Niche Recruitment

Posted by Niche Recruitment
9th June 2023

We’re turning 8!

A Year for Rebuilding: A Look Back at Our Previous Financial Year

Time flies when you’re busy connecting candidates with their dream job roles, and employers with their best team members. It’s hard to believe that Niche Recruitment’s doors have been open for business for eight years. Through a global pandemic, a cost-of-living crisis and record-low unemployment rates, Niche Recruitment remains resilient and we’re proud of the quality of service we continue to provide to our candidates and clients.

When business is booming and projects are in full swing, it can be hard to remember to take time to reflect on previous achievements and learning curves. So, we wanted to take a moment to look back at our previous year of business, and to get planning for the many milestones to come!

A Year for ‘Rebuilding‘

‘We grew the team by 150%, growing the team by a further 6 employees.’

Co-director Michelle Graham

For many businesses, the COVID-19 Pandemic was a true test of resilience. According to the Office for National Statistics, the number of UK businesses removed from the Inter-Departmental Business Register (business closures) from July to September 2021 was ‘50% higher than in 2020’. These figures further increased by ‘8% in 2022’.

The post-pandemic era presented Niche Recruitment with a unique opportunity to rebuild and grow. Despite the setbacks faced during this period, Niche Recruitment rose from the pandemic ashes and we are now stronger than ever.

Niche Recruitment Co-director Michelle Graham commented on Niche Recruitment’s growth, explaining that;

‘Coming out of the pandemic and getting back to business as usual in 2022, we recognised the need to strengthen the team and grow to keep up with customer expectations and demand. The market was moving quickly, afloat with lots of businesses in the same situation as ourselves, rebuilding for the new post-pandemic world.’

Niche Co-directors Nick Wimshurst and Michelle Graham understood that the pandemic had put pressure on businesses to deliver at an increased pace post-COVID. Michelle Graham described how Niche Recruitment set out to thrive under the new expectations.

‘We grew the team by 150%, growing the team by a further 6 employees, working across multiple disciplines to deliver our highest number of placements to date. We decided to keep training in-house this time around and have been delighted with how well the team settled into the business and their roles. Seeing the feedback from clients and candidates alike, we are proud the Niche standard of customer service is what drives us all. This coupled with the increased capacity for us to manage more vacancies is fantastic to see.’

Business Highlights

We have been successful with over 200 permanent and temporary hires throughout our previous year. This notable achievement is a testament to our team’s dedication and expertise in matching top-tier talent with the right opportunities.’

Co-director Nick Wimshurst

Like many industries, Recruitment is fast-paced, and amongst the client calls and candidate offers it can be easy to lose track of the best bits. Niche’s 8th year of business has been full of major milestones. From team events to new recruitment projects, we’ve been busy hitting objectives and smashing our business goals.

Co-director Nick Wimshurst explained how increased client engagement has been a great asset to the business over the past year, describing how,

‘With the addition of new team members, our capacity to engage with clients has significantly increased. We have been able to forge stronger relationships with a wider client base, providing them with specialised recruitment services tailored to their needs. By understanding the unique requirements of each client, we have been successful in assisting them with over 200 permanent and temporary hires throughout our previous year. This notable achievement is a testament to our team’s dedication and expertise in matching top-tier talent with the right opportunities.’

Co-director Michelle Graham described how one of our largest recruitment projects over the past year, resulted in the team coming together and placing over 60 permanent employees for a client in a 4-month period. As a result, our established client with over 15 million customers was able to, ‘to bring their customer service department back in-house.’

Getting Personal

‘My personal highlight has been watching the team grow and gel together.‘

Co-director Michelle Graham

Here at Niche Recruitment, our business is centred around people, and we like to shout about our internal achievements as much as our business wins. Michelle Graham described her personal highlight from the past year, explaining that,

‘My personal highlight has been watching the team grow and gel together. Picking up processes, and standards of service and naturally adopting the Niche ways that set us apart from the market. Seeing them bring innovative ideas, energy and enthusiasm to continue our success has been wonderful to watch.’

Here at Niche, we aim to support and nurture our team so we can continue to develop our service offerings. Michelle highlighted how we have supported our CRM Executive James Thomas whilst he finish his Bachelor’s degree. She explained how,

‘We supporting James our CRM Executive who we originally hired on an internship in 2021 to return for his final year of university and continue working with us on a part-time remote basis. The deal was he could stay on as long as he achieved his 1st, we are a few weeks away from results but have every confidence he will smash it!’

Overcoming Challenges

‘Niche Recruitment recognises the need for education, training, and upskilling initiatives to bridge the skills gap. Partnering with our clients and providing innovative solutions to them in this area has helped us fill some really tricky roles.’

Co-director Nick Wimshurst

In the past few years, the recruitment industry has thrived, despite a global pandemic, talent shortages and record-low unemployment rates. Co-director Michelle Graham commented on the ups and downs of recruitment over the past year. Explaining that, with the transition back to the office, although the pandemic bought many challenges, one overriding positive was the rebalance of home/ work life.

‘Some businesses chose to enforce a return to the office 5 days a week, whilst others took a more inclusive approach, gauging feedback from their teams to find a solution that worked for them and the business. The overriding quote of the past 12 months was the war on talent, with so many businesses recruiting, the power had shifted back to job seekers with higher expectations including home-working, flexible hours, more holidays and increased salaries, to mention a few!

We saw some businesses increase salaries way above market level, which had the knock-on effect of pushing job seeker expectations to a level that many businesses could not compete with due to budget constraints. This bought challenges of making time to hire longer than usual to find the ideal candidate with the right skills but also realistic salary desires.’

In 2022 According to research by Bionic, revealed that the following were the most desired job benefits by the UK public:

• Flexible working (51.40%)
• Birthday off (30%)
• Private healthcare (27%)

Nick Wimshurst commented on how Niche Recruitment rose to the new challenges. Explaining that;

‘Niche Recruitment recognise the need for education, training, and upskilling initiatives to bridge the skills gap. Partnering with our clients and providing innovative solutions to them in this area has helped us fill some really tricky roles.’

Looking Forward

‘We are excited to embrace the future with optimism and to remain at the forefront of the recruitment industry, consistently delivering exceptional service and results.’

Co-director Nick Wimshurst

So, we’ve celebrated our successes, basked in the glory of thriving despite persistent challenges, and now it’s time to set our new goals for our 9th year of business.

Looking forward, it’s all about continual team and business development, Nick Wimshurts described the extent of development already acheived;

‘We have successfully expanded our team, leveraged video technology to enhance our processes, and fostered exclusive partnerships with our clients. By staying true to our core values of relationships, quality, understanding, passion, and integrity, we have created a solid foundation for continued success. We are excited to embrace the future with optimism and to remain at the forefront of the recruitment industry, consistently delivering exceptional service and results.’

With a settled and growing team, we are confident our services will continue to develop. Michelle described the direction Niche Recruitment will be heading in the coming business year, explaining that; ‘New client growth and the team continues to gain expertise to become true specialists in their markets. We will have a happy, steady team and will continue to develop.’

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