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New to Market

12 June 2025
Creative/Digital/Media, IT/Telecoms

NEW TO THE MARKET: 9-13 JUNE 2025

• Lattice has announced its next generation of AI agent functionalities aimed at streamlining HR operations and improving workplace productivity. Key updates include voice input for hands-free interaction, automated 1:1 meeting summaries, and a dashboard delivering proactive management insights. A new ‘Coach’ feature offers real-time guidance to managers and employees, while expanded integrations bring the AI Agent into tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams. Overlaying these new functions, Lattice’s new AI Agent Platform allows companies to build their own agents. Employees will be able to create their own AI agents that can be customised to their data, roles and systems.

• IT blog makethehire.com has launched to explore and share insights on how tech is shaping the recruitment world – from applicant tracking systems and AI tools to sourcing automation and candidate experience platforms.

4 June 2025
Oil & gas/Energy, Life sciences

Green energy firm aims to bring skilled jobs to Kent

Hydrogen TE (UK) is seeking planning permission from Kent County Council to build the UK’s first waste-to-hydrogen base at a 10-acre site in Manston, near Ramsgate. The project aims to convert household and commercial waste into clean hydrogen, significantly cutting landfill and carbon emissions.

According to a report from news site BDaily, bosses say the jobs would include skilled and graduate roles, alongside a training centre to foster local talent. The hydrogen produced will supply commercial heavy vehicle fleets and waste management operations, helping meet UK net-zero targets.

Michael Engsted, Hydrogen TE managing director, says: “This area of Kent has seen a huge depletion in jobs over the past few decades, which has forced many skilled workers and graduates to relocate.

“We are determined to help revitalise the local community by giving talented individuals a reason for staying here. We are committed to prioritising local recruitment for positions including finance, engineering and science.”

According to BDaily, the company also has plans to expand with a second plant near Newport, Wales. Joint MD Jeremy Parkin adds: “We are keen to establish the standard for plants like this, which will one day become a familiar sight across the UK.”

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27 May 2025
Creative/Digital/Media, Industrial/Manufacturing

NEW TO THE MARKET: 27-30 MAY 2025

• Aston University has announced a new initiative, guaranteeing all full-time master’s students a professional internship as part of their studies. Launching in September 2025, the Postgraduate Guaranteed Internship Scheme will be available to students enrolled in MSc, MA and MBA programmes at both the Birmingham and London campuses.

This scheme is designed to enhance employability by providing high-quality industry placements lasting between one and six months. These internships may be conducted in-person, remotely, or in a hybrid format, and will be facilitated through Aston’s global network of employers. The initiative is available to both UK and international students.

• Worcestershire-based Four Squared Recruitment has launched its new Recruitment Academy, a strategic initiative aimed at developing early careers and entry-level talent. The Academy supports new entrants with structured training, mentorship, and hands-on experience to prepare them for the demands of a competitive job market. Three new team members have also joined Four Squared as a result of the programme. The initiative helps close the gap between emerging candidates and evolving industry needs.

• Gi Group UK, part of global company Gi Group Holding, is strengthening its position in the recruitment and HR sector by delivering forklift and material handling equipment (MHE) training. With warehouse operative roles in high demand across the UK, the company provides essential upskilling opportunities to meet the growing needs of the logistics sector. The MHE training programme supports up to three candidates daily and is RTITB-approved, ensuring high standards of safety, compliance and operational efficiency.

• Technology recruitment provider itris has launched itris X, a cloud-based CRM and applicant tracking system (ATS) built specifically for recruitment agencies and staffing professionals. The new platform is designed to streamline the entire talent acquisition process with a focus on automation, scalability, and ease of use. itris X addresses core operational challenges in recruitment by offering AI-powered automation to reduce repetitive tasks, advanced reporting tools for performance insights, and personalised candidate communication features. The system is accessible across devices and integrates with a wide range of recruitment tools and platforms. Key features include lead and marketing management, user-friendly design and comprehensive customer support. itris X is scalable for use by both small agencies and large global firms, maintaining performance and usability regardless of company size.

• ManpowerGroup has launched the Work Intelligence Lab, a new global initiative designed to help employers and workers understand and adapt to the impact of AI on jobs and skills. With over half of employers (53%) already using AI in hiring and onboarding, the Lab provides real-time insights into how automation is transforming the labour market. The Lab leverages Manpower Group’s workforce data, drawn from millions of placements over 70 countries, and integrates real-time hiring trends, employer demand and worker sentiment. It aims to give organisations clearer visibility into emerging skill requirements, role changes and workforce dynamics.

27 May 2025
Oil & gas/Energy, Engineering

Energy recruitment firm launches in Aberdeen

Founded by Alan Golightly (pictured), an experienced recruitment professional with more than 27 years in the industry, the company targets small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) requiring tailored support for complex hiring needs. 

The firm provides permanent recruitment solutions for technical and engineering roles, as well as short-term internal recruitment assistance to help businesses manage hiring fluctuations without increasing fixed costs. Agilient also offers custom recruitment strategies that align with clients’ specific values and growth plans.

Golightly previously worked for, among other oil & gas recruiters, NES Fircroft, and launches Agilient from global energy recruiter Simpson Booth.

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22 June 2021
IT/Telecoms, HR, Apprentices/Grads/School leavers

NEW TO THE MARKET: 21-25 JUNE 2021

• Crest Nicholson has announced that its Early Careers Programme will launch later this year encouraging young talent into the housebuilding industry. The scheme will give individuals the skills to build their career, with the opportunity to work in a range of areas from land buying to surveying and architectural technician roles. The firm says that it will recruit 25 trainees to its business, which will not require specific sector experience.

• Online careers platform PeopleHawk has launched a digital CV platform to help employers make quicker hiring decisions. The platform contains data rich digital profiles of candidates, which would replace the traditional CV based recruitment. PeopleHawk says that it is “cutting the repetitive, first-round interview process by leveraging scientifically-backed, highly predictive algorithms to rank candidates based on potential”.

11 June 2021
IT/Telecoms

St Petersburg-based IT specialist Lucky Hunter launches London office

Founded in 2017 in St Petersburg, Russia, founder of the agency, Tatiana Melnichuk (pictured above, centre, with the Lucky Hunter team), said there is a growing need in the UK for hiring more IT professionals for its numerous technology regions. 

“Recruiting IT candidates is one of the major problems in the Western IT recruitment market,” Melnichuk explained. “The industry doesn’t have enough staff, and Lucky Hunter’s qualifications, coupled with the ability to assemble international teams, are able to solve this problem. In addition, our narrow specialisation is able to improve the quality of IT recruiting, create user-friendly facilities for finding IT talents.”

She was also keen to emphasise that Lucky Hunter should not be considered solely as a Russian-speaking company that helps British companies hire specialists from Russia.

“First of all, we are an international company. We have been working with companies from around the world for a long time; we recruit candidates from the US, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Knowledge of the Russian market is our unique advantage, rather than our positioning. Knowing the specifics of recruiting in several markets at once, Lucky Hunter can become the missing link in the communication between an IT candidate and an employer.”

As a result of the pandemic, staff are all restricted to working from its main office in St Petersburg. At Covent Garden, partners are helping Lucky Hunter to work with clients from the UK. However, says a spokesperson, “in autumn Tatiana is moving to London and is going to take on more staff, especially UK residents”.

“But, of course, the main reason for opening an office in London is its wonderful weather. Having lived in rainy St Petersburg for almost my entire life, and subsequently successfully opening an office in this city, I realised that life in a city with unpredictable and sometimes strange weather is my little passion,” Melnichuk jokes.

• Comment below on this story. Or let us know what you think by emailing us at [email protected] or tweet us to tell us your thoughts or share this story with a friend.

8 June 2021
IT/Telecoms, HR

NEW TO THE MARKET: 7-11 JUNE 2021

• Checks Direct, an employment screening and background checks provider, has rebranded from its previous identity, OnlineDBS. Checks Direct offers basic, standard and enhanced DBS checks in addition to ID, right to work, teacher status and employment credit checks.

• Encore Personnel, a recruitment agency based in the Midlands, has launched a new website to support jobseekers finding roles quickly. Encore says its new website is “optimised for easy, swift access on mobile and tablets and geared towards an enhanced candidate experience – removing the stress and hassle of a long-winded application process”. The agency operates 22 managed services sites and supplies more than 3,500 temporary staff per week to businesses across the region.

• Tech start-up Sama has launched an app that it says provides personalised one-on-one executive coaching to redefine employee growth and development across a range of industries. Sama’s app connects professional coaches to every employee across the whole organisational structure, from interns to members of the C-suite. Organisations need to sign up their employees who will then be invited to download the Sama Professional coaching app via Google Play or the App store. Once the registration is complete, employees are then taken through a series of questions. Through AI, Sama will analyse the employee’s responses and goals, to assign the best-fit coach for them.

24 May 2021
Executive search, Interim recruitment, HR, Healthcare/Medical

NEW TO THE MARKET: 24-28 MAY 2021

• Ducatus Partners, an international executive search and leadership advisory firm, has opened a new office in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It has also appointed Abid Mirranay as partner. He will lead business development in the region and support the firm’s existing base of clients in the Gulf. Mirranay has worked in Dubai for eight years and joins from Page Executive where he was a principal, focusing on supporting Middle Eastern clients on key leadership appointments.

• Healthcare and training provider ECG is launching a new Clinical Staffing agency to “help meet the growing demand for clinical staff created by the Covid-19 pandemic and the roll out of the vaccination programme”. The new service will provide fully trained temporary or permanent clinical staff support clinics and pharmacies who require staff to deliver vaccination services, Covid testing services and phlebotomy services. ECG says many more services are on the horizon.

• Julie Quick and Lorna Geens have launched Halo Executive, an executive recruitment and interim business based in Folkestone, Kent. Halo Executive is backed by SLS Group, where Geens is director and head of permanent recruitment, and will target both the UK and international executive markets. Quick most recently spent the last 10 years in London with search firms Odgers Berndtson and latterly Boyden.

• HR, payroll and analytics firm MHR International has launched a new version of its cloud-based People First platform. The new version of People First joins its HR and payroll platform, iTrent. MHR says the solution now deploys “innovative employee-centric functionality that streamlines HR and payroll processes to create more connected, resilient and engaged workforces while increasing efficiency and boosting productivity, all in a single, real-time, integrated platform.”

• Simplicity, a finance and payroll services provider for recruitment agencies, has launched its independent contractor solution Moolah. According to Simplicity, Moolah offers recruiters, contractors and clients peace of mind through compliant and hassle-free contracting solutions, whilst still providing them with several benefits to suit their requirements. There are three simple payment solutions for temporary contractors: Moolah Umbrella PAYE, Moolah PEO and Moolah CIS.

• Recruitment company STR Group has invested in additional office space at the company’s Portsmouth headquarters to accommodate new hires and facilitate its business growth. The company says that the newly acquired offices will undergo “extensive remodelling to make sure they are inspiring, environmentally friendly and above all, a great place to work”.

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