Masters 2013: Innovative Hiring-Hub to spread the word
THE founders of recruitment platform Hiring-Hub.com are investing in staff, technology and marketing after landing a six-figure investment in December.
Co-founder Simon Swan said there was a “big marketing task” to dispel the notion that the company is a recruitment agency and highlight its different approach to the sector.
The Manchester business won the North West Innovator prize at the Business Masters awards yesterday.
Hiring-Hub.com has sought to turn the recruitment business on its head by creating a marketplace that allows employers to upload vacancies, select the recruitment agencies they want to deal with, and dictate the fee they are willing to pay an agency who supplies the successful candidate.
This placement fee is held by Hiring-Hub and it deducts a commission when a job is filled before passing the money on to the agency. Mr Swan, who co-founded the business with Sara Jones, said: “We plan to invest in our own people – use Hiring-Hub.com to recruit our own team, invest in technology and get the message out there that we’re doing something different in quite an old and traditional sector.”
He added: “In the existing system there are problems with cold calling and people feel they’re not getting value for money on fees. We think this addresses all those problems.”
Mr Swan admitted they had some ideas to shake up other industries but at the moment they are focused on recruitment. In December 2012 the founders sold a 40% stake in the business to Yorkshire-based investment firm John Laithwaite Partners.
Runners-up in the category were Liverpool mobile app developer Apposing and Manchester Science Park-based Euprotec which provides contract research services to companies involved in the discovery and development of new drugs to treat infection, respiratory diseases and allergy. The sponsor of the award was Manchester Airports Group.
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