Financial services ensures strong growth for recruitment zone

Strong growth in the financial services market has seen Recruitment Zone secure its position as Scotlandís leading independent recruitment agency with turnover surging by 60% this year to 8 million.

The Edinburgh-based agency, which prides itself on offering clients a one-stop solution for all their staff needs, has also increased staff numbers from 25 to 60 thanks to acquiring prestige clients such as HBOS.

With a deceptively simple model that offers a service tailored to individual and client needs, Recruitment Zone has created a winning formula that is proving a major attraction to clients across a wide range of sectors.

Companies in Financial Services, Call Centres, Accountancy and IT have all turned to the Edinburgh agency to solve their recruitment headaches which has left Recruitment Zone predicting turnover will top 15 million next year. An impressive increase of 125%.

Masterminding this growth has been company owner Andy Barton (40) who set the company up in 1998 after 2 years working for another major recruitment company.

It was obvious from the start that this was a company that was going to do things differently. With a full-time staff of three the aspiring agency achieved a first year turnover of 2.5 million ñ not bad for a company that was initially advised itís projection of 800,000 was over ambitious.

Since being advised by Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothian that it was the fastest growing company assisted by the LECís New Ventures programme, Recruitment Zone has gone from strength to strength. Much of this is down to the companyís ethos of not only doing things better but also differently.

With an office in Bolton since 1998, further investment has seen Recruitment Zone open an office in London this year in a bid to get closer to clients. The ëdifferentí part is the news that the company has also opened an office in Bratislava where it flies clients to select employees in the veritable recruitment hotspot that is Slovakia.

Andy Barton said: ìWhen I started I looked at the market and thought I can do things just as well if not better and on the back of this build a successful business ñ I just never considered it becoming this big.

ìOur aim was always to set up a recruitment company that was highly professional, highly respected and operates with real ethics and principles. For years we have been up against CV forwarding companies and part of our job has been to persuade clients that there are good agencies, like Recruitment Zone, who can be used much more effectively.

ìIn the last couple of years we have managed to consolidate in the downturn and now have some of the UKís largest banks, oil companies, IT companies and call centres in our portfolio. The quality of our client base is impressive. Furthermore we are pushing into new markets by virtue of our office in Slovakia.î