11 March 2026
A specialist recruitment partner for hard-to-fill HR roles
Increasingly, we’re picking up work from organisations failing to appoint to mid-to-senior business-critical roles, particularly in our specialisms of finance and HR.
Context
Our large engineering client had spent over a year trying to recruit for an HR Manager role. Over the course of a year, they’d outsourced the role to four different recruitment agencies, none of which were able to source any suitable candidates.
The challenge
Having noticed their failure to recruit from their recurring job advert, we approached the MD to offer our specialist support. Obviously, he was somewhat sceptical, having been failed by four other agencies.
Our approach
There is a difference between a generalist, transactional recruitment agency and a niche, specialist recruitment consultancy. As an HR recruitment specialist and practicing HR consultancy, we know what good looks like.
The lead consultant of our specialist team, covering Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, and Herefordshire, has over 25 years’ experience specialising in finance and HR recruitment. Over that time, she has built extensive talent networks and has a deep understanding of her markets. She recognised immediately that the salary being offered was uncompetitive.
Where a niche, finance specialist recruitment consultancy has the advantage over a generalist agency is we can delve into a deep pool of passive talent.
We benchmarked the salary and recommended a more realistic number. Leveraging personal networks and the networks of the wider Seymour John group, we were able to headhunt for the right person for the role.
The result
We were so confident we had found the right person we only put forward one candidate. One interview with the client and our candidate was successfully appointed.
Not only were we able to quickly secure the right candidate we were also able to demonstrate the benefits of using a specialist recruiter for more business-critical roles.
Hiring organisations don’t need nodding dogs; they require expert consultancy that offers deep market insight, support and, where appropriate, challenge. Recruitment into business-critical roles is so much more than a transactional process; it should offer a strategic advantage.
As such, we have become the company’s external talent ally – guiding and strengthening its talent strategy and taking on the recruitment for more specialist, business-critical roles in finance and HR.
11 March 2026