money,” adds Quarry. While the unique characteristics of the legal market are undoubtedly factors in SSQ’s success, they don’t explain why it has consistently outperformed other legal recruiters who, after all, operate in exactly the same sector. “We create our own market,” says Quarry. “Rather than wait for a job fill order, we go to clients with propositions as to why you need these lawyers for business reasons.” A case in point was 2016, when SSQ provided the staff to launch two offices for clients in Germany. Quarry says: “We took these propositions to the clients because we are close to senior management and understand their strategy. Our approach was, ‘If you agree that this jurisdiction should be on your radar, here is the solution, here is a team’.” The firm also takes advantage of long-standing relationships with senior lawyers, who in many cases have entrusted their career moves to SSQ. “This gives us the ability to cascade the relationship down to our colleagues who are doing associate recruitment, for example.” In this way, Quarry says they can bypass HR. These an often o senior lawyers have clients who need lawye w r will also so ha lawyers, says. yer ers, s, he h say sa One erentiates itself from ne way w y SSQ SSQ diff ffer eren e competitors mpet p pe ors is th tthatt it it ssticks to legal. Itt ha hass never been to other such en tempted temp tem emp mp t stray tray r into ra into o oth othe e areas, e su suc c as finance “We knitting,” Quarry anc n e or or IT. T. “W W st stick ic ick c tto the ek n ng,” Qu says. Indeed, but a mi mile Indeed Ind eed,, the eed t term rm ‘an ‘an inch ‘a h wide w m i deep niche’ might well d wel elll have have been be invented n ed d for fo o SSQ, which across legal S SS ic ch provides provide rov ovide id s staff ff right i ro o the he e le leg g spectrum from paralegals and associates, up to spe sp p para aral ocia ciates te tes e ,u senior lawyers, partners and General Counsels. se s, pa part ar However, Qua Quarry has taken uarry rry r believes eves tthat SSQ ha en niche to division, o a new new level, lev l with h its interim erim er im div n,
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n meeting Gareth Quarry and Nick Shilton at the London offices of legal recruiter SSQ (previously known as Shilton Sharpe Quarry), neither is wearing a tie. But this does not suggest a more casual approach to business for these two solicitors-turned-legal-recruiters. Remarkably, given the competitive industry in which they ply their trade, little else has changed since 2012 – except the recent rebrand of their corporate identity to SSQ – when the company topped Recruiter’s Hot 100 as the UK's most profitable staffing company based on gross profit (GP) per employee. Four years on – after taking top spot again in 2013, second in 2014 and 2015 – Shilton and Quarry and SSQ are back on top of Recruiter’s Hot 100, with each employee delivering an impressive £191k of GP or net fee income. Founded in 2003 by Shilton and Gavin Sharpe, another lawyer, before being joined by Quarry in 2005, SSQ has enjoyed relentless growth. Between 2010 and 2015, GP more than doubled to £21.5m. In 2016, the company opened an office in Dubai, bringing its international network of offices to 21. In the last four years staff numbers have grown from 75 to 120. “Most of our competitors just have no idea about the goldmine [that] legal is. We have been very fortunate that legal has been off most big players’ radars,” says Quarry, barely disguising his incredulity of how few others have realised how lucrative the sector is. Neither Quarry, SSQ’s executive chairman, nor Shilton, the firm’s CEO, who is in charge of day-to-day running of the business, have made that fatal error. With several thousand lawyers working g in London earning more than an a £1m a year, according to Shilton, ilton, and SSQ being remunerated mune u rat on the basis of 30% to 33% gross 333% of o first-year year ea ear a gr g os compensation, “we nsat we ccan trade extremely mely profitably”, bly” ly”,, says says Quarry some relish. Quarry with w h. If such fat margins are s re enough to makes ess other recruiters’ mouths rrec e ruiiter t s’ m hss water, h er,, th er tthere h are further herr reasons r nss for for or Quarry Quar Qu Qua and Shilton, hilt ilt lton, lt on n who firstt met at legal gal a recruiter Quarry Dougall back in ruiter rui t Qu ter the 1990s, Unlike 90s,, to 90s t be e cheerful. cheerr chee Unlik Unl ik
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