Recruiter HOT 100 2014

November 2014 www.recruiter.co.uk

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE FOR RECRUITMENT AND RESOURCING PROFESSIONALS

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Recruiter HOT 100 2014

People power brings profits Welcome to Recruiter’s HOT 100 2014!

Launched in 2006, our HOT 100 is the definitive league table of the UK’s most profitable recruitment consultancies. Based on a company’s net fee income (NFI) in its last full year accounts, a ranking in the HOT 100 demonstrates careful stewardship of resources – balancing the rewards of a healthy revenue stream with investment in productive people power.

Recruiters may have a (sometimes deserved) reputation for splashing the cash and living a bit flash. However, the HOT 100 companies reflect a mature, innovative professional services industry with ‘best practice’ financial aspirations and achievements.

In this supplement, which brings the HOT 100 to the Guardian for the first time, you will find the HOT 100 tables and an analysis of the 2014 findings by our research partner, Agile Intelligence. Also included are companies’ secrets of repeat success in the league table and an extra-bright spotlight on IT recruiter Montash, which shot to third place this year.

Let the success of these top-quality recruitment consultancies inspire you in taking your own business forward. And remember the favourite saying of many a wise finance director (and a director at one of our highly ranked HOT 100 companies): “Revenue is vanity – profit (or NFI) is sanity.”

DeeDee Doke

CONTENTS 3

Investment in staffing starts to deliver returns The HOT 100 list of the most profitable recruitment consultancies, plus an analysis of the different sectors

10 Montash: setting the bar high Technology specialist Montash is riding high. We hear how the company has performed so well 13 How to be a repeat performer Find out the secrets of continuing success from five of the most consistent recruiters over the years Editor: DeeDee Doke deedee.doke@recruiter.co.uk Contributing writers/editors: Colin Cottell, Clare Cronin, Christy Lawrance Art editor: Adrian Taylor Production editor: Vanessa Townsend vanessa.townsend@recruiter.co.uk Business development manager: Tom Culley tom.culley@recruiter.co.uk Senior sales executive: Lisa-Jane Parker lisa-jane.parker@recruiter.co.uk Recruitment advertising: Amalia Zafeiratou amalia@redactive.co.uk Production executive: Rachel Young rachel.young@redactive.co.uk Publishing director: Aaron Nicholls aaron.nicholls@redactive.co.uk CIRCULATION and SUBSCRIPTIONS To receive a regular copy of Recruiter, the leading magazine for recruitment and resourcing professionals, telephone +44 (0)20 8950 9117 or email recruiter@abacusemedia.com

Editor, Recruiter/recruiter.co.uk

Celebrating achievement

Redactive Media Group 17-18 Britton Street London EC1M 5TP

To qualify for the definitive list of the UK’s most profitable recruiters is a significant achievement so congratulations to all those that made this year’s Recruiter HOT 100. Being one of the most efficient and productive recruiters in the country is no easy task and Anderson Group is honoured to be involved in the celebration of this success.

©Thomas Burden

So far, 2014 has had its fair share of challenges for recruiters. One of the most significant for the temporary worker sector has been the introduction of the Onshore Intermediaries Legislation. As one of the UK’s largest providers of employment management solutions to the recruitment sector, this year Anderson Group has been focused on delivering services to help recruiters meet their new obligations and underpin future growth.

Next year looks set to be another good year for many in the industry.

According to research conducted by Anderson Group and Recruiter, half of recruiters forecasted 10% or more top-line growth over the next 12 months.

The HOT 100 is a great opportunity to mark the achievements of some of the industry’s most resilient and innovative businesses. Anderson Group looks forward to next year and continuing to work with such recruiters, helping them navigate the complexities of supplying a modern workforce.

Barry Roback, Director, Anderson Group Anderson Group specialises in providing employment management solutions to recruitment agencies and their temporary contractors.

For further information, visit: www.andersongroup.uk.com Tel: 0333 8000 800 Email: enquiries@andersongroup.uk.com

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Research and analysis by

Supported by

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Recruiter HOT 100 2014

Investment in staffing starts to deliver returns

COMPILED BY

THE HOT 100 COMPANIES SAW PROFIT FOLLOW PATIENCE AND RISES IN PRODUCTIVITY AS LAST YEAR’S DECISIONS ON TAKING ON NEW EMPLOYEES PAID OFF. SUE DODD, DIRECTOR OF AGILE INTELLIGENCE, REPORTS

U

K plc would be delighted to achieve the improvement in productivity of the Recruiter HOT 100 in the past year. This select group added almost 2% to its gross profit (GP)/head – compared with around 0.4% rise in labour productivity in the wider UK economy.

An unfair comparison? Perhaps, but the investment by recruiters in headcount, infrastructure and processes made in the years following the recession is beginning to pay off in productivity gains. In contrast, the wider UK economy has seen overall declines in business investment, with serious constraints on borrowing combined with reluctance from companies to invest.

If business fortune favours the brave or the patient, then recruiters are in line for further gains. While employee growth this past year was modest, the HOT 100’s previous two years were close to or in double figures; the maturing of these newer

fee earners has helped fuel productivity just as the labour market began to recover.

This helps to explain the interest of private investors in an industry where such improvements in top-line performance – apparently achieved simply by judiciously timed expansion and application of the workforce – can be leveraged into sharp operational gains.

Recruitment is still a remarkably fragmented industry. Market-share shifts are common, productivity can change suddenly and the resultant benefits or costs drop rapidly as in few other industries.

Of course it is never simple, with choice of speciality, delivery model, candidate sourcing, client relations, and ratio of experienced to rookie fee earners in the mix – but, with the economic winds in the right direction, the rewards are tangible.

In the calendar year 2013, for the first time in years, the headwinds eased and, in

METHODOLOGY The data has been rigorously filtered by turnover and employee numbers; details are available on request. The companies featured here employ almost 30,000 in-house staff and account for £14.7bn of industry turnover. The latest available accounts dated 2013 or 2014 for all these companies have been used; a few companies have been excluded because of late filing. Also excluded are companies filing abbreviated accounts and not providing full figures separately.

Where possible, UK-orientated companies are considered. However, with many UK recruitment firms working more internationally, the profile is evolving. In some cases and increasingly each year, group accounts have been used where these prove more up to date even if some overseas business is evident — examples are Harvey Nash, Robert Walters, PageGroup, Hays and several IT recruiters. Primarily overseas operators have been excluded although UK engineering specialists placing talent worldwide are included. Two prominent exclusions from the analysis are Manpower and Reed, because of accounting differences that invalidate comparisons.

Companies combining temporary staff in their employee count are not included, as this grossly underestimates their performance. Small search specialists and headhunters with almost entirely global interests are omitted for a variety of reasons such as incomplete disclosure, overseas business and a shortage of data for peer group comparison.

DISCLAIMER: While every effort has been made to ensure accurate reporting and analysis, no guarantees are made regarding the information in this document.

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2014, a following wind is driving the labour market and providing the base conditions for a more widespread industry recovery.

Yet even the most thriving economy could not entirely compensate for the further commoditisation of large tranches of recruitment and the polarisation of niche specialists and volume staffing. This has speeded up the divergence of gross margin rates (gross margin is the GP as a percentage of sales turnover). It is also driving the more traditional sectors, such as office and industrial, further adrift from the HOT 100 as they lack the high value placements needed to offset the impact of low margin on productivity.

Calendar 2013 proved to be a year of selective recovery across the UK recruitment industry, with sales value rising around 16%, according to the Office of National Statistics, when additional employer costs, increased managed services and pay rate inflation are included.

In line with these figures, the 2014 HOT 100 spans a range of sales growth from more than 100% to a decline of 28%. Rates can be distorted by acquisitions, while specialisation, contract wins/losses or even the perm/temp mix will have an effect.

Sector performances remain diverse.

Over the past eight years, there has been a shift towards more technical and fewer office and industrial companies in the HOT 100 – professional specialists have also seen their position eroded since the global financial crisis. By illustration, the HOT 10 technical recruiters combined added almost 22% to net fees (gross profit) yet the HOT 10 professional recruiters gained less than 6%.

Patience and selective investment in recent years have begun to yield returns for the industry overall, and the 2014 HOT 100 have taken more than their share.

On aggregate, they saw overall moderate growth (in the 2013 or 2014 reporting yearend), as 74 companies posted a rise in [cont.p6]

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Change Gross profit per employee latest year (£)

Gross profit per employee previous year (£)

Company/trading name

Gross profit latest year (£m)

Gross profit previous year (£m)

Sector coverage

1

▲

169,877

174,162

Vector Resourcing

5.5

5.6

Technology

2

▼

169,162

183,637

Shilton Sharpe Quarry

13.5

13.0

Legal

3

N

154,241

153,937

Montash

3.7

3.1

IT: BI, data & analytics, architecture & strategy, security & assurance, ERP

Parent group (where different name)

Rank

Recruiter HOT 100 2014

4

▲

150,285

137,585

NES Global Talent

77.2

60.4

Oil & gas, build infrastructure/utilities, power

5

N

148,769

136,256

Interact Medical

5.8

5.3

Locum doctors, including niche technical skills

6

▲

148,396

127,334

Odgers (Group)

60.0

50.7

Executive search, interim management

7

▼

141,725

130,246

Morgan Law Partners

5.5

4.7

Executive finance, HR, PR & procurement into public and not for profit

8

▲

140,180

131,644

Mayday Healthcare

17.0

15.1

Healthcare

9

▼

138,847

158,531

Green Park Interim & Executive

5.1

5.7

Interim management

10

▲

138,638

121,140

Swift Technical Group

52.4

43.2

Oil & gas/energy

11

▲

138,078

124,450

Penta Consulting

12.2

11.0

IT & telecoms

12

▲

136,928

120,186

GatenbySanderson

8.9

5.6

Executive search, interim management

13

▼

136,112

125,265

LA International Computer Consultants

13.3

11.8

IT

14

▼

134,805

145,896

WA Consultants

4.0

4.5

IT

15

▼

133,065

122,831

SystemsAccountants

4.1

3.6

Finance systems, finance transformation, EPM, BI, ERP

16

▼

130,663

121,664

G2V Recruitment Group

12.0

10.0

IT, engineering, oil & gas

17

▲

130,021

116,625

Walker Hamill

6.1

5.6

Accountancy and finance, banking finance & private equity, advisory

18

▲

128,311

116,188

NRL

9.5

6.4

Technical, construction, oil & gas, petroleum & energy

19

N

127,248

147,590

Interim Partners

4.1

3.5

Interim executives

20

▲

126,995

100,724

People Source Consulting

4.6

2.8

IT & technical

21

▼

122,111

121,651

Eames Consulting Group

6.6

6.4

Actuarial, audit, broking & underwriting, change, claims, compliance, risk

22

N

120,908

151,428

The SR Group

22.4

27.3

Legal, compliance, HR, marketing, tax, treasury & executive search

23

▼

120,750

125,099

High Finance (UK)

4.8

5.1

Actuarial, risk, audit, compliance, finance, IT, strategy, broking

24

▼

119,536

120,501

Opus Recruitment Solutions

3.3

2.5

IT, executive, oil & gas

25

▲

117,440

84,619

Black Swan Associates

2.9

1.7

Finance, compliance, risk, change, audit, marketing

26

▲

117,041

111,465

Investigo

16.0

14.2

Finance, tax, property, procurement, logistics

27

N

116,579

123,548

Roevin Management Services

4.4

5.2

Engineering

28

▼

116,383

121,329

Fircroft Engineering Services

59.6

49.0

Oil & gas, mining, nuclear power and automotive

29

▲

114,636

98,412

Purple Consultancy

2.5

2.1

Digital, design, advertising and integrated

30

▲

114,276

104,903

Lorien Resourcing

20.7

18.4

IT, telecoms

31

▲

113,065

84,350

Ajilon (UK)

Adecco SA

17.3

17.1

IT, other professional sectors

32

▲

112,133

105,943

Caritas Recruitment

HCIG*

5.0

3.7

Social care

33

▲

111,330

98,897

Matchtech Group

45.2

38.4

Engineering: aerospace, automotive, energy, marine, infrastructure, science, IT

34

▼

110,860

103,379

Finegreen Associates

2.4

1.8

Healthcare – managerial & executive recruitment

35

▼

110,842

112,249

Staffgroup

11.0

9.3

Technology, oil & gas, engineering, power, finance

36

▲

110,808

99,610

Aspire Global Network

8.6

8.4

Media & marketing communications including digital, content & editorial

37

▲

110,163

108,313

Aberdeen Appointments Agency

3.9

3.9

Oil & gas, accountancy, office support, HR and training

38

▼

109,921

111,574

Resourcing Group

6.9

5.2

Facilities management and maintenance, housing and construction

39

▲

109,603

102,480

CBSbutler

6.6

6.5

Industrial control & automation, aerospace, pharma, healthcare

40

▼

108,911

114,523

Air Energi Group

44.0

34.2

Oil & gas/energy

41

▼

108,808

111,653

Harvey Nash Group

88.6

83.0

IT, finance, interims, executive search

42

▼

108,785

113,184

Randstad Education

17.2

15.4

Education

43

▲

108,139

92,795

Rullion IT Plus

8.8

7.5

IT

44

N

105,571

83,015

Portland Resourcing

3.2

2.6

IT: SAP

45

▼

104,851

102,705

PPF

10.5

8.6

Drivers, logistics

46

▼

104,555

139,718

Oliver James Associates

12.2

12.9

Financial, insurance, actuarial, audit, compliance,broking, legal, technology

47

▼

104,162

104,132

Source Personnel

3.5

1.6

Marketing, creative and media communication

48

▲

103,934

108,940

Eden Brown

12.7

12.7

Health & social care, built environment, public sector & housing, engineering

49

N

103,653

69,802

RIG Locums

2.3

0.8

Medical locums and GPs

50

▼

102,847

107,006

Resource Solutions Group

18.1

18.5

IT, business change, finance & government sectors

Adecco SA

Accountants in Demand

HCIG*

Randstad Holding NV

HCIG*

Key: ▲ Up ▼ Down – Unchanged N New

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Company/trading name

102,606

100,009

Coyle Personnel

▼

102,381 107,553 Next Ventures

53

N

102,006 82,838

CMA Financial Recruitment

54

▼

101,813 99,010

Modis International

55

N

101,691 97,737

56

▼

101,497 99,729

57

▼

101,000 110,167 Gravitas Recruitment

58

▼

100,802 126,179 Red

59

▼

100,310 102,000 Badenoch & Clark

60

▼

99,732

95,125

61

▼

99,081

99,367

62

▼

98,724

115,064 Tangent International Group

63

N

98,685

90,598

Capita Resourcing

Capita

64

▲

98,641

86,208

Randstad Care

Randstad Holding NV

65

N

98,177

108,905 Kin-Tec

12.0

11.9

Multi-sector including construction, medical, engineering, energy

6.5

5.6

SAP, Oracle, MS Dynamics, SAS, analytics, vendor search, BI/DW, infrastructure

3.3

2.8

Accounting & finance, executive, HR

9.8

9.8

IT – development, SAP, infrastructure, BI, aerospace, defence & engineering

IPS Group

5.6

5.2

Underwriting, risk, insurance, broking

PageGroup

513.9

526.9

Accountancy, finance, legal, engineering, IT, S&M, energy, HR, procurement

4.8

3.3

IT & actuarial

16.8

19.1

IT

29.8

30.5

Finance, accountancy, banking, legal, IT, HR & marketing

Shorterm Group

8.2

6.1

Engineering, construction, rail, oil & gas, supply chain

GCS Recruitment Specialists

7.5

7.2

Technology, financial services

6.6

6.2

Telecoms, technology and engineering

35.0

25.9

Education, social care, IT, medical, energy & utilities, interims

Parent group (where different name)

Sector coverage

Gross profit per employee previous year (£)

▼

52

Gross profit previous year (£m)

Change Gross profit per employee latest year (£)

51

Gross profit latest year (£m)

Rank

Recruiter HOT 100 2014

Adecco SA

Adecco SA

7.8

8.3

Social care, nursing, allied health professionals, social housing

5.6

4.2

Oil & gas/energy (technical engineers and geoscientists)

66

▲

97,965

86,307

67

N

97,950

118,083 William Alexander Recruitment

66

▼

97,815

127,392 Henderson Scott

3.1

3.2

Managed service, cloud computing, sales & marketing, financial technologies

69

N

97,702

114,592

6.4

5.6

IT, technology, digital at all levels including executive search

7.0

7.2

Engineering – nuclear, utilities, infrastructure, oil&gas, energy, rail, petrochem

21.9

19.2

Construction, property, engineering

Prime People

La Fosse Associates

8.3

7.6

Real estate, built environment, energy, environmental, insight, analytics

2.0

1.4

IT, change, project managers, analysts, architects, developers, BI

70

▼

97,700

98,481

Rullion Engineering

71

N

97,643

75,179

Randstad CPE

72

▼

97,276

113,447 Premier Group UK

5.6

5.1

IT, media, engineering

73

N

97,265

93,053

PSD Group

23.8

24.4

Multi-sector including executive, finance, audit, engineering, HR, IT, law, S&M

74

N

96,200

71,607

Gemini Search

3.4

2.0

Advertising, digital, NGOs, fashion and media

Randstad Holding NV

75

▼

95,772

91,455

Synergy Group

5.5

4.0

Social care, housing, revenues & benefits

76

N

95,759

69,630

PSR Solutions

2.8

1.9

Construction – building, civil engineering, residential, rail, M&E and FM

77

▲

94,952

81,081

Parity Resources

6.0

6.0

IT, technology & project life cycle, telecoms

78

▲

94,951

75,461

The Rethink Group

19.6

18.2

Technology, energy, executive, retail, pharma, engineering

79

▼

94,693

96,079

Timothy James Consulting

4.9

5.8

Project management, IT/ change in finance, HR, procurement, marketing

80

N

94,380

77,148

Randstad Technologies

4.7

4.7

IT & telecoms

81

▼

91,763

97,400

Redrock Consulting

4.5

4.5

IT & telecoms, financial, retail, health, social care, sales & marketing

82

▼

91,702

75,577

Eximius Group

5.5

5.9

Energy, financial, law

83

▼

91,046

95,061

Morson Group

49.3

41.8

Engineering – aerospace, defence, automotive, marine, rail, oil & gas, IT

84

▼

90,658

91,453

Hays

724.9

719.0

All main sectors

85

▼

89,684

91,896

SThree Group

199.8

205.3

Multi-sector including financial services, energy, ICT, biotech

86

▲

89,612

84,489

Hydrogen Group

31.9

31.3

Technology, finance, business transformation, legal, oil & gas, life sciences

87

N

89,067

143,870 Options Resourcing

88

N

88,300

72,324

Randstad Finance & Professional

89

▼

88,108

91,426

CD Sales Recruitment

90

▼

88,063

91

N

92

▼

HCIG*

Randstad Holding NV

4.0

3.3

Construction, M&E, facilities management

10.7

11.5

Finance, accounting, legal

3.3

3.4

Sales professionals for specialist sectors

103,431 Nigel Wright Consultancy

5.6

6.7

Consumer products and services, industrial, manufacturing

87,733

55,798

Fawkes & Reece

3.9

2.5

Construction, social care, education

87,635

85,906

Robert Walters

199.2

188.4

Accounting, finance, legal, HR, HR, IT, sales, marketing, supply chain, tax

Randstad Holding NV

93

▼

87,217

85,034

Workmates

5.8

5.4

Trades, engineering, maintenance, facilities management

94

N

87,012

64,881

Montreal Associates (Systems)

3.3

2.6

Technology: enterprise software specialists – ERP, CRM, BI, analytics, HE

95

N

86,098

67,946

Spencer Ogden

20.4

10.5

Energy

96

N

86,083

85,444

Oil Consultants

4.1

3.1

Oil & gas: niche technical areas

97

N

86,039

79,931

CPS Group (UK)

1.8

1.3

IT, engineering, procurement, SAP

98

▼

86,013

82,874

Phaidon International (UK)

16.1

13.7

Banking & finance, audit, supply chain, energy, life sciences, telecoms, HR

99

▼

85,786

97,380

Orion Engineering Services

34.4

37.4

Oil & gas, power, renewables, aerospace, rail, construction, IT/telecoms

100

▼

85,618

94,847

RIG Medical Recruit

3.4

2.6

Radiography, occupational therapy

*Human Capital Investment Group

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EXAMINING THE MARGIN BREAKDOWN IN MORE DETAIL Percentage of HOT 100 companies by gross margin band (in accounting year) ■ 2007 ■ 2008 ■ 2009 ■ 2010 ■ 2011 ■ 2012 ■ 2013

30 25 20 15

Source: Company accounts

net fees, far more than last year and higher than the suggestion in a recent survey that 66% of the industry had increased net fees.

The average 2014 HOT 100 member still has close to 300 employees; two-thirds oversaw some net organic expansion of their workforce, much of it at UK offices but also through overseas expansion. While gross margin continued to be eroded, after at least two years of investment in headcount, there was finally a welcome uplift in productivity.

The erosion of gross margin across the HOT 100 is mainly attributable to modest pricing competition on temporary/contract placements, as managed services continue to strengthen their hold on certain types of clients. The permanent market was mixed but probably had relatively little effect.

Temporary margin erosion drives a need for process/operational efficiency to improve profit conversion rates. Lower gross profit margin demands a higher conversion rate just to stand still on bottom-line profits.

Twenty-seven of the 2014 HOT 100 earn a gross margin below 15% against 28 last year; however, three low-margin technical/IT recruiters were unable to meet the accounts deadline this year and their inclusion would have seen a rise in this margin band.

Furthermore, 56% of the HOT 100 reported an actual fall in gross margin, several migrating into lower margin bands.

The continued strength of technical recruitment reflects the growing confidence of the UK industrial sector, in addition to the buoyancy of overseas contractor placements. The two oil & gas recruiters in the top 10 mean the extent of engineering demand is not obvious, but a look through the HOT 100 sees ample evidence of strengths across vertical sectors including automotive, aerospace, infrastructure, rail and defence, while scientific disciplines have proved strong.

As the technology/IT sector – always a late-cycle player – moves into recovery, the outlook for STEM disciplines should become clearer. Rebalancing production/services is a rather old-fashioned concept now, with knowledge/technical/production versus other perhaps a better measure. Such a shift, albeit slow, is becoming apparent in the recruitment industry.

The resurgence in public sector has become more pronounced and has presented good growth opportunities for recruiters with the right mix of candidates and delivery model. Value for money and added value are key, but recovery is in evidence even for healthcare suppliers, where the adjustment to framework agreements has proved challenging.

Agile Intelligence compiled the HOT 100 Report on behalf of Recruiter to determine which companies are best at leveraging their intellectual assets. A rigorous calculation of gross profit per employee indicates how effectively an organisation uses the skills of

10 5 0 Less than 10% 10% to 15% 15% to 20% 20% to 30% 30% to 40%

all its people to generate a profitable return.

All in-house staff (excluding temporary workers or contractors) are included – not just fee earners; this is a standard senior management key performance indicator.

Companies emerging strongly from this analysis, especially those featuring regularly, are those that are the most productive, balancing the need for good, well-trained, directed and motivated staff against the need to minimise costs.

Which companies derive the most added value from their staff while engendering an atmosphere that encourages a profitable and sustainable approach? The answers are in the 2014 HOT 100.

Key findings 2014 HOT 100 sales turnover rose 10.1%, less than the whole recruitment industry sales turnover growth of 16.2% reported for calendar 2013 by the Office of National Statistics. The HOT 100 companies account for nearly 40% of industry sales turnover.

Comparing this group against their own figures for the previous year, headcount expansion slowed down and emphasis was placed upon building investment returns.

Overall headcount rose 3.2% but the rise in productivity translated this into a 5.1% rise in GP as prior-year fee earner hires matured; hence GP per head rose. Gross margin, however, declined. Like for like: • 2014 HOT 100 companies collectively reported an increase from their previous year in latest available sales of 10.1% to around £14.7bn.

• HOT 100 companies’ combined GP reached £2.9bn, a gain of 5.1% on the previous year.

• HOT 100 companies’ in-house headcount rose 3.2% to total 29,305 employees.

• Productivity for HOT 100 companies rose by 1.9% over the year to an average £99,853; this is 2.5% above last year’s HOT 100 group average of £97,395.

• HOT 100 average gross margin fell 90 basis points for these companies to 19.9% with a shift in the business mix from permanent to temporary fees being a major factor.

40% to 50% more than 50%

• The HOT 100 group in the past year added £141.4m in net fees and 901 staff at an incremental gross margin of 10.5%, making an incremental £157,000 additional GP per head. This is a far better performance than last year, when the incremental margin was just 5.2% and GP/head only £35,000.

This suggests the past year has seen better margins earnt.

• Entry level (ranked 100) to the 2014 HOT 100 was £85,618 in GP/head, a full £5,000 ahead of last year’s threshold for the cut.

Across all HOT 100 companies, 66% expanded their workforce organically or by acquisition, compared with 72% previously; this is still dropping as recruiters hold back or focus upon returns. A substantial 60% increased GP/head, well ahead of last year’s 39%. Productivity was prioritised and delivered as headcount growth slowed.

The dream combination of an expanding workforce and rising productivity was achieved by 35% of the 2014 HOT 100 against 23% last year. Smaller firms again proved better at achieving this: • Around 40% of the 35 firms with fewer than 50 employees.

• Around 32% of the 65 firms employing more than 50 employees.

GP is a combination of permanent fees (at virtually 100% margin) plus the profit on temporary supply after subtracting payroll and other temp employment costs.

The temporary/permanent placement mix influences gross margin, as do trends in temporary pricing and employment costs. With larger contract business being more competitive than SME or ad hoc placements, business type and delivery model/cost structure are crucial in determining temporary margin and profitability. The chart above shows the gross margin bands of HOT 100 companies by accounting year.

• Margin distribution of 2014 HOT 100 versus previous issues: high-end margin players (driven more by perm) fell slightly, middle-margin players (15-30%) were marginally down (all at

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Recruiter HOT 100 2014

the higher end of the range) while bottom-end margin suppliers (<15%) also dropped slightly with three technical/IT companies left out of the HOT 100 this year (all normally below 10%), partly offset by an extra one in that margin band plus another in the 10-15% margin band (see chart on page 8).

• 3% of the HOT 100 – down from 6% – are almost entirely permanent recruiters. The drop was due to exclusion of one ‘regular’ because of accounts timing, a subdued permanent market and a shift towards ‘interims’ lowering the average margin.

• The permanent market for much of calendar 2013 remained subdued, albeit with sporadic sector upturns. The overall effect is expected to be a very modest shift towards temporary/contract placements.

• The most represented group remains companies with margin between 20% and 30% – substantial temporary with a high portion of permanent fees (quite possibly 50:50) or specialist temporary in a higher margin niche – but some migration to margin below 20% is now evident.

• Biggest losers: the 20-30% margin band saw a substantial loss from 28 down to 23 constituents with downward migration.

• Most gains: the 15-20% and 30-40% margin bands gained the most, with some migration towards a lower temporary margin but also a shift towards more temporary and fewer permanent placements.

• Twenty-seven agencies now achieve gross margin below 15% – 11 of these below 10%.

Company trends: productivity growth wider in all categories and public sector resurgence The bar for entry this year shot up to more than £85,600 GP/head, as investment in headcount began to pay off, with 60% of constituents seeing a gain in productivity; 35% of them achieved both headcount and productivity growth, against 23% last year.

Of these 35 companies, the spread was very different from last year when IT and technical sectors dominated. This year reported professional (10), technical (nine), public sector (eight) and IT (six) while both industrial representatives were included.

The resurgence of public sector recruitment is very much in evidence – two years ago, none achieved simultaneous growth in headcount and productivity.

Process efficiency focus A threshold of £85,618 is a full 6% rise on last year. Turnover has been healthy, with several longstanding members missing the cut from the whole spectrum of sector specialisation. Among ‘general’ recruiters, low average fee levels relative to the majority of specialists make it increasingly difficult for them to compete on GP/ head. These mainly office and industrial

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companies have learnt to excel at process efficiency, to convert more of their net fees into bottom-line profit.

Despite it being a better year for professional recruiters, they have again lost ground in the top 20. Just six professionals are listed in the top 20, with three in the top 10. Seven IT staffing companies are listed in the top 20, of which two are in the top 10, while the top 20 balance comprises four public sector firms (two executive and two healthcare) and three technical recruiters.

The Top 10 are all highly focused specialists. Last year’s winner, Hilton Sharpe Quarry (SSQ), a permanent professional legal recruiter, lost its top spot for 2014 by a whisker, swapping places with last year’s number two, technology specialist Vector Resourcing. Both reported lower GP/head than last year but Vector was the stronger at £169,877, just 2.5% down, whereas SSQ dropped 7.9% as it expanded its headcount by more than 12%, presumably looking for returns next year.

New top dog Vector covers the full range of IT/technology roles whereas SSQ is a wholly permanent legal specialist, albeit with significant European and, more lately, other overseas interests. Montash, a small IT supplier with a range of specialities including BI, data and analytics, has crashed the party and rolled up third, following a rapid expansion (see p10).

Meanwhile, on the back of global demand in the energy market, NES Global Talent has risen to fourth place while its rival in the thriving engineering/technical sector, Swift, crept back into the Top 10. Again, the Top 10 profile remains the same – no multinational/multi-sector recruiters or their subsidiaries. SSQ and Odgers are predominantly permanent recruiters while, apart from the mainly contractor-based Interact Medical, NES and Swift, the others offer permanent and temporary business.

Several large UK groups in the HOT 100 have substantial international business, including Hays, PageGroup, SThree, Robert Walters and Harvey Nash. Even the smallest companies often have overseas interests, whether via offices or ‘exports’ of placements from a UK base.

It still makes sense, without UK consolidation, to separate brands – Randstad and Adecco have five and four subsidiaries respectively. The HCIG (Human Capital Investment Group) stable has four companies in the HOT 100 plus extra interests. Overall, just 13% of HOT 100 companies employ more than 200 staff compared with 22% last year. This drop is mirrored by ONS evidence of consolidation among large recruiters. A similar drop is seen in small firms, with just 9% employing 20-30 staff versus 13% last year. This shift favours the 30-50 band at 26%, with a further 31% between 50 and 100, suggesting small-to-medium sized maturing companies are doing best on productivity.

General staffing The number of generalists in the HOT 100 has all but disappeared. The two companies included are both industrial specialists.

The highest, rated at 45th, is PPF, the driver specialist that is continuing its rapid growth, benefiting from serious candidate shortages, and has a business model able to thrive despite a margin of 10.7%. The other company is Workmates; the labour and trades recruiter now also specialises in white-collar construction, engineering and facilities management.

Pertemps just missed the cut this year, followed closely by Adecco’s Office Angels, First Call, Transline and Champion.

Brightwork, Angela Mortimer and Impellam, with its increasingly professional mix, are next in line. There is no national high street brand in the HOT 100.

Organisation by delivery model among the predominantly office and industrial suppliers would perhaps be a better categorisation, given the impetus for improving bottom-line efficiency to make up for top-line margin erosion. The level and nature of managed service contracts, client mix, on-site versus branch-based operations and the rise of technology-driven staffing solutions increase the challenges, and also the opportunities, for the more general recruiters.

• See recruiter.co.uk for the HOT 10 breakdowns of four specialist groups: IT/telecoms, technical, public sector and professionals.

OUTLOOK AND CONCLUSION The payback for the post-recession investment in headcount has finally begun to flow. Will recruiters expand numbers further this year, risking a pause in this productivity growth, or sit back and await an improvement in their returns on maturing fee earners? With sales activity recovering, a positive economic outlook, falling unemployment and still rising official job vacancies, it would be an uncharacteristically reticent recruitment company that was not tempted to expand just a little. The industry may be like the Forth Road Bridge – when the workmen have finished painting it, they will just start all over again.

Agile Intelligence analysis shows not only net vacancies but also job churn increasing in 2014. This should herald the next stage of the ‘cycle’, with further gains in permanent and contract employment opportunities. For recruiters well positioned by sector, delivery model and operational efficiency, the prospects for growth must be promising. Yet few will be able to outperform those who have made the HOT 100, and have already displayed their ability to get the best out of their own people while still investing for the future.

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Sponsored Q&A

INSIDE INTERACT MEDICAL To really get to know what makes a company tick, the best way is to ask those who are at the heart of the company – its staff How do the recruitment teams contribute to achieving profitability as part of a larger organisation?

Danny Richards – Sales Manager

What situations provide you and your team with the greatest learning opportunities at Interact Medical?

– Matthew Armitage, Team Leader – Surgery Consultants Division Our ever-evolving market provides my team with the constant demand to innovate.

We have embraced the increasing importance of social networking platforms and expanded our relationships in continental Europe to meet increased demand for candidates.

In addition to this, we have focused our efforts on specific capacity issues faced by our NHS clients.

As a company, Interact has a broadminded culture, helping to convert new market demands into successful business ventures.

How do you define success for team members at Interact Medical?

– Ashish Ganatra and Suraiya Begum Team Leaders – Head and Neck Division We believe success is exceeding our clients’ expectations by providing the highest calibre locum doctors whilst ensuring all processes are followed smoothly and efficiently.

Each part of the process is equally as important, starting with the Resourcing team right through to our Compliance team.

Through this consistent process, we provide the long-standing and high quality service that our clients have come to know and expect, and defines our success as recruiters.

Interact Medical is enjoying significant success in both profitability and sales growth. What’s the key to the company’s great results in managing these two tough business tracks at the same time?

We believe that our continued success is derived from a core business philosophy of staff empowerment.

In creating autonomy within controlled parameters, staff are encouraged to look beyond the ordinary and innovate their service delivery to reflect the needs of an ever changing NHS. This approach creates reassurance for our customers and defines Interact as a service provider who applies safe, reliable and cost effective Medical Locum supply.

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p08_Advertorial_Hot 100_NOV14 OPT 1.indd 8

Motivating Recruitment teams is essential to any business, large or small. Without a productive team working towards the same end goal, business growth and profitability will be limited. As Sales Manager, you’re the heartbeat of the sales floor and it’s vital to continually link the sales teams to the rest of the organisation.

This is achieved through regular interaction with the recruitment teams. When combined with regular strategic forecasting, growth and profitability is achieved in conjunction with the organic development of the company.

What qualities do you look for in your team members when recruiting them, and what skills do you train them for?

– Hayley Harrison Projects and Operations Manager

It’s important to recruit the right candidates for the right teams; matching both skills and personalities is essential.

A strong background in recruitment is ideal for our sales desks, however the right attitude and desire to succeed is just as important.

The majority of our colleagues have been with the business for over five years. This applies to all departments and is something we are very proud of.

What do you see as your team’s greatest challenge and opportunity in 2015?

– Sam Finlay Team Leader – Accident and Emergency Division Our challenge remains an ever-increasing need for A&E Locums, fuelled by increased patient volumes attending A&E Departments, which are already struggling to balance capacity, budgets and avoid waiting time breaches.

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making a difference.

As an award winning specialist medical recruitment agency, Interact Medical recruits outstanding talent for the NHS. If you’re looking for the very best locum doctors for your Trust, we have the highest calibre candidates to offer.

If you’re a medical locum considering your next opportunity, we have a diverse range of assignments waiting to be fulfilled.

If you’re a recruiter at the top of your game and are looking for your next move, we’re an industry leading agency waiting to hear from you.

+44 (0)1908 357900 info@interactmedical.co.uk www.interactmedical.co.uk

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Recruiter HOT 100 2014

Montash: setting the bar high THE HIGHEST NEW ENTRY IN THIS YEAR’S HOT 100, GOING STRAIGHT TO NUMBER 3, IS TECHNOLOGY SPECIALIST MONTASH. COLIN COTTELL MET THE CEO AND FINANCE DIRECTOR TO DISCOVER HOW THEY ACHIEVED IT

T

echnology recruiter Montash’s floor offices overlook Silicon Roundabout, the hub of London’s burgeoning IT sector. From the plum location and the slick corporate video in reception on its never-ending loop, repeating its mantra ‘Success is when reality exceeds expectations’, to the company values displayed on the walls of the sales floor, all of the trappings point to corporate aspiration, to a company on the up. But how deep do these outward trappings of success really go?

Well, the figures don’t lie. And Montash has racked up some very real achievements, moving up to the third position in this year’s Recruiter HOT 100, the definitive list of the most profitable and efficient staffing companies in the UK. Gross profit per employee of more than £154k is sure proof that Montash’s success is well-founded and grounded on solid foundations.

“Revenue is vanity – profit, or NFI [net fee income], is reality,” says Montash finance director Dush Alagaratnam, borrowing that much-loved phrase of finance directors. “It

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makes us smile because gross profit is what we have focused on from the beginning,” he adds.

Chief executive Andy Larholt founded Montash in 2004 to serve the IT technology market. With a host of high profile clients including BP, AstraZeneca and Unilever, the company kept growing even during the recession, and now is riding the wave. Today the company has 42 employees. “We are having a great time,” says Larholt.

Montash’s business model is predicated on “economically viable margins”, says Larholt. “We only operate in areas where there is a good margin that reflects the service we offer,” he says. In fact, the company walks away from business that

COMPANY PHILOSOPHY Hire great people, train them and give them the opportunity to give a great service, and your clients and candidates will come back to you

does not meet this requirement, he says.

Despite having only one office, in London, Montash operates globally, with 50% of its gross profit generated from outside the UK. “It is no good me turning to Unilever and saying ‘I can help you in Amsterdam, but I can’t help you in Singapore’,” Larholt explains.

This is made easier by the use of technology, such as Skype, as well as the global mobility of its candidates. That said, Larholt recognises the advantages of “pressing the flesh” and says there are plans to open an office in either the US or mainland Europe.

Larholt began his career in recruitment at fellow IT technology recruiter SThree, which he joined at age 18, before branching on his own. “I craved a more dynamic and entrepreneurial environment. I saw it as an opportunity to have my DNA in a recruitment firm, and to build on that DNA,” he says.

Starting out in a service office with no windows, Larholt set out to build the new company in his own image from the ground up. “It was lonely... I moved from being a big fish in a big pond to not even being in a pond,” he says of those early days.

Within 18 months, Montash was turning over £1m plus – Larholt’s sense of belief strengthened after Unilever became the company’s first client.

For the first six years the company was “a lifestyle business”, says Larholt. “It was just being, and growing our contractor base.”

While “lifestyle businesses are perfectly acceptable”, he says, things were about to change. “About 2010, I had a bit of an epiphany, a bit of a light bulb moment.

I was finding that companies that had started out after me were growing larger [than we were].”

After taking on Alagaratnam as finance director, the two men set out on a journey to grow “a real company”. For Alagaratnam this meant from day one “acting and

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RICHARD LEA HAIR

Recruiter HOT 100 2014

L-r: Andy Larholt and Dush Alagaratnam

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Recruiter HOT 100 2014

behaving like a large company”. So out went lifestyle, and in came the trappings and structure of a serious, more grown-up business. These included setting a clear strategy, goals and targets. The company also introduced robust and scalable front and back office processes, and formal board meetings. The company is now three months into its latest three-year growth plan, and is “on target”, says Larholt.

This focus on planning and the long term is evident in Montash’s approach to its staff. Employees are offered a career rather than just a job. “We spend a lot of time developing a career framework. We have an internal talent manager, and we do quarterly appraisals,” says Larholt.

MONTASH Founded 2004 Employees 42 Office: London

Gross profit per employee £154,241 £153,937

Gross profit £3.7m (year end Dec 2013) £3.1m (year end Dec 2012)

Gross profit breakdown 50% UK 35% Mainland Europe 15% USA Revenue Gross profit Employees

2014* £27m £4.1m 2015* £36.9m £5.8m *Projected ** By year end

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45** 60**

ANDY LARHOLT’S SECRET OF SUCCESS “I have put in the hours, the graft.

There is no substitute for hard work” Motivating staff is also a key theme.

While remuneration needs to be competitive, Larholt contends that money is never the answer on its own. “If you want a member of staff who is proactive and productive, they need to be motivated, happy and feel part of something,” he says.

Montash is big on staff engagement. The company carries out two anonymous staff surveys a year. A typical question is ‘If you ran the company for a day what would you do?’

“Staff appreciate that we want to make it a place where they enjoy their work,” says Larholt.

One outcome was that staff chose the company’s core values that are prominently displayed around the office. These include ‘quality’, ‘passionate’ and ‘honesty’. “The core of what we do is a values-based business that will win in the market by being the best and playing with a straight bat,” says Larholt.

Unlike in many recruitment companies, key performance indicators (KPIs) are not imposed on staff from the top down. “We say to the individual ‘what are your KPIs this week?’. They set them, so they are accountable,” he says.

For Larholt, hiring the right calibre of staff is a challenge. Indeed, it is the biggest barrier to the company’s growth, he says. Core competencies of work ethic, communication skills and entrepreneurial

flair are essential. In addition, there must be cultural fit. “They must be driven to be the best they can, but not at the expense of their colleagues or our values,” explains Alagaratnam.

“Do they come across as a decent human being?” adds Larholt. Taking advantage of a client or candidate for short-term gain just to make commission, for example, does not fit in with the company ethos, which emphasises long-term partnerships.

Getting a job at Montash is tough. The company typically screens between 400 and 500 candidates for every person it hires.

If Larholt sets the bar high for new recruits, the bar he sets himself is, if anything, even higher. “I don’t consider myself particularly successful,” he says.

“Obviously I have achieved a lot but there is so much uncompleted business. As a perfectionist and an ambitious individual, I am a ‘cup half full’ person but my target is filling the cup up.”

And even though, he describes Montash’s third place in the HOT 100 as “a great accolade”, virtually every word this ultra-ambitious and hungry recruiter says, screams that he would much rather be standing on the top step of the podium.

“This is not a time to sit back; we are third, not first,” he says.

Obviously, the strapline ‘Success is where reality exceeds expectations’ resonates strongly with Larholt and Alagaratnam.

Larholt continues, “Our expectations are ever increasing; I guess that is it, that is the drive, that is the passion we have.

“The hunger doesn’t go away, and I hope it never does.”

Somehow that seems unlikely.

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Recruiter HOT 100 2014

How to be a repeat performer FIVE RECRUITERS HAVE APPEARED CONSISTENTLY IN THE HOT 100 OVER SEVERAL YEARS. COLIN COTTELL LOOKS AT WHAT’S BEHIND THEIR SUCCESS

f Recruiter’s HOT 100 represents the cream of the recruitment industry, an even more select group of recruiters in this year’s list of most profitable and efficient recruitment consultancies stands out yet further.

Since the HOT 100’s launch in 2006, many recruiters have appeared in the rankings for a year, perhaps two – but the vast majority made just fleeting visits.

By contrast, these elite few have shown a consistency of performance that gives the lie to the idea that recruitment is a shortterm, cyclical business.

During a period that included the deepest recession since the 1930s, they have proved that through building longterm sustainable businesses driven by high employee productivity, they have had the mettle not only to survive but also to prosper. Year in year out, in good times and in bad, the performances of these firms rank as the best of the best.

Shilton Sharpe Quarry (No 2 in 2014) International legal search firm Shilton Sharpe Quarry just missed out on a historic hat trick of three first places in the HOT 100. Chief executive Nick Shilton attributes the firm’s consistent performance to a combination of the firm’s business model and getting the most out of staff.

“I don’t think that we have any single competitor who combines the service lines we do, with our geographic coverage,” he says. “Clients don’t want to use 35 different legal search firms in 45 different jurisdictions. The ‘one-stop shop’, provided it is on a quality basis, is something that greatly appeals to them.”

Giving fee-earners the tools to do the job to be as productive as possible, and then leaving them to get on with it, has also paid dividends. “We provide support across research, operations and other areas, and that means consultants can simply make best use of their day,” Shilton says.

This approach is combined with an entrepreneurial culture that provides staff

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PETER SEARLE

I

Nick Shilton (left) with Gareth Quarry: ‘one-stop shop’ business model and giving fee-earners autonomy

with an opportunity to build and run their own businesses.

The success of the company’s approach meant that even at the height of recession between 2009 and 2010, net fee income (NFI) increased by 40%. “Law, if done properly in recruitment, is not

David Morgan: keeping core people happy

nearly as cyclical as many other sectors,” says Shilton.

Previous Recruiter HOT 100 rankings: 2013 (1), 2012 (1), 2011 (3), 2010 (6), 2009 (11)

Morgan Law (No 7 in 2014) Keeping the company’s core people happy and productive during the downturn has been a key factor in multi-sector executive level recruiter Morgan Law’s four top five HOT 100 rankings in the past six years, says co-founder David Morgan.

“What we have done is keep our core people happy by giving them markets and functions to cover to maintain their productivity and make sure they are successful,” he says.

In the good times, this process is relatively simple, says Morgan. However, when markets were shrinking, it meant being more creative in how the company retained its best consultants. This has been made possible by staying close to the market, he says. “We set up an IT division, and gave consultants the opportunity to move into a new discipline.”

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Recruiter HOT 100 2014

Avoiding the temptation to cut investment in people, office space, infrastructure and the work environment during the difficult times, and a commitment to look beyond the short term has also paid off, says Morgan.

“I would say we live in the short term but our eye is on the medium term. There is no magic wand. It is about common sense and being sensible.”

Previous Recruiter HOT 100 rankings: 2013 (3), 2012 (4), 2011 (71), 2010 (4), 2009 (1)

Mayday Healthcare (No 8 in 2014) A strong work ethic, and a proactive and sales-oriented approach driven by highly motivated, well-incentivised and “hungry” staff lie behind nurse recruiter Mayday Healthcare’s five top 10 HOT 100 appearances in the past six years, according to Nick Poturicich, managing director of Mayday Group.

“We have a time-and-a-half work ethic; that was probably the biggest factor in our success,” says Poturicich, who with business partner and fellow managing director Charles Safapour founded Mayday Healthcare in 2003.

The standard working week is 50 hours, but staff often work six days a week, and sometimes even Christmas Day and Boxing Day. The company prefers to recruit staff new to the industry and train them to do things in the Mayday way. “Experience is not important to us; it is all about attitude and motivation,” says Poturicich.

“It’s not a big secret. We have a set way of doing things that works, but the most important point is we incentivise and reward our staff.” This approach is augmented by a long-standing senior management team, who train their staff “in their own mould”.

After briefly diversifying into supplying other health staff, the company decided to stick to what it does best, which is to supply nurses.

Previous Recruiter HOT 100 rankings: 2013 (9), 2012 (11), 2011 (7), 2010 (3), 2009 (4)

Raj Tulsiani: not just talking about diversity but making a difference through thoughtful application

Green Park Interim & Executive (No 9 in 2014) Sticking to its core values and principles has been a key factor in Green Park Interim & Executive’s success, says Raj Tulsiani, chief executive and co-founder of the company that has been a top 10 HOT 100 performer in each of the last four years.

“Our values are passion, sustainability, quality and innovation. We want to be in a business that doesn’t just talk about diversity but works hard to make a difference to the performance of the businesses we work with through its thoughtful application,” he says.

“We have used these principles as a compass to guide us, and without them we would have been in trouble and not on this prestigious list.”

This adherence to values has meant making some tough decisions, including parting company with some good people who didn’t fit the company’s DNA. And it has meant listening to the firm’s customers rather than going down a path that the management thought was right for the business.

“What customers wanted from us was an evidence-based challenger brand to give them a better choice of candidates,” Tulsiani says, “and not just a choice of the ‘usual suspects’ their tier-one firms would have provided.”

Previous Recruiter HOT 100 rankings: 2013 (4), 2012 (3), 2011 (2)

According to joint chief executive Guy Townsend, the company’s reaction to the credit crunch was crucial. “We didn’t simply cut people – we did the opposite, and we kept all our major fee-earners,” he says.

This allowed the company to steal a march on its competitors, which cut staff. And as activity has picked up, the company has been able to reap the benefits of retaining those experienced and productive staff, says David Craig, Townsend’s fellow joint chief executive.

Both Townsend and Craig keep their hands in by billing. This has meant they have kept their eye on the money and efficiencies from the front line without taking on the potential distractions of opening international offices or venturing into new sector disciplines that they would have had to have learnt.

Staff are incentivised, not just by being paid well, but because almost everyone has some form of equity in the business.

“We give them a suitable grown-up environment to work in. The culture is strong. There are great client and candidate relationships, and the work is very highquality,” Townsend adds. “It just makes the whole thing viable long term.”

Previous Recruiter HOT 100 rankings: 2013 (21), 2012 (6), 2011 (4), 2010 (10), 2009 (5)

Walker Hamill (No 17 in 2014)

Nick Poturicich and Charles Safapour: rewards are key

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Even during the height of the recession that hit its core client base, Walker Hamill maintained a top 10 position in the HOT 100, and this year it was once again the top-ranked specialist finance recruiter.

Guy Townsend and David Craig: retaining fee-earners

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THE GLOBAL SAP SOLUTIONS PROVIDER

www.redsapsolutions.com twitter.com/RedCommerceSAP linkedin.com/company/15014

RED knows that people are behind every SAP solution and every business challenge. We know because we started out by sourcing those people. From our roots as a niche recruitment company with just ten staff, we’ve grown to become the world’s largest independent pure-play SAP supplier.

After successfully delivering recruitment services to our fast-growing international client base, they started to ask RED to deliver more than just expert people. Instead, they wanted us to provide SAP technology solutions, whilst maintaining the premium service offering they had grown to expect from RED. As a result, RED Consulting was created as our Project Implementation, Consultancy and Advisory Division. This has developed into two unique propositions; RED Innovation Solutions and RED Project Solutions.

To further drive RED’s expansion into new markets globally and to continue to build our SAP consulting service lines, I joined RED as CEO in January 2014, bringing with me extensive experience in the professional services and recruitment industries, having operated both as CEO and CFO in Europe, the Middle East, the Americas and Asia Pacific.

Under my leadership, RED is investing significantly, with over £2.5million committed in 2014 alone. These investments include a cutting edge CRM system in partnership with Microsoft, leading recruitment tools including LinkedIn Talent Solutions, presence at SAP partner events such as SAP SAPPHIRENOW and numerous marketing initiatives to expose the RED brand to an even wider global audience.

The key theme for the next three years in RED is growth. We are looking to hire across all departments and in all territories for experienced recruitment professionals, SAP account managers and operational staff, with the ultimate goal of doubling our headcount by 2017.

Working in a market enjoying positive growth, and with a broader range of services than any of our competitors, the opportunities at RED are unrivalled and, for those interested in relocation opportunities, my vision is to see at least 10% of RED staff working away from their home countries within the next five years.

The future is an exciting one for RED with plans to open new offices in Asia, Europe and the Americas, fresh talent joining our database on a daily basis and more clients turning to us for help.

The technology landscape is changing and SAP is changing; In-Memory Computing, Mobile Commerce, Big Data, Cloud are all now a reality.

There are exciting times ahead for SAP and for RED. Best regards, Andrew McRae Chief Executive Officer at RED At RED, our employees have a unique and infectious passion for the business, and we’re as committed to our colleagues as we are to our clients. Hard work never goes unnoticed and success is rewarded with fast-track career progression and bonus benefits that are the envy of our competitors.

Find out more about careers at RED and apply for open vacancies at www.redsapsolutions.com/work-for-red.

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