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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.

16 October 2017
HR

Hall launches Talent Insight Group

Talent Insight Group will work with clients across the globe delivering real-time research in to the external market for specific insight, recruitment, mapping and future pipelining requirements.

Headquartered at Quorum Business Park in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Hall will joined by a management team that includes joint managing directors Tim Gleave and David Steel, who were both former senior executives at Write Research Company, now part of business outsourcing provider Capita, and talent director Emma Mirrington, the co-founder of The FIRM.

They are joined by senior non-exec director Dawn Marriott-Sims, who is an operating partner with private equity firm HG Capital and former chief operating officer of Capita.

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16 October 2017
Public sector, Education, Engineering, Commercial & office support, Charity & not-for-profit, Industrial/Manufacturing, IT/Telecoms, HR, Healthcare/Medical, Apprentices/Grads/School leavers, Accounting/Finance

NEW TO THE MARKET: 16-20 OCTOBER 2017

• Umbrella and accountancy services provider Brookson has broadened its service offering.

Its new services for recruitment agencies include technology-based accountancy with a dedicated accountant, mobile-friendly timesheet management, payroll management, funding through its Boomerang funding proposition and real-time management information.

• Amanda Shand and chief technology officer Amy Scott have launched cognitive talent matching platform CandiRight. Similar to an online dating site, the platform works by checking and analysing candidates’ values, attributes and insights against each job, and flags up the best-suited candidates who are most likely to succeed in the matched organisation.

All information given by candidates is anonymous. A footnote on the website states: ‘CandiRight is not suitable for those who prefer to be selected according to their gender, age, race, nationality, sexual orientation, looks, shoe size, favourite washing-powder brand, and/or any other basis for discrimination.’

• Angela Middleton, chairman of apprenticeships and training provider MiddletonMurray, has launched iwant2ba, a free podcast series that provides real-life careers advice to young people, parents and teachers.

The series of 17 podcasts, available to download, addresses concerns over the cost and quality of careers advice and goes through an A-Z of career options relevant to listeners with Middleton encouraging professionals from a range of fields to share their experience, inspirations and how they got to where they are now.

• Global technical engineering recruiter Fircroft has opened an office in Detroit, Michigan, to support its growing automotive clients in the US ‘Motor City’.

• Specialist finance and accountancy recruiter iMultiply has opened an office in Belfast. The new office will be headed by director Billy McCarthy and supported by a team that includes manager Jamie Watts, who is relocating from Edinburgh as part of the expansion.

• Job board technology provider Madgex is opening a new office in New York City, expanding its North American territory from its Toronto base in Canada.

• Recruiter MSS (Marske Site Services) Recruitment, headquartered in Stokesley, North Yorkshire, has rebranded as MSS People in a move which it says reflects its commitment to placing ‘people’ at the centre of all that they do for their clients.

The firm has also made a number of appointments, with team leader Allan Stevenson promoted to operations manager, occupational psychologist Dona Collingwood joining as a consultant in the Stokesley office, and regional manager Gary Morris joining to head up the firm’s newly launched Scottish office in Glasgow.

MSS People is part of professional services firm MMC Group.

• NHS Northamptonshire has launched Best of Both Worlds – a recruitment campaign aimed at tackling the shortage of doctors and consultants across the county.

The campaign unites the University of Northampton, Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Northampton General Hospital, Kettering General Hospital and St Andrew’s Healthcare (a charity providing specialist mental healthcare). Posts are advertised on the Best of Both Worlds campaign microsite, highlighting the range of career opportunities for doctors and nurses, and the benefits of working and living in the county.

• Print staffing specialist Taylor Higson has moved from a 10-person office to a 2,000sq ft suite on the top floor of Landmark House, Station Road in Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire.

The new office has capacity for 30 consultants.
 

9 October 2017
Life sciences, Engineering, Construction & property, Legal, IT/Telecoms, HR, Accounting/Finance

NEW TO THE MARKET: 9-13 OCTOBER 2017

• Global workforce solutions provider Airswift has opened a global energy workforce solutions office in Nouakchott, Mauritania as well as an office in Kampala, Uganda. The firm says the move comes in response to client demand at a time of rapid strategic growth for its African operations.

• Employee verification app Credas has launched, which has been created to help those who manage construction recruitment. The app uses real-time facial recognition technology to process and verify over 4,000 types of ID.

Credas’ verification process consists of three simple steps: a selfie, a photo of the photo ID and a ‘liveness’ test. The ‘liveness’ tests ensure that the person is present when the verification photo is being taken. The app is compatible with iOS and Android mobile devices.

• Resourcing and consulting business Group8 has launched with funding from James Caan’s recruitment investment group Recruitment Entrepreneur.

The move sees the boutique recruiter, previously known as Spencer Scott Hilton, join Caan’s portfolio of investment-backed business, with its managing director and founder Miranda Hilton assuming the role of CEO. Group8 has offices in Sydney, Singapore, Dubai and now London. The sum Caan invested was undisclosed.

• As revealed by Recruiter.co.uk on Friday, Hyper Recruitment Solutions, the life sciences and technology recruiter launched by Apprentice winner Ricky Martin in 2012, is opening offices in Manchester and Edinburgh.

• Scottish headquartered recruiter Livingston James Group has expanded into the North-West of England with the opening of its Manchester office. The office is an arm of Rutherford Cross, its specialist senior finance recruitment business and will be led by Sandra McKinnon. The Group has three other offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Guilford in South-East England.

• Mobile and video interviewing specialist Wepow has launched Wepow Planner. The product, which can be integrated with calendars including Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Office 365, Google Calendar and Apple iCal, enables recruiters to schedule live video, telephone and onsite job interviews, offering candidates the option of flexible blocks or fixed interview times.

• Recruitment software provider Workday has announced general availability of three of its tools. These are: Workday Data-as-a-Service, including analytical service; Workday Benchmarking, which enables customers to compare their organisational performance to industry peers; and Workday usage.

Workday has further announced that following its 2016 acquisition of data analytics firm Platfora, the firm has announced the availability of Workday Prism Analytics, a solution that enables customers to bring together data – including Workday data and data from any outside source – with analytics tools enabling financial and people decisions.

2 October 2017
Marketing & Sales, Retail, Transport & logistics, Life sciences, Creative/Digital/Media, Industrial/Manufacturing, IT/Telecoms, Healthcare/Medical, Accounting/Finance

NEW TO THE MARKET 2-6 OCTOBER 2017

• 24-7 Staffing is relocating two of its branch offices to bigger premises. The Wiltshire recruiter’s Salisbury office is moving from 6 Salisbury St, to the second Floor of Minton House, Minton Distribution Park on London Road.

Meanwhile the firm’s Bristol office is moving from 510, Bristol Business Park, on Coldharbour Lane to the ground floor office of B2 Vantage Business Park on Old Gloucester Road. Each office is about 15,000sq ft bigger than the previous locations.

• The Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) has launched a new client toolkit to help its members communicate the value of the association to clients and candidates they work with. The offering includes digital marketing tools that recruiters can use to help explain the benefits of APSCo membership.

• Talent acquisition specialist Entelo has launched Entelo Envoy. The new product uses artificial intelligence and deep learning to automatically find, nurture and deliver interested job candidates directly to the email inboxes of recruiters.

• Birmingham-based Culture Recruitment has launched. The marketing, digital and sales staffing specialist, launched by founders Jamie Wills and Laurence Sidwell, is based at Colmore Gate in the central business district of the city.

• ESCP Europe Business School has partnered with diversity & inclusion consultancy Frost Included to launch a certified D&I course. The two-day seminar, hosted at ESCP Europe London campus on 7-8 December, sees delegates learn practical strategies for recruiting, building and managing diverse teams, and creating inclusive companies cultures.

Speakers include Stephen Frost, an adviser on D&I to UK government, KPMG, HSBC and who was head of diversity & inclusion for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games; professor of management Claudia Jonczyk; and several Frost Included Associates, including Manuel Wachter, who has worked on inclusion initiatives with organisations like The World Bank, L’Oréal and the World Economic Forum, and is also managing associate of Frost Included.

• International recruiter Eurostaff, Staffgroup’s technology brand and part of Cordant Group, has opened a new office in Utrecht, Netherlands. Business manager Iwan Elzinga will lead the new office. Staffgroup managing director Saman Tabrizi oversees both of Staffgroup’s companies – Eurostaff and Earthstaff in London, Berlin, Hamburg and now Utrecht.

• Recruitment software provider FastTrack360 has announced the UK launch of its Connect Integration. The integration means FastTrack360 can come in three parts – time, pay, bill, as opposed to four parts – recruit, time, pay, bill. The move also increases flexibility so the product can integrate with leading CRMs (customer relationship management software).

• Artificial emotional intelligence specialist Human has developed new software that it claims has the ability to read candidates’ subliminal facial expressions live during job interviews.

The software, developed by data scientists, then converts these expressions into a range of emotions and specific characteristic traits in real time. CEO and founder of Human Yi Xu revealed the patent-pending software works by using partial facial recognition, camera angles and pixilated raw data to reveal typical personality traits.

• Hospitality job site FindMyPubJobs.com has launched. The site provides clients with candidate alerts, notifying them when a candidate that meets their criteria has uploaded their CV, and thus is actively looking. The site also sends job alerts by email to all registered jobseekers that have created bespoke search criteria. It also offers clients an area to search CVs from a CV database.

• Network Rail has launched a Snapchat filter as part of its campaign to attract talent into the rail industry. The filter, available at stations along the East Coast and Midland main lines, allow users of the social media platform to pose while wearing a blue hard hat when inside Newcastle, Leeds, York, Doncaster and Sheffield stations.

The firm says the move is part of its drive to change the perception of the rail industry among young people and raise awareness of the number of railway apprenticeships available, particularly across the North of the country.

• Global staffing group Phaidon International has launched a new US office in Dallas, Texas. The firm, which already has offices in New York, San Francisco, Boston and Chicago, is moving into 100 Crescent Court, between Victory Park and Uptown Dallas.

The new office will be home to two Phaidon International’s brands – EPM Scientific, which specialises in life sciences niche staffing, and DSJ Global, specialising in professional services, including supply chain, procurement, logistics and FP&A (financial planning and analysis).

• Swissstaffing, an industry body that serves the employment and recruitment sectors in Switzerland, has granted ProClinical a quality standard certificate.

The certificate recognises ProClinical as a fully credible Swiss company, compliant with the country’s corporate criteria. As members of Swissstaffing, ProClinical is seen as a specialist recruitment agency of the highest quality, independently certified as a credible and experienced company.

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