Attending the Awards evening for the first time, Russam admitted to Recruiterthat his team had no idea what to expect but were “absolutely delighted” at winning.

“Our emphasis on candidate care is because we talk to our interims all the time and they appreciate how we keep in touch and look after them,” he told Recruiter. “But it’s right to do this.”

Russam explained that before setting up the company 30 years ago, he did some temporary financial controlling work (“the term interim wasn’t even known back then,” he said) and he personally liked being treated well. “The way we treat interims - for example, through our Associate Programme or training courses - gives Russam GMS a defining corporate personality, as well as a commercial edge. It becomes a source of revenue.”

He also explained that innovative approaches, such as the recent launch of Athene Interims, specialising in marketing and communications interims, is “smart working”. “Working in partnership with Athene Communications,” Russam said, “it’s using their route to market through the Russam GMS engine.”

And Russam told Recruiter the firm was in talks with an HR services company regarding another collaborative venture in the next month.