Hijobs.co.uk acquired by Search.co.uk

The leading highlands and islands jobs website, Hijobs.co.uk, has been acquired by fast-growing recruitment portal, Search.co.uk.

The deal brings jobs from Aberdeen and the Islands, Inverness and Sutherland to the attention of a much larger audience through search.co.ukís increased coverage of jobseekers across Scotland and the rest of the UK. The merged site, (including hijobsí specialist oil and gas vacancies site platformjobs.co.uk) will offer around 1,500 Scottish jobs and 4,000 UK jobs to over 850,000 active jobseekers every month.

Peter Gillespie, MD of Search.co.uk added, ìWe are an ambitious business with an innovative model which challenges the way recruitment advertising has always been done, to the benefit of our clients. Scotland is our core market and it is fantastic to be able extend our reach right into Northern Scotland.

ìThe acquisition is part of our ongoing strategy to build a strong recruitment presence in the Scottish market and improve our ability to market our client vacancies across all regions of Scotland. We see ëHijobs.co.ukí as a perfect fit with our current offer. We will continue to seek partnerships or acquisitions where we feel they add real value to our proposition and help generate quality applications in the areas and sectors where our clients need them.

ìhijobs.co.uk has already positioned itself as a leading brand for career search in the Highlands, with leading companies such as AWS Ocean Energy, NHS Highland, Global Highland and UHI Millennium Institute as existing customers. The combined jobs sites can only help drive new talent into key sectors such as renewable, technology, education and nursing, just when we need them to support the economic recovery in the north and Highlands.î

Inverness- based Hijobs.co.uk was originally set up by Angela Paterson, who is being retained by Search.co.uk as an advisor. Angela said, ìHijobs.co.uk is only three years old but has already made it to the top of Google rankings for jobs in Inverness and the Highlands. We have seen increasing interest from people seeking a change of lifestyle and the timing could not be better to make it easier for people across Scotland to apply for jobs in Aberdeen and the Highlands, and for people in rural areas to have increased access to employment opportunities elsewhere in Scotland and the UK.î

Peter Gillespie adds, ìScotland is leading the way in using online technology intelligently to cut costs, waste and hassle in a recruitment market which is crying out for a shake up. Our key people have years of experience in this market and understand that employers needs and expectations have changed.î