Even in an industry not short of colourful Echaracters with strong opinions, some views still manage to stick out.

By any stretch of the imagination, the views of Roger Philby chief executive and founder of Chemistry Recruitment, fall into that category. Some people might even question why he remains in the industry.

“My industry stinks,” he writes in his blog. “The people facilitating the recruitment transaction are frequently ill-trained (if at all), incentivised on placement (not the quality of it) and have absolutely no qualification to do the job bar possibly being naive or vulnerable enough to accept it… it’s rubbish.”

However, while scathing of the industry in general, Philby is not someone who comes over as disillusioned or pessimistic about recruitment. On the contrary, his infectious enthusiasm just can’t help shining through. “I want to create the best place to work in the industry — I want to change the industry, and I want to make money,” Philby told Recruiter at the company’s offices in Binfield in leafy Berkshire.

So why this love-hate relationship with the industry, and can he really do better and achieve these challenging and lofty aspirations?

Like many others in recruitment, Philby admits that it wasn’t his first choice of career. After university, Philby says he just fell into it.

“I had a blast,” he says of his five years at Michael Page, during which he rose to manager within 18 months and worked directly for chief executive Steve Ingham, a man for whom he has the highest regard. “Fantastic. What that guy doesn’t know about recruitment isn’t worth knowing. He’s brilliant.”

However, after five years he left to go to Nortel Networks, where he became head of resourcing for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “I grew tired of the model. They [Michael Page] have a model that works for them, and one that I have a certain amount of respect for, but it’s not the way I chose to recruit,” he explains.

“I have a really good relationships with a few customers,” he says of Chemistry. “Michael Page’s model is to have lots of relationships with lots of customers.” That said, he is keen to emphasise that “he would never criticise” Michael Page as a business because “they are very successful”.

At Nortel, Philby had the dubious distinction of being sacked and re-hired twice. “When there was bureaucracy, I would crash through it. I didn’t notice the people who didn’t like it,” he says of this eventful period.

After a while, however, Philby says the office politics of a large corporation wore him down and he moved to Maple Optical Systems, a US-based telecoms vendor.

It was then that Philby’s already low opinion of how recruiters operated was reinforced. “My experience as a client was awful,” he says.

“I would talk about my business issues but all they would talk about was their commercial issues. I got nothing back from anyone. No innovation, or any sense they cared for me as a client.

“I was paying over the odds for not the best telecoms people in the world, and attrition was high,” he adds.

With these criticisms of the industry ringing in his own ears as it were, five years ago, Philby founded Chemistry Recruitment. The company, which specialises in sales, marketing and HR roles, employs six consultants and two support staff.

The company also has a consulting arm, Chemistry Consulting, employing four staff. Set up in 2007, it “helps clients fix their resourcing problems,” explains Philby.

For example, it worked with directory publisher Yell to improve the quality of its hiring when only 38% of its sales staff met their targets in their first year. Philby says the consulting business came about because clients of Chemistry Recruitment were constantly asking for help in hiring the right people, even when they were also using other recruiters.

Last year’s £2.4m turnover was split down the middle; £1.2m each between the recruiting and consulting arms.

So what is different about Chemistry’s approach?

Philby says the way most recruitment is carried out, which is to look at candidates’ previous experience, is fundamentally flawed. Based on research by the British Psychological Society, previous experience is “the least accurate predictor” of job success, he says, and provides only a 25% success rate in hiring the right people.

Philby claims that by using key psychometric tests, Chemistry can guarantee a 75% success rate. The answer lies in defining the optimum combination of intellect, values, motivations and behaviours required, and then measuring candidates against these criteria.

“We are the only recruitment company that can find the right person three out of four times,” Philby claims.

By providing this higher level of certainty, clients can avoid the cost of hiring square pegs in round holes, and managing under-performers. “I don’t think there are bad employees, just people who are in the wrong job,” he adds.

It’s a bold statement, but as Philby points out, Chemistry Recruitment is willing to put its money where its mouth is by holding back 5% of its fee, dependent on clients being satisfied with candidates after six months. So far 86.5% pay up.

The consulting side of the business takes this approach further — for example, training clients’ own staff in Chemistry’s methodology.

It’s an approach that has won Philby some admirers among fellow professionals. Hugo Mahoney, sales and marketing director of business intelligence provider LexisNexis, has direct experience of working with Philby, who played a key role in helping him improve the quality of people recruited to LexisNexis’ sales force.

“I think Roger takes the time to really understand the motivations of a candidate,” he said.

“I also find that when Roger agrees to work with an organisation, he makes a personal commitment to solving the resourcing needs.

“His interest is not deflected even when there is a lull in the natural hiring process. This makes him an ideal long-term and strategic partner.”

When it comes to recruiting his own staff, Philby uses the same approach as when working for clients. This has contributed to a workforce that is passionate and puts relationships with clients above everything else. “It’s about what the client is trying to achieve; that’s what I really love about those guys,” he says admiringly.

The company has set up PAGS or (positive action groups) made up of small groups of employees to look at specific issues. One was how to embed customer satisfaction into the company culture.

Confident in Chemistry’s recruiting methods, and in the company’s staff and culture, Philby is nothing if not ambitious.

“We want to be number one by reputation in sales, marketing and HR between £30k-£80k. We want to be the first company people think of not by turnover or profit, but by reputation,” he says boldly.

Philby says the downturn could be a boon to the business as clients seek to ensure that every pound they spend on recruitment is money well spent. “We provide a clear return on investment (ROI),” he says.

He is also keen to grow the business by expanding into the SME market. However, Philby emphasises that at this stage this is an aspiration, and the company won’t risk launching it before it can guarantee delivery.

Philby is the first to admit that such caution is somewhat unusual for him. Careful planning is not his forte, he concedes. “My inclination is to act before thinking it through.”

He says colleague Simon Cooper plays a key role in questioning Philby’s more fanciful suggestions.

“Simon will come to me and say ‘Fantastic idea, but we will lose £50,000 a year by doing it, so can you make it a profitable fantastic idea?’” says Philby.

As to changing the way the whole industry does business, Philby is a big supporter of licensing and qualifications for recruiters. “I cannot believe that you don’t need to have any qualifications to do what we do.”

“It’s called a recruitment industry because it’s an industry, it’s not called a profession. If it’s going to be a profession you have to be better at it,” he adds.

Irrespective of the issue of qualifications, Philby says the demand from clients for recruiters to add value is driving change in the industry — though he admits this won’t happen “overnight”.

Clients can do much of the resourcing themselves, they can put adverts on the web, he says. “So hang on, big recruitment agency — what’s your value?”

And with the market moving his way and with “a clear ROI model”, Philby is confident Chemistry is in a strong position to take advantage. “I would like to think that Chemistry will be number one [within its niche] in the next five years,” he says.

In the meantime, Philby will no doubt carry on recruiting in the way he loves to do it. “It depends on what drives you. If I just wanted to make money, I would do recruitment like everyone else,” he says.

For a man who loves what he does, yet often appears at odds with what he regards as the failings of the industry’s prevailing orthodoxy, there seems little chance of that happening any time soon.