2015 has been an exciting year for Howett Thorpe and it seems like a good opportunity to run through the year’s highlights and most importantly thank all of our staff, clients and candidates for their continued support. We started the year with the opening of our Reigate office which has enjoyed a phenomenal year with a great new team working with clients across; Reigate, Redhill, Croydon, Sutton, Epsom, Leatherhead, Dorking, Gatwick, Crawley, Horsham and Brighton. Weybridge and Slough have also had a great year focusing on recruitment across North Surrey, Berkshire and Middlesex. To support our growth we launched our fantastic new mobile friendly website providing a widely accessible, faster, and easier on line experience for job seekers and clients seeking advice.
Perhaps our most significant change was our Farnham head office move. After 25 happy and successful years at the Courtyard offices in West Street, we took the plunge and moved to our new state of the art offices in the Millennium Centre, with their bespoke design and spacious board rooms they have provided a great working environment and impressive interview facilities for clients.
Our busy year reflects an even busier year for the UK employment market which has experienced tremendous growth and a significant increase in confidence levels and investment in talent. The UK employment rate rose to a new record high of 73.7%, and average pay grew 3% over the year. Job seekers seem to have a positive sense of control over their careers and job search with the successful navigation of professional networking sites and a significantly expanded choice of opportunities on the market.
Demand in the employment market continues to outweigh supply and this looks like a continued theme for 2016. Salary advice and guidance is more important than ever in this busy market and our clients are relying on us more and more to fully partner them in both transactional and qualified recruitment campaigns. All Howett Thorpe consultants have extensive knowledge recruiting within finance and can provide detailed local market knowledge regarding the availability of skills, retention of talent, salary comparison, counter offer advice, interview guidance and online sourcing and advertising; we are amongst the most experienced in the industry.
So as 2015 comes to an end we would like to say a sincere thank you to all our clients and candidates for a great year and wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year. We look forward to working with everyone in 2016!
Best Regards
Greg Thorpe