A newly opened research centre in Sofia, Bulgaria, will improve international headhunter JordanSheppard’s services to international clients, according to the company.

Senior consultant and global account manager, Theo Smith, told Recruiter that opening the research centre in Bulgaria, a low-cost country, would allow the company to expand its headcount of recruiters in Manchester by “a minimum of five consultants”. Smith says this will happen “as soon as we can bring people on board”.

Manchester will act as a single point of contact, and international clients will benefit from having different sector experts in one place; for example, transportation, oil & gas, energy and renewables, and technology, Smith explains. 

Consultants with technical/role specialisms, such as engineering and HR, as well as a wide range of foreign language speakers, will also be on hand.

“This is what our clients are asking us for — a personal service, a single point of contact, and an organisation that can really understand their business and support it globally, and not just on a country-by-country basis,” says Smith.

“If as a business we worked like other organisations, our ability to succeed would be hampered by the fact each of our country HQs would be competing against the others,” he adds.

Smith says the firm’s location close to Manchester airport and a new video conferencing centre mean that consultants can continue to deal with clients face to face.