BBW recruitment manager Mark Linden joined the firm in September to lead the team that went live in January. It recruits for a host of roles, including in HR, finance, IT and facilities management. Linden told Recruiter that the four-strong team now deals with around 50% of vacancies with the remainder sent out to external agencies.

Last year BBW hired around 950 staff and this year forecasts it will recruit 1,500 new staff across a range of roles.

The in-house team is incentivised in the same way as a regular agency, paid on quarterly results and benefits from a bonus scheme, which Linden says rivals that of many recruitment agencies so has not proven a sticking point in attracting talent into the team.

Linden says all of the team’s current members have worked within an agency environment and have spent at least six months working in internal recruitment for large corporates. This has helped put BBW on an even keel with recruitment agencies in the market.

And while the team is currently at its headcount limit for the department, at the end of the first quarter the firm plans to recruit again.

Linden told Recruiter the firm is looking for staff who see in-house recruitment as a positive career and have the ability to succeed in the competitive recruitment industry.

But Linden adds BBW does not anticipate cutting out the use of recruitment agencies entirely. “It would be an exaggeration to say that BBW will never have to use recruitment agencies again and that the department will fill every role for the business. Unfortunately with some 1,500 new roles within BBW for 2010 this is just not possible.

“As an in-house department we will work in partnership with our preferred supplier list agencies and Jobcentre Plus to find the best candidates.”