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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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12 February 2024
Transport & logistics, Engineering, Industrial/Manufacturing, Accounting/Finance

NEW TO THE MARKET: 12-16 FEBRUARY 2024

• Prepared food provider Bakkavor Group has announced it will recruit 86 individuals to join its apprenticeship programme for 2024. From Scotland to Kent, the Midlands to the South-West, the application process is open nationwide. Successful candidates will start their career journey with Bakkavor in September. The apprenticeship roles for 2024 span a wide range of specialist areas including: food technology, health & safety, supply chain management, operations, finance and business administration, with 26 roles specifically relating to engineering.

• Specialist recruiter Coleman James has opened a new office in Doncaster as it continues to accelerate its growth in the rail sector. The firm will be based at Wagon Works in the J3 Business Park – a historic former-rail premises.

• Stockport-based accountancy and contracting firm Sapphire is helping recruitment agencies source and manage contract workers overseas through its new division, Sapphire International. Sapphire International’s offering includes employed solutions for contractors and accountancy services for self-employed contractors in countries including Denmark, Spain, Norway, Sweden and Italy. Services include invoicing, multi-currency payment handling and local compliance advice.

The firm also takes full control of new contractor onboarding on behalf of recruiters and agencies, allowing them to get on with growing their businesses while all of the admin is taken care of. Clients using the service also benefit from added security through Sapphire’s employee liability insurance.

7 February 2024
Marketing, Creative/Digital/Media, Executive search, IT/Telecoms, Hospitality/Leisure

Elevate Talent launches across sports, media and lifestyle sectors

A new executive search and global talent advisory practice, Elevate Talent supports companies to source leaders from across sports, entertainment, media, lifestyle, technology and gaming.

The launch of Elevate Talent follows the acquisition of SRI, a leading executive search and talent optimisation firm operating in 15 cities across North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Since its founding in London in 2001, SRI’s team have supported over 1,000 organisations around the world.

The move both broadens Elevate’s multi-industry expertise and expands its global presence, adding to Elevate’s operations in brand consulting, strategy, creative, premium hospitality, audience measurement, marketing and revenue analytics, and data-driven insights. 

Elevate is led by Al Guido, who also serves as president of the US’s National Football League team, the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers are the 2023 NFC Champions competing in Super Bowl LVIII this Sunday.

Jim Chaplin, formerly CEO of SRI, will become global president of Elevate Talent. In his 14 years at the helm of SRI, Chaplin and his experienced management team have spearheaded the company’s transformation from a UK-based sports specialist firm to a global leader in the executive search space, helping organisations solve critical board structure, governance and C-suite issues with talent and advisory solutions.

Elevate’s chief people officer Liz Moulton will serve as chairman of Elevate Talent. She joined Elevate last year from Activision Blizzard, where she oversaw all aspects of executive talent strategy, including succession planning and organisational design across three business units comprising over $8bn (£6.34bn) in revenue. Moulton has previous experience with Korn Ferry and Spencer Stuart.

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1 February 2024
Social care, Graduates/Apprentices/School leavers, Healthcare/Medical

Home care provider starts third level education fund for staff and children

The initiative offers full-time care assistant employees, or their children, funding to undertake an OU undergraduate degree.

The first Caremark office to trial the initiative was in Pulborough, West Sussex, which unveiled its offering in October last year.

Post-Brexit, slow recruitment issues have faced the home care sector, but the OU collaboration is aiming to tackle this as full-time staff can access up to £9k of funding for any undergraduate degree for a dependent child. 

Part-time workers are also eligible and can benefit from paid course fees of up to £6k for themselves or their child on a part-time course.

Caremark’s OU funding programme aims to lessen the financial burden on its employees and keep existing staff fulfilled in their roles. The initiative will hopefully improve the shortage of workers for businesses in the care sector, which are struggling to recruit staff at this time.

For more information on the Caremark initiative, visit here.

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Credit: iStock

23 January 2024
Creative/Digital/Media, Education, Engineering, Commercial & office support, Legal, Industrial/Manufacturing, IT/Telecoms, Apprentices/Grads/School leavers, Accounting/Finance

NEW TO THE MARKET: 22-26 JANUARY 2024

• Digital skills training provider QA has launched a new apprenticeship programme to train digital product managers. It joins QA’s programmes in areas including data, cyber, AI and software development, which have trained more than 30,000 apprentices. The Digital Product Manager Level 4 Programme is the equivalent of a first year undergraduate degree. The course concludes with a two-day hackathon where students will develop a product from start to finish.

• Paul Ridley and Dean Penn have joined forces to create technical and engineering retained recruitment specialist Scorpius Talent Acquisition. Ridley and Penn have engineering, manufacturing, legal and compliance experience in the recruitment sector and aim to deliver innovative candidate/client-led recruit-to-retain solutions via the Scorpius Insights platform.

• Chester-based invoice finance and back-office support provider Zodeq has launched its latest campaign. ‘Top of the class finance’ is aimed specifically at recruiters working in the education sector. According to the company, the offering highlights how Zodeq can help – not only teachers but also kitchen staff, handymen, gardeners, etc – to protect their cashflow through innovative invoice finance solutions.

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