Member Article

High-growth recruitment group strengthens partnerships under heritage brand Sanderson

Resource Solutions Group (RSG) is celebrating passing the half-a-billion-pound turnover mark this year by announcing the rebrand of its four core companies. The privately-owned group, which includes Sanderson, Resource Management, FirstPerson Executive and Intelligent Consulting, will be known as Sanderson.

With its head office in Bristol, the group has expanded significantly over the last decade, opening 10 new offices including Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds, London, Reading, Southampton, Cardiff, Cheltenham and Dublin. The rebrand, delivered by Edinburgh-based brand agency Studio LR, will see all four companies come together as a 300 strong team under a brand identity which represents their shared ethos and ability to offer the best recruitment solutions from across the group.

This will include all of the company’s current core services being brought under the new Sanderson brand, as follows: • The service currently known as Sanderson, specialising in IT, business change and professional services • Resource Management, experts in the provision of RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) and MSP (Managed Service Provider) solutions • FirstPerson Executive, the research based executive search and headhunting arm of the group • Intelligent Consulting, which specialises in interim resourcing solutions through the delivery of packaged teams and a full consultancy offering.

Jon Ball, Sanderson’s managing director who started working for the company as a trainee recruitment consultant 23 years ago, comments: “Sanderson has grown steadily since the company was founded in 1982, but in the last 10 years we have enjoyed accelerated growth – so much so we’re now a half billion-pound business.”

This organic growth into a UK-wide network of expert recruitment businesses, in addition to the acquisition of Sopra-Steria’s UK recruitment business in June 2019 (since rebranded to Intelligent Resource), has seen turnover increase more than fivefold from £100m in 2008 to £500m in 2019. In October, RSG also expanded its international reach with iKas International, a recruitment business based across the UK and Asia, with offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney.

The company’s growth has been recognised nationally, with RSG currently sitting at number 32 in The Sunday Times Top Track 250 list, well ahead of household names such as Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, Kurt Geiger and Fat Face.

Founding partners Mike Beesley and Keith Dawe have led the national recruitment group over the last forty years, with its impressive growth attributable to their long-term strategy, fostering a strong company culture and dedication to many long-standing clients in a variety of sectors including insurance, government and banking. It now provides recruitment, outsourcing, executive and consulting solutions to a variety of sectors including financial services, IT, change management, government, defence and professional services.

Jon Ball, Managing Director, also adds “This growth has brought with it certain complexities linked to running a recruitment business which hosts such a broad portfolio of brands and services. Although each part of the group has a different focus, our purpose remains the same – we’re built on collaboration and working in partnership with our clients to solve their recruitment challenges and business problems, whatever shape that solution takes.

“This is what differentiates us from other agencies. We’re not a contingent recruitment company – we have a diverse offer including outsourced recruitment and managed services for clients. This is why we’ve taken the strategic decision to rebrand as Sanderson, streamlining the client and candidate experience so that they can seamlessly access the breadth of experience and recruitment expertise from across the group. For our clients and candidates, it’s business as usual. Each of the companies have been part of the Sanderson family for years. Now we are reflecting our shared vision and passion by coming together under one name.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sanderson .