Impressive growth fuels expansion at better placed recruitment

Better Placed Recruitment (BPR), the Leeds-based specialist sales and marketing recruitment consultancy, is planning a major expansion in the North West after reporting a 45% increase in business over the last 12 months.

The company has announced a turnover of 1.45m in its latest financial year ended December 2007, compared to 1.0m in the previous year, with staff numbers growing from 10 to 17.

BPR has also revealed plans to acquire a new 3000 sq ft office in Hills Quays, a stylish waterside development in the prestigious Deansgate Locks area of Manchester to facilitate growth of its North West operation.

Commenting on the companyís performance, director Simon Stephens said: ìThe success of the regionís economy has led to a healthy demand for sales and marketing professionals and our growth reflects a number of major new client wins including Yorkshire Building Society and William Hill. We are constantly challenged by the diverse needs of our customer base, but with our growing network and our team of specialist consultants, we continue to identify candidates from a wide number of sources.î

Director Tim Tomlinson, head of BPRís North West operation added: ìWe set up our Manchester office two years ago and have been delighted with its progress. We have outgrown our existing rented office and had no hesitation in making a long term investment in the city.î

With a team of five people in Manchester, BPR has established itself as a challenger brand in the North West and has already developed strong relationships with organisations such as Kelloggs, The N Brown Group plc and Salton Europe.

BPR was launched in Leeds in 2001 by Andrew Gibson, Simon Stephens and Dean Bartle, with the aim of bringing a more service-focused approach to sales and marketing recruitment instead of the more typical volume driven approach.

In 2003 the ambitious trio invested in 3000 sq ft of prime office space in The Quays, close to Malmaison, and two years later expanded into the North West with the opening of a small satellite office in Manchester.

At the start of 2008 the company launched a specialist executive search and selection division Better Placed Executive to focus on retained search and selection briefs for senior sales and marketing executives in the salary bracket 60,000 to 200,000, across all business sectors, from financial services and fmcg to commercial and industrial.

BPRís client list includes blue-chip names such as HBOS, Yorkshire Building Society, Experian, Norwich Union, Capital One, William Hill, Morrisons, Kelloggs, Nestle, Rowntree, Arla Foods and Jet2.