The former finance director of Morgan Hunt who launched Day Webster in December says now is the perfect time to set up a recruitment business.

Hugh Woods Ballard told Recruiter: “I see the HR recruitment cycle as five to seven years, and we are at the bottom of the cycle. It’s a good time to start because you have to start assertively, and to do things properly.” He added: “I always wanted to run my own company. It was now or never.”

Woods Ballard has put £50,000 into the healthcare business and is working with Daniel Wise, who set up the theatre division of Healthcare Locums. The company has already taken on two staff.

Woods Ballard said that the firm is concentrating on high margin niches, such as theatre staff. The plan is to grow organically by gradually moving into new niches, and to have six or seven staff by the end of the calendar years in three teams.