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New to Market

25 April 2025
Construction & property, Graduates/Apprentices/School leavers

National student lettings agency launches apprenticeship scheme

In a bid to support young people and grow skilled and knowledgeable individuals for the student lettings sector, loc8me recently launched its 18-month programme, which is open to anyone aged 16-18. The scheme will offer hands-on experience, mentorship and the opportunity to engage in paid work.

Raffaele Russo, founder of loc8me, said: “We’re thrilled to launch this apprenticeship programme, giving young professionals a real chance to learn, grow and begin building a career in an exciting industry.

“Now more than ever, young people are seeking opportunities, guidance and goals to pursue. With this programme, we’re investing in their future – and in the future of the lettings sector.”

Apprentices will have the chance to study the theoretical and practical elements of the lettings industry, and on starting, they will be given a mentor from the loc8me team to support their development via regular meetings throughout the course.

loc8me now operates in 13 major university cities across the UK, including Loughborough, Durham, Nottingham, Manchester, Leeds, Cardiff, Newcastle, Birmingham, Liverpool, Leicester, Hull, Bath and Bristol.

Freya Watson-Russo, academy co-ordinator, said: "At loc8me, we’re committed to nurturing the next generation of letting agents. … We’re giving young people the chance to build a future, gain confidence and carve their own path.”

Founded in 2008 by Russo, loc8me manages more than 2,500 properties and employs more than 75 staff members.

(L-r) Apprentice Ollie Coe, loc8me's marketing assistant and academy co-ordinator Freya Watson-Russo and apprentice Isabel Tebbutt ©loc8me

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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.

30 May 2022
Executive search, IT/Telecoms, Hospitality/Leisure

Clear Edge grows iGaming division with new Malta office

Malta is a global iGaming hotspot, and several Clear Edge clients in the sector are based there, including Evolution Gaming, Merkur Sportwetten, PressEnter and Hero Gaming.
 
Over the last three years, Clear Edge’s revenues from its iGaming division have grown almost 170%, the company said.
 
According to KPMG Malta, more than 300 iGaming companies are located in the country, employing over 8,000 professionals. The sector contributes in excess of 10% of Malta’s overall gross domestic product (GDP).
 
Clear Edge’s iGaming division is focused on placing candidates ranging from middle management to C-suite into both business-to-business providers and business-to-consumer operators. This comprises a diverse mix of roles and functions across online sports betting, casino, lottery, poker or any other gaming vertical markets.
 
The company’s Malta office is in the Savoy Gardens in the town of Gżira, near to many iGaming companies. Clear Edge has two consultants operating in Malta, Luke Imeson and Dan Bowler, who are supported by director and head of iGaming Terry Batty.
 
Commenting on the new office, Batty said: “We are already on the lookout for more consultants to join Luke and Dan in our Malta office, and are confident about expanding the scope and reach of our operations now that we are open for business.”
 
Clear Edge was founded in 2011 and employs 25 people. In addition to iGaming, the company also operates in the consumer goods and technology sectors.
 
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30 May 2022
Oil & gas/Energy, Engineering, HR

Petroplan launches employee share scheme to drive productivity

“The scheme means that all Petroplan employees across the globe can build an ownership stake in the business. Options are granted to all employees at the time of joining the company and are exercisable on sale,” a Petroplan company statement said.

Petroplan is updating the scheme every quarter, so new employees can join the scheme without delay. 
 
“The sense of ownership will drive productivity, performance and employee engagement; and the scheme will strengthen the group’s continued mission to attract and retain high quality talent within the industry,” the company statement said.  
 
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30 May 2022
HR, Accounting/Finance

EY-IBM alliance aims to address post-Covid challenges

The new initiative addresses challenges, including employee recruiting, retention, upskilling and the need to transform HR systems technology at speed and scale.

With the aim to help organisations navigate this new talent landscape through digital innovation and greater resilience, EY and IBM have established a new Talent Centre of Excellence (COE). 

The COE will create data-driven AI and hybrid cloud solutions that provide broad talent, HR, mobility and payroll transformation services. Bringing together the EY Organization & Workforce, Mobility and HR Transformation business solutions with IBM Talent Transformation business and hybrid cloud and AI capabilities, it is the newest expansion of the EY-IBM Alliance and second COE established in the past year, an alliance statement said.

Andy Baldwin, EY global managing partner – client service, says: “Through this alliance expansion, EY and IBM are better equipped to help deliver value to clients by putting humans at the centre of the experience and helping them overcome the urgent need to attract, retain and upskill their workforce while transforming their HR function.”

John Granger, senior vice president – IBM Consulting, says: “The EY-IBM Alliance will provide consulting and technology solutions that infuse AI and automation into the talent process to help clients simplify and streamline the experience.”

Further illustrating the depth of the EY-IBM Alliance in this space, EY has invested in the organisation’s own Talent function. By leveraging IBM automation and intelligence technology, the statement said: “EY is transforming Talent from within to develop a leading class acquisition strategy, help in delivering a simplified user experience and enable ability to better match available skills and talent to jobs.”

This new COE follows the successful launch of the EY-IBM Centre of Excellence for Financial Services.  

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30 May 2022

New Future of Work Research Centre focuses on rapidly changing work environment

These are some of the critical questions to be explored by the University of Surrey’s new Future of Work Research Centre, which launched last week [26 May 2022].
  
The new Research Centre will focus on people management and job quality in a rapidly changing working environment characterised by rapid technological advancements, economic developments and societal value changes. “These changes have transformed the nature and organisation of work, as well as conditions of employment,” a University of Surrey statement said.
 
Professor Ying Zhou, director of the Future of Work Research Centre at the University of Surrey, said: “With so much uncertainty in our work environment, we’ll be looking at the critical questions facing the future workplace – from analysis of job quality and digital technologies through to the hopes and perils of hybrid working… Across our work, we’ll be looking to offer advice on how fairness and justice can be secured in an increasingly diverse workforce.”
  
Furthermore, the Research Centre is being established just as the UK government launches its own Future of Work Review headed by MP Matt Warman. 
 
The launch event will feature Professor Glenn Parry, head of the Department of Digital Economy, Entrepreneurship and Innovation; Professor Francis Green, professor of Work and Education Economics at UCL Institute of Education; and Jonny Gifford, senior adviser for Organisational Behaviour at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. 
 
More details on the Future of Work Research Centre can be found here.

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