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New to Market

14 April 2025
Creative/Digital/Media, Engineering

NEW TO THE MARKET: 14-18 APRIL 2025

• Manufacturing and engineering specialist Busy Bee Recruitment has relaunched its website. The refreshed online platform has a modern design and enhanced user functionality, offering an intuitive browsing experience that makes it easier than ever to explore current vacancies, submit CVs quickly and securely, access expert recruitment advice via a blog and submit vacancies directly online.

• Deel, a global payroll and HR provider, has launched a suite of AI-driven products to help companies hire, manage, and pay international teams. Deel will offer an all-in-one global workforce platform integrating payroll, HR, and IT, designed to support compliant operations across borders. Key updates include: Real-Time Payroll in over 53 markets (expanding to 130+ by 2027), offering instant calculations and faster processing; Deel PEO for offering top-tier benefits without enterprise-level costs; Benefits Admin for simplified, compliant benefits management across countries; Deel Talent for streamlined recruitment via trusted agency networks; Workforce Planning, Compensation, and Engage tools – powered by AI – for smarter headcount strategy, global pay management, and employee development; IT Lifecycle Management features like MDM, IAM, and EPP, supporting global device and security control.

11 April 2025
Creative/Digital/Media, IT/Telecoms

Spotted Zebra merges Interview Intelligence and Assessment in one platform

This is technology that transcribes, analyses and evaluates conversations through an AI-powered lens. The merger connects assessment results with interview data, addressing the growing challenge enterprise talent leaders face: making confident, objective hiring decisions when candidate information can be fragmented across multiple tools.

In a statement, Spotted Zebra says that enterprise talent acquisition teams are facing twin pressures from AI-generated candidate applications and deepening skills shortages. 

The launch responds to a critical market challenge, the statement continues; while more than three in four businesses report widening skills gaps, employers are inundated with applications with around half of all jobseekers using AI tools to apply for roles. Current solutions force companies to choose between expensive, disconnected systems or compromise on either assessment breadth and depth, or a scalable interview process and structure.

“We’ve integrated Interview Intelligence with Assessment because our enterprise customers are facing unprecedented challenges in talent acquisition,” said Ian Monk, co-founder and CEO of Spotted Zebra. “By unifying these previously siloed technologies, we’re enabling talent teams to make data-informed decisions based on a complete picture of each candidate’s capabilities.”

Unlike standard Interview Intelligence tools that primarily transcribe conversations, Spotted Zebra’s implementation establishes a data framework that truly connects skill measurements across different evaluation methods:

  • Real-time skill evidence mapping: Comprehensive role skills profiles are automatically created thanks to AI-powered intake meetings between recruiters and hiring managers. 
  • AI-assisted interview questioning technology: The AI-powered Interview Guides automatically generate targeted question paths for specific role skills profiles and each candidate.
  • Consolidated hiring evidence dashboard: The Decision Kit combines summarised skill data from both assessment scores and interview evidence, weighting each source appropriately based on predictive validity for specific skill types. 

According to the company statement, AI in Spotted Zebra enhances human decision-making, ensuring the final call on a candidate’s suitability for a role is objective, data-backed and always in the hands of the hiring team.

Headquartered in the UK, Spotted Zebra was launched in 2020 by Monk and co-founder and chief commercial officer Nick Shaw.

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10 April 2025
Creative/Digital/Media, Executive search

NEW TO THE MARKET: 7-11 APRIL 2025

• UK recruitment firm HRGO has launched ‘Betty’, an AI agent tackling recruitment ghosting by ensuring all job applicants receive feedback. Since its December 2024 launch, Betty has provided personalised insights to over 40,000 candidates. A survey of 1,000 users found 90% valued the feedback, addressing a major frustration in the hiring process at scale. Betty was named after Elizabeth ‘Betty’ Parkinson, the founder of HRGO back in 1957.

• Recruitment firm Sowena Group has moved into new headquarters in Manchester city centre. Perran Cooke launched Sowena Group last summer after more than a decade in the recruitment industry, including roles as regional MD for the North at executive search company PSD Group and as a director at Axon Moore. Sowena now has a team of five and has taken office space at The Tootal Buildings on Oxford Street. The company statement says Sowena Group is expected to deliver more than £650k in revenue this year.

Senior recruitment consultants Dave Kreitz and Mackenzie Harrop have joined Sowena in recent weeks, along with Leah Allen as head of marketing and Megan Buckley as marketing executive. Cooke said he expects the team to grow to 10 by the end of this year, creating roles for recruitment consultants, back office and support staff, market research specialists and a non-executive director. Sowena Group focuses on senior finance posts in high-growth and private equity and venture capital-backed businesses across the North-West and beyond.

3 April 2025
Creative/Digital/Media, Executive search

Dragon-backed Chapter 2 boosts talent offering with transformation service

Backed by Steven Bartlett (from BBC Dragons’ Den and his Diary of a CEO), this strategic expansion aims to solidify “Chapter 2’s 360-degree talent solutions offering, delivering comprehensive, data-driven solutions to the most pressing talent challenges facing businesses today”, according to a company statement. 

Spearheading the new service is talent strategy director David Brammer. The Transformation & Advisory practice will tackle every area of talent acquisition, from capability and capacity to hiring process optimisation and workforce planning. The practice will also provide talent strategies to prepare businesses for AI-focused roles for the future of work.

As part of this offering, Chapter 2 will conduct in-depth talent and hiring audits, identifying opportunities and reducing hiring-related challenges, through structured hiring diagnostics and benchmarking. 

The service also includes recruitment efficiency assessments, policy and risk evaluations (including IR35 compliance) and contingent workforce strategy development.

Leo Harrison, founder and CEO of Chapter 2, says: “Establishing the Transformation Advisory completes our 360 offering, making sure that we’re able to provide solutions to both common and uncommon challenges that companies face in not only today’s workplace, but the one of the future.”

With 26 years’ experience leading global talent acquisition strategy for brands such as Boots, Kingfisher and Ocado, Brammer will be supported by experienced hire Marta Wasowicz, as the director of advisory and transformation.

L-r: Steven Bartlett, Marta Wasowicz, David Brammer, Leo Harrison ©Chapter 2

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26 March 2025
Transport & logistics, Creative/Digital/Media, Executive search, Interim recruitment, IT/Telecoms

NEW TO THE MARKET: 24-28 MARCH 2025

• Ennis & Co Group has introduced an enhanced interim talent service to address the growing demand from automotive and mobility brands for senior-level, short-term placements. To support this expansion, the automotive executive search specialist has built a larger database of senior interim candidates, complementing its well-established network of freelance associates. This offering provides clients with agile, high-level talent solutions to navigate an increasingly dynamic and challenging market.

• IC Resources, a deep-tech recruitment agency headquartered in Reading, Berks, has opened an office in Austin, Texas. The company’s fifth office, located in Four Points in West Austin, will serve as the hub for semiconductor and software recruitment in the North America and CALA (Central America and Latin America) markets, providing staffing solutions to US clients and candidates. As part of this expansion, the firm has hired Tom Chapman as president and Zach Ward as vice-president of sales. The pair bring nearly 40 years of recruitment experience between them and have significant local knowledge and networks, according to the company statement.

21 March 2025
Charity & not-for-profit, Legal, Apprentices/Grads/School leavers

Recruiters can help Key4Life in finding employment for ex-offenders

‘Unlocking Futures’ took place in collaboration with crime prevention charity Key4Life and brought together top London businesses and ex-offenders to highlight the difficulties around hiring ex-offenders, as well as the opportunities and solutions.
https://key4life.org.uk/

With 12m people in the UK carrying a criminal conviction – and with only 17% of prison leavers securing jobs – the panel discussion explored how businesses can tap into this hugely overlooked pool of talent.

Eva Hamilton MBE, CEO of Key4Life, who set up the charity to reduce offending in response to the 2011 London Riots, said: “Our experience of transforming ex-offenders’ lives – including many from broken homes and who’ve suffered terrible starts in life – has consistently shown us that getting a job is what keeps these men away crime. 

“Sadly, studies show that over 50% of Britain’s businesses would not employ an ex-offender, and together with many of our partner companies – including Harbottle & Lewis, KPMG UK and NBC Universal, all here tonight – we’ve been working hard to lift the stigma around employing ex-offenders and to create opportunities for their employment.”

While the odds of rehabilitation are stacked against ex-offenders, Key4Life – whose innovative 7-Step rehabilitation programme includes equine therapy (horses), football and music, in addition to employability training – has achieved extraordinary results: 

• Just 7% have gone on to reoffend, versus a government rate of 64% 
• 60% have found employment or training opportunities, compared to a government rate of only 15%. 

Alexa Collis, partner at Harbottle & Lewis who hosted the evening, said: “It felt important to us to celebrate our two-year partnership with Key4Life by shining a spotlight on this crucial issue. We invite more companies in Britain to join this vital movement for corporate social change and unlock bright futures for former offenders.”

Advising recruitment agencies and recruiters within companies to help Key4Life help place ex-offenders into meaningful work, Hamilton told Recruiter: “Recruiters are now in a unique position to recruit from this pool of untapped talent represented by so many ex-offenders. What we recommend as the simplest way to give these men a chance to prove themselves is two-three day work tasters with a view to longer-term employment.”

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14 March 2025
Creative/Digital/Media, Engineering, Construction & property, Executive search, IT/Telecoms, HR, Apprentices/Grads/School leavers

NEW TO THE MARKET: 10-14 MARCH 2025

• Cisco has expanded its Networking Academy to equip young people in the EU with digital skills. By 2030, the company aims to provide basic digital education to 1.5m individuals, focusing on digital literacy, cybersecurity, AI and data science. This initiative supports the European Commission’s 2030 Digital Decade targets. In addition to training learners, Cisco will prepare 5,000 instructors over the next five years to teach AI, cybersecurity, and networking skills. The company will also introduce an Industrial Networking curriculum to address digital transformation in industries like manufacturing and automotive.

• Glasgow recruitment business Clarkson Owens is launching its specialist recruitment arm Retainer Recruitment in response to increased demand from clients to support international and senior appointments. The firm specialises in recruiting for the construction and civil engineering sectors.

• Remote has introduced Recruit, a new hiring platform designed to simplify and accelerate global talent acquisition. Recruit gives companies access to the largest talent intelligence dataset, a global search engine for sourcing top candidates, and a one-click compliant hiring process. Remote has also partnered with Apriora to offer AI-powered video interviews at scale, providing recruiters with a pool of talent. Key features of Recruit include smart sourcing, allowing searches across 800m global candidate profiles with advanced filtering, and talent insights, which provide real-time data on salary trends and market conditions. Recruit integrates directly with Remote’s HR platform, enabling one-click hiring with automatic compliance management for local labour laws.

• Schneider Electric has announced plans to double its recruitment of veterans to help tackle the UK’s skills shortage. The digital transformation for energy management and automation business’s Veterans Talent Programme provides former military personnel with the industry knowledge and technical expertise needed for critical operational and senior management roles in the energy and electrical sectors. Applications are now open for early registration. The 12-18-month programme, which offers a full salary, combines specialist classroom-based learning with hands-on training, making it accessible to veterans from all backgrounds. Candidates are selected based on their motivation and interests rather than existing skillsets. Powered by Redeployable, an AI-driven career transition platform, the programme is designed to unlock the full potential of veteran talent. 

13 March 2025
HR

nGAGE unveils first Social Value Report to highlight contributions to society

“This milestone reflects our ongoing commitment to placing social value at the heart of everything we do,” says an nGAGE statement.

Over the past year, nGAGE’s initiatives have enabled nearly £24m in social and local economic value across the UK. This stems from the recruiter’s focus on:

  • Local employment and breaking down barriers to employment.
  • Community volunteering and career support that supports local communities.
  • Employee wellbeing programmes that prioritise health and resilience within its workforce.

From hiring and retaining 570 staff locally to support disadvantaged communities, “our focus on local employment and community engagement is making a lasting impact across the UK”, continues the statement.

According to the company, the Social Value Report highlights the transformative effect of nGAGE’s activities on people, communities and wider society.

“Social value is at the core of our mission,” says Claudia Dommett-Noehren, group head of ESG at nGAGE. “We’re proud to contribute meaningfully to the local communities in which we operate, and this report showcases the tangible outcomes of that effort.”

The nGAGE Group, also known as nGAGE Talent, offers tailored recruitment services across sectors, including the built environment, STEM, health & social care, and professional and financial services UK-wide and globally. 

The Social Value Report is available online here.

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