What Interaction Recruitment does

Interaction Recruitment is a UK-headquartered independent recruitment agency founded in 1986. The company operates a national network of 25+ branch offices staffed by 250+ recruitment consultants organised into 10 specialist divisions spanning Accountancy & Finance, Catering & Hospitality, Commercial, Construction, Corporate, Driving & Logistics, Engineering & Technical, Health & Social Care, Industrial, and IT & IT Sales. It serves a dual customer base of enterprise clients — including FTSE 100 and blue chip corporations — alongside smaller enterprises, providing both local market knowledge and national coverage for temporary, contract, and permanent staffing needs.

The service portfolio encompasses a job board platform advertising 1,000+ live vacancies, the Auriga mobile application (iOS and Android) for candidate registration and profile management, and specialist recruitment solutions tailored to sector-specific compliance requirements including CHAS, ConstructionLine, SMAS, Builders Profile, and Gangmasters certifications. The Corporate division additionally delivers high-volume contact centre campaign management, master vendor programmes, and recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) services to enterprise clients. Recruitment fees operate on contingency or retained search models for permanent placements and hourly billing for temporary workers, with hourly rates disclosed in job listings ranging from approximately £12.71 to £45 depending on sector and seniority.

Revenue derives from three primary streams: permanent placement fees (transaction-based), temporary/contract staffing billed on an hourly usage basis, and managed service programmes for high-volume corporate clients. The company is led by Group Managing Director Andrew Gilchrist (joined 2005) and has historically supplemented organic growth with serial acquisitions, most notably absorbing 29 branches of Kelly Services UK in 2009, which materially expanded its national footprint. The legal entity is Interaction Recruitment PLC, registered in England and Wales (company number 2408326), with its head office in Huntingdon. The firm remains privately held with no disclosed external private equity or venture capital investment.

Name

Interaction Recruitment

Legal name

Interaction Recruitment PLC

Website

https://interactionrecruitment.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1986

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

Interaction Recruitment is a UK-based independent recruitment agency operating 25+ branches and 10 specialist divisions, providing temporary, contract, and permanent staffing across construction, healthcare, industrial, IT, finance, and other sectors to FTSE 100, blue chip, and SMB clients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Staffing and Recruitment Services

NAICS

Employment Placement Agencies (561311), Temporary Help Services (561320)

SIC

Services-Employment Agencies (7361)

akta.pro primary industry

General Permanent Placement (Multi-Industry) (BPACAFAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Recruiting Administration Outsourcing (Recruitment Support, Scheduling, Onboarding Ops) (BPACAKAG)

Keywords

• Staffing services
• Temporary recruitment
• Permanent placement
• Specialist recruitment
• Managed service provider

Headquarters

HQ city

Leeds

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices30 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 Placement Fees: Contingency or retained search fees for placing candidates in permanent roles across all specialisms.
2. Temporary/Contract Staffing: Hourly billing for temporary workers supplied to clients, managing PAYE obligations and holiday benefits for contingent workers.
3. Managed Service/Vendor Programmes: Master vendor programmes and recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) for high-volume corporate clients.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Interaction Recruitment is a UK independent recruitment agency supplying temporary, contract, and permanent staffing solutions through a network of 25+ branch offices and 250+ specialist consultants. The company operates across 10 sector-specific divisions covering Accountancy & Finance, Catering & Hospitality, Commercial, Construction, Corporate, Driving, Engineering & Technical, Health & Social Care, Industrial, and IT & IT Sales. Service delivery is supported by an online job board and the Auriga mobile app for candidate registration and onboarding.

Product overview

Interaction Recruitment is an independent UK recruitment agency operating a network of 25 locations nationwide. The company offers a unified recruitment services platform comprising temporary, contract, and permanent staffing solutions across 10 specialized divisions: Accountancy & Finance, Catering & Hospitality, Commercial, Construction, Corporate, Driving, Engineering & Technical, Health & Social Care, Industrial, and IT & IT Sales. The service portfolio includes a job board platform, an Auriga mobile app for candidate registration and onboarding, and sector-specific expertise with compliance accreditations including CHAS, ConstructionLine, and Gangmasters certification. The divisions operate collaboratively, with over 250 recruitment consultants providing both contingency and retained search services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Recruitment Services Full-service recruitment agency providing temporary, contract, and permanent staffing solutions across 10 specialised divisions covering Accountancy & Finance, Catering & Hospitality, Commercial, Construction, Corporate, Driving, Engineering & Technical, Health & Social Care, Industrial, and IT & IT Sales.
• Online Job Board Self-service online job board with over 1,000 active vacancies and advanced search filters by location, sector, salary, and contract type for candidate job search and application.
• Auriga Mobile App Mobile application enabling candidates to register, complete temp and permanent onboarding, browse jobs, and manage recruitment documents on iOS and Android devices.
• Accountancy & Finance Recruitment Division Specialist recruitment division focused on finance professionals from transactional to fully qualified candidates, serving commerce & industry, chartered practice, and public sector clients with CFO, Finance Director, Accountant, and Payroll roles.
• Catering & Hospitality Recruitment Division Specialist division providing temporary and permanent recruitment for hospitality including front of house, chefs at all levels, restaurant management, bar staff, and catering assistants.
• Commercial Recruitment Division Division providing recruitment for office support staff from Receptionist to Legal Secretaries, including Sales, Marketing, HR, and Social Media positions.
• Construction Recruitment Division Division providing recruitment across Trades & Labour, Construction Management, Permanent appointments, Facilities, Mechanical, Electrical and Maintenance sectors with Health & Safety expertise, serving prestigious construction and M&E companies.
• Corporate / BPO Recruitment Division Division specialising in high-volume contact centre campaign management, master vendor programmes, RPO, and acting as an extension of clients' internal recruitment functions for enterprise clients.
• Driving Recruitment Division Division providing national recruitment for driving and logistics positions including Class 1, Class 2, multi-drop, van, tanker, and yard operative roles with compliance expertise.
• Engineering & Technical Recruitment Division Division specialising in engineering and technical recruitment across Automotive, Aerospace, Manufacturing, Oil & Gas, and General Engineering sectors with retained search services.
• Health & Social Care Recruitment Division Division providing experienced, compliant healthcare professionals across mental health, learning disability, elderly care, and children's services sectors with enhanced DBS checks and vetting procedures.
• Industrial Recruitment Division Division providing recruitment for Warehouse, Production, Manufacturing, Logistics, Domestic and Food sectors with rigorous screening procedures and 24/7 availability.
• IT & IT Sales Recruitment Division Division specialising in recruiting Developers, Technicians, IT support staff, and IT Sales Professionals, delivering Search & Selection and Contingency Recruitment for technology businesses from FTSE 100 to smaller enterprises.
• Managed Service / Master Vendor / RPO Programmes Master vendor programmes and recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) services for high-volume corporate clients, acting as an extension of the client's internal recruitment function.

Quantifiable outcome

• Group turnover over £70 million (2016)
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments10 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• EcoVadiscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025EcoVadis assesses and rates companies' Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) performance. Interaction Recruitment has been scored Bronze for their CSR practices, demonstrating commitment to sustainable development and ethical business operations.
• Stronger TogetherminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInitiative focused on tackling modern slavery and human trafficking in UK workplaces. Partner demonstrating commitment to ethical recruitment practices.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Pertemps: Pertemps is a major UK-owned independent recruitment company offering temporary, contract, and permanent staffing across commercial, industrial, professional, and specialist sectors — closely mirroring Interaction's multi-division independent UK model.
• Hays: Hays is a UK-listed global recruitment firm with strong presence in professional and specialist staffing (accountancy, IT, construction, engineering), directly overlapping Interaction's specialist division portfolio and FTSE 100 client base.
• Reed: Reed is one of the UK's largest generalist recruitment agencies operating across multiple sectors and service types, with a comparable national branch network, online job board, and similar mix of temporary, contract, and permanent placement services.
• PageGroup: PageGroup (Michael Page and Page Personnel) operates specialist recruitment divisions across accountancy, IT, engineering, and commercial sectors — closely matching Interaction's specialist-division strategy and professional permanent placement focus.
• Robert Half: Robert Half is a global specialist recruiter with strong overlap to Interaction's Accountancy & Finance and IT divisions, serving similar enterprise and SMB clients with contract and permanent placement services.
• Blue Arrow: Blue Arrow is a UK-focused multi-sector staffing agency covering driving, industrial, hospitality, and commercial recruitment — directly competing with Interaction's Industrial, Driving, and Catering & Hospitality divisions.

Broad incumbents

• Adecco: Adecco is a global staffing leader with UK coverage across generalist and specialist recruitment, particularly competing for enterprise RPO and managed service contracts that Interaction's Corporate division targets.
• Randstad: Randstad is one of the world's largest staffing firms with substantial UK operations across temporary, permanent, and RPO services, competing head-to-head in enterprise master vendor and high-volume corporate recruitment.
• Kelly Services: Kelly Services is a global staffing firm from which Interaction acquired 29 UK branches in 2009, indicating direct past overlap in the UK market across office, industrial, and professional staffing.

Emerging players

• Morgan McKinley: Morgan McKinley specialises in financial services, accountancy, and technology professional recruitment in the UK and Ireland — overlapping with Interaction's Accountancy & Finance and IT & IT Sales divisions at the professional end of the market.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Compliance8 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Interaction Recruitment