SF Recruitment

The company transformed its business model in 2020 from ‘profits first’ to ‘family friendly’, in an initiative called The SF Experience© that has incorporated flexible working by default, increased parental leave, and an employee ownership scheme, among other provisions. In SF’s words: “We needed to become more diverse, inclusive, flexible, autonomous and ultimately treat employees as individual humans with individual needs. We’re showing how firms don’t need to ‘work hard, play hard’ for commercial success – they can do so by being kind to their employees and showing clients how to do the same.”

SF achieved its third consecutive year of growth last year, turning over £25m, and has tripled profitability, In a challenging year for the recruitment industry, SF grew its fees by +4.3%, increased its fee-earning headcount by 21%, increased its client base by 19%, and attained its first-ever £500k revenue account. Furthermore, SF experienced 10% growth in client spend by 10% in 2023.

Judges’ comments

“Great results; they bucked the trend through their growth and internal expansion.”

Highly Commended: Service Care Solutions

Connex Education Partnership

An example of Connex’s commitment to social mobility was its funding last year of more than 500 formal qualifications for classroom supply staff from Level 2 Certificate in Special Education Needs and Disability through Level 4 Certificate for Higher Level Teaching Assistants – all part of its supply staff career pathway. It is a particular focus for Connex in underrepresented communities in school roles where course fees could present a barrier to a career in education. The company’s investment in skills development, formal qualifications and career progression for our supply staff has been significant and essential to improve the quality of education and the education outcomes for pupils.

Judges’ comments

“They support not only their own staff, candidates and wider community but also the ultimate stakeholders: pupils. Social value is clearly central to their offering, through the training given through the in-house Connex Academy to allow workers from other sectors to start a career in education, to paying their staff fairly and operating by the principle that people have basic fundamental rights and access to an excellent education, irrespective of postcode. Their driving motivation is to ‘Do the right thing simply because it is the right thing to do’ and, clearly, that does not conflict with building a successful business at the same time.”

Spencer Clarke Group

SCG delivers interim and permanent professionals – from junior up to senior and executive level – to local authorities within 11 specialisms that include accountancy and finance, construction, trades and labour, education and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), IT and digital , healthcare, social care and nursing, housing, planning and regeneration. It also supplies temporary contractors and permanent staff to councils and housing associations, and clinical and non-clinical temporary contractors and permanent staff to the NHS and elsewhere. 

The company invests in employee wellbeing through a £50 a month benefit and one Recharge Day per quarter (an additional day of paid annual leave). An example of SCG’s fun but business-driven spirit was its 2023 Halloween campaign, ‘Recruiting Doesn’t Need to Be A Nightmare!’, in which the team recreated the iconic ‘Thriller’ dance with a recruitment twist.

Judges’ comments

“One of us said that SCG definitely sounded like an organisation where they’d like to work! There was ample evidence that they’re looking after their employees and having fun – we’d all love to see the iconic ‘Thriller’ dance with the recruitment twist that was part of their Halloween campaign. Even more, they seem to have a finger on the pulse of the changing needs and upskilling requirements in the various segments they’re operating in, and they’re offering free Career Hubs to support professional career development. SCG inspires employees to work harder, think outside of the box, be kind and pay forward in society.”

Select Offshore

Established in 2013, Select Offshore provides global crewing and recruitment services to the renewables and oil & gas industries. Clients and projects are based across six continents, and locations include a headquarters in Billericay, Essex, and a new international office in Dubai. The company is certified under the Maritime Labour Convention and manages a complex supply chain including transport to offshore sites worldwide, visas, international tax regulation, testing, and health and safety.

In 2023, the company had a 98% employee retention rate and doubled headcount, a 74% redeployment rate of its contractors. In addition, Select Offshore increased its turnover by 81%, compared with the compound annual growth rate of 12.1% of the offshore market in 2023, and its gross profit increased 50.71%.

Among testimonials was praise for Select Offshore’s “ability to thrive in hectic situations, especially when faced with the challenging task of recruiting crew members at the last minute”.

Judges’ comments

“In a market that is traditionally dominated by very large recruitment companies, this entry demonstrated really impressive growth numbers, particularly given its size. Solid and sustainable growth in financials and headcount, exceptional service to cross-border clients and candidates, along with testimonials. Unanimous choice.”

Highly Commended: 5Values Consulting Group

TIB Services

The company is a specialist school estates recruiter that provides site managers, caretakers and maintenance staff to schools across the UK. It offers both permanent recruitment and agency supply services to help schools and with short- and long-term staff absences and recruitment campaigns.

The primary recruits come with backgrounds in the emergency services, the British military, engineering and trades. The company describes itself as “a proudly age-inclusive champion” and says that its team is largely made up of mature professionals in the over-50s demographic. 

In 2023, the service has experienced a 75% increase in the number of candidates registered to work compared to 2022. Also, TIB saw an 85% increase in the number of candidates interviewed by the company’s vetting and safeguarding team of five last year.

Judges’ comments

“TIB Services have clearly demonstrated social impact and put people before profitability. They evidenced what they have done and created an inclusive approach for those in the over-50 demographic who potentially would have left the labour market. They have created a model for those looking for career change and delivering aspiration, hope and opportunity that they never would have found without the help of TIB Services.”

“TIB Services have clearly demonstrated social impact and put people before profitability. They evidenced what they have done and created an inclusive approach for those in the over-50 demographic who potentially would have left the labour market. They have created a model for those looking for career change and delivering aspiration, hope and opportunity that they never would have found without the help of TIB Services.”

Impala Search

The company of nine employees specialises in two key verticals, Talent Search and Capital Search. Talent Search helps companies to scale their product development team in areas such as software engineering, including data and infrastructure, executive search and sales.

The Capital Search team bridges the gap between companies and investors by connecting promising ventures with the necessary capital to fuel their growth and enable their strategic objectives.

Impala expanded into the US during the eligibility period. A slowdown had occurred in Impala’s existing markets in Europe, and this prompted the company to take the opportunity to launch its services into the US, with a Chicago base. Impala forecasts that its US division will surpass its European division by 2025.

A commitment to diversity, equality and inclusion (DE&I) is embedded in Impala’s culture, with 66% of its senior leadership having Afro-Caribbean background and women making up 40% of its workforce. Impala further reflects its DEI commitment through partnerships with Coding Black Females and INCO Academy UK to provide support in job seeking and mentorships.

Another partnership supports the Wild Code School, a European tech school offering lifelong learning programmes at 20-plus campuses to disadvantaged communities, many of whom are refugees from Ukraine.

To drive employee wellbeing, Impala offers ‘Workations’, allowing employees to travel around and experience the world and fit work and travel into their own personal schedules. 

The company also supports clients to implement Workations and has partnered with an international SaaS company that automates and manages the process for more than 100 organisations, further adding value to the community Impala serves.

Judges’ comments

“Capital raising was a great idea – not recruitment, but once in place this will create recruitment growth. Partnering with Coding Black Female was a brilliant idea. Innovation really runs through the DNA of Impala.”

Cynthia V Davis CBE

Cynthia V Davis CBE is the Founder and CEO of the Diversifying Group. 

Cynthia began her recruitment career at recruiter Ellis Fairbank. Subsequently, she joined Best Buy Europe and worked for leading organisations such as Carphone Warehouse, BT, and Creative Access, and honed her skills in increasing visibility for minority groups in business and ensuring that the recruitment process avoids discrimination. 

With specialist insights on topics such as diversity, inclusion, equality, technology, and entrepreneurialism, Cynthia launched her entrepreneurial career in 2015 and became the CEO and founder of the Diversifying Group, later expanding the organisation by co-founding Diversifying Jobs. Aiming to transform the world of work for a more accepting future, both businesses are devoted to providing a blend of talent attraction, executive search, recruitment marketing, events, training and consultancy services to support organisations on their journey to inclusive working. 

What is especially exciting about Cynthia is that she has taken her mission to the wider business and charity world beyond the recruitment industry and demonstrated that there is much to say and do to make diversity, equality and inclusion (DE&I) part of the day-to-day world of work. Her message and messaging are dynamic, vibrant, positive and rich with insight, expertise and common sense. She is supporting UK plc to ‘get’ DE&I – and this in turn has an impact on how UK plc positively views the business and potential of recruitment itself.

Cynthia V Davis CBE is awarded Recruiter’s Impact Award for doing all the right things for DE&I, untold numbers of the UK’s diverse talent, and for the UK recruitment and talent profession and industry.

Nicholas Barton, Founder and CEO – The Barton Partnership

Created 17 years ago by Nick Barton, the Barton Partnership has continued to evolve and redefine its proposition while retaining its specialist focus on strategy and innovation. Its evolution has taken the business beyond talent services by establishing a consulting arm that delivers fractional advisory and project delivery solutions. The fractional advisory model enables boards and executive management to engage trusted senior advisors for guidance in addressing mission-critical challenges and driving organisational impact. The business’ consulting arm acts as a complementary extension to the firm’s independent consulting and permanent search services, creating a ‘one-stop shop’ to address diverse needs related to strategy and M&A, data and analytics, ESG and sustainability, and transformation and change.

The business has become a member of the Management Consultancies Association and achieved B Corp certification, reflecting its commitments to maintaining and building high standards of excellence and accountability, along with balancing profit with purpose and setting a benchmark for ethical and responsible business practices within the industry.

Nick nurtures a culture of collaboration and continuing improvement in the recruitment/search/consulting industries, providing advice, guidance and mentorship to other recruitment entrepreneurs. He is an investor in AI automation tool HireARA and diversity analytics platform Mixxyl. He is also an investor and director of Search Chain Partners,  a FinTech executive search and recruitment firm,  and sits on the board of BritishAmericanBusiness, the transatlantic business organisation dedicated to helping companies build their business on both sides of the Atlantic.

Judges’ comments

He is “an exceptional role model for the industry – not just in terms of his inspiration for starting the company but in how he has continued to evolve it while ensuring it remains true to its niche operational focus. True to his intent of being a ‘disrupter within the market’, the most recent evolution has enabled the company to truly pivot.” The judges also noted that he invests in start-ups and technologies with potential as well as mentoring others further back in their journey.

Highly Commended: Entrepreneur to Watch: Emérique Opou – Founder and CEO, Emerique & Partners

Vicki Parker, Head of Talent Acquisition, UKICIMEA and Europe – Vistra

For most of the eligibility period, Vicki operated as a stand-alone recruiter for her Vistra region, with 300 roles to be filled and having a heavy reliance on agency support. She explored ways to reduce costs from £1.5m on external agency spend, drive internal talent moves, simplify and automate recruitment and onboarding processes, develop line manager education, increase brand awareness and combat a poor employer reputation on Glassdoor. Early on, the figures Vicki dealt with were 50% of recruits coming from agencies, 39% direct hires and 11% referrals. Her nominator said that Vicki “led the charge on identifying small yet impactful improvements that yielded tangible results … incremental changes ensuring significant differences without extensive investments in processes or technology”. 

Judges’ comments

Describing Vicki’s approach to recruitment as “phenomenal and just what is needed”, the judges commented on her qualities of being both people-centric and having a strong commercial perspective, viewing talent acquisition strategically. “Vicki is humble about her own role and knows there’s a need for continuous learning and development, but fortunately her talent has now been recognised and celebrated – well done, Vicki, and congrats, Vistra!”

Sasza Bandiera, CEO – Oyster Partnership

Sasza joined Oyster as a trainee recruiter 16 years ago, with 12 of those years in a managerial capacity. He was promoted to CEO from managing director in November 2023. 

Among his achievements are implementing continuous professional and personal learning and development (L&D) for employees. He established a 16-week training programme and invested in hiring an in-house L&D consultant to deliver tailored training, along with ongoing support. For managers, he has implemented specialised leadership skills training. At his direction, Oyster is also undergoing training with a public speaking specialist to enhance employees’ confidence and communication skills.

A testament to Oyster’s focus on employee development is that 96% of the company’s management team started their journey at the company as trainees. The average tenure rate is 10.8 years per person.

And he is also credited with successfully leading Oyster out of a period when the business suffered significant headcount issues.

Recognised for his listening skills and taking a visionary yet strategic view of Oyster’s future, he has set up divisions, hired and trained recruiters, and mentored junior staff into management and director roles. 

Judges’ comments

“Sasza was a worthy winner out of a really competitive category. He spearheaded the business as we believe a leader should, scaled the business during an erratic external market … quite humble in his approach, self-aware and generous in his nature, he clearly kept morale high in his business through motivation and support at the core. His implementation of technology and demonstrable understanding of data and analytics were impressive. He clearly cares about his people enormously.”

Highly Commended: Natasha Makhijani, CEO – Oliver Sanderson Group