Search's Scottish arm has new chief
Recruitment company Search Consultancy has appointed long-serving Simone Lockhart as managing director for Scotland as it targets 25% growth in Scottish net fee income in 2011 from this year’s £11 million.
Ms Lockhart will lead Search’s team of more than 130 people north of the Border – a workforce which she predicts will rise to about 160 during the course of next year in line with the projected growth in fee income.
Search was founded in Glasgow, where it has its registered head office. It has since grown into a UK-wide business which is led by chief executive Grahame Caswell, who lives in Manchester.
Ms Lockhart, who has been with Search for 13 years and has more than 20 years of experience in recruitment, noted American venture capitalist Saints owned the majority of Search and that members of Search’s management at senior board level also had stakes.
Asked about the significant growth in fee income which she is projecting at a time when the overall Scottish labour market is in relatively weak shape, Ms Lockhart highlighted Search’s focus on recruiting consultants with experience in sectors offering the most potential.
What we have done is focused recruitment on new talent coming into the business in the right areas.
Simone Lockhart, Search Consultany
She said: “What we have looked at is the sectors where there is opportunity and looking at bringing people in, or building those teams, to make sure we are maximising (business) in those areas where there is recruitment.”
Ms Lockhart added: “We have actually had some quite strong performances this year from some of our traditional businesses as well. We have 20 specialist areas. We have seen a massive decline in some areas, but massive growth in others. What we have done is focused our recruitment on new talent coming into the business in the right areas.”
She highlighted an “uplift” in office services and administration recruitment, with firms which had scaled back in the wake of the credit crunch now no longer wanting to operate with such a small support staff.
Ms Lockhart also highlighted Search’s creation of a medical recruitment division and the fact that it had taken time to get a Care Commission licence to manoeuvre it into the nursing market.
She also noted Search’s activities in placing Scots abroad, citing accountants and technical engineering personnel, including people working in the oil services industry, in this regard.
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