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New to Market

28 April 2025
Life sciences, Engineering

NEW TO THE MARKET: 28 APRIL-2 MAY 2025

• STEM recruitment specialist Matchtech has launched STEM Futures, a free, on-demand employability platform aimed at helping young people break into engineering and technology careers. The programme includes expert-led sessions on job search strategies, CV writing, interviews and personal development, and is part of Matchtech’s broader initiative to address the STEM skills gap and support emerging talent.

In addition, Matchtech has awarded the first two grants from its Materna Fund, a £2,500 bursary created to support engineering students facing financial hardship. The inaugural recipients, Sergio Carreno Vargas and David Sarembock from the University of Portsmouth, are using the funds to focus on their studies and development without the added pressure of financial strain.

• Jobmatch Sweden, a leader in occupational psychological testing, is expanding in Norway through a new partnership with consulting firm Sund Raad. Sund Raad, which focuses on enhancing employee engagement for small and medium-sized businesses, will integrate Jobmatch’s DNV-certified Talent test into its services. This marks Jobmatch’s second partnership in Norway, following its 2022 collaboration with Hapro Jobb og Karriere. Jobmatch Talent is a scientifically validated tool used for recruitment and employee development, according to the company press release.

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 February 2020
Creative/Digital/Media, Engineering, Construction & property, Industrial/Manufacturing, Interim recruitment, HR, Hospitality/Leisure

NEW TO THE MARKET: 10-14 FEBRUARY 2020

• Multi-sector recruiter Avocet Staffing has opened an office in Ely. Founder Denis Green launched the agency in Soham, Cambridgeshire, in April 2019.

• Media and B2B events industry recruitment firm Caselton Clark has launched an eight-part podcast bringing together a range of expert voices to discuss topics of note for the events industry. The series will feature expert commentary and open conversations around issues such as dealing with job stress and how to build an events business from the ground up covered.

The Talking Events podcast is hosted by Charlie Phillips, an experienced events recruiter who specialises in conference producer and senior level positions. Phillips will be joined by a range of experts from a number of fields, including Laura McQueen, managing director, Leaders in Sport; Lynn Lester, MD, The Drum Live events; and EMAP’s MD Robin Booth.

Topics range from personal branding, leadership and being an MD, to management of millennials, making an industry impact and becoming a brilliant conference producer.

• Scottish-based recruiter Connect Appointments has launch new division, Connect Site Services (CSS). CSS is a provider of recruitment services to the UK construction market. The division covers all disciplines including labourers, joiners, painters, civil engineering disciplines, mechanical and engineering trades, bricklayers.

• Mobile cryptocurrency app Electroneum has announced the global soft launch of its AnyTask freelance platform, which does not charge sellers any commissions on the tasks they sell. Buyers of tasks can purchase tasks with a debit or credit card without having to touch crypto. The system then sends the purchase amount to the seller in ETN (Electroneum), which can be used for mobile top-ups and, in many places, for the purchase of everyday items.

• Gen Z Insight has launched. The service, aimed at Gen Z employees, their managers, HR and talent professionals, and anyone interacting with them on a daily basis, is led by managing director Guy Ellis.

• ISV.online, a supplier of skills testing software and training services to recruiters and employers, has added Microsoft Office 2019 skills tests to its list of tests. Microsoft Office 2019 tests have been designed to measure a candidate’s proficiency and knowledge of the Microsoft Office suite of products such as Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint.

The assessments incorporate a variety of question styles, including Multiple Choice, Drag and Drop, Consecutive Ordering, Hotspot and Video. The candidate can opt to go through some practice questions before they start the tests. Each assessment has between 25 to 40 questions and the time allowed for each of these varies from 15 to 20 minutes.

27 January 2020
Recruitment Process Outsourcing, Retail, Transport & logistics, Engineering, HR, Accounting/Finance

NEW TO THE MARKET: 27-31 JANUARY 2020

• Accounting and finance recruitment specialists Butler Rose has launched its first US-based office in New York. The new US hub, led by divisional director Natalie Gibbings, marks the initial phase of an stateside expansion plan for the firm, with additional office locations planned once the New York base is established.

• Technology solutions and services provider to the recruitment sector Ikiru People launched earlier this month. The business brings together the firm’s flagship brands Voyager Software, FileFinder, ISV.Online and GatedTalent.

• Recruitment giant ManpowerGroup has launched Talent Solutions, combining three of its current global offerings – RPO (recruitment process outsourcing), TAPFIN managed service provider and Right Management – in a bid to provide solutions and end-to-end, data-driven capabilities across the talent lifecycle.

• Nationwide recruiter Search Consultancy has appointed Junead Zaman divisional manager to lead growth of its new Birmingham office. Working closely with MD Jonathan Abell, Zaman will recruit colleagues to the Birmingham site and undertaking business development with supply chain and logistics clients and candidates.

• TrueProfile.io, a provider of primary source verification (PSV) services and part of the DataFlow Group, has officially launched its blockchain-enabled professional document verification platform in the UK.

• Civil engineering, rail and construction recruiter VGC has launched the VGC Academy. The academy features a core and intermediate development programme, which focuses on behaviours like innovation, adaptability, tenacity, resilience, client focus, teamwork and diplomatic sensitivity.

It has been developed with HR and learning & development specialists in a bid to ensure everyone gets the support they need to achieve their potential, wherever they started their VGC journey.

20 January 2020
Public sector, Social care, Creative/Digital/Media, Education, Executive search, Interim recruitment, IT/Telecoms, Healthcare/Medical, Accounting/Finance

NEW TO THE MARKET: 20-24 JANUARY 2020

• Performance management provider 15Five has launched an online education platform, Best-Self Academy. The Academy will offer a series of courses and lessons to achieve the Best-Self Manager Certification. This includes 20 videos on subjects such as building psychological safety and providing effective feedback to employees. Each lesson includes guidance for immediate application, like guidelines for holding an effective one-on-one meeting.

• US-based Amerit Consulting, a service-disabled veteran-owned business, has expanded to Nashville, Tennessee. The firm says the move will allow it to strengthen its local presence in the Nashville area, while providing strength on a national level by offering recruiting solutions to the healthcare, technology, financial services and construction industries. The new office is Amerit’s ninth throughout the US and will be led by Alysha Connelly, territory manager, and new senior recruiter Whitney Rossell.

• Job site BrilliantJobs.co.uk has launched. Brilliant Jobs, the AI-driven platform, which uses anonymous user behaviour to match jobs to candidates, will start in the UK, with future plans for expansion through Europe and the US. It is the brainchild of digital marketing entrepreneur Chee Ho Wan.

• The Creative Industry Showcase is to host its latest Creative Industries Showcase at Channel 4’s headquarters in London on Monday 10 February. The entire panel and host will feature only former Creative Access interns. The free event is an opportunity for graduates and young people from BAME and lower socio-economic backgrounds to learn about the range of career opportunities that are available in the creative industries.

Hosted by stand-up comedian and writer Sophie Duker, and sponsored by ITV Studios, the evening will include a panel of experienced industry professionals from a range of creative sectors, including talent, television, publishing, film, theatre and journalism.

• Employee review site Glassdoor is launching new tools aimed at making the search for their dream job easier for jobseekers. Company Compare provides side-by-side comparison of any two companies across multiple workplace factors (such as career opportunities, salary, work-life balance, senior leadership), while Collections is aimed at helping jobseekers manage and organise the entire job search from start to finish.

• Data, technology and analytics recruiter KDR Recruitment has announced plans to expand into the Netherlands to offset potential issues that could be caused by the UK leaving the EU later this month. The firm has appointed recruiter Tom Brookshaw to develop the firm’s offering in data, technology and analytics recruitment in the Netherlands.

• Novacare, a care industry service and solution provider, has developed a dedicated jobs board for Scotland’s care sector. The launch of this online and mobile-friendly service – CareJob.co – will coincide with the Scottish Government’s Adult Social Care Recruitment Campaign starting next Monday [27 January 2020], which aims to attract new recruits into adult social care, particularly within care homes, care at home and housing support.

• Executive search firm Odgers Berndtson has launched its global interim management arm – Odgers Interim – in Boston and New York. The US business will be led by Paul Smith, a UK client partner who is now managing partner of Odgers Interim US.
 

15 January 2020
HR, Accounting/Finance

Start-up of the Month: Able Bridge Recruitment

Joe Savidge, the founding director of the Edinburgh-based firm, told Recruiter the business would serve as an antidote to agencies that are disreputable and that operate with no ethics.

“This is ethics at the core. The whole idea is we’re going to treat individuals in the same way I would want to be treated myself,” he said.

“Also, I am going to be donating a percentage of the profits to two charities – one is Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the other is an organisation called Health In Mind, which is a mental health charity.”

He added: “It’s about having a detailed understanding about what candidates and clients are looking for, and giving comment on the marketplace, as well as value-adds – things such as networking, and generally ensuring the service can be provided rapidly.”

Looking ahead for the remainder of the year, Savidge revealed he wanted to build a cash reserve for the business, establish a physical office in Edinburgh and explore expansion into the interim marketplace.

Recruiter Magazine

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