New contract wins deliver year of growth

A series of new contract wins is helping a Black Country recruitment agency post an increase in sales.

MET Recruitment, which specialises in placing temporary or permanent industrial, commercial and technical staff, is on course to hit £5.8m turnover after it put in place a number of measures to support existing and new clients to cope with the pandemic.

Free consultancy, workshops, masterclasses, outplacement support and CV writing/interview technique sessions were all provided and this additional assistance helped to strengthen relationships and ensure its talent pool was ready to find new jobs.

It is an approach that has paid off for the Dudley-based company, with over 500 temporary workers currently placed every day and the 100th permanent contract recently secured.

The new contract supporting Public Health England’s Track & Trace campaign has been especially demanding and saw the firm recruit and supply remote working contract tracers in record time.

Robin Tong, who set up MET Recruitment in 2008, said: “The pandemic has been a hugely challenging time for all companies, but we have managed to remain operational throughout, innovating services to support clients who were both struggling and ramping up operations as they were on the front line.

“Our business was set up to offer something different to the usual high street recruitment experience, preferring to focus on building strong relationships and becoming an extension to our client’s HR departments. This philosophy has definitely made the difference over the last nine months.”

MET Recruitment was originally set up to supply staff to the mechanical and electrical trades and has gone from three people in an office on the Pensnett Trading Estate to an 18-strong agency operating from a dedicated head office on Wolverhampton Street in Dudley.

The company’s growth has been driven by two key appointments, with Matthew Hunter joining in 2011 to head up the industrial division and Nella Share arriving three years later to create the commercial recruitment arm of the business.

This saw turnover rise from £1.4m in 2014 to £5.8m at the end of 2020 and the trio believe investment in its 360 degree recruitment solution for clients and an industry-best support infrastructure for candidates has helped it secure a strong client base across engineering, manufacturing, professional services and the services sector.

“2020 has been a fantastic effort by everyone at MET and we’ve got a lot of exciting things planned for the next twelve months, including investment in a new app, website and increasing our geographic coverage,” said Matthew.

Nella said: “We are also in the final stages of a major recruitment campaign for one of the Black Country’s leading retailers and this should be ramped up in the early part of 2021.”

Pictured: From left, Matthew Hunter, Robin Tong and Nella Share