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20 May 2025
Oil & gas/Energy, Transport & logistics

International manufacturer invests £170m in North Wales facility

The UK and Welsh governments have welcomed the investment into a new facility from the international manufacturer.

The announcement comes as the UK and EU hold a summit to discuss future opportunities to boost economic growth.

The landmark development will produce more than 100,000 tonnes of non-combustible rock mineral wool insulation per year and create around 140 direct jobs, with more in local supply chains.

The announcement coincides with the UK-EU Summit that took place on Monday [19 May 2025].

Secretary of state for Wales Jo Stevens said: “This £170m investment by Knauf Insulation is fantastic news for North Wales and our UK government mission to drive economic growth.”

Using UK-First Submerged Arc Furnace technology, the new factory will produce non-combustible, low embodied carbon, recyclable rock mineral wool insulation to support the need for safer, more energy efficient and sustainable buildings.

The UK and Welsh government-backed North Wales Growth Deal and the Flintshire and Wrexham Investment Zone collectively support the decision by Knauf Insulation to lo-cate a second plant in the area.

As leaders in the production of sustainable building materials, Knauf Insulation’s expansion further supports the growing advanced manufacturing cluster in North Wales.

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20 May 2025
Creative/Digital/Media, IT/Telecoms

Human skills as important as ‘oven-ready’ tech skills

So says the CEO of the CIPD, the UK’s professional body for HR, learning & development, Peter Cheese.

Speaking last Friday [16 May 2025] at the Houses of Parliament launch of the UK Hiring Taskforce, Cheese told the 200 attendees that at the same time, however, instead of filling skills gaps, employers are also looking for potential in applicants through characteristics such as “attitude, aptitude to learn human skills like collaboration and communication, and critical thinking. The more we debate the future of work, the more we debate about AI impacting jobs and skills in the future, the more we are coming back to these core skills”.

Humanities knowledge is part of building such capabilities into organisations, Cheese said: “People talk now about the half-life of job skills is somewhere between three and four years. In other words, every three or four years, we’re going to have to retrain half of our workforce.”

Access to and retention of talent are a top issue for business leaders around the world, with “almost every organisation saying they can’t find all the skills. But then you question them on that, they say yes, we’ve been getting too focused on hiring what I’ve often described as ‘oven-ready employees’ and they don’t exist – partly because we are changing the nature of jobs at an ever-increasing rate”, Cheese said. “So, the reality of how we approach recruiting has got to be expanded from the point of view of the employers as well.”

He asked the audience: “So why do we seem to be reverting back to saying ‘I just want tech skills’? We know the world is not, unfortunately, going to be a better place if all we have are a lot of tech people. Frankly, we need humanity to work alongside that as well.”

Cheese has been appointed to the UK Hiring Taskforce steering committee.

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19 May 2025
Life sciences, Creative/Digital/Media

UK Hiring Taskforce launches to develop new hiring strategies

With 200 hiring leaders, recruiters, rec tech leaders and more in attendance, including Recruiter, the hiring taskforce kick-off also delivered the news that an association for recruitment technology providers is planned to launch in November “to have one voice with government, to give high risk assurance that they are people of good standing and to help us develop a rec tech roadmap”, said Keith Rosser, who as chair of the Better Hiring Institute is leading the joint force of parliamentarians and hiring leaders. 

“We want a national hiring strategy,” Rosser said in his address at the event. “What do we think the future looks like if we could start again – forget the baggage, forget the medieval CVs, the Victorian references, the industrial revolution, job adverts – and think about actually, what would starting again look like?

“And finally, a technology road map. What would rec tech look like if we had a magic wand? What do we need to consider? What do we need to debate?... What we want from you is your help shaping what needs to be considered, how we need to go forward, what are the things we really should be looking at?”

Organisers are hoping to gather concepts by November from the respective work groups, formed of people who sign up to participate, for strategy, technology and policy. “Those three work streams with then end in those three deliverables later in the year,” Rosser said.

“We want this to be the beginning of a new dawn,” he added. “We want to get leadership once more for the UK in hiring… It’s hard to imagine actually that once upon a time, the UK was a leader in this stuff… We just really haven’t moved forward. Today is our commitment to gain leadership once more.”

Viscount Camrose, shadow secretary of state for science, innovation and technology, will be the honorary president of the rec tech association when formed. 

Speaking on Friday at the taskforce launch, he said: “I’ve been worrying for years that the job market is too inefficient, but that it can be reduced in some sense, to a data problem. And I would love us to start making progress together in that director because actually, in a weird way, although it is a data problem, digitalisation and AI have made it worse. They have made it more difficult rather than less difficult, and I think we can go for some way this afternoon to starting that journey to correcting the problem.”

As examples, Viscount Camrose said: “Far too many jobs are far too overapplied; we see candidates receiving no response – even late on in the process, no response comes. And there are such huge advantages to all of us for doing that. First… if we are going to grow as an economy, we need to be more productive… and just placing people in jobs to which they are genuinely committed is going to boost productivity. 

“Second, economic inactivity. We have too many people who are economically inactive now, and how many of those people remain economically inactive because… it’s just too difficult to embark on the process of finding the next job. The easier we can make it [is] to everybody’s benefit. The third advantage is just national happiness.”

Also speaking at the event was Lord Chris Holmes, Paralympian swimming champion, who in 2023 introduced an AI regulation bill to address concerns about its development, fairness in use, privacy and other issues. He has since reintroduced it, terming it “light touch, right size regulation”, and believing that it has significant potential application in hiring. “If we get fairer hiring, if we get faster hiring, the aim for all of us today and for every day, we can truly have in the world the finest hiring ecosystem we can bring to bear,” he said.

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14 May 2025
Creative/Digital/Media, Engineering

NEW TO THE MARKET: 12-16 MAY 2025

• Global specialist recruitment company Eames Consulting has opened a new office in Philadelphia, focusing on technology and digital enablement. Located at the Wanamaker Building, 100 East Penn Square, this is the recruiter’s second US location, following its New York office, which opened in 2022. The Philadelphia team will be headed up by Steven Stahl, a highly experienced recruiter. Also joining are Sam Youngberg (managing consultant) and Callum Stainer (senior consultant), data and AI recruitment specialists.

• Eightfold AI, which helps organisations recruit and retain top talent, and upskill/reskill their entire workforce, has added two new foundational AI products to its portfolio. Expanding its capabilities in talent acquisition, Eightfold introduces AI Interviewer to automate candidate engagement and assessment, enhancing responsiveness and selection outcomes. The company has also launched Digital Twin, a personalised AI model that captures and applies employee knowledge across systems to drive real-time productivity and decision-making.

• SF Recruitment has opened a new East Midlands headquarters in Castle Donington, strategically positioned next to East Midlands Airport. The new hub unites the company’s Leicester and Nottingham teams, with the company broadening its expertise into STEM fields, including technology and engineering, alongside its core areas of finance, private equity and corporate services. Over 40 team members will be based at the new headquarters and plans for European growth are underway, according to the company statement.

12 January 2018
Marketing, Executive search, HR

Start-up of the Month: Inside Out

The consultancy, launched late 2017, is led by (pictured above, l-r) advertising professional Mark Gorman, HR specialist Keith Thompson and the agency’s CEO Nicki Denholm and executive chairman John Denholm.

Commenting on the new consultancy’s mission, a spokesperson for the agency told Recruiter its aim is to bring “to life the magic of organisations by clearly articulating and then marketing the employer brand”.

“We spotted a gap in the market, primarily in Scotland, for a fully integrated employer brand consultancy service that combines three core skills: HR and people strategy, branding and recruitment/search. We believe we’re unique in offering all three disciplines, along with creative implementation, media planning and buying both on and offline.

“Inside Out begins the employer brand journey from the inside helping organisations shape and manage their people strategies before communicating the key (differentiating) message first of all within the organisation, creating strong advocacy, and then outside to prospective candidates.”

Looking ahead, the spokesperson said the consultancy, which principally targets the SME market, is looking to expand beyond Scotland.

“We aim to attract forward looking SMEs in all areas of business practice across Scotland and then beyond,” the firm’s spokesperson added.

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8 January 2018
Public sector, Creative/Digital/Media, Education, IT/Telecoms, HR, Healthcare/Medical

NEW TO THE MARKET: 8-12 JANUARY 2018

• Creative, marketing and digital talent specialist Aquent/Vitamin T has opened a second UK office. The new Reading office will be led by recruitment manager Jonathan Hill.

• Broadstone Engage has launched an online platform and app that enables jobseekers and employers in the private security industry to find each other and communicate about opportunities, as well as offering a fully compliant vetting procedure.

Based in Manchester City Centre and set up last year by Tom Pickersgill, the launch follows Broadstone receiving investment from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF). It received £200k from NPIF – Maven Equity Finance, a product fund managed by Maven Capital Partners, after Pickersgill sought advice with his investor pitch and other strategic matters from Business Growth Hub, part of The Growth Company.

• University of Nottingham graduate Kike Oniwinde has launched Black Young Professionals Network (BYP Network). The social app aims to bring together ambitious black young professionals, helping them to get ahead in their careers and shatter the so-called ‘glass ceiling’ that prevents many ethnic minorities realising their full potential.

BYP Network has more than 2,000 users and has been described as ‘LinkedIn for black professionals’. 

• Healthcare recruiter Clinical Professionals Group has opened an office in Boston in the US. The office is headed up by managing director Stuart Gilboy.

• Multi-sector recruiter Eden Brown, part of nGAGE Specialist Recruitment, has launched Eden Brown Education – a new division covering additional areas of the education sector.

The business covers education roles of all levels, recruiting within primary, secondary and special educational needs, as well as continuing to support further education providers.

• Scotland-based recruiter HR Consultancy has rebranded with a new name and a new logo. The firm is now known as HRC Recruitment.

• South Staffordshire recruiter Jonothan Bosworth has launched an 8-bit video gaming component on its website in a bid to attract consultants to come and work for the agency.

Company mascot Big JB introduces site users to the Mario Bros-style video game and shows people the business, the agency’s vision and benefits of joining Jonothan Bosworth.

• Global recruiter Phaidon International is to open an office in Berlin, Germany on Monday (15 January). Housing the global recruiter’s DSJ Global and Glocomms brands, the office will be headed up by director for Germany, Paul Norman. 

• Recruitment firm Reed has launched a new advertising campaign but has bid a fond farewell to its ‘James Reed’ character that has fronted the reed.co.uk brand for the past six years.

The firm says that after detailed consumer research conducted over the summer, advertising will now focus on the “special” feeling you get when you Love Mondays: the joy of loving your job – and loving the start of every week. The campaign also features a version of the song ‘It Must be Love’ covered by singer Joy Crookes.

3 January 2018
Transport & logistics, Charity & not-for-profit, Executive search, IT/Telecoms, Hospitality/Leisure

NEW TO THE MARKET: 2-5 JANUARY 2018

• Careers site CV-Library has announced plans for a renewed outdoor advertising campaign this New Year.
 
The campaign will target active jobseekers as they work, shop and play, by investing in adverts across roadside formats, rail, gyms, coffee shops located in key cities and towns across the UK, including London, Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Bristol, Sheffield, Cardiff and Exeter.
 
CV-Library will also return to the airways this New Year, with a radio advert running between January and March across a number of stations, including Kiss, Capital, Magic, Heart and Absolute.

• Evolution Recruitment Solutions has opened an office in the centre of Frankfurt. The office is the IT recruiter’s second in Germany, following on from the opening of its office in Magdeburg back in 2010.  

• Specialist insurance recruitment and talent management consultancy IDEX Consulting is to open a new office in central Manchester, which will be headed by Paul Davey, who joins from recruitment giant Hays where he was a business director.

• Multi-sector recruiter NonStop Recruitment has opened an extension to its Prague office. The new office space offers an additional 450 sq m.

The new extension accommodates a training area, lecture hall-style seats, a projector, ‘relax zones’, an area set to be filled with standing desks, a new server room, a new meeting room, two smaller one-on-one meeting rooms, a new kitchen, new bathrooms and another entrance.

• Women in Travel CIC, a social enterprise founded by travel industry professional Alessandra Alonso, has launched ‘Women Returners’ a drive to help unemployed women into travel & tourism jobs.
 
Working with homelessness charity Crisis, Women in Travel will support and train women who have been out of work. Partners include MTR Crossrail, Diamondair and hospitality partners Georgian House Hotel, UnderTheDoormat and digital marketers Digital Dialog. 
 
Those enrolled on the ‘Women Returners’ will be given a one-week training course where employers can meet and interview the women with the view to providing either full-time jobs or a short-term, paid internship at the end of the programme. The first ‘Women Returners’ programme begins on 29 January and will offer women roles with industry partners. 

Companies who wish to join are asked to pay a membership fee towards the set up and training of women. In exchange companies enjoy benefits including being able to display the Women Returners Logo and getting free mentoring training for employees.
 
Recruitment fees will eventually be paid when the women are fully employed.

18 December 2017
Engineering, Construction & property, IT/Telecoms

NEW TO THE MARKET: 18-22 DECEMBER 2017

• Berry Recruitment Group has opened its second office in Southampton.

The new technical branch – specialising in engineering, facilities management and construction ­– will be led by Scott Mills.

The national recruitment group revealed that Berry regional sales director Angela Milne has relocated the firm’s technical branch from Surrey because of the potential growth available in Southampton and the wider region.

• Recruitment sector investor company Bluestones Group has launched a joint venture in the form of MEP Resourcing, a North West-based construction recruitment specialist business.

The firm is led by MEP managing director Ben Leigh.

• IT and technology recruitment specialist Graffiti Recruitment has opened a new office in Belfast as part of a growth programme to enable the company to fill IT specific jobs and bridge the skills gap facing Northern Ireland.

The company is working with the education sector and outreach groups to ensure children are well informed on career choices from an early age.

 

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