Preferred International Expands to Meet Market Demand

IT recruitment consultancy, Preferred International, reports growth in the recruitment market as the IT industry
enters recovery.

Companies are gradually loosening IT budgets and projects that have been on-hold for the last 18 - 24 months are cautiously being put back into development. This obviously means that IT managers are starting to actively recruit to secure the skills and capacity in their workforce.

In response to this Preferred International has expanded its own workforce to meet a demand that is growing at its fastest rate for months. Kate Baker, Emma Bull, Andrew Parkinson and Harlan Pollitt join to increase the company’s nationwide capacity to deliver responsive IT recruitment services.


Kate joins Preferred International as a Resourcer in the Southampton office. She is new to the industry but brings excellent administrative, staff and customer management expertise to the resourcing team. Raised locally, Kate has a passion for equestrian sports.

Emma also joins as a Resourcer in the Southampton office, with a strong background in IT recruitment, servicing nationwide blue-chip accounts such as IBM and Zurich Financial Services. Raised in Southampton, she is interested in performing arts and is learning Spanish.

Andrew has a strong academic and commercial background in sales and media, and has recently returned from Canada where he worked as a Research Assistant and Student Union President. He joins the Leeds team as a Trainee Consultant and is interested in rugby, horse racing, sports and acting.

As Preferred International’s first university placement student, Harlan brings his IT recruitment and account management expertise to the Leeds team as a Resourcer, until he returns to university in September to complete his studies in BSc Business and Technology. He is a very keen sportsman and plays rugby, football and cricket.

Our clients in both the IT services and vertical sectors are recruiting more contract and permanent resource to respond to increased workload and to deploy the latest technological advances, comments David Clayden, Director at Preferred International.

Kate, Emma, Andrew and Harlan embody all of the characteristics critical to sustain the high standards of delivery, and the responsive and accurate service, that our customers have become accustomed to. We are delighted to have them on board and feel they will add great value to the established team.

The expansion coincides with Preferred International’s place in the finals of the Training and Development category of the Recruiter Awards for Excellence 2004, and the company’s recent re-recognition as an Investor in People (initially recognised in February 2001).