A growing specialist recruitment firm is about to extend its Brighton and London branches with help from a NatWest loan.
Based in Brighton, Graduate Recruitment Bureau (GRB) is recognised as the UK’s leading, independent, graduate recruitment consultancy.
Established by Dan Hawes and Chris Cater in 1997, when they themselves were recent graduates of Brighton University, GRB’s experts have helped and placed more than 600,000 students and graduates with FTSE250 and fast-growing recruiters in all sectors worldwide.
The company matches candidates from all degree disciplines with graduate jobs and schemes, experienced roles, internships and student jobs every day. Fulfilling demand for talented new graduates in all areas except the public sector, the pair had no competition when they started out. Since then, they have grown their business and launched a London office in March 2013 with eight staff, recently increasing to 14, with a further 35 based in Brighton.
Since then, the company has been growing steadily. Sensing an opportunity from the current upturn in economic growth, GRB has positioned itself to be ready for the increased number of jobseekers coming through its doors. Dan and Chris hope to have 100 staff by 2017 and several foreign outposts beyond that.
To fund the growth and bigger premises, they approached Rob Head, Relationship Director at NatWest in Worthing. Together, they attracted a loan of £300,000 backed by the Government’s Enterprise Finance Guarantee plus a reinvestment of GRB profits.
This will enable them to expand both Brighton and London operations and to concentrate on growing the Experienced Hire divisions covering finance, IT and analytics sectors.
Dan said: “We’ve learned a lot since we placed our first graduate in 1997. We have grown steadily, reinvesting our profits and surviving two economic downturns. In fact, it’s made us leaner and meaner and determined to get our growth plans back on track. We are confident given the excellent team we have around us and the strength of our client base.
“We’ve been with NatWest since inception and have been impressed with the way it’s looked after us. We have a great relationship with Rob who really gets what we do and takes a keen interest in our business plan, so we are naturally delighted the bank has provided extra financial support.”
Rob said: “GRB is a bold agency with ambitious plans. We’re constantly struck by the passion and expertise Dan and Chris show in running their business. NatWest is proud to support small businesses such as theirs that contribute so much to the community.”