Denholm welcomes best year to date

Recruitment agency Denholm has posted record revenue for 2018 following a 12-month period where the firm strengthened its leadership team, grew the Glasgow office it opened in 2017, and extended its international network.

Nicki Denholm founded the business, which has seen income hit £1.3m. Stewart Attwood Photography.

The executive search, recruitment and employer brand agency flagged 13 per cent growth in revenue to £1.3 million as Denholm secured new client wins including ScotRail, National Galleries, Scottish Investment Trust and Hilton Worldwide.

Additionally, Robbie Broomfield joined Denholm’s office as business director in the final quarter of 2018 and the agency is set to announce further hires and appointments in the second quarter of this year.

Edinburgh-based Denholm in November announced that it had been chosen to be the UK partner of Vienna-headquartered global executive search group Talentor. The deal extends the Scottish firm’s international reach, with Talentor operating in 28 countries worldwide, across Europe, North and Latin America and Asia, giving Denholm access to a multi-territory network ahead of Brexit, “important for a Scottish market that continues to be characterised by skill shortages, particularly in the tech sector”.

Nicki Denholm, chief executive and founder of Denholm, said: “2018 was our best year to date, but more importantly we have strengthened our leadership team, while extending our reach both in Scotland and internationally.

“By working ever closer with our client base – for whom hiring the best talent remains critical – and keeping in check with technological advances that are beginning to disrupt the industry, we’re aiming to further consolidate our proposition in the marketplace and stay ahead of the competition.”

She added that one of its key differentiators is applying its extensive experience in marketing to the executive search and recruitment process.

Denholm was founded in 2002 as a specialist marketing recruitment agency and diversified since into board-level assignments and interim appointments.

Its clients include Standard Life Aberdeen, VisitScotland, The R&A, Edrington Beam Suntory, Baxters and Skyscanner. The firm has continued to roll out its BrandBox online employer brand tool, and launched Inside Out, a standalone employer brand agency.

Denholm said in a half-year update in July that it had invested heavily in General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) systems, alongside the partnership it announced in February with compliance software specialist Amiqus, which is based in Edinburgh.

The latter agreement was to enable Denholm to incorporate Amiqus’ web-based compliance software into its candidate offering.

Nicki Denholm said in July: “In addition to high volume activity in specialist marketing recruitment, we’ve seen a big increase in commercial, marketing and sales assignments at board level.”

She also highlighted an increase in financial services and fintech, food and drink brands and the tech start-up sector, with more clients looking to seek candidates outwith the UK.

“While the perfect candidate could be in Stirling, they could also be in Shoreditch, Stockholm or San Francisco.”