Red Recruitment

Red Recruitment is an independent recruitment consultancy. Red’s 21 experienced consultants work in small, specialised divisions, each delivering both temporary and permanent recruitment solutions for one of the following disciplines – accountancy, administration and secretarial, contact centre and customer service, and sales/marketing. Over the last 4 years, Red has enjoyed working alongside a wide spectrum of companies differing greatly in size, stature and industry type. Clients vary from large PLCs with volume recruitment and retention needs, to small privately owned companies with a one off requirement. The diversity and breadth of the firm’s client base is the key to its success, not only keeping the business base healthy, but also enabling Red to offer a wide range of job opportunities to candidates. Red are proud to work with organisations such as; Adler, Scottish & Southern Energy, Ing Direct, PHS, Welsh Development Agency, Economy Power, Julian Hodge Bank, SA Brains, The Prince’s Trust Cymru, The Royal Mint and Edward Geldards Solicitors. Red is also proud of its relationships with the number of large national recruitment companies that contract out regional work to the firm. These competitors have agreed national contracts and rely on Red for high quality staff to help fulfil their regional obligations.

Origins

Red was formed by three owner partners who were previously each a senior manager for one of the industry’s leading national PLCs. Together, they passionately believed that there was a market opportunity for a professional and regional supplier that would offer an experienced and value for money recruitment consultancy service. With a great deal of business planning and up front hard work which included personal investment, accountancy and legal planning, Red Recruitment Partnership was established in 2001. Subsequently, this pen and paper business idea has grown into a robust, growing and highly profitable company that is now a regional leader. Initially Red faced two major challenges. The first were the legal restraints that were placed upon the partners and prohibited the firm from conducting a vast amount of business in the South Wales area (during a period dictated by previous employers’ contracts). This had to be carefully accounted for in the initial revenue predictions and subsequent cash flow forecasts. The second, and greatest challenge was that of cash flow. On one hand Red’s very fast growth was good news, but on the other it meant that immediate costs were directly affected through the resultant increase in temporary staff numbers. Increasing numbers of temporary staff meant increasing weekly payroll costs that needed to be funded by available cash flow. This combined with general late payment from debtors, meant that only through careful cash and growth management (with a lot of hand holding and invaluable advise from our accountants Haines Watts) was Red proud to quickly overcome those nail-biting times and move into a position where cash was no longer an obstacle for growth.

Success factors

The partners passionately believe that clients want to work with knowledgeable and experienced consultants. By paying market leading salaries and offering a self promoting environment, Red have been able to recruit a number of the region’s best and most experienced recruitment consultants that really get results for their clients. This has led to a fast increase in demand and a very healthy proportion of repeat business. In addition, Red’s successful balance between quality and cost means that clients receive a quality, consultative service at a charge that they feel is appropriate. Finally, Red offers a solid knowledge and infrastructure base which combined with the firm’s independence means that it is able to provide each client (volume or one off) with a recruitment process that directly reflects their business and requirements. This gives the firm a massive competitive advantage against those ‘off the shelf’ competitors, at no extra cost.

The future?

Red is currently working to three main growth strategies, namely planning and opening its third office to compliment the existing Cardiff and Bristol operations; substantially growing its two existing sites; and further investing in, and growing the firm’s newest and fastest growing brand – Red Accountancy.

Sector: Recruitment agency

Growth: 543.9%