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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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2 October 2024
Retail, Transport & logistics, Industrial/Manufacturing

Gi Group reopens Milton Keynes branch

Picking up where it left off, the recruiter said the team will bring their regional expertise to local businesses and candidates alike. 

The Milton Keynes branch closed at the end of 2023 to consolidate Gi Group’s branch network after a key contract ended.

First established in the UK in 1998, Gi Group UK employs 500 people and provides temporary and permanent jobs to the industrial, manufacturing, food production, warehousing, driving and distribution sectors. The Chesterfield-headquartered recruiter serves around 1,500 clients across its 90 locations throughout the UK and Ireland. 

The Milton Keynes branch is located in the city centre at Exchange House, 448 Midsummer Blvd and headed up by area manager Martin Knowles (pictured second from right), a recruiter with more than 20 years’ experience in the industry. 

Ed Vigars (pictured far right), operations director at Gi Group UK, said: “With a strong career in recruitment and vast industry experience, Martin is the perfect person to secure strong regional connections and drive success for local businesses and candidates. 

“With a local history, our team will be picking up where we left off and accelerating at pace. […] We’re delighted to be expanding into Milton Keynes again and look forward to growing our customer and candidate base from our new home.”

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Image: L-R Stuart Bentley, Julita Cyrta, Sandy Newell, Giedre Stalmokaite, Martin Knowles, Ed Vigars ©Gi Group

1 October 2024
Oil & gas/Energy, Life sciences, Engineering, IT/Telecoms

Quanta Consultancy Services undergoes name change

“This is simply a name change,” the company said in its announcement. “All existing contracts, points of contact and service levels will remain the same.”

QCS Staffing is a global recruitment agency for life sciences, data centres, renewable energy and IT working in 30 countries across six continents. 

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30 September 2024
Public sector, Charity & not-for-profit

Homeless Hostel Jobs launches to connect candidates with careers

Homeless Hostel Jobs caters to a wide range of positions, from senior leadership roles such as CEOs and directors, to vital frontline positions like support workers and everything in between.

The platform aims to be a one-stop-shop for both jobseekers and employers dedicated to making a difference in the lives of people experiencing homelessness. Homeless Hostel Jobs is committed to playing a vital role in supporting the homelessness sector by connecting the right people with the right opportunities, according to a company statement.

“We understand the critical role the homelessness sector plays in our communities,” says Marlon Smith of the HHS Group, founder of Homeless Hostel Jobs. “By providing a centralised platform specifically focused on the homelessness sector, we hope to streamline the hiring process and empower employers to find the best possible candidates while making it easier for talented individuals to find their ideal role.”

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25 September 2024
Interim recruitment

NEW TO THE MARKET: 23-27 SEPTEMBER 2024

• Membership Bespoke has launched the Interim Talent Hub, an online platform designed to address critical recruitment needs in the membership sector. The Interim Talent Hub offers a streamlined solution by connecting membership organisations with skilled interim professionals, reducing time-to-hire and helping organisations maintain continuity during periods of change. The platform is aimed at helping membership organisations, such as trade associations and professional bodies, efficiently meet short-term recruitment needs.

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