Commenting on the deal, announced last Thursday (20 April), Grahame Carter, managing director at Matchtech, said: “In the past US firms acquiring UK businesses have been known to bring with them extremely successful software-based recruitment models. These models probably provide better shared services tools but they can be seen to take away face-to-face, human-to-human contact, between the recruiter and hiring manager, the backbone of UK recruitment.”

He said Atkins, which has more than 40 offices in the UK, is a great example of a company with relationship-led recruitment methods. “We have proudly built our business by regularly speaking to the recruitment teams but also, when agreed, the hiring managers. The recruitment managers are in the best position to tell us exactly what they are looking for, once that level of trust is built they believe in us to find the best person to do the job.”

Carter said when mergers of this size have happened before, organisations have been known to take on a software-based model. “For someone like me, that’s been in the industry for a long time, it is a bit sad,” he added.

Matchtech supplies "a lot' of engineers to Atkins, Carter said.

The Atkins deal is not the only huge merger currently taking place in the sector; Aberdeen-based Wood Group is in the process of acquiring Amec Foster Wheeler for £2.2bn. 

Carter said he expects the trend of consolidation in the industry to continue. “I think the engineering sector is going to end up with small businesses and very big global engineering players; middle-sized organisations may find they are targeted for acquisitions,” he added.

• What do you think about this issue? Do you agree with the boss of Matchtech? Email us at [email protected] or tweet us below to tell us your thoughts. We will run comments online in a round-up at the end of the week.

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