Recruiters riding on rough terrain still break through to FAST 50 ranks
A NEWS
05 Clarity of terms missing in Employment Rights Bill FCSA Forum says detail is still lacking in the new legislation
06 King’s Birthday Honours for leading industry figure OBE for CEO of the REC
07 Trade bodies welcome UK Hiring Taskforce
The launch of the group gets positive response from APSCo and the REC 07 Common sense, not policy HR looks to shed its nursemaid/compliance role
08 Contracts & Deals
B TRENDS
11 Business Advice Tara Ricks: Candidates are the cornerstone of your recruitment strategy
Workplace Checked and balanced: Strengthening immigration compliance 14 Insight Corporate catfishing: Find out why misleading candidates is harming long-term recruitment
16 Tech & Tools
The latest recruitment technology and services
C INTERACTION
FEATURES
THE BIG STORY: FAST 5O
Despite going through challenging times in the past couple of years, the fastestgrowing recruiters have shattered all expectations and made it onto our FAST 5O list
Flying solo Going it alone as a recruiter need not be a lonely place. Meet the solopreneurs who have found the right balance of working independently, as well as finding support when you need to
Leader
Aside from disgust at concert, festival and theatre ticket prices, and the omnipresence of onions to be battled at every eatery out there, my pointed finger of ‘Do something about it!’ is increasingly taking aim at the UK’s ONS for failing to monitor, collate and analyse a significant chunk of our economic data.
If monitored, collated and analysed, data reflecting the working lives, activity levels and health of our 65+ denizens could defog and clarify how this murky domain of economic pioneers is shaping a new dimension in the world of work. This evolving population probably never set out to redefine the world; instead, they simply did not want “what has always been” to define, or redefine, who they are.
“Monitoring, collating and analysing 65+ data should be a priority for government”
At the same time, talent shortages suggest that today and the future portend times of ‘all hands on deck’. If we don’t know or understand those who have disappeared into the mist, how can we use their skills, reskill and just happen to put an economy in growth mode? These questions need to be addressed, as Lucy Standing of Brave Starts, Mike Mansfield of Pro Age and the Rt Hon Chloe Smith, former MP and current CIPD president argued at a ‘Leading the aging workforce opportunity’ event at the House of Lords in June.
Exorbitant ticket prices and omnipresent onions may be lost causes but monitoring, collating and analysing 65+ data should be a priority for government.
DeeDee Doke, Editor
Clarity of terms missing in ERB
BY DEEDEE DOKE
AS THE CONTROVERSIAL Employment Rights Bill moves through the UK Parliament, detail is still lacking on how to approach many planned requirements in the new legislation, speakers told the audience at the FCSA [Freelancer and Contractor Services Association] Forum in Manchester in June.
Not only is “a lot of secondary legislation” still missing from ERB, which is being set out to make major changes to workers’ employment rights, but definitions around phrases such as “light touch” – used to describe how employers are expected to implement workplace requirements – have not been specified. “We don’t know what ‘light touch’ means at the moment,” admitted Simon Whitehead, partner at law firm Brabners.
In the current knowledge gap between proposed changes to employment laws and clarification of guidelines and fine print of applying new rules, it is hard to prepare for the anticipated requirements, Whitehead and other speakers emphasised. At the same time, some changes threaten such dramatic impact, such as day one unfair dismissal rights in particular, that not getting a handle on how to manage them early on will leave employers and others on the back foot. Whitehead predicted “an absolute nightmare” around discharging conditions for umbrella workers, telling umbrella company owners that “the first time you’ll know about it [the end-user client discharging an umbrella company worker] is going to be when they’ve been terminated”.
But he recommended employers and umbrella companies “hold off on updating contracts and changing policies” until more clarification is available. The new day one unfair dismissal rights law will lead to more employment tribunal claims, he predicted.
“The reality is that the employment tribunal system is broken,” Whitehead warned.
38,201 FOLLOWERS
Carberry awarded OBE in King’s Birthday Honours list
BY DEEDEE DOKE
NEIL CARBERRY, CEO of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation, has been appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). He was appointed to the REC role in June 2018 having previously been MD at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
A leading voice of the recruitment industry, Carberry began his career in recruitment in 1999 working for executive search firm Fraser Watson before doing a post-graduate degree in Human Resources at the London School of Economics and joining the CBI in 2004. He is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD, a Freeman of the
Company of HR Professionals and a Fellow of the RSA. He spent a decade on the council of the conciliation service Acas and is also on the board of the World Employment Confederation and a multi-academy trust in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.
Paying tribute to Carberry, REC chair Michelle Mellor said: “Working closely with Neil over the last 18 months as chair of the REC, he brings a rare and powerful combination of deep labour market insight and sharp business acumen. With a career spanning both recruitment and high-level policy leadership, Neil understands the human side
of economic growth better than most.
“In a time of disruption and transformation, Neil’s voice is one of experience, clarity and forward-looking leadership. I and the whole REC board could not be more thrilled to see him receive this well-deserved honour, recognising not only his remarkable talent and unwavering passion for this exceptional membership organisation, but also his outstanding contribution to the broader business and
economic landscape throughout a distinguished career.”
Commenting on his award, Carberry said: “I am deeply honoured to be nominated for the OBE and would like to thank His Majesty the King. At a time when the growth of our economy is the only way to raise living standards, this award is a recognition of the vital role that British business, and our talent firms in particular, play in changing lives for the better.”
No women at the UK Hiring Taskforce table
BY DEEDEE DOKE
THE LAUNCH OF the UK Hiring Taskforce highlighted a gaping missing element of the noble ambitions of the association.
At the launch of the Better Hiring Institute’s taskforce on 16 May, little was left unsaid about the worthiness of the mission to improve the ways that UK employers hire their employees or the good intentions behind the scheme.
However, as one attendee whispered during the proceedings:
“It’s sort of the ‘elephant in the room’, isn’t it?” So what was missing from the picture?
On a taskforce leadership panel of six individuals identified as “the team behind the Taskforce”, all six were men: Viscount Camrose, Joe Robertson MP, Lord Holmes, Keith Rosser of the BHI and Reed Screening, Lee Barron MP and Peter Cheese, CEO of the CIPD.
In a subsequent conversation with Viscount Camrose, who will be the honorary president of the planned association of recruitment technology
providers, he told Recruiter that the lack of women on the list was “probably simply an accident of how the invitations were responded to… But let me just say clearly that this will not work without appropriate diversity or viewpoint and that really does mean women, a range of age groups represented and so on. I’m very sincere in this wish”.
He added: “I always go back to the example of the early design of our seat belts – they were all designed by teams of men, and as a result, the first versions didn’t really work.”
Trade bodies welcome UK Hiring Taskforce
BY DEEDEE DOKE
THE MAY 2025 launch of the UK Hiring Taskforce was welcomed by leaders of the UK’s two leading recruitment trade bodies. The Taskforce, intended to make hiring by employers faster and smoother, was seen as measures that could encourage skill-based workforce planning and recruitment.
It consists of members of Parliament and expert HR specialists who say they are committed to transforming how UK employers hire through developing policy, reimaging strategy and exploring recruitment technology that can help deliver “fast and fair” hiring. Another phase of the taskforce plan, initiated by the Better Hiring Institute, is to start a recruitment technology trade organisation to help employers make sense of the vast rec tech available for their hiring needs. End-user employers and others with interest in hiring have also been invited to sign on to the taskforce and its activities.
Samantha Hurley, MD of the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo), attended the launch at Parliament and told Recruiter that she was “heartened” by the
coming together of “the end-client community is coming together to focus on these important issues”.
She added: “I think the recruitment sector has been working to improve the candidate recruitment experience for a long time... So raising the issues of fairness, safety and efficiency in the recruitment process with this community is fundamental to real progress.”
Neil Carberry OBE, CEO of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC), told Recruiter: “In every chat we have with officials, whether about the Employment Rights Bill, skills, the Industrial Strategy, AI, etc, we keep going back to what’s the labour market we need to get to if we are going to achieve growth”.
Asked about the potential outcomes for the taskforce, Hurley said: “I’d hope that we will see increased collaboration throughout the supply chain, which will ultimately support a fair and appropriate process for candidates… This should encourage a skills-based recruitment system that looks at innate traits in candidates who can then be trained to do the job, rather than x years of experience and qualifications.”
Common sense, not policy for HR
BY DEEDEE DOKE
HR as a profession is trying to shed its “compliance officer or nursemaid” role.
This is in favour of a “more adult-toadult” approach to operating in the workplace of a disrupted world, a selfdescribed ‘recovering HR director’ has told an audience of recruiters.
Businesses including reinsurance provider Swiss Re and service retailer Timpson’s are discovering that “HR becomes less about the policy adviser or the expert and instead helping the manager to say, ‘What’s the right thing for this person, what’s the right thing for this situation?’,” said Lucy Adams, a keynote speaker at the Recruitment & Employment Confederation’s RECLive 25 conference in June. “You know what – you’re a grownup. We’re not going to track your time off. We’re not going to decide how many days you can have for grieving… take the time you need. We’ve got your back.”
Adams has held board-level HR roles in organisations such as the BBC but now works as a consultant to bring outside experience and wisdom to global HR operations. She is the author of The HR Change Toolkit and HR Disrupted: It’s Time for Something Different
She referenced the ‘return to office’ (RTO) mandate implemented by some organisations this year, saying: “You must just die every time another company does the [RTO]; it just made your job harder.”
Today, the new skills for “great HR”, Adams said, are “consultancy, coaching, facilitation – not immediately giving them the answer and being the expert”. Common sense, not policy, should be the source of managerial judgement, she went on to say. Ultimately, the HR community cannot “legislate for everything”.
JOINT AND SEVERAL LIABILITY IS ON THE HORIZON
Due diligence just became a businesscritical priority
THE PROPOSED INTRODUCTION
of joint and several liability (JSL) for PAYE between recruitment agencies and umbrella companies will mark a significant shift in the compliance landscape. For the first time, agencies will no longer be able to claim plausible deniability when things go wrong in their supply chain. If an umbrella company fails to meet its tax obligations or is found to be operating noncompliantly, the agency that placed the worker could now be held just as accountable for any PAYE shortfalls.
This change is not just legislative nuance; it’s a direct call to action for recruitment agencies to overhaul how they vet and manage their preferred supplier lists (PSLs). In short: the quality of an agency’s umbrella partners is now inextricably linked to the agency’s own financial and reputational health.
Accreditation is no longer a ‘nice to have’
For years, Freelancer and Contractor Services Association
(FCSA) has championed best practice and transparency in umbrella sector. Agencies that work with FCSA-accredited members benefit from the reassurance that those providers have undergone the most stringent compliance assessments in the industry.
FCSA accreditation isn’t just a hallmark of quality – it’s a risk mitigation tool. Agencies can no longer afford to include umbrella companies on their PSLs that haven’t been robustly audited against established standards. FCSA’s 600-plus point assessment process includes financial, legal and operational checks carried out by independent regulated assessors — providing a level of scrutiny that self-certification or informal “trust” simply can’t match.
Diligence Hub and veriPAYE: strengthening your compliance framework To support this increased burden on agencies, FCSA has introduced Diligence Hub — a smart, centralised due diligence platform designed to help agencies document, monitor and update compliance checks on their PSLs. This tool allows recruiters to confidently demonstrate their due diligence processes in the event of any HMRC scrutiny, while also streamlining supplier management.
Similarly, FCSA’s veriPAYE tool is a powerful compliance assurance platform that verifies PAYE tax payments by umbrella
companies to your workers and contractors. Agencies using veriPAYE gain unprecedented visibility into whether their supply chain partners are genuinely operating within the law — not just claiming to be. This level of transparency is essential in a post-JSL environment, where relying on surface-level promises or outdated audits is simply too risky.
Protecting workers, clients — and your business Joint and several liability is ultimately about accountability, ensuring that everyone in the labour supply chain plays their part in upholding tax and employment law. But for agencies, this accountability must be matched with action.
The safest and most commercially sensible decision an agency can make today is to partner only with FCSA-accredited umbrella companies and use platforms like Diligence Hub and veriPAYE to maintain active, auditable compliance oversight. The regulatory landscape is changing fast. Agencies that adapt now, and take due diligence seriously, will not only stay on the right side of the law but also stand out to clients and contractors as trustworthy, reliable partners in a complex world.
CONTRACTS & DEALS
Humly
Digital education recruitment platform
Humly has finalised the purchase of Londonbased supply agency Future Education. After five acquisitions and rebrands across the North, South and Midlands since 2021, Sweden-headquartered Humly says it aims to revolutionise the supply education sector with its digital marketplace, connecting educators, schools and nurseries “with ease and at scale”.
Consulting, a Bristol-based specialist tech recruitment firm with over 15 years’ industry experience, has secured a six-figure investment from the British Business Bank’s
AMS
AMS, the global talent acquisition and consulting business, has been appointed by anti-ageism advocacy organisation 55/ Redefined as its exclusive global recruitment process outsourcing partner, marking a major step in advancing age-inclusive hiring practices worldwide. The partnership aims to embed age-diverse recruitment strategies across permanent and contingent hiring, helping businesses attract and retain over-50s talent.
DEAL OF THE MONTH
Org Group
Multinational professional services provider Org Group has acquired Manchester-based technology recruiting firm Venturi. The move extends Org Group’s reach across key markets including Germany, the UK and into the US.
Headed by CEO Seb O’Connell, Org Group employs over 3,000 people in 10 countries, with operating subsidiaries including global talent services firm Morgan McKinley, business process managed services company Abtran, and advisory and technology services firm Org Advisory.
This latest acquisition will complement the capabilities of the group’s Org Advisory and Technology Services teams,
Kyloe Partners
Kyloe Partners, a SaaS provider in recruitment technology, has acquired the intellectual property for Connect IT Apps from investment firm Twenty20 Capital. This suite of recruitment applications is led by its onboarding app, which has onboarded millions of applicants to date and continues to process thousands of candidates each month. This acquisition expands Kyloe’s range of Bullhorn-integrated products.
Morson Group
Morson Group has acquired US-based technical recruiter PTS Advance. The move marks a milestone in Morson’s international growth strategy and significantly broadens its capabilities across North America’s energy, infrastructure and advanced manufacturing sectors. PTS Advance is a large specialist provider of technical talent to the US’s oil, gas, chemicals, power, renewables, construction, infrastructure and manufacturing industries.
Portfolio Payroll
specialising in digital transformation, workforce technology enablement and organisational design for technologydriven change.
Venturi specialises in recruiting for key digital disciplines. The company is headquartered in Manchester with offices in New York and Düsseldorf. Its expertise includes data and analytics, software engineering, enterprise resources planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) solutions.
Venturi founder and managing director Brad Lamb and the company’s leadership team and people will remain with the company inside the Org Group.
Payroll recruitment agency Portfolio Payroll is part of a newly unveiled strategic partnership with The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP). With over 35 years in the market, Portfolio Payroll has worked closely with the CIPP for over two decades, notably as the headline sponsor of National Payroll Week since its inception. The CIPP currently represents over 100,000 payroll professionals and, by joining up, it reinforces the CIPP’s role in leading and advocating for the profession while leveraging Portfolio Payroll’s recruitment expertise to spotlight the career opportunities within the sector.
The Curve Group
The Curve Group has secured a two-year agreement with Inprova to act as its exclusive recruitment process outsourcing provider. Inprova, a B Corp certified procurement partner, supports clients across public and private sectors with consultancy and technology-enabled procurement solutions.
Firmus Consulting Firmus
South West Investment Fund, managed by FW Capital.
WHY RECRUITERS CAN’T BE COMPLACENT ABOUT COMPLIANCE
Increased enforcement, tighter expectations and growing risks mean Right to Work checks must be at the heart of every temp recruiter’s process
AS THE FOCUS ON IMMIGRATION enforcement accelerates, temporary recruiters find themselves squarely in the compliance spotlight. The Home Office’s own figures speak volumes: since July 2024, there have been:
● 9,000+ enforcement visits to UK businesses
● 6,400+ arrests for illegal working — a 51% year-on-year increase
● 1,000+ arrests in Wales and South-West England — a 114% jump
● 48% rise in arrests in Northern Ireland.
Among those penalised were temp and healthcare recruiters, as well as recruitment platforms. This is no longer about warning signs — this is enforcement in action.
“While tackling illegal working and exploitation is crucial, this initiative also demonstrates how easily the Home Office can target non-compliant businesses,” said Ashley Stothard, immigration executive at national law firm Freeths, when speaking in March.
So why does this matter so acutely for temp recruiters?
1. Fast hiring = fragile compliance
Temporary recruitment is high-volume, high-speed and often decentralised. Consultants work across multiple roles and clients, onboarding candidates
quickly to meet urgent demand. That pace, while necessary, can create a perfect storm for compliance issues:
● Remote or hybrid onboarding
● Short notice placements
● Time pressure to fill urgent shifts
● Paper-based or inconsistent processes.
It’s within that environment that a single missed cheque or forged document can slip through — exposing agencies and their clients to fines and reputational damage.
2. Recruiters are held accountable
Historically, some recruiters may have assumed that the responsibility for Right to Work (RtW) checks sat purely with the end employer. But recent enforcement shows otherwise. Agencies are being fined — regardless of intent — for placing individuals who are later found to be working illegally.
And it’s not just fines on the table. There’s reputational damage, lost contracts, and even the risk of being named publicly in Home Office communications.
3. Clients expect compliance, not just candidates
The role of a recruiter is evolving. Clients now expect more than speed and reach — they expect legal assurance. In the current climate, where immigration is politically sensitive and heavily scrutinised, employers want trusted partners who can help them stay compliant. That means agencies need to move from being purely resourcing providers to becoming compliance partners, especially in the temp and contingent space.
4. Manual checks may no longer cut it
Manual RtW checks are increasingly risky — especially across multiple consultants, branches or geographies. They’re vulnerable to error, inconsistency and fraud. Add in remote working and umbrella arrangements, and it becomes harder still to maintain a clear, auditable trail.
That’s why many recruiters are turning to digital verification tools, such as those offered by TrustID, which can:
● Instantly verify identity documents or share codes
● Create tamper-proof audit trails
● Support remote and high-volume onboarding
● Align with Home Office guidance
● Free up consultants from adminheavy compliance tasks.
At TrustID, our fraud trends reveal that for several years, recruitment agencies have featured among the sectors most commonly targeted by fraudsters attempting to gain illegal work. Today, with enforcement ramping up and recruiters now visibly in the firing line, the stakes are higher than ever.
Temporary agencies that invest in robust digital RtW processes aren’t just protecting themselves and their clients but building a competitive advantage.
• For more information, visit www.trustid.co.uk
BUSINESS ADVICE
CANDIDATES: THE CORNERSTONE OF YOUR RECRUITMENT STRATEGY
IN OUR INDUSTRY, client relationships often dominate the boardroom discussion. Business development, retention and hiring manager engagement are seen as the primary levers of growth. However, while it’s true that clients are the ones signing the contracts, it’s candidates who deliver the value. Without access to high quality, expertly screened candidates who are engaged in your client’s brand, even the most lucrative client brief is worthless. For recruitment businesses aiming to build long-term sustainable growth, candidate acquisition must be treated not as an operational necessity, but as a strategic priority.
Candidates are our product
The candidate is your core offering. Your clients are buying access to talent, not your pitch deck, not your CRM and not your brand. A recruitment business that lacks a differentiated and reliable supply of high-quality candidates has nothing to sell.
It can be easy to focus on signing new clients without considering the implications of delivery. But candidate-led recruitment flips the script: build the candidate pool first, then match it to demand.
Market differentiation comes from talent access
In our often-saturated recruitment markets, differentiation on service offering alone is rare. True competitive edge comes from your ability to access, engage and convert candidates that your competition cannot. This requires a clear and continuous candidate acquisition strategy that treats candidates like customers. Just as your client acquisition is fuelled by marketing, brand-building and outreach, so too should candidate acquisition be. The strongest recruitment businesses operate with a market mindset – building pipelines of pre-qualified candidates long before they are needed.
Candidate experience builds your reputation
Reputation is shaped not just by how candidates perceive your brand, but by how candidates experience you. In an era where reviews, referrals and personal branding influence every job search, candidate satisfaction is a significant growth lever.
A poor candidate experience – for example, inconsistent communication, lack of feedback and impersonal interactions – damages brand equity and consequently long-term viability. On the other hand, a candidate-centric culture builds trust, generates referrals and drives re-engagement, turning past placements into future pipelines.
Tara Ricks
Co-chair of Elite Leaders
The
war for talent is real – and persistent
From tech to healthcare to executive leadership, talent shortages aren’t cyclical, they are structural. We are operating in a candidate-driven market where passive talent often holds the power. Winning the attention and trust of these individuals takes time and consistency. Recruitment firms must invest in ongoing talent engagement – through content, thought leadership, community building and value add communication.
When a business has a strong candidate pipeline, fill rates increase, time-to-fill decreases and client satisfaction improves, with a positive impact on revenue and margin. Relying solely on reactive candidate sourcing leads to higher costs, greater inefficiency and reduced agility.
Building a candidate centric-culture
To truly prioritise candidate acquisition, your business must embed it into your DNA. This includes:
● incentivising consultants – not just on placements but on quality of candidate engagement and pipeline health
● investing in technology that enables sourcing, segmentation and personalisation at scale
● treating candidates like clients, with the same care, diligence and attention to detail.
When candidates are respected, valued and proactively matched, everyone wins. Client acquisition fuels the top line, but candidate acquisition drives the engine! ●
TARA RICKS is a non-executive director, co-chair of Elite Leaders and director of Consulting Eve.
Checked and balanced Strengthening immigration compliance
BY SIMON KENNY
Immigration compliance has become an increasingly important responsibility for UK organisations employing overseas staff. The consequences of non-compliance are severe, as employers can be fined up to £60k per illegal worker employed. Sponsor licence holders risk suspension or revocation of their licence, putting continued access to international talent at risk.
Applying for a Certificate of Sponsorship may appear straightforward, but the associated obligations are often more complex than initially anticipated. As organisations expand their international hiring, the challenge of maintaining compliant systems increases.
Escalating enforcement measures
There have been immigration compliance requirements for many years but sponsors often report they have had no previous contact with UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI). This may be about to change.
The current UK government has significantly increased immigration enforcement efforts. Between July 2024
and January 2025, immigration enforcement visits and arrests rose by around 38% compared to the same period the previous year. In January 2025, workplace raids increased by 48% and arrests rose by 73% compared to January 2024. Sponsor licence suspensions and revocations have seen a more dramatic increase.
In 2024, there was a 245% increase in Skilled Worker sponsor licence
suspensions and a 396% rise in revocations, with 1,494 licences revoked in total. These enforcement actions are actively publicised by UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI), amplifying the reputational risks of non-compliance. UKVI has expanded the use of virtual compliance checks and adopted a more process-driven approach to reviewing sponsor licence applications and Certificates of Sponsorship. The overall
trend points to more frequent, rigorous and data-driven assessments, with a lower tolerance for non-compliance. It has become more important for employers to fully understand their responsibilities and to implement effective compliance procedures. Proactive investment in systems and training can prevent costly and disruptive enforcement action tomorrow.
What is UKVI looking for?
UKVI’s central concern during a compliance assessment is whether an organisation poses “a threat to immigration control”. Sponsors must demonstrate that right-to-work checks are consistently conducted and embedded into their recruitment process. No individual should be permitted to begin employment until their right to work has been verified and recorded.
In addition to right-to-work checks, licensed sponsors are required to:
● maintain accurate and up-to-date records for all sponsored employees
● report key changes, such as job role alterations, changes of work location or changes in employee status
● comply with all sponsor guidance and UK immigration laws.
UKVI has published detailed guidance explaining the concept of what constitutes a “threat to immigration control”. The message is clear: compliance must be systematic, demonstrable and integral to day-to-day operations.
Preparing for a compliance check
A compliance visit is an opportunity to demonstrate the strength and reliability of your systems.
One of the most effective preparation methods is to conduct internal audits. These help to identify weaknesses before UKVI does. Internal audits generally focus on whether right-to-work systems correctly identify if employees do hold permission to work in the UK. In addition, evidence is needed that the five sponsor duties are being met: the company is keeping the right records regarding those it sponsors, reporting when key events happen, is complying with both UK immigration and employment law, and is not engaging in behaviour that is not conducive to the public good.
Every sponsored worker’s personnel file should include clear, well-organised documentation showing how and why they meet sponsorship requirements. These
records should be readily accessible and consistently maintained.
Policies and procedures must be up-to-date and aligned with UKVI guidance. This includes protocols for right-to-work checks, record keeping, reporting duties and processes for assigning Certificates of Sponsorship. UKVI will assess not only the existence of these policies but also their consistent implementation.
Training is equally important. Staff responsible for immigration compliance must be well-informed, capable of explaining processes and confident in responding to questions during a visit. If there have been any past issues, prepare a detailed risk assessment outlining what went wrong, what remedial action has been taken and how future problems will be avoided.
Why HR must take the lead
Immigration compliance should be at the forefront of HR strategy. With greater enforcement activity and more stringent assessments, sponsor licence suspensions and application refusals are becoming increasingly common – and this trend is expected to continue.
Recent government proposals, including extending the required sponsorship period before settlement to 10 years, suggest that the number of long-term sponsored workers could rise significantly. This will place additional pressure on organisations to ensure they are fully compliant.
HR professionals must treat compliance as a core part of workforce planning. Systems should be built to ensure real-time tracking of obligations, and key staff should be equipped to always maintain audit readiness. The goal is not only to avoid penalties but to secure continued access to the international talent that drives business growth. ●
↗ SIMON KENNY is immigration and global mobility partner at Spencer West
CORPORATE CATFISHING
Why misleading job candidates is harming long-term recruitment
BY SARAH SWAIN
When I first wrote about ‘corporate catfishing’ on LinkedIn, I expected a few likes in recognition. Instead, my inbox exploded.
Dozens of people contacted me with their own stories about being misled during the recruitment process. These weren’t simply complaints about tough jobs. They were real experiences of roles significantly different from the ones advertised.
The patterns were clear: one professional’s remote work contract meant “work from home and nowhere else” – with the CEO checking access logs. Another was told “I would ‘own marketing’. Instead, I was planning birthday parties, watering plants and playing office manager with a Canva login.” A third signed a remote-only contract, only to be told two weeks in that office attendance every Tuesday and Thursday “was not optional”.
Sound familiar? If you’re a recruiter, it should. Because, while employers often make the promises, recruiters are the ones delivering the pitch. And when reality doesn’t match, it’s often the recruiter the candidate remembers.
The hidden cost of the bait and switch
What many recruiters don’t realise is that overselling a role creates a ripple effect that damages your company’s brand, reduces retention and makes future hiring infinitely harder.
That candidate who signed up for an ‘autonomous’ role and found themselves micro-managed? They’re updating LinkedIn, talking to their networks and sharing their experiences. Your next great recruit might be reading those reviews right now.
The stories in my inbox prove this. One person left a secure leadership role after being promised “autonomy and a path to MD”. They were explicit about not wanting sales targets – the company agreed. But “from day one, all they asked about was revenue. I was isolated, ignored and publicly undermined”. When they opened up about postnatal depression, their manager said they were “too emotional”.
Even in-house talent acquisition professionals must keep an eye on organisations and their promises. Consider one recruit who received an internal promotion: this individual shared how they were “promoted to a head of department role at my dream company. The CEO personally approved it. The moment I signed, they pulled the pay rise.” Soon after, they quit the role, which they achieved with an internal promotion, after over a decade with the company.
This kind of over-embellishing puts your credibility on the line when you have been involved with the recruitment, internal or external. In today’s market, candidates have long memories — and longerlasting screenshots!
What recruiters need to understand
Candidates are making life decisions based on what you tell them. They’re turning down other offers and reshaping their career — all because of what was promised in an interview.
The stakes are high. One respondent was “made redundant after seven
months. No HR. No warning. Just a verbal conversation with the founders” – never receiving anything in writing. Another joined a consultancy that “talked about ethics and public outcomes in the interview, but once I was in, the founder made it clear – profit was the only thing that mattered”. They lasted seven weeks.
Recruiters are translators — the bridge between what companies think they’re offering and what candidates believe they’re signing up for. If you’re not probing into team dynamics, leadership style or unspoken expectations, you may be unintentionally ‘catfishing’ candidates.
The dysfunction runs deep. One professional discovered their “employee record was not even connected to the main HR system –three years after a merger”.
The best candidates are increasingly dropping out if something feels off.
Meanwhile, transparent competitors are snapping them up.
Getting honest about what works
The solution requires courage. If a role involves long hours, high-pressure situations or office attendance, say so upfront.
Even positive initiatives can deceive. One person described a “glossy wellbeing programme, but if you actually attended any of the sessions, your manager made it clear they were not impressed”.
Most candidates can work with reality. What they can’t work with is discovering that reality three months into roles they had been excited about.
For agency recruiters: candidate trust is your currency. If you burn it on misaligned roles, your reputation suffers too. The best employer brands aren’t built on perfect jobs – they're built on honest ones. ●
POWER POINTS
Red flags to avoid
● Flexibility fraud: Don’t advertise ‘remote work’ if you mean ‘work only from home’ or plan to introduce office requirements later. Be specific about location expectations from day one.
● Role scope switching: If you’re hiring a strategist who’ll also need to manage operations, social media or admin tasks, say so upfront.
The ‘unicorn marketer’ myth sets everyone up for failure.
● Compensation promises: Never pull approved pay rises or equity packages after someone accepts. If budget constraints exist, address them before making offers.
● Culture misrepresentation: Stop advertising ‘wellbeing-focused’ environments if attending wellness sessions earns disapproval or promoting ‘autonomous’ roles that come with micro-management.
● Sales bait and switch: If revenue targets are part of the role, include them in the job description. Don’t spring sales expectations on candidates who explicitly stated they wouldn’t take on targets.
What actually works
● Radical honesty: Describe the real challenges, pressures and expectations. Most candidates prefer difficult truths to pleasant lies.
● Clear role boundaries: Be specific about what the job entails day-today, not just the aspirational vision.
● Transparent timelines: If company changes, restructures or budget shifts are possible, acknowledge this uncertainty rather than making promises you can’t keep.
● Consistent messaging: Ensure everyone involved in your hiring process – from initial calls to final interviews – tells the same story about role expectations, culture and working arrangements.
● The bottom line: Recruiters are in a powerful position to prevent corporate catfishing. Ask the awkward questions. Push for clarity. Be the voice of reality. In doing so, you’ll protect your candidates, your clients – and your own reputation.
↗
SARAH SWAIN is UK & US marketing director at Welcome to the Jungle
TECH & TOOLS
IN FOCUS: Browsing the metaverse
BY SUE WEEKES
The metaverse promises much for the recruitment and HR sectors. A digital 3D immersive universe where users can engage in a range of activities — surely it forms the next logical step in areas such as online interviewing and onboarding?
Up until now, though, it has been hard to visualise quite how it could manifest itself in the sector without technical help. Moreover, the area has so far been dominated by walled gardens — an online area or ecosystem typically controlled by a single provider — and, like many emerging technologies, also suffers from interoperability issues.
US technology company RP1, however, is hoping to change that with the launch of what it claims is the world’s first metaverse browser. Spokesperson David Nassau says: “Think of what we’re building as an equivalent to the web.”
The Metaverse Browser provides instant, real-time access to 3D virtual reality (VR) and augmented
reality (AR) content (spaces and services). Just as browsers such as Chrome, Safari and Edge render content on the World Wide Web, the RP1 Metaverse Browser renders content on the metaverse. The former weren’t originally designed for immersive, 3D, real-time content or applications that utilise AR glasses, but RP1’s offering has been built from the ground up for “the spatial internet” and spatial experiences. Its bold claim is that it will connect “the entire global population” with 3D content inside a single extended reality (XR) ecosystem across all sectors, including education, commerce, entertainment and work.
RP1 says no single company will own the infrastructure of the metaverse, and its browser lets
developers and businesses build and deploy spatial software on their own server infrastructure with full ownership and control while remaining “fully discoverable” and accessible across devices. No app downloads or installations are required, rather it is used just like a web browser. It claims any individual or company will be able to experience and build spaces or services with third-party tools as opposed to other walled garden 3D platforms.
“Tools like 2D video calls can be equated to 3D meeting spaces in the 3D metaverse and Zoom/ Google Hangout meetings can now be done in 3D for free with any number of attendees, for any amount of time — no restrictions,” says Nassau.
He goes on to say that recruiters could use the browser to connect and interview anytime, anywhere in the world, on any device (mobile, PC, VR headsets and AR glasses).
“Like the open web, where anyone can build, develop or create their own spaces, tools, and services with open standards like HTML, CSS and JavaScript — now they can for 3D spatial experiences,” says Nassau. “Also, like the web, people can selfhost their own content to make it viewable by the Metaverse Browser. No company is going to build recruiting and HR practices in a walled garden. With RP1’s browser, self-hosting means you keep your own data and maintain your own space on your own terms.”
The RPI metaverse browser was launched at the Augmented World Expo extended reality event in the US in June. At the launch, RP1 said: “In the future, businesses won’t just have websites; they’ll have interactive, 3D locations where AI greets customers, guides them to products, and powers everything from employee training to inventory. This transformation will revolutionise every industry.” There is bound to be a degree of hype and excitement around anything that claims revolutionary status, and it remains early days. But if this does mark the next evolution of the internet, it is never too early to start considering the practical implications of the technology for our sector. ●
IN BRIEF
Following on from our exploration of agentic AI in the recruitment sector in the April-May issue of Recruiter, we round up some of the latest developments in this area.
Scaling without increasing headcount
Bullhorn has launched its nextgeneration AI solution for recruitment and staffing firms. It claims its Amplify platform will allow recruitment firms to scale without increasing headcount. Amplify uses generative AI and autonomous agents to blend human and digital labour. Bullhorn says Amplify can be built to adapt to the needs of different recruitment organisations and agents can be deployed directly within their workflows to handle specific tasks.
www.bullhorn.com
High-volume CV screening
HiPeople is introducing a CV screening tool for high-volume recruitment. HiPeople AI Resume Screening uses large language models to interpret résumés contextually and only evaluates the skills, experience and criteria that TA teams define. It claims to reduce bias in evaluations by anonymising CVs (for instance, it ignores age, gender, names and graduation dates). www.hipeople.io
End of the ATS era?
SmartRecruiters is heralding the end of the ‘ATS [applicant tracking system] era’ with the launch of its AI-powered hiring platform. Central to the platform is Winston, an agentic AI companion that claims to eliminate administrative complexity, adapt to the user and learn from its environment. The full platform comprises Winston Chat, Winston Match, Winston Screen, Winston Companion and SmartOS. www.smartrecruiters.com
Networking with AI agents
Workday has announced the Workday Partner Network, a global ecosystem of partners building AI agents that will connect with the Workday Agent System of Record (ASOR). Major companies, including Accenture, Adobe, Google Cloud, Deloitte, Microsoft and PwC, will work with Workday to help joint customers “thrive” in a future where AI agents are a central part of how work gets done. www.workday.com
AI and the recruitment free-for-all
Keeping up to speed
BY CAROLINE SMITH
There is plenty of anecdotal and qualitative evidence, including HireRight’s own recent global research, showing that many key HR functions — such as talent acquisition, onboarding, engagement and retention — are looking at ways to leverage generative AI (GenAI) tools.
But while most businesses have a shared curiosity about their potential applications, when it comes to these companies’ views on candidates using similar technology to support their job applications, they are not so closely aligned.
On the one hand, some may feel like any use of AI tools to potentially enhance a CV or cover letter is ‘cheating’ and could misrepresent the candidate if it is not entirely produced by themselves. AI tools certainly could be used to create the ‘perfect’ CV or covering letter for a job, which may not be an entirely truthful representation of the skills and experience of the candidate. Also, not all candidates will be familiar with, or comfortable using, AI tools, so does this mean individuals using these tools have an unfair advantage?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, when it comes to how comfortable employers are with candidates using GenAI tools to assist with their job applications or CVs, the EMEA-based respondents of our 2025 Global Benchmark
Survey were mostly still undecided. In fact, while 72% of respondents responded ‘neutral/not sure’, the rest were equally split between believing it has a positive impact — given that it can help them find the best-matched talent more quickly — and feeling negatively about it, thinking that it could be being used to embellish the candidate’s genuine experience to mislead the prospective employer.
On the other hand, long before AI entered the zeitgeist, individuals have been tailoring details on their CVs to give them an advantage in the recruitment process. Is it fair to assume that anybody using AI tools to support their job applications is doing so to secure a job for which they are ultimately underqualified? You could also argue that a candidate’s familiarity with AI tools is part of their skillset so why shouldn’t they be allowed to use these tools to help put their best foot forward with their application?
CAROLINE SMITH is VP, deputy general counsel, HireRight
Another consideration is that many employers themselves are already using AI tools in their recruitment processes — for example, to help sift through high volumes of job applications to help identify the candidates that most closely match the job description. If this is the case, why shouldn’t candidates be able to use the tools they have available to them to ensure they stand the best chance of making it through to the initial selection process? If your company takes this stance, it is especially important that you have a robust interviewing process and pre-employment screening programme in place to help determine a candidate’s suitability for a role and uncover any misrepresentation (eg. if false claims were made about past employment, academic history or professional qualifications).
Ultimately, it is up to each organisation to determine if they are comfortable with their candidates using AI tools in their job applications or not. Those that aren’t in favour will need to figure out how to deter candidates from using these tools, and, possibly more importantly, detecting when they have been used.
Our research found that 29% of EMEA-based survey respondents had ‘little or no confidence’ that they could identify when candidates have used GenAI tools (eg. ChatGPT) to assist with
“What are your experiences with receiving CVs that have used ChatGPT or other generative AI tools?”
their job applications or CVs. Just 4% said they were ‘very confident’ they could identify when a GenAI tool had been used. For those wanting greater assurance, they could include their company’s stance on candidates using AI tools within their job listings or consider specialist tools to help detect if AI has been used on their candidates’ job applications. Whatever your organisation decides, AI is likely to have a significant impact on the employment process in the coming years — for both businesses and candidates — so keeping up to speed with the latest developments from a regulatory and technological perspective is crucial. Finding opportunities for your company to merge the benefits of human expertise and AI-driven advancements will be imperative to navigating this rapid change within the hiring process. ●
• To find out more about the EU AI Act and how future regulation of AI in the UK could affect your business, download HireRight’s latest eBook, The Impact of AI on the Employment Process https://shorturl.at/ENRY8
SANCHES CLARKE
AGILE PRACTICE CONSULTANT, LA FOSSE
“It’s obvious when candidates use AI to write their CVs. Even though the information is unique, the tone of voice, structure and delivery is often the same. Recruitment paralysis is a real thing, and I believe AI is a huge contributor to this. Talent teams use AI to create job ads, applicants apply with AI-generated CVs, and then AI powered application tracking systems automatically reject the candidate who applied this way. It’s a never-ending cycle of unfilled roles. There’s value in efficiency, but recruitment needs human connection to be successful.”
LEO HARRISON
CEO & FOUNDER, CHAPTER 2
“We’ve definitely seen an increase in CVs and applications using AI tools. Sometimes it can be a good thing — it tightens up the language, polishes the overall message and offers clarity. However, in some instances it can remove the person’s personality and what makes them human. At Chapter 2, we embrace AI and are genuinely excited about its potential in talent acquisition. The strongest candidates are the ones who use AI tools to polish their voice, not replace it. We want to see what motivates people, what drives them, why they’d be a good fit for the role. Authenticity is key.”
JULIET TAYLOR
CEO, STARFISH SEARCH
“It’s easy to tell if an application has been produced using ChatGPT; very few are completed properly, leaving gaps or offering formulaic or impersonal content that can be remote from the context of the role in question. When people use AI to apply, they’re signalling to me that they aren’t thinking enough about the job and are probably not invested in the role. Organisational culture and context are such important considerations in any persuasive job application. ChatGPT has no facility to reflect on this, whereas applications that do go straight to the top of the pile.”
This year’s FAST 50 sees a normalisation of growth rates, while the sector continues to experience a more challenging market backdrop
ith the pandemic now truly in the rearview mirror, the expectation is that growth rates will fall back in line with the long-term average. This certainly rings true for this year’s FAST 50, where the average compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is down 25% year-on-year to 41%, converging with the long-term average of 37% over the past five years.
We had anticipated that the downturn would be more pronounced as the ‘Covid bounce’ continues to influence the reference period; however, participants have demonstrated agility and innovation to unlock impressive growth in a subdued market. It has been refreshing to observe such positive results, bucking the trend observed in the broader staffing ecosystem, where businesses have been forced to curtail investment in response to inconsistent lead key performance indicators (KPIs). While many have
been burnt by ‘false dawns’ of improving market sentiment, it now seems that companies are emerging from a period of cost management, with the sector outlook showing more stability and reason for cautious optimism.
Despite heightened geopolitical uncertainty, M&A activity has picked up in the second half of financial year 2024 (H2 2024) and H1 2025, with notable transactions including the sales of G2V, NashTech, Morson Group and Mactech. Equally, a greater number
of businesses are being prepared for sale, supporting higher M&A volumes in the forecast –suggesting a more positive outlook and return of momentum following years of subdued activity. Unsurprisingly, this activity is concentrated in the technology, energy and engineering sectors –the strongest aggregate performing sectors in this year’s list. These sectors have benefitted from transformative developments and a growing structural skills shortage.
This year’s best performers are Trinnovo Group and Select Offshore, the only companies to report a CAGR in excess of 100%. While Select Offshore focuses exclusively on the offshore energy market, Trinnovo specialises in technology, finance and regulated markets. Highlighting the energy sector, which has faced turbulence driven by domestic policy and net zero scrutiny, it remains true that the sector’s reliance on highly skilled labour and a widening skills gap creates opportunity for specialist providers in this space. Taking a moment to gaze through the crystal ball to the years
METHODOLOGY
The Recruiter FAST 50 prepared by Clearwater lists the fastest growing, privately owned recruitment companies in the UK according to a revenue compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the three most recent annual reporting periods.
CRITERIA FOR INCLUSION:
To qualify, companies must be unquoted, registered in the UK and not subsidiaries, although their ultimate holding companies may be based offshore. Companies which are backed by private equity or other financial investors, either minority or majority equity stake, are also considered for inclusion. All companies considered for inclusion must achieve minimum annual sales of £5m in each of their last three financial years.
EXCLUSIONS:
Companies that have filed abbreviated accounts at Companies House without disclosing audited sales are excluded from the FAST 50. Companies that are not ‘pure play’ recruitment companies are also not considered. Recruiters that are coowned by foreign trade recruitment companies or where a listed recruitment firm holds a minority stake are also discounted.
DATA COLLECTION
METHODS: Qualifying Companies are identified through independent research which utilises a number of financial databases, Companies House information, press coverage and other research sources. Entry submissions are therefore not required, although any firm which believes that it may not be automatically assessed in the 2025 FAST 50 may contact Clearwater to discuss. Please email dan.shrimpton@ clearwatercf.com
“It has been refreshing to observe such positive results, bucking the trend observed in the broader staffing ecosystem”
ahead, there are two trend setters that cannot be ignored. The first is the return to power of Donald Trump and subsequent ‘Liberation Day’. The resulting effects will be closely monitored around the world, and we expect that tariffs will slow investment until uncertainty subsides. The second is the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI). While adoption is still in its early stages, AI-powered technologies are set to revolutionise the recruitment process at an unprecedented scale – enhancing client outcomes and improving hiring efficiency. Maintaining a balance between automation and human-centric service, ensuring equitable candidate assessment and personalised client engagement will be a key consideration as this evolution continues. It will be interesting to see to what extent agencies continue to invest in this area amidst the current uncertainty, as those that don’t may risk being left behind.
Ashley Lawrence, Ben Adams, James Lawrence, David Young, James Coxwww.trinnovogroup.com
Michael Tann, Ryan Burville www.selectoffshore.com
Marco Schiavo, Paul Schiavo, Duncan Doak, Elliot Dell, Chris Ward, James Walsh www.welovesalt.com
Cedric Filet www.aldelia.com
Richard Cropper, Thomas Cropper, Nicholas Gordon, Jayne Gordon, Bestfield Investments www.challengetrg.co.uk
Adam Smith, Daniel Smith, Dominic Smith, James Hodkinson www.smithcorp.co.uk
For when you need a true enterprise CRM software for your established recruitment and staffing agency
Empower your recruitment firm with the ultimate CRM. isable to yo
Built on Salesforce, TargetRecruit is a full ATS/CRM suite, packed full of innovation. It’s a business critical tool which is easy to configure and is customisable to your exact business needs, keeping you ahead of the competition.
Recruitment
Ma ers
REC calls on government to back flexibility
Accessibility to decent flexible work is unprecedented in recent memory, but this seems to go unno ced in Whitehall. The REC’s jobs data shows ac ve job posts are comfortably above 1.4 million, hybrid working and flexible working arrangements are common and private and public organisa ons have embraced equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) policies for many years.
Flexible working in the broadest sense is one of the successes of the past 20 years – and it is agencies that help make it work. Yet as we go into the summer, the government is pu ng this flexibility at risk with its steadfast commitment to curb flexible working in its Employment Rights Bill.
Meanwhile, the recent Spending Review lacked a workforce plan to deliver on its commitments. And although there is a mood for publicprivate partnership in Whitehall, this interest seems to end when it comes to using recruitment agencies, despite their proven value to the economy.
The Department for Health and Social Care is ramping up the an -agency
language, while maintaining a system in which bank workers cost more than onframework agency workers. Progress towards Appren ceship Levy reform is also slowing just when we need to get more people working and earning.
However, Jus n Madders, employment rights minister, sounded more conciliatory about the government’s Plan to Make Work Pay when he spoke at RECLive25 in June, which suggests that opportuni es s ll exist to influence government thinking. One example is the REC’s early doors success with Skills England, helping to design a skills system fit for freelancers, temps and the self-employed in the modern labour market.
“A sizzling summer of talk about agencies will give way to an autumn of ac on as we fight back, calling on the government to make its policies work and get real on its rhetoric about today’s labour market,” said Kate Shoesmith, REC deputy chief execu ve (pictured above right). “Over the past 20 years, the rise of flexible work has been a quiet revolu on, driving economic growth, boos ng produc vity,
and giving millions of people more control over how they live and work. If the government wants a labour market fit for the future, it must back flexibility now, or risk falling behind. If policymakers truly grasp the value of flexible work, they will unlock higher produc vity, faster growth, and a more resilient economy. It is not simply good for workers; it is smart economics.”
The REC hopes its autumn call to arms will backed by other organisa ons that support agencies and agency work. At di fferent mes in the past, organisa ons including the Chartered Ins tute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the World Employment Confedera on, and the Confedera on of Bri sh Industry (CBI) have all spoken out in favour of the benefi ts of fl exible work.
Leading the industry
the view...
INow is the me to build on your rela onships and become trusted advisers and shapers, says Neil Carberry, REC chief execu ve
’m just catching my breath a er RECLive 25, our fantas c annual conference at the beginning of June. I’ve always loved the buccaneering spirit of this sector. We can’t pretend that the past few years have been easy and we all know how much is changing in the market every day. At a me like this – a long period of challenging markets, big tech change and a government with an agenda – you can view events like this in two ways. It’s temp ng to stay at our desks and keep figh ng.
But some mes we need to set our eyes on the horizon. The outlook for the industry gently improved in our data and anecdotally this spring. Soon, what makes the difference won’t be the market, but what you do about it.
That’s why we set up RECLive to orientate and inspire a endees with all the latest on adop ng new tech, client insights, government regula on and handling clients effec vely. Underlying all this is our core belief that our sector is part of the UK’s world-leading professional services industry and it deserves to be seen in that light.
It’s also why I have been so pleased to play a leading role in the Professional and Business Services Council, which has been working with the government on a plan to support the sector, posi oning it as one of the crown jewels of the UK economy.
The benefits of this will flow to all of us only if we behave as a professional service and are seen as one by clients. I can help with the second of these – we’ve been building on the success of our Aim Hire campaign talking to hundreds of client businesses this year.
The first of these things depends on all of us. Thank you for doing your bit by passing the REC Compliance Assessment. However, it is not enough. Value crea on is key to the long-term success of the sector, and that comes from being trusted talent specialists – advisers and shapers, not just deliverers. Many firms are moving in this direc on and the REC, together with technolgy, can help.
But the future of your business depends on building trusted rela onships with clients and candidates. This is always true, but it ma ers more than ever now.
If you want to keep up to speed with all things recruitment then follow me on X @RECNeil
CAMPAIGNS
Focus on training at work and for work
Hamant Verma, REC communica ons manager
As the England and Wales women’s football teams compete in the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 finals, we’ll be hearing a lot of the Three Lions anthem It’s Coming Home. And, just as we rally behind our teams, we are at last seeing posi ve momentum from the government that could benefit our own home ground, the recruitment sector. You could argue that opportunity is coming home for our members.
The government is star ng to play a slightly more upbeat tune over the skills reforms needed to alleviate labour and skills shortages. These include refocusing funding from Level 7 appren ceships to lower levels of training that support movement in the labour market.
Skills England is also making more posi ve sounds about introducing shorter, modular courses and collabora ng with employers and providers on digital upskilling. At the moment, hundreds of thousands of temporary workers, freelancers and contractors who are on assignment via a recruitment business on any given day are ineligible for Appren ceship Levy funding.
But there is a broader benefit if the government nurtures learning and development. Many recruitment companies struggle with sta reten on. We need to get more recruiters past their first year in our sector, because we know that a er this milestone, many people s ck with the profession and love it.
We are determined to make that happen. We need to drive a culture in our sector where being qualified in recruitment is expected, where development is ongoing and where our profession stands confidently alongside law, accountancy and consultancy.
This call for ac on is not commercially led, but is common sense, given the labour and skills shortages in the UK. More emphasis on learning and development will retain the best recruiters who help retain the best clients. And our reputa on for professionalism will grow.
Recruitment should not be a career you fall into. It is important because it oils economies, shapes the future of work and improves lives.
the intelligence...
The ripple e ect: how Na onal Minimum Wage increases reshape low-paying but cri cal jobs
Mukul Tiwari,REC research manager
The UK government’s decision to raise the Na onal Minimum Wage (NMW) to £12.21 per hour from 1 April 2025 has sent ripples through the labour market, especially among people in lowpaying but essen al roles, such as sales assistants, healthcare assistants and teaching assistants, and their employers. While this 6.7% increase from the previous rate of £11.44 aims to alleviate cost-of-living rises and boost take-home pay, it also has complex effects on job design, recruitment dynamics, pay equity, and longterm sector sustainability.
Despite their cri cal importance, many frontline and support roles are near the lower end of the pay scale. According to TotalJobs’ UK Salary Trends 2025 data, average salaries remain closely tethered to the wage floor. Teaching assistants earn between £22,500 and £25,000 (FTE), and sales assistants earn from £23,500 to £25,300, while, according to Na onal Career Services, the average salary for care workers is between £20,000 and £25,000.
These figures place thousands of workers on, or near, the na onal minimum, compressing salary bands and making it dicult for employers to differen ate experience levels without restructuring their pay frameworks.
A recruiter earning £23,000 may earn the same as someone on minimum wage
The effect on job a rac veness is mixed. Higher base pay boosts the appeal of roles once seen as low value, especially among younger or less experienced workers. It narrows pay gaps between sectors, so, for example, teaching assistants and retail opera ves may now earn similar amounts.
However, this parity has unintended consequences. Sectors such as early years educa on and recruitment are struggling to retain staff. Many leave to go to retail or logis cs roles offering comparable pay but fewer emoonal demands. The care sector is struggling to compete with warehouse jobs offering stable shi s and bonuses.
Recruiters increasingly note a mismatch between effort and reward in entry-level roles. A recruiter on £23,000 may earn the same as someone on minimum wage, making it harder to a ract mo vated talent. REC research confirms that low pay is the top
reason for high turnover in the recruitment industry.
If the NMW con nues to rise at this pace, several trends may accelerate. SMEs, especially in low-margin sectors, could face financial strain, leading to hiring freezes or reduced hours. Some may invest more in automa on, such as self-checkouts or AI, to reduce reliance on low-paid labour. Others may overhaul their pay structures to ensure fairness and retain staff.
There are also opportuni es. Roles once viewed as ‘dead-end’ jobs could gain status, especially if be er pay comes with career pathways, job security and flexibility. Employers who embrace this change can strengthen their brand, reduce churn and a ract more commi ed employees. Ul mately, while the rise in the NMW is a welcome step towards improving the livelihood of the UK’s lowest paid workers, it reveals longstanding tensions in how we structure, value and support essen al work. Organisa ons must think strategically about reward frameworks, equity, and the a rac veness of what they offer to candidates. Benchmarking salaries has never been more important, not just to remain compe ve, but to build a labour market that is inclusive, fair, and fit for the future.
big talking point
Churning point
Is your sta reten on damaging your business? If so, what can you do to improve it?
Recrui ng and training staff costs me and money for recruiters, just as it does for any other business. Es mates vary, but consultancy Gallup calculates that replacing a member of staff costs one-half to two mes the employee’s salary.
But recruiters don’t need to know this, surely? They are the experts in staff placement and benefit from staff churn in other businesses. Churn brings fresh energy and experience into teams and demonstrates that successful people can gain promo on elsewhere.
However, high churn rates add to costs and create business risks associated with inexperienced staff, lost contacts and damaged client rela onships. They may also increase pressure on remaining staff and create a vicious circle.
How high is too high? The Chartered Ins tute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) says that the average churn for UK workers is 34%, but the REC believes that in many recruitment agencies the figure is higher. Given recruiters’ exper se in staff placement, why do some appear to be losing so many staff and what can they do about it?
One simple reason is that salespeople tend to be incen vised by financial rewards and opportuni es for sales. If they are successful, but don’t feel they
Danny Brooks, CEO and founder at recruiter VHR on a panel at RECLive 25
are recognised or ge ng the best bonus, they will look for a be er deal. If they think they could be more successful, they will look for an environment with broader opportuni es.
“Poaching” is always an issue in recruitment. Many remunera on packages rely on performance bonuses, which may tempt people to move for a higher base rate when the market is slow. Staff may resent demanding and inflexible targets if they feel that poor performance stems from a di cult marketplace, rather than their ac ons.
“There is a correla on between how
well the company is doing and staff happiness,” admits Danny Brooks, CEO and founder at recruiter VHR, who spoke on this subject at RECLive 25. “We run the Gallup employment engagement survey twice a year and find it mirrors how the company is doing – if business is slower people are not so happy.” Despite this, VHR’s churn rate is low at around 14%.
There’s also no shortage of agencies for people to move to, adds Nabeel Ashraf, associate director at Morson Talent. “If people don’t get recogni on and progression opportuni es it’s easy to leave.”
Monitor happiness
Recruiters should therefore monitor churn and ques on why they are losing good performers. The headline churn rate may not tell the whole story. Junior staff o en move jobs frequently early in their careers, but do you also have great people who stay and progress through the business? If the only people who stay are the ones who lack the mo va on or capability to leave, you have a problem.
Experiences at VHR and Morson, among others, show that it is possible to buck the trend.
Brooks says that, in addi on to tracking employee engagement, his firm uses
so ware that scores staff out of ten for every piece of work. “This indicates the quality of the service we provide, but it also correlates with staff happiness,” he explains. “If the quality of their service is good, people tend to be happy.”
“You need a complete employee value proposi on,” Ashraf adds. “It’s not just about opportuni es, the benefits you offer and your work culture, but also about your core values. We state that we value care, collabora on, curiosity and courage – these add up to teamwork, which can be hard in a sales environment.”
In addi on to surveying engagement and tracking reten on, his firm conducts “stay interviews” – the idea is that exit interviews only show you what is wrong a er people have decided to leave.
Develop and progress
Quality of service and staff happiness both correlate with the opportuni es for people to develop and progress. A clear route to gaining skills and a be er job tle are vital incen ves.
Morson found that they were losing too many people a er seven years, so they created a leadership development programme which led to 20 promo ons. The project was so successful that they launched a similar programme
for mid-level managers wan ng to move into senior management. Ashraf believes this has the double benefit of incen vising those on the course, while also improving management across the business – which makes teams happier.
VHR introduced many more incremental promo ons so people have more opportuni es. They can see the next level clearly and know how to get there.
External training and development opportuni es are also important – for example a ending events or courses run by the REC. These boost skills and knowledge, and indicate that the firm values its staff
Make work interes ng and posi ve Every job has dull moments, but giving new recruits only boring rou ne tasks gives them few reasons to stay. Brooks says that VHR invests in technology to ensure that backo ce and CRM work is as e cient as possible, allowing recruiters to focus on more interes ng, value-adding work. Their latest innova on is an internal ChatGPT network.
“Tech is important to us, not to replace people, but to help them do their jobs be er and make work more enjoyable,” he says.
A posi ve, suppor ve culture is essen al, adds Ashraf. “This isn’t easy to achieve. Some top performers are not great team players and se ng a highly produc ve employee to work with someone who is underperforming can be counterproduc ve.” He believes that having a diverse team and fostering an inclusive culture is vital to help people do their best work.
Celebrate and reward
People like recogni on. “We celebrate everything from birthdays, to new starters, team of the month and customer service of the month, to good news about what’s happening in the business,” Brooks says. “We also have a director’s choice award, which usually goes to someone in a smaller o ce who is less likely to work in a big team that gets more a en on.”
To give them more things to celebrate they regularly enter awards. This gives everyone a pat on the back, demonstrates that directors think highly
of their work – and, of course, winning is great publicity.
Further celebra ons and cash rewards are triggered by long service. Brooks notes that there have been several celebra ons for staff who have been there for 20 years “so we must be doing something right”.
Staff at VHR are rewarded with a choice between taking a £50 voucher or “spinning the wheel of fortune” –which can win them anything from a pair of socks to a larger cash sum or even a holiday. This came from one of the sugges ons submi ed to the staff sugges on box, so also indicates that directors listen to ideas.
Social events are important. VHR hosts 12 events a year, with the largest in the summer and at Christmas. Both VHR and Morson offer a range staff benefits including private medical cover and flexible working arrangements, plus less common benefits such as fresh fruit, opportuni es to do charity events and o ce vending machines.
For Ashraf, the “golden nugget” of staff reten on is the ability to bring these posi ve ac ons together – from se ng company strategy down to team objec ves, how individuals fit in and how they are rewarded.
“A large number of our staff have been here for 10, 15 and 20 years, which is a testament to our values and the fact it feels like a family here,” he says. “Morson is not just a place where people build careers; they build a sense of belonging and are given the tools and support to leave a legacy. Which I believe is at the heart of improving reten on.”
Nabeel Ashraf, associate director at Morson Talent
The Employment Rights Bill
legal update
New rules, new obliga ons
By Ma lda Boyce, legal and compliance adviser, REC
The Employment Rights Bill brings significant reforms that will transform the current model of supplying temporary agency workers. Client educa on will be essen al to navigate the changes and recruitment businesses should proac vely engage with clients to demonstrate awareness of the changes, strengthen client rela onships and support reten on in a shi ing regulatory landscape.
The key changes:
Clients will be required to o er a qualifying agency worker a contract of employment at the end of every reference period
The contract must be on terms that are no less favourable than those on which they were supplied as a temporary agency worker. This includes providing hours of work that reflect the average hours they worked during their supply as a temporary agency worker during the relevant reference period. In some circumstances the obliga on to o er the contract of employment may pass to the agency or umbrella company, however it’s
Winning in a changing market: the outsourcing advantage
Ross Thompson, execu ve manager, Infinity Sta Global
important to note that agency workers are not obliged to accept the o er.
Recruitment businesses must provide prescribed informa on about the right to a contract of employment
Prescribed informa on should be provided within a specified period in circumstances where it would be reasonable to conclude that an agency worker could become eligible for the right – for example, because of the length of their assignment.
Legal obliga on to provide no ce of shi s
Clients and recruitment businesses will have to provide agency workers with reasonable no ce of shi s, shi cancella ons, and changes to shi s that the agency worker was requested or required to work. Liability for failure to provide no ce will lie with the party responsible. For example, clients will not be liable in circumstances where they have provided an agency with su cient no ce and the agency fails to pass this informa on on to an agency worker.
The market is tough. UK recruiters face ght margins, rising client demands and pressure to find candidates quickly. Balancing produc vity with long-term sustainability is not easy.
Outsourcing s ll carries a s gma, but, when done correctly, it can help businesses achieve goals and grow with confidence.
At Infinity Sta Global, we work with agencies that no longer see external support as separate. Instead, they treat our recruitment
Umbrella companies will be defined as employment business under the Employment Agencies Act 1973
The Bill has li le detail about how this will a ect the umbrella company model. We know that umbrella companies will be subject to the same regulatory and compliance framework as employment agencies and businesses, which includes the Conduct Regula ons. They will also come within the remit of the Employment Agencies Standards Inspectorate (EAS) and, later, the Fair Work Agency.
Addi onal risk of li ga on
The Bill presents li ga on risks from new claims that may be brought against both recruitment businesses and their clients. Addi onally, Employment Tribunal me limits will be extended from three to six months for most claims. This allows claimants more me to seek advice and pursue legal ac on.
For further guidance, REC members can get in touch with the REC Legal Team on 020 7009 2199.
Non-REC members can enquire about membership from info@rec.uk.com
professionals based in South Africa as an integral part of their delivery model. Whether in 180, 360 or business development roles, our people provide flexible capacity while maintaining the standards clients expect.
The key lies in integra on. Our professionals operate in your systems, me zone and culture, becoming embedded in your team and contribu ng with consistency and care
Firms o en tell us it’s not just about relieving
pressure, it is about gaining trusted colleagues who bring con nuity, exper se and the freedom to focus on strategy, service and rela onships. In a market defined by change, resilience and adaptability ma er most.
Outsourcing is not a fallback or a compromise. With the right partner, it is a forwardthinking way to strengthen your business and stay compe ve where it counts. That’s how you win in today’s recruitment market.
Real- me tax audi ng and finance for growth
Sebas en Sauca is co-founder and CEO of SafeRec
Tax compliance is the biggest risk for recruitment agencies
What I know Q&A
In 2017, I was a sales director at a recruitment agency when the Criminal Finances Act came in. Agencies became liable for failing to prevent the facilita on of tax evasion in their supply chain. We looked at umbrella companies and realised that accredita ons were missing the mark. They reviewed a lot, but barely touched what ma ered most: tax. That’s where agencies’ biggest risk lies.
Agencies need tax compliance proof
We built an umbrella cer fica on model that goes further, combining everything tradi onal accredita ons offer and adding real- me payslip audi ng. SafeRec verifies each payslip against RTI
submissions, checks that income tax and NIC have been paid and sends proof directly to agencies. Agencies can access legal compliance reports wri en by a law firm free of charge at saferec.co.uk. SafeRec turns compliance into certainty – that’s why over 7,000 agencies now work with Cer fied Umbrellas.
It’s me to act now.
On 12 June, HMRC announced plans to introduce joint and several liability between umbrella companies and recruitment agencies. If an umbrella fails to pay tax, the agency will be liable. One-off audits or spot checks won’t protect you. Agencies need con nuous, independent evidence, which they get when they enforce SafeRec Cer fied Umbrella Companies across their PSL. Why take chances?
Calogero Mingoia is head of sales at Bibby Financial Services
What was the subject of your session at RECLive?
The RECLive event in June was great. My panel session discussed the changing recruitment landscape, the need to be responsive and growth enablers for the sector.
What are the key challenges businesses talk to you about?
How to fund growth, how to finance dayto-day opera ons with long payment terms and late-paying clients, and how to ensure backoffice efficiency around credit control.
Do you have ps for accessing funding?
Talk to me! Invoice Finance and the recruitment sector have grown together. Bibby Financial Services has been suppor ng SMEs for over 40 years and
businesses tell us that access to finance can be a challenge. That is because of two things; firstly, the right provider – when the economy is tough, some funders restrict lending (who they will finance and the amount they offer). Secondly, there is a lack of awareness about the finance op ons available. People o en revert to what they know, which may not be best for their business goals. Research is key.
What should agencies keen to grow do next?
Don’t go it alone –consider your funding op ons and what you need. Growth requires flexibility, as you don’t know how far your growth will take you or how fast. Invoice Finance grows with turnover, which ensures that, once you start to grow, you don’t need to put the brakes on.
‘Talk to people the way you would like to be spoken to’: true or false?
Former Bri sh Army intelligence o cer Tim Bradshaw, keynote speaker at last month’s RECLive 25, considers leadership, communica on and decision-making
You have probably been told to talk to people the way you would like to be spoken to. This isn’t true. If you want to influence people and create behavioural change, it’s more e ec ve to talk to someone the way they want to be spoken to!
Many of us view the current environment, which I describe as VUCA (Vola le, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) as a threat. It promotes feelings of anxiety and insecurity. However if handled correctly, this can provide circumstances that can be used to your advantage.
In my former role as a human intelligence operator, I recruited and ran foreign assets. It’s the ul mate level of influence and persuasion. How do you persuade a radicalised terrorist to see something from a di erent perspec ve? Change o en provides opportunity. The same is true in a commercial environment. When humans are exposed to VUCA environments they seek reassurance and direc on. They seek out trusted advisers. Insecurity triggers FEAR (False Expecta on Appearing Reassurance) and people enter a catastrophic thinking cycle. They worry about things that haven’t happened yet and may never happen. This is especially true if people are changing employer or believe they are taking a risk or vulnerable.
Your mission at this moment is to help them focus on intelligence not
informa on. Help them to filter out background noise and concentrate only on what is real rather than their percep on of what is real.
As a star ng point, all communica on should be accurate, mely and relevant. Now is the moment to lead. These feelings are triggered by the body’s fight or flight mechanism, which tries to protect them from threats.
Imagine you are told to be in your boss’s o ce in 20 minutes. You have no idea why, but your thoughts inevitably become nega ve. You ask what you’ve done wrong. This is a simple yet common example of the fight or flight mechanism and of careless communica on by the boss. Neither is conducive to posi vely a ec ng your behaviour or the boss’s desired outcomes.
Before we can deal with the ma er at hand, we must first deal with biological and emo onal reac on. Lead don’t manage. There is a common percep on that rapport comes from having something in common. This is not strictly true. It comes from shared mo va ons and beliefs. I don’t agree with the ideology of a foreign terrorist, but we may share a belief that family is important. So this is to start building rapport.
Think about a chance, and probably brief, mee ng with someone when you come away liking them without knowing why. The answer is that you almost certainly shared a personal mo va on or belief. When we’re seeking to lead
in a changing world, these emo onal connec ons are cri cal to success, internally and externally.
When talking to colleagues and clients, listen for mo va ons and beliefs, and try to answer why. As physical human interac ons become fewer, the importance of ge ng them right increases. Resist the urge to take the path of least resistance. This is temp ng and easy in the world of electronic communica on and AI. That’s not to say you shouldn’t u lise the latest technology, but see it as support to your finely honed interpersonal skills.
Whether you lead internal teams or clients, a changing world provides unique opportuni es to build rela onships. But to maximise these, focus on intelligence not informa on, respond to what is real rather than the percep on of what is real and provide reassurance and direc on. Remember, speak to people the way they want to be spoken to, not the way you want to be spoken to, and communicate, communicate, communicate!
I spend my me working with hugely diverse teams enhancing their communica ons toolkits in order to maximise performance both as leaders and nego ators.
If you would like to hear more and understand how together we could enhance your team’s performance, you can book me via JLA and use this link: www.jla.co.uk/conference-speakers/ mbradshaw
Be the founder
Setting up on your own in recruitment needn’t be a lonely place. Roisin Woolnough meets the solopreneurs who have chosen the solo working life
life
FLY NG
When people ask Rachel Filby (overleaf inset, p31) what it takes to be a solo recruiter, she always gives the same answer: “You have to genuinely love doing the job if you’re going to do it on your own – speaking to candidates and clients, going out and selling your business, winning clients, business development…”
Fortunately, Filby does love recruitment, every aspect of it. Director at RF Recruitment Consultancy, she is one of many solopreneurs in the UK – a solopreneur being a one-person recruitment agency. According to the REC’s ‘UK recruitment industry status report 2023/24’, there were
31,247 recruitment enterprises in the UK at the start of 2024, with micro businesses (those with fewer than 10 employees) accounting for 78.6% of the workforce (up from 77.3% the previous year). The REC doesn’t give figures for actual solopreneurs, but a good number of those micro businesses are solos.
Solopreneurs are essentially entrepreneurs, but with one key difference – they don’t want to grow their headcount. Many solos work on their own, although some have input from a partner or admin support.
Portia Moon (overleaf, p31) is director of her own agency, Full Circle Technical Recruitment, having set up on her own a year ago after 11 years of employment.
She works from home with her husband, a graphic designer, who also helps her with some aspects of her work, such as chasing invoices. Even more importantly, he provides emotional support. “He can see when I’m having a stressy 10 minutes and might need to leave the office and go for a quick walk. He’s a bit of a cheerleader for me, which has been so valuable.”
Some recruiters set up on their own after being made redundant or because they weren’t happy in their permanent role, but many do it because they want autonomy –they want to be their own boss. However, just because somebody wants to be their own boss and doesn’t want to be somebody else’s boss, doesn’t mean they want to
work in isolation – day in, day out. Moon, who specialises in engineering in the utilities sector, thinks she works best as part of a team, so it’s been important for her to establish relationships within the solo recruitment community.
“In recruitment, it’s either a massive high or a massive low, so that support network is really important. When everything’s gone wrong and you just want to rant at someone, you can pick up the phone and have that conversation or get advice from someone.”
But Moon doesn’t just talk to her fellow recruiters about problems. She is part of The TEAM Network and they celebrate wins in the group, as well as sharing challenges. “We’ll set off a little siren to say when there’s an interview or placement coming in and send the little cheers to us emoji at the end of the week.”
They also hold each other accountable, checking in to see how business development is going, if someone has made THAT difficult call yet… Moon says she and several others set their intentions for the week and share them on the Monday – three goals to work towards, for example. And then at midday on Friday, they have a catch-up call to discuss progress
There were 31,247 recruitment enterprises in the UK at the start of 2024, with micro businesses accounting for 78.6% of the 78.6% workforce
and see if those intentions have been actioned. “We stay accountable to each other, which really helps. But we also have a general chat about everything else and life, which is nice. Just as you would with a colleague.”
Connecting with Netwalks
But the solo life can still get to people, and Andy Dunne (second from top), managing director at The TEAM Network, thinks Covid made everyone acutely aware of the need for connection. After running a series of mental health and wellbeing initiatives, he came up with the idea of Netwalks.
Held the day before the big annual TEAM conference, it’s an annual networking walk that brings recruiters
together and raises awareness of mental health.
“I thought there wasn’t enough dialogue about mental health in the industry,” says Dunne. It launched in 2024 with a 6.5km walk in Kenilworth and repeated in 2025 “with a slightly shorter walk”, says Dunne. Both walks followed the same format –every half a kilometre the walkers stop, take a piece of paper from a bag with a topic on it and then discuss the topic with someone they hadn’t met before. The topics ranged from mental health to best
bucket lists and best curry meals. “It was amazing,” says Dunne. “Some walkers said it was the best networking event they’d had in their life.”
Walking is something Devya Athwal (top, p30), director at Athwal Resourcing and Coaching, likes to do a lot of in her working week. She is based at home but likes to get out every morning before work for a dog walk, swim or some other form of exercise as she says it’s
good for her mental health and gets her head in gear for work.
“When I do that, I’m much clearer on what I want to do in the day and more intentional about who I want to contact and what my outcomes are,” she says. It is far too easy for solos to chain themselves to their desks, particularly when the going gets tough, she thinks: “When the money’s not coming in, you automatically think ‘I’ve got to be sitting at my desk all the time, making calls’. But sometimes, time away frees space in your head; the ideas come, you connect the dots and it can be one or two calls that you make which make the difference.”
Athwal set up her business servicing the accounting industry 13 years ago, wanting a better work-life balance. “I had three kids
“In recruitment, it’s either a massive high or a massive low, so that support network is really important”
at three different schools, my husband was working abroad a lot and I wanted some time back for me and my family.” It’s worked very well for her, although now that her children are grown up, she isn’t ruling out a return to permanent employment because she misses the camaraderie of office life.
Throughout Athwal’s solo career, she has used coaches to help her make work and life decisions. In the early days she had a coach through a government growth accelerator programme, helping her grow her business. Then she had coaches specialising in business acumen and now she is doing group coaching.
When Kerry Greenland (opposite, p30), director of Midlands-based Vantage Recruitment, set up as a solo recruiter 14 years ago, she too benefitted from some coaching, on an informal basis. Greenland had been out of the recruitment sector for 18 years, didn’t have any contacts and needed help finding her feet, so she joined TEAM. A couple of other members gave her a lot of advice as she sought work.
“One of them was very good at
giving me opportunities to work on, but also at telling me where I was going wrong and what I needed to pick up on and how things had changed. She really developed me as a recruiter. I felt like I had a mentor and a guide and I don’t think I would still be here if it wasn’t for that.”
Split fees collaboration
Traditionally, recruitment is a dog eat dog world, says Anthony McCormack (overleaf, p31), MD of Macstaff, a recruitment agency specialising in construction, property, engineering and manufacturing. But McCormack is a huge advocate of collaborative working and has made good use of split fees arrangements. In the eight years that he has run his own business, he has benefitted from over 100 split deals, many of them on TEAM Xchange, an online jobs portal that enables members to share jobs and candidates. “Most of my revenue has been through business sharing and split fees, through TEAM and other relationships,” says McCormack. “It’s gone from being the icing on the cake to a good chunk of the cake.”
He thinks collaborations are particularly useful for any newbie solopreneurs locked into non-compete clauses for a period of time after leaving a company, preventing them from developing business in their core market. Through split fees arrangements
“It was amazing. Some walkers said it was the best networking event they’d had in their life”
they can get involved in sourcing jobs for other recruiters, generating crucial income and contacts in those early days. Working on a split fees basis also enables solos to provide a fuller service to clients. “Collaboration allows us to be more agile and deliver bigger chunks of business,” says McCormack. “It allows us to compete against the nationals, such as Michael Page.”
Although Filby hasn’t felt the need to work with other solos, she says running her own business is a lot more stressful than being PAYE. Not only does the buck stop with her, but there is less downtime during the working day and less fun. “What you don’t get as a solo recruiter is the nights out, the quarterly incentives, the team breakfast in the morning before you start work. And the fun, to be honest, of the office environment.”
Filby says working from home on her own all day means she has
to work hard to keep negative thoughts in check but she has a strong network of fellow recruiters she can all on for support. One of her best friends also runs her own recruitment agency, so they are in constant contact.
A big plus of being a solopreneur, Filby says, is that her day is largely spent doing what she likes doing – recruiting – instead of having to deal with all the extra stuff that comes with managing a team in a big company. “I’m only dealing with the things that I am putting out there,” she says. “I’ve freed up hours and hours of time where I can just recruit, rather than doing appraisals, an inbox full of internal stuff… That noise has completely gone.”
Like Athwal, Filby went solo as she wanted more time with her growing family. But unlike Athwal, she can’t imagine returning to employed life. “Something catastrophic would have to happen in my life for that to happen. I had the most fantastic career and 18 years of my life at Michael Page, and for that stage in my life it was the best place I could be. But going back? No.” ●
WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO? GET IN TOUCH!
Whether you’re dealing a knockout blow, caring about your career, having a kick around or donating fruit to a foodbank, you’ve not been sitting around!
Ade Musson from the foodbank with Liam Davis (l) and business manager (r) Kasia Krieger from Pineapple
YOUNG CARERS GET CAREER SUPPORT THROUGH YEAR-LONG PROGRAMME
Two pilot projects in Blackpool and Fife have supported over 300 young adult carers (aged 16-25) to build employment skills and plan for their futures. Funded by players of the People’s Postcode Lottery and led by Carers Trust, the year-long Young Carers Futures programme provided workshops, respite activities and tailored career support. More than 90 employers and education partners, including the BBC and DWP, took part. The initiatives improved access to jobs, apprenticeships and training, with a strong focus on long-term impact and aspirations beyond caring roles.
FOODBANK DONATIONS
To mark International Pineapple Day – yes, it’s really a thing – a Worcestershire recruitment firm has donated 50 fresh pineapples and dozens of tins of fruit to a local foodbank. And who other than Pineapple Recruitment, which specialises in providing staff for the hospitality and catering industries! The day is 27 June, an initiative designed to celebrate the fruit’s role in eating healthy during the summer – so get it in your diaries for next year!
INDEED SCORES AS BRENTFORD FC’S TRAINING WEAR PARTNER FOR 2025/26 SEASON
Jobsite and hiring platform Indeed will have its logo on the shirts of players at Brentford Football Club thanks to a new partnership. Indeed will feature on all training kits worn by Brentford men’s first team and B team, women’s first team, academy teams and coaching staff as it becomes the club’s new official training wear partner and official recruitment partner, beginning from the 2025/26 season. Indeed will also support Brentford’s fans with guidance on how to progress in their professional careers, and will help deliver career-focused projects with Brentford FC Community Sports Trust to upskill jobseekers in West London and match them with employment opportunities.
Pertemps CEO Steve West with Olympic boxing hopeful Elise Glynn
Up-and-coming GB Boxing star Elise Glynn now has an extra coach in her corner after recruiting Pertemps Recruitment Network to bolster her training. The West Midlands, Meriden-based recruiter will financially support Elise as she looks ahead and trains for the Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games. Currently she is the number one podium position for GB Boxing for her weight category of 60kg. The money from Pertemps will go towards supporting the costs of kit, travel, food and additional dietary supplements. Pertemps head of sponsorship Tim Jones said: “We worked with Elise a few years ago and are delighted to be getting into the ring with her again.” And we look forward to hearing about your knockout future fights, Elise!
GETS
• Ami Noble-Newton, COO – InterEx Group
• Christian Pascale, COO – Mane Contract Services
• Damian Lee, Managing Director – Swift Temps
• Elaine Tyler, Founder & CEO – Venatrix
• Mark Neilson, CEO – Aligra
• Terri Loska, CEO – Dartmouth Partners
• Tom Johnson, Director – Hernshead Group
• Tom White, CEO – 5Values Consulting Group
• Jack Stinson, Talent Acquisition Advisor –GXO Logistics
• Jennifer McElhatton, Head of People –Ackerman Pierce
• Matthew Ralphs, Talent & Recruitment UK & ROI – Poundland
Sponsored by Meet Dwight
• Danny Brooks, Chief Executive Officer –VHR – Global Technical Recruitment
• Guy Walker, CEO – Talentia Group –Dovetail&Slate
• Matt Collingwood, Managing Director –VIQU Group
• Tom White, CEO – 5Values Consulting Group
Sponsored by Kingdom People
• Beyond the Ordinary Early Careers Attraction –BDO and Radancy
• Cooper Parry Early Careers – Cooper Parry
• Developing Future Leaders for Morrisons –Morrisons and Amberjack
• Early in careers recruitment at Zurich –Zurich Insurance UK
Sponsored by FCSA
• MBDA
• Recruitment Transformation – Punch Pubs and We are Yoke
• The long and short of working at Poundland –Poundland, Dealz and Genius
SHORTLIST CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR 2025
Sponsored by CV–Library
• Christmas Recruitment Team – Royal Mail
• Global Talent Acquisition Team – Playtech
• In-House Talent Acquisition – Cooper Parry
• Resoursing Team – MBDA
• Robert Hunt, Aarti Arvind, Rachel Brouwer, Kirsty Buckley-Green, Marie Wetton –The Works
• Strategic Resourcing – British Airways
• Talent & Recruitment Team – Housing 21
• Talent Acquisition – iamproperty
• Talent Acquisition – The Telegraph
• Talent Acquisition Team – GXO Logistics
• Talent Acquisition Team –Lloyds Banking Group
• Talent Team – Cuckoo
• 5V Media
• InterEx Group
• Menlo Park Recruitment
• Randstad UK
• Spencer Clarke Group
• Caritas Recruitment
• Connect2Luton
• Eden Brown Synergy
• Hunter Bond
• Red Lester Recruitment
• Trinity House Group
• V7 Recruitment
• VHR
• Autotech Group
• Bluestones Staffing NI
• Franklin Fitch
• InterEx Group
• Kite Consulting Group
• Major Recruitment
• NHS Professionals
• Oliver Sanderson Group
• Signify Technology
• Skills Alliance
• Talentheads
• VHR
• Xcede Group
• Xpertise Recruitment
• Matchtech Group UK
• Sapphire
• VHR
• Inclusive Boards
• Morgan Hunt
• Oliver Sanderson Group
• Randstad UK
• Sanctuary Graduates & Apprentices
Sponsored by Zodeq
• Core3
• Ellaby Chamberlain
• Greenbridge Energy Talent Partners
• Pivotal Partners
• Eames Group
• Hunter Bond
• Kite Consulting Group
• RedLaw
• ATA Recruitment
• Clear Engineering Recruitment
• EarthStream
• Gap Technical
• Hearnshead Group
• Mane Contract Services
• NRL
• Proactive Global
• Synergi Search & Select
• VHR
Sponsored by Mayfest Worldwide
• Executive Integrity
• Franklin Fitch
• Inflow Partnership
• InterEx
• Mane Contract Services
• Penta Consulting
• Red Lester Recruitment
• Robert Walters
• Round Peg Solutions
• VHR
• Eames Group
• Edison Smart
• Franklin Fitch
• Hunter Bond
• Impala Search
• InterEx
• Penta Consulting
• Xcede
• Xpertise Recruitment
Sponsored by umbrella.co.uk
• Commercial Services Group
• Eden Brown Synergy
• Finegreen
• Long Term Futures
• Niyaa People
• Spencer Clarke Group
• TIB Services
• 4Site Recruitment
• Bluestones Supply Chain
• ERSG
• Kingdom People
• Major Recruitment
• Spencer Clarke Group
• The Best Connection Employment Group
• VHR
• Coyle Personnel
• Executive Integrity
• nGAGE Specialist Recruitment
• Spencer Ogden
• VIQU IT
• Antal International
• Eames Group
• ERSG
• Forsyth Barnes
• Mane Contract Services
• Morgan Hunt
• Oliver Bernard
• Select Offshore
• V7 Recruitment
• Cogent Staffing
• Impala Search
• Inflow Partnership
• Inspiring Teaching
• Red Lester Recruitment
Sponsors:
• Adamson & Partners
• Bain and Gray
• Executive Integrity
• Kite Consulting Group
• Long Term Futures
• Rutherford Briant Recruitment Services
• Clear Engineering Recruitment
• Edison Smart
• Leaders in Care
• Linq Healthcare Recruitment Specialists
• Senovo IT
• V7 Recruitment
• Aligra
• Hunter Bond
• Select Offshore
• Signify Technology
• Swift Temps
• Eden Brown Synergy
• Forsyth Barnes
• Franklin Fitch
• Kingdom People
• Mane Contract Services
• nGAGE Proactive Technical Recruitment
• NRL
• Penta Consulting
• Spencer Clarke Group
• Talentia Group
• The Portfolio Group
• VHR Sponsored by Brabners
• Eames Group
• ERSG
• InterEx Group
• Major Recruitment
• Morson Group
• Robert Walters
Sponsored by FCSA
• Bureau De Connect
• ERSG
• Gap Personnel Holdings
• Penta Consulting
• Spencer Clarke Group
• STR
• Vetro Recruitment
• Aon Assessment UK – Signaller solution for Network Rail
• Chat Automation – D.W.I.G.H.T
• Gap Personnel Holdings Limited –Candidate Portal
• Recruitics UK
• SafeRec
• Snapp CV
• SourceWhale AI
• Academize
• Aon Assessment UK and Network Rail
• JMW Solicitors
• Liquid Friday
• Marmalade Marketing
• QX Recruitment Services
• SafeRec
• Tribepad
• UCAS
• A memorable trip starts with you –British Airways and Randstad
• Can you move people? – Southeastern and Blackbridge Communications
• For Every Neighbourhood – Police Now
• Lead Generation and Brand Awareness –Antal International
• Let’s Work Together...Animal Campaign –Pertemps Network Group
ANNOUNCED 18 SEPTEMBER 2025
JW Marriott Grosvenor House London
“I think we’re both quick-thinking and quick-acting. And both very people-focused. I’d argue that we’re quite good at reading a room, which is part of our job”
MY BRILLIANT RECRUITMENT CAREER
This issue we focus on two recruiters – Sarah Mason, chief people officer, SThree and Alexandra Farrell, founder and CEO of Autometry – who also happen to be twins
What was your earliest dream job?
Sarah: I wanted to be a clinical psychologist. But I am, actually, a certified business psychologist and use psychology in the workplace all the time. It helps to know how people are motivated, how we structure organisations, hierarchy, roles, learning and development, team dynamics, even organisational politics, which is important to know at leadership level.
Alex: I wanted to be a lawyer. I did a law degree but decided relatively quickly that I then wanted to be in sales, which was much more fun and significantly more meritocratic. That said, people seem weirdly impressed by someone having a law degree, so there’s a cache associated with it, which is useful. It has also been helpful in getting to grips with things like GDPR [General Data Protection Regulation] and the legal implications of technology meeting human processes.
What was your first job in recruitment and how did you come into it?
S: I started as an IT recruitment consultant back in 1998 at [STEM recruitment group]
SThree. I was there for 10 years before leaving and eventually returning two years ago. I got the initial job because Alex was already working at SThree, which is made up of different brands. She said there was a new one starting called Real and that I should get myself down there. I got an interview and got the job.
yg
Chief people officer, SThree
SARAH MASON
A: I fell into it previou coat hang backgrou advertisi campaig recruitm put forw a 1996 selli recruitm campa Week wa Cle
I fell into it by accident. My job previously was selling coat hangers! My background was selling advertising campaigns – not in recruitment. But I got put forward for a job with SThree and started in 1996 selling retained recruitment advertising campaigns in Computer Weekly. My first boss was Russell Clements – he was
an I consnsider i it my
an absolutely brilliant mentor. I consider it my lucky break.
S: Well, our careers did almost mirror each other at the start, as we both worked in media sales and then both went into recruitment firms. But then they diverged. I went into HR, whereas Alex went in an entirely different direction of setting up tech firms. I guess I’ve offered advice on setting up and structuring the leadership team in a start-up and advised on using psychometric testing to make it as effective as possible. g sociated o to grips o DPR P tection ti he legal eg chnology olo rocesses. ses first to it? T ultant TEM p]
Are you ever curious to explore your twin’s arena in recruitment –if so, what do you find interesting about it?
SARAH MASON
SAR AH
SThree
A: The thing that’s really interesting about Sarah’s role is around people strategy. I build technology to create a transformational shift so that the whole of the recruitment industry can use AI to supercharge productivity. Sarah’s opinion on the people-side of recruitment is therefore invaluable to me. She’s also super-nerdy on strategic frameworks, which comes in very handy.
Do you converse with each other about the other’s work and, if so, what are the common topics?
A: All the time. One recent discussion was around how AI could significantly improve finding the right people and putting them onto the right vertical markets.
S: We certainly discuss AI. There’s no getting away from the fact that the recruitment industry will look very different in five years and dramatically different in 10 years. At SThree, it’s definitely something we’re considering in the way that we plan our future.
Who is your role model – in life or in recruitment?
S: I’ve chosen my Mum. She completed a Master’s in Education while doing a full-time job as a teacher and raising a family. It was a great bar to set and felt a little like history repeating itself when I did a similar thing.
A: Well, I won’t say Mum as Sarah’s beaten me to it, so I’ll go for Anne Boden, a pioneering Welsh tech entrepreneur, and the founder and former CEO of Starling Bank. She’s a true tech visionary and completely changed how personal banking works using technology. And she’s from Swansea, where Sarah and I grew up.
As twins, what are your similarities and your differences?
S: I think we’re both quick-thinking and quick-acting. And both very people-focused. I’d argue that we’re quite good at
reading a room, which is part of our job. It also comes from years of working in people businesses.
A: Yes, I agree, we’re both pretty fast-thinking – and talking! I guess the difference is that I’m all about the technology and Sarah is all about people. I like to build things and that’s not what Sarah does. I’m also a start-up individual, whereas Sarah’s a big company person. Sarah’s probably never going to work for a small company as it’s just not that interesting to her, whereas I’m never going to go and work for a big company because that’s not interesting to me.
What’s one thing your twin is better at in recruitment, and how do you complement each other?
A: Sarah’s much better at big, structured strategic planning and large-scale implementations, whereas I would say I’m better at fast iteration and lean optimisation to scale fast.
S: Alex has a very successful background in building and selling r any . backgoudbudgadseg
ALEXANDRA FARRELL Founder and CEO of Autometry
ALEXANDRA FARRELL
“Yes, I agree, we’re both pretty fast-thinking –and talking! I guess the difference is that I’m all about the technology and Sarah is all about people”
tech products, and I haven’t done that. In a way, it’s good that our career paths have branched off in such different directions, as it’s far more comfortable than the constant comparisons we used to get.
What would you consider to be the most brilliant moment of your career?
S: It’s a bit cheesy, but it was so nice to come back to SThree as the chief people officer. I was quite junior when I first worked here, and I remember saying to my then-boss that being group HR director looked like a great job, but there didn’t seem to be a path for me to get somewhere like that. I went off and retrained, achieved loads of professional qualifications and sought out different specialisms across HR – so coming back here as CPO was great.
A: I am lucky to have two. Building the biggest tech careers platform in Europe, which I then sold to Dice Inc. And advising Steve Beckitt on building recruitment technology company SourceBreaker, which he then sold to Bullhorn. Both were amazing experiences, and I enjoyed being an adviser as much as being a founder.
Laugh or cry, what did your most memorable candidate make you want to do and why?
S: When I was an IT recruiter, one of my candidates panicked when he was given a technical test to do and left the office by the window. The client was furious. When they told me, I was so surprised, the only thing I could say in response was, ‘Well, I hope it was on the ground floor’. They were not amused. It
was the last time they used us – and the last time I failed to prep a candidate.
A: Pass…!
What would you regard as your signature tune?
A: I’m not a particularly big music fan, but I do love a good 90s dance track. S: I haven’t got one either, but I do love the words to Kenny Rogers’ The Gambler: ‘You’ve got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them.’ It shapes the way I approach things.
The last few years have been a bit of a rollercoaster – what have you learnt about yourself during these turbulent times?
S: I’ve learnt that the power of your network and community is everything. Keep feeding your network, because everything is fixable with the right support.
A: I’ve learnt that it’s ok not to know the answer, as long as you have a data-driven plan to find it out.
What personal qualities do you think are needed to lead through change and uncertainty?
A: Great communication skills, resilience and adaptability. I also think in uncertain times that a data-driven approach can give everyone a clear compass and provide reassurance.
S: My Master’s was in Organisational Change. I think the key personal qualities needed are first and foremost around communication, adaptability and being able to read the room. During a crisis, you need someone leading in a very directive way. But a lot of change these days tends to be more bottom-up, emergent change and far more dialogue-based. You can only really lead through this sort of change if it’s a two-way process. ●
Alex Farrell and Sarah Mason spoke with journalist Dean Gurden
CORRECTION
We used the wrong surname of the interviewee in the May-June My Brilliant Recruitment Career in Recruiter. The founder of Blush & Bloom Talent is Stephanie Houghton. We apologise to Stephanie for this error.
ALIGRA
The UK-based recruiter has announced a key leadership restructure that reflects the company’s strategic vision for the future. Founder and current managing director Mark Neilson (left) will move to group CEO, while Andy Rowlatt (right) has been promoted to the role of MD.
BBC STUDIOS
The BBC has appointed Jermaine Daw as director of HR for BBC Studios, a global media company originating from the BBC. He will join the BBC Studios executive committee and report into Uzair Qadeer, chief people officer (CPO).
COBALT RECRUITMENT
Maria Sinclair is the new MD of UK operations at the international property and construction recruiter, following more than two decades at the company.
EAMES GROUP
The global recruitment group has appointed non-executive director Phil Sheridan as a board adviser.
ECMS
Estelle James has been appointed to the advisory-led managed solutions business and part of Eames Group as managing partner. She will oversee daily operations and lead the evolution of ECMS’s global offering.
ELITE LEADERS
The group of recruitment industry experts has appointed Chris O’Connell to its Executive team.
Recruitment and workforce solutions specialist Hays has appointed Thomas Way as CEO of Hays UK and Ireland.
Most recently, Way served as senior managing director for the UK, France and Belgium region at STEM recruitment group SThree, where he also sat on the executive committee. His 20-year career at SThree has included significant international leadership, notably establishing SThree’s life sciences division in the US and later overseeing its expansion across Europe. Way succeeds Simon Winfield in the Hays role. Winfield was the UK & I CEO for two years, following five years as the UK & I MD. Way will join the executive leadership team at Hays.
O’Connell began his recruitment career at SThree, before co-founding Timothy James Consulting as CEO and exiting the business in 2014.
EUROBASE PEOPLE
The IT/tech recruiter has appointed Steven Oakley as sales director. Oakley joins Eurobase with more than 25 years’ experience leading high-performing tech teams across the UK, Europe and the US.
FASTSTREAM RECRUITMENT GROUP
The maritime and aviation recruitment specialist has made a number of promotions across its UK and Singapore offices. These are: Sebastian Zuliani – associate director to director; Andrew Hargroves – team leader to recruitment manager; Jonathan Pearse – principal consultant to executive consultant; Matthew Barwell – principal consultant to executive consultant; Sasha Josri – lead consultant to team leader; Charlotte Charman – lead consultant to principal consultant; Sufia Algadri – recruitment consultant to senior recruitment consultant.
Email people moves for use online and in print, including a short biography, to recruiter.editorial@redactive.co.uk
GI GROUP UK
There have been three key promotions within the recruitment group’s Leicester branch. Olga Sikora (right) has been promoted to senior business manager. Alona Zablocka (left) has been promoted to account executive, and Jurgita Siplivaite (centre) steps into the role of assistant manager.
GRANGER REIS
The global executive search firm has appointed Rowan Phendler as partner. He brings more than 14 years’ global experience in the mining and natural resources sector.
MANPOWERGROUP
The global workforce solutions company has announced two key executive appointments. Becky Frankiewicz is appointed president and chief strategy officer, and Ger Doyle is named regional
president, North America, succeeding Frankiewicz.
SELLICK PARTNERSHIP
Katie Ettenfield has been promoted to associate director at the recruitment specialist’s Leeds office. Her promotion comes as part of a series of senior appointments and internal promotions at the recruiter, including Katherine Busby’s promotion to associate director of finance, the appointment of Chris Swindell as commercial finance director and Greg Jones as group director.
TRINITY BRIDGE
The hospitality specialist executive search firm is expanding its operations in Central Europe with the appointment of Stephanie Watzek. With nearly 15 years’ experience in the hospitality industry, Watzek will be heading up a second German office based in Berlin as MD.
The HR and payroll software provider has appointed Caroline Rowland as its new chief people officer. Her appointment follows the planned departure of Caroline Drake, who stepped down in June.
Recruiter is the leading magazine for recruitment and resourcing professionals. To ensure each issue of Recruiter magazine is delivered to your desk or door, subscribe now at https://subs. recruiter.co.uk/subscribe. Annual subscription rate for 6 issues: £35 UK; £45 Europe and £50 Rest of the world • Recruiter is also available to people who meet our terms of control: http://bit.ly/RecruiterCC • To purchase reprints or multiple copies, or any other enquiries, please contact subs@redactive.co.uk or +44 (0)1580 883844
Total average net circulation between July 2023 &June 2024 – 16,056. is also sent to all REC members
Recycle your magazine’s plastic wrap – check your local LDPE facilities to find out how.
ZELLIS
Redactive
In a highly fragmented and increasingly competitive market, organic growth alone is no longer enough. Strategic consolidation has become the preferred route for businesses looking to expand service lines, enter new markets, embrace digital transformation and gain market share, at speed.
Several factors are driving this shift to the MAC (mergers & acquisitions and consolidations) era.
First, the UK recruitment sector is saturated. Thousands of small and mid-sized agencies compete in similar sectors and geographies, making organic growth slower and harder to sustain.
Second, technology is rapidly reshaping the sector. Merging with or acquiring a tech-savvy business offers a shortcut to innovation and operational efficiency.
Third, clients are demanding more. Many now seek partners who can provide multi-sector
expertise and support across regions, including international coverage. Recruitment firms are responding by using MAC to fill capability gaps.
Fourth, larger firms benefit from economies of scale, stronger pricing power and greater operational resilience.
Finally, there is the element of safety in numbers and de-risking. The market is tougher than ever. Many owners are re-evaluating their plans, their timelines and their expectations around future exit strategies.
The UK market had seen a steady uptick in M&A activity over the past few years and after a quieter two years, 2025 is seeing a sharp pick-up once again. Private equity (PE)-backed and trade groups have made multiple strategic acquisitions to expand their reach and diversify offerings. Boutique agencies are also getting in on the action, partnering
“Many owners are re-evaluating their plans, their timelines and their expectations around future exit strategies”
Sid Barnes
nation: The
with competitors or selling to larger players looking to build multi-brand platforms. It can often be the win-win that both parties seek: growth and exit.
PE firms are once again actively backing recruitment agencies and building out platforms through bolt-on acquisitions. This model not only provides capital but also introduces operational expertise, better data discipline and long-term growth strategies. When a PE-backed firm acquires niche agencies across sectors such as tech, healthcare and education, it can quickly evolve into a full-service provider, making it more attractive for future buyers or IPOs.
If done right, MAC is faster, more scalable and often more cost-effective in the long run. However, inorganic growth comes with risks. Cultural mismatches, poor integration and loss of topperforming staff can quickly erode the value of any union.
Successful acquirers take a long-term view. They invest in onboarding, align leadership teams and retain key billers.
We are likely to see more ‘super SME’ agencies emerge, multi-sector, tech-led and PE-backed, taking share from the traditional giants beholden to bureaucracy, inertia, costs and shareholders.
The winners will be those who integrate smartly, protect their people and maintain a strong company culture even as they expand.
In short, the era of purely organic growth is over.
Recruitment firms in the UK must now think more like strategic operators than reactive service providers. MAC is no longer just a path to expansion; it is a blueprint for survival and long-term competitiveness. ●
SID BARNES is owner of Mastermind Consulting and co-owner of Elite Leaders
