Search Consultancy

What Search Consultancy does

Search Consultancy Limited is a UK-based multi-discipline recruitment agency founded in 1987 in Glasgow, operating through a nationwide network of 12-14 local offices across major UK cities including London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and Leeds. The company serves two primary customer segments in a two-sided marketplace: employers seeking permanent, temporary, and contract staff, and job-seeking candidates. Its core offerings are permanent recruitment (placement fees on full-time hires) and temporary/contract recruitment (margins on hourly bill rates), supplemented by managed-service offerings including Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), Managed Service Provider (MSP) services, payroll and onboarding, and Selection & Assessment delivered through its Secure Search cloud-based pre-employment screening and vetting platform.

The company generates revenue primarily through transaction fees on permanent placements and managed-service margins on temporary/contract supply, with bespoke multi-year contracts negotiated with each client and no publicly disclosed standard pricing. Its go-to-market combines enterprise field sales through specialist industry consultants located in regional offices, inside sales via phone and online enquiry handling, and a self-serve direct-to-consumer job board where candidates register and apply directly. The firm holds a database of over 320,000 active job seekers and reports placing 50,000-60,000 candidates annually for 4,000+ active clients across verticals including logistics (Royal Mail, Suttons Transport), retail (B&M Retail), healthcare (St Catherine's Hospice), financial services (Premier Companies UK), and manufacturing (B&W Group).

Search is a privately held limited company (Search Consultancy Limited) with no disclosed parent company, no public listing, and no external institutional investors beyond a 2017 funding relationship with Beechbrook Capital. The company was bootstrapped from a single Glasgow office in 1987 and has organically grown to 501-1,000 employees, with a wholly-owned subsidiary Search Recruitment Group. Leadership is led by CEO Richard Vickers with Managing Directors Julie Calisir, Paul Kynaston, and Chris Pritchard. The firm holds Investors in People Platinum accreditation (2016), ISO 14001 certification, and carbon-neutral status (2023), and completed the acquisition of Henderson Scott in September 2018.

Name

Search Consultancy

Legal name

Search Consultancy Limited

Website

https://search.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1987

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

Search Consultancy is a UK-based multi-discipline recruitment agency founded in 1987, operating 12-14 offices nationwide and serving 4,000+ employers with permanent, temporary, contract, RPO, and MSP staffing services across 14+ industry specialisms.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Staffing & Recruitment Services

NAICS

Employment Placement Agencies and Executive Search Services (56131), Employment Placement Agencies (561311)

SIC

Services-Employment Agencies (7361)

akta.pro primary industry

General Permanent Placement (Multi-Industry) (BPACAFAA)

Keywords

• Permanent recruitment services
• Temporary staffing solutions
• Recruitment process outsourcing
• Managed service provider staffing
• Pre-employment screening services

Headquarters

HQ city

Aberdeen

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices12 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Permanent Recruitment Fees: Placement fees for placing permanent candidates with clients. Consultants work with clients to understand their hiring needs and match qualified candidates.
2. Temporary and Contract Recruitment: Supplying temporary workers and contractors to businesses, earning margins on hourly rates charged to clients.
3. Payroll Services: Managing temporary workers including payroll processing, compliance, and onboarding services for clients.
4. Selection and Assessment: Pre-screening assessments, psychometric testing, and candidate assessment services to ensure quality placements.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Search Consultancy is a UK-wide recruitment agency that supplies permanent, temporary, and contract staff to employers across 14+ industry specialisms including Business Support, Driving, Engineering, Healthcare, Finance, and Logistics. The firm operates 14 local offices supported by a self-serve job board and delivers recruitment solution modules such as Selection & Assessment (via its Secure Search platform), Payroll Services & Onboarding, Candidate Attraction, Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), and Managed Service Provider (MSP) programmes.

Product overview

Search Consultancy is a multi-discipline recruitment agency offering staffing and hiring services rather than a unified software product. The core offering consists of permanent recruitment and temporary/contract recruitment services, supported by a portfolio of recruitment solution modules including Selection & Assessment (via Secure Search platform), Candidate Attraction, Payroll Services & Onboarding, Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), and Managed Service Provider (MSP) services. The company operates across 14+ industry specialisms (Business Support, Call & Contact Centre, Construction & Property, Driving, Energy, Engineering & Manufacturing, Finance, Health & Social Care, Hospitality, Industrial, Logistics, Nursing, PA/EA, and Social Work). A candidate-facing Job Board Platform enables job searching and applications. Additionally, Search provides research publications including an annual Salary Guide and Wellbeing Report, along with a Career Toolkit digital resource for job seekers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Permanent Recruitment Full-time, long-term recruitment solutions connecting employers with qualified candidates across multiple industries and specialisms.
• Temporary & Contract Recruitment Flexible workforce solutions supplying temporary workers and contractors for short-term needs, seasonal peaks, and project-based hiring.
• Selection & Assessment Candidate screening and assessment services using pre-employment screening, background checks, and references to ensure quality candidate-role matching.
• Candidate Attraction Strategic candidate sourcing using seven attraction methods including market mapping, job board partnerships, and targeted technology to source qualified professionals.
• Payroll Services & Onboarding Managed payroll processing and employee onboarding support for temporary workers, handling administrative complexity for clients.
• Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) High-volume, end-to-end recruitment management providing talent analytics, market intelligence, and dedicated resource with customizable implementation.
• Managed Service Provider (MSP) Temporary staffing management solution that streamlines workforce processes, reducing time spent managing temporary staff and optimizing staffing operations.
• Secure Search Cloud-based pre-employment screening and vetting platform accessible on any device, managing background checks and references for candidate verification.
• Job Board Platform Online job search and application platform enabling candidates to search and apply for positions across 14+ specialisms, filter by location, salary, contract type, and working arrangement.

Quantifiable outcome

• 80% hiring success rate
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Job Boards (Generalist and Niche)supportingChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPartnership with both generalist and niche job boards to advertise client roles to established candidate networks across the digital landscape. This supports candidate attraction efforts.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Reed Recruitment: Reed is a UK-headquartered, multi-sector generalist recruitment agency offering permanent, temporary, and contract staffing across business support, industrial, healthcare and professional services — directly comparable to Search's broad multi-specialism perm/temp model.
• SThree plc: SThree is a London-listed specialist staffing group placing contract and permanent professionals across STEM, energy and technology — comparable as a UK-listed, sector-specialist recruiter with both perm and temp/contract revenue lines.
• Henderson Scott: Henderson Scott is a UK-based technology, finance and change recruitment firm specialising in permanent and contract placements — directly comparable to Search and now part of the Search group following its 2018 acquisition.

Broad incumbents

• Hays plc: Hays is a larger FTSE-listed UK recruitment firm with deep vertical specialisms (accounting/finance, construction, IT, life sciences) and a permanent-plus-temp model — overlapping directly with Search's specialism-based perm/temp offering but at significantly greater scale and geographic reach.
• PageGroup: PageGroup operates Michael Page and Page Personnel — UK-originated permanent and contract recruitment across multiple professional disciplines — competing with Search for mid-market and enterprise permanent placement mandates.
• Adecco Group: Adecco is a global staffing leader with significant UK temporary staffing, MSP and RPO capabilities through Adecco and LHH — directly comparable to Search's temp/contract, MSP and RPO service lines, with much broader geographic and enterprise reach.
• Randstad UK: Randstad is one of the largest global staffing firms with substantial UK operations in temporary, permanent and RPO staffing across industrial, professional and digital specialisms — overlapping Search's perm, temp and managed-services offering.
• Robert Half UK: Robert Half is a globally established finance, accounting, technology and legal recruitment firm with a strong UK permanent and contract placement footprint — directly comparable to Search's Finance and specialist professional verticals.

Emerging players

• Cielo Talent: Cielo is a global pure-play RPO provider with technology-led managed recruitment services — competing for the same enterprise RPO engagements Search targets and pushing the market toward more tech-enabled delivery models.
• PeopleScout: PeopleScout is a global RPO and total talent solutions provider offering enterprise-scale outsourcing of permanent and contingent hiring — directly comparable to Search's RPO offering but operating at considerably larger enterprise scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/search-consultancy

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Search Consultancy