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New to Market

6 May 2025
Public sector, Creative/Digital/Media

NEW TO THE MARKET: 5-9 MAY 2025

• Heidrick & Struggles has launched a new Government & Defense Tech Practice, aimed at serving the growing demand for technology leadership within public sector organisations. With governments estimated to account for 10% of global technology and IT services spending, the firm sees this as a significant market opportunity. The practice consolidates the company’s experience from over 200 engagements to provide leadership solutions for organisations delivering technology to national, state and local governments worldwide.

The new practice will support clients by offering leadership search, development and organisational effectiveness services. It brings together more than 30 experienced partners across sectors such as IT services, aerospace and defence, energy and private equity, operating globally across North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. The initiative addresses the increasing reliance of governments on advanced technologies like AI, cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity and robotics.

• Workforce management solutions firm Matrix has supported more than 10,000 individuals across the UK into employment between March 2024 and April 2025 through its Social Value team. The efforts focused on a wide range of community initiatives, including employability workshops, career guidance and volunteering opportunities. These programmes were designed to help students, jobseekers and public sector employees gain essential skills and access new career pathways.

• UK start-up Project Brains has launched ProdigyPB, an AI-powered platform designed to revolutionise job description creation and recruitment. Tailored for SMEs, growing businesses, and HR teams, ProdigyPB helps define precise hiring needs by aligning job roles with specific business challenges. The tool generates clear, bias-free job descriptions in seconds and enables users to engage with vetted fractional specialists from Project Brains’ talent pool, according to a company statement. ProdigyPB is currently available in Beta across the UK.

28 April 2025
Life sciences, Engineering

NEW TO THE MARKET: 28 APRIL-2 MAY 2025

• Jobmatch Sweden, a leader in occupational psychological testing, is expanding in Norway through a new partnership with consulting firm Sund Raad. Sund Raad, which focuses on enhancing employee engagement for small and medium-sized businesses, will integrate Jobmatch’s DNV-certified Talent test into its services. This marks Jobmatch’s second partnership in Norway, following its 2022 collaboration with Hapro Jobb og Karriere. Jobmatch Talent is a scientifically validated tool used for recruitment and employee development, according to the company press release.

• STEM recruitment specialist Matchtech has launched STEM Futures, a free, on-demand employability platform aimed at helping young people break into engineering and technology careers. The programme includes expert-led sessions on job search strategies, CV writing, interviews and personal development, and is part of Matchtech’s broader initiative to address the STEM skills gap and support emerging talent.

In addition, Matchtech has awarded the first two grants from its Materna Fund, a £2.5k bursary created to support engineering students facing financial hardship. The inaugural recipients, Sergio Carreno Vargas and David Sarembock from the University of Portsmouth, are using the funds to focus on their studies and development without the added pressure of financial strain.

• Meet Life Sciences has launched Synergy, a new standalone service designed to tackle people capability challenges in the life sciences sector that go beyond recruitment. As part of Meet’s evolution into a full-service talent solutions partner, Synergy offers tailored support in areas like workforce planning, leadership development, skills mapping, culture embedding and organisational design. Led by vice-president Kirsty Wilson, the service is built specifically for the life sciences industry and is focused on delivering measurable, outcome-driven solutions. Unlike traditional consulting, Synergy provides hands-on support from design through to implementation, helping clients build the capability needed to grow, adapt and lead in a competitive global market.

• Right Management, part of ManpowerGroup, has launched a refreshed brand strategy called ‘The Right Way’. It’s a human-centred, data-backed framework that aligns workforce development with business strategy. The new identity centres on ‘The Right Way loop’, a distinctive visual element with modern colours and typography that will be used across all brand touchpoints.

25 April 2025
Construction & property, Graduates/Apprentices/School leavers

National student lettings agency launches apprenticeship scheme

In a bid to support young people and grow skilled and knowledgeable individuals for the student lettings sector, loc8me recently launched its 18-month programme, which is open to anyone aged 16-18. The scheme will offer hands-on experience, mentorship and the opportunity to engage in paid work.

Raffaele Russo, founder of loc8me, said: “We’re thrilled to launch this apprenticeship programme, giving young professionals a real chance to learn, grow and begin building a career in an exciting industry.

“Now more than ever, young people are seeking opportunities, guidance and goals to pursue. With this programme, we’re investing in their future – and in the future of the lettings sector.”

Apprentices will have the chance to study the theoretical and practical elements of the lettings industry, and on starting, they will be given a mentor from the loc8me team to support their development via regular meetings throughout the course.

loc8me now operates in 13 major university cities across the UK, including Loughborough, Durham, Nottingham, Manchester, Leeds, Cardiff, Newcastle, Birmingham, Liverpool, Leicester, Hull, Bath and Bristol.

Freya Watson-Russo, academy co-ordinator, said: "At loc8me, we’re committed to nurturing the next generation of letting agents. … We’re giving young people the chance to build a future, gain confidence and carve their own path.”

Founded in 2008 by Russo, loc8me manages more than 2,500 properties and employs more than 75 staff members.

(L-r) Apprentice Ollie Coe, loc8me's marketing assistant and academy co-ordinator Freya Watson-Russo and apprentice Isabel Tebbutt ©loc8me

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14 April 2025
Creative/Digital/Media, Engineering

NEW TO THE MARKET: 14-18 APRIL 2025

• Manufacturing and engineering specialist Busy Bee Recruitment has relaunched its website. The refreshed online platform has a modern design and enhanced user functionality, offering an intuitive browsing experience that makes it easier than ever to explore current vacancies, submit CVs quickly and securely, access expert recruitment advice via a blog and submit vacancies directly online.

• Deel, a global payroll and HR provider, has launched a suite of AI-driven products to help companies hire, manage, and pay international teams. Deel will offer an all-in-one global workforce platform integrating payroll, HR, and IT, designed to support compliant operations across borders. Key updates include: Real-Time Payroll in over 53 markets (expanding to 130+ by 2027), offering instant calculations and faster processing; Deel PEO for offering top-tier benefits without enterprise-level costs; Benefits Admin for simplified, compliant benefits management across countries; Deel Talent for streamlined recruitment via trusted agency networks; Workforce Planning, Compensation, and Engage tools – powered by AI – for smarter headcount strategy, global pay management, and employee development; IT Lifecycle Management features like MDM, IAM, and EPP, supporting global device and security control.

7 February 2024
Marketing, Creative/Digital/Media, Executive search, IT/Telecoms, Hospitality/Leisure

Elevate Talent launches across sports, media and lifestyle sectors

A new executive search and global talent advisory practice, Elevate Talent supports companies to source leaders from across sports, entertainment, media, lifestyle, technology and gaming.

The launch of Elevate Talent follows the acquisition of SRI, a leading executive search and talent optimisation firm operating in 15 cities across North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Since its founding in London in 2001, SRI’s team have supported over 1,000 organisations around the world.

The move both broadens Elevate’s multi-industry expertise and expands its global presence, adding to Elevate’s operations in brand consulting, strategy, creative, premium hospitality, audience measurement, marketing and revenue analytics, and data-driven insights. 

Elevate is led by Al Guido, who also serves as president of the US’s National Football League team, the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers are the 2023 NFC Champions competing in Super Bowl LVIII this Sunday.

Jim Chaplin, formerly CEO of SRI, will become global president of Elevate Talent. In his 14 years at the helm of SRI, Chaplin and his experienced management team have spearheaded the company’s transformation from a UK-based sports specialist firm to a global leader in the executive search space, helping organisations solve critical board structure, governance and C-suite issues with talent and advisory solutions.

Elevate’s chief people officer Liz Moulton will serve as chairman of Elevate Talent. She joined Elevate last year from Activision Blizzard, where she oversaw all aspects of executive talent strategy, including succession planning and organisational design across three business units comprising over $8bn (£6.34bn) in revenue. Moulton has previous experience with Korn Ferry and Spencer Stuart.

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1 February 2024
Social care, Graduates/Apprentices/School leavers, Healthcare/Medical

Home care provider starts third level education fund for staff and children

The initiative offers full-time care assistant employees, or their children, funding to undertake an OU undergraduate degree.

The first Caremark office to trial the initiative was in Pulborough, West Sussex, which unveiled its offering in October last year.

Post-Brexit, slow recruitment issues have faced the home care sector, but the OU collaboration is aiming to tackle this as full-time staff can access up to £9k of funding for any undergraduate degree for a dependent child. 

Part-time workers are also eligible and can benefit from paid course fees of up to £6k for themselves or their child on a part-time course.

Caremark’s OU funding programme aims to lessen the financial burden on its employees and keep existing staff fulfilled in their roles. The initiative will hopefully improve the shortage of workers for businesses in the care sector, which are struggling to recruit staff at this time.

For more information on the Caremark initiative, visit here.

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Credit: iStock

23 January 2024
Creative/Digital/Media, Education, Engineering, Commercial & office support, Legal, Industrial/Manufacturing, IT/Telecoms, Apprentices/Grads/School leavers, Accounting/Finance

NEW TO THE MARKET: 22-26 JANUARY 2024

• Digital skills training provider QA has launched a new apprenticeship programme to train digital product managers. It joins QA’s programmes in areas including data, cyber, AI and software development, which have trained more than 30,000 apprentices. The Digital Product Manager Level 4 Programme is the equivalent of a first year undergraduate degree. The course concludes with a two-day hackathon where students will develop a product from start to finish.

• Paul Ridley and Dean Penn have joined forces to create technical and engineering retained recruitment specialist Scorpius Talent Acquisition. Ridley and Penn have engineering, manufacturing, legal and compliance experience in the recruitment sector and aim to deliver innovative candidate/client-led recruit-to-retain solutions via the Scorpius Insights platform.

• Chester-based invoice finance and back-office support provider Zodeq has launched its latest campaign. ‘Top of the class finance’ is aimed specifically at recruiters working in the education sector. According to the company, the offering highlights how Zodeq can help – not only teachers but also kitchen staff, handymen, gardeners, etc – to protect their cashflow through innovative invoice finance solutions.

18 January 2024
Public sector, Social care, Creative/Digital/Media, Education, Engineering, Legal, Industrial/Manufacturing, Healthcare/Medical, Accounting/Finance

Dept for Education campaign to encourage staff to teach in Further Education

By sharing skills, and training the next generation of workers in their field, the Teach in Further Education campaign is calling on more employers to encourage their staff into part-time teaching in FE in 2024.

New research commissioned by the DoE’s campaign has found one in four employers cite recruitment to fill growing job roles as a top priority for their business this year.

Employers recognise the importance of preparing a pipeline of talent for the future of their business and 93% agree they have a responsibility to help train people to future proof their sector’s workforce.  

Teaching in FE can be flexible and may appeal to employees including those looking for new development opportunities alongside their current career, those nearing retirement but wanting to stay connected to their industry, or people seeking a less physical role within their sector.

Practical experience gained from industry is highly sought after, and teaching and other academic qualifications are not always a pre-requisite for employment as FE teachers can start earning straight away and do funded on-the-job training. There are full-time, part-time and flexible contracts available, allowing FE teachers to balance their hours alongside other professional or personal responsibilities.

FE teachers are needed across many subject areas but there is particular demand for workers from the following sectors: health and social care, construction, engineering & manufacturing, legal, finance, accounting, and digital & IT.

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