James Caan of Dragonsí Den invests in online recruitment site, webrecruit

Fast-growing online recruitment company webrecruit has secured investment from James Caan, star of the BBC programme Dragonsí Den and founder and former CEO of the Alexander Mann Group.

Caan has been appointed Chairman of webrecruit after a speculative approach from the companyís directors resulted in his investing an undisclosed sum in the company.

Based in Exeter but operating nationwide, webrecruit uses a number of online resources to help businesses recruit staff for a low flat fee; in 2008 alone, the business helped more than 3,000 candidates to secure their next job. The service is backed up with a money-back guarantee – if a role is not filled, the client is reimbursed in full.

Managing Director of webrecruit, Phil Roebuck, founded the business in 2001 to give employers a way to recruit for less and candidates a much fairer way to be considered for an interview. Commenting about the process of targeting and pitching to the ëdragoní, he said: ìAt webrecruit weíd singled out James as the ideal person to help take our business to the next stage of growth; heís ëMr Recruitmentí as well as one of the countryís best-known businesspeople. We knew it would be a daunting task to pitch to him, but we always believed James would see the value of the opportunity.î

Despite having to reject hundreds of other offers each month, Caan immediately liked what he saw and decided to invest.

ìWith Jamesís wealth of experience and passion for our service, we know we can continue to make a huge difference to the UKís businesses and jobseekers,î says Roebuck.

Having successfully grown a number of businesses in the recruitment industry, Caan is excited about the opportunity of working with webrecruit. ìIíve been in recruitment for 25 years and webrecruit are the first company Iíve come across who really put their money where their mouth is,î he says.î Given the current economic climate, the money-back concept is very fitting for the times, with their service geared towards reducing cost-per-hire dramatically.î