Recruiter records best ever year after Brexit prompts surge in demand filling vacancies

A Coleshill online recruitment agency has recorded its best ever year after a major surge in demand to fill new vacancies following the Brexit vote.

Candidate Source, which employs six people at Chantry House office, has increased the number of people placed in new jobs dramatically over the last six months and this has seen it boost turnover to £2.8m – a 9% increase on 2015.

The growth has come from recruitment agencies choosing to client brand their adverts and using alternative ways to find candidates, with many investing heavily in job boards and social media activity.

There has also been significant demand for the firm’s ‘Emergency Candidate Boost’ service, which involves one of its specialists working with a client to develop a digital campaign to fill a position within a matter of days.

“Like most people, we weren’t really sure how the recruitment market would react after the Brexit vote, but the short-term signs have been very positive,” said Michelle Davies, managing director of Candidate Source.

“The last six months outstripped the first part of this year and there appears to be an appetite for growth amongst the West Midlands business community and candidates looking to move jobs or take on new challenges.”

She said there was now more interest in using job boards, especially with the competitive nature of the current marketplace.

“This suits us perfectly as we have built a track record in identifying the right platforms, negotiating the best rates and then ensuring the content is presented in a way that will secure the ideal person for the job,” she added.

Candidate Source was set up by Ms Davies in 2010 after she spotted a gap in the marketplace for a resource that would provide job board support to recruitment firms across the UK.

In just six years, the Birmingham-born entrepreneur has built a client base that features the likes of Mynt Recruitment, Midas, Wote Street, Pertemps and Probe.

The firm, which was also announced as a preferred affiliate supplier to The Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) in 2016, works across all sectors and has significant expertise in candidate attraction, media buying and content creation.

It has invested more than £30,000 over the last twelve months on revamping its website and executing a new marketing campaign aimed at highlighting the power of digital advertising.