Celsius Graduate Recruitment

What Celsius Graduate Recruitment does

Celsius Graduate Recruitment Ltd is a UK-based graduate recruitment agency founded in 2004 and headquartered in Sale, Greater Manchester, with a second office in Central London. The company specialises in assessing, training, and placing graduates into technology sales roles (IT sales, cyber security sales, business development, account management) for UK employers across the technology, retail, pharmaceutical, and finance sectors. Its core offering combines a selective in-person assessment process (held as weekly 'Celsius Graduate Recruitment Days' at its London and Manchester offices) with ISM-endorsed sales training, including a three-module Diploma in Professional Sales and an Advanced Diploma in Professional Sales. Auxiliary products include a Job Alerts email subscription and a £100 Refer-a-Friend programme.

The business runs on a contingency-based recruitment model in which employers pay placement fees upon successful hire, while services to graduate candidates are provided free of charge. A secondary revenue stream is generated through Sales Academy training programmes offered both to placed graduates and to external sales professionals under the ISM endorsement. The company is a private limited company that became fully independent from the HJ Group in 2017. Technology is not a differentiator: the platform is a WordPress website with Google Analytics and standard personalisation cookies; candidate matching, assessment, and relationship management are conducted by a small internal team (1–10 employees) of account managers, talent specialists, and a divisional training manager led by Managing Director David Shields. Customer acquisition spans content marketing, organic social (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube), graduate fair presence, and direct employer account management, with named clients including Darktrace, Keyence, GovNet, and other mid-sized UK firms.

The company's competitive positioning rests on 20+ years of specialist focus, a curated candidate pool produced by its assessment methodology, and the third-party credibility of ISM-endorsed training. It claims 300% growth over a four-year period through approximately 2018 and has publicly stated ambitions to be the UK's fastest growing graduate assessment, placement, and training organisation. No external institutional funding, AI/ML capabilities, or revenue figures are disclosed in the source material.

Name

Celsius Graduate Recruitment

Legal name

Celsius Graduate Recruitment Ltd

Website

https://celsiusrecruitment.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Celsius Graduate Recruitment is a UK-based specialist staffing agency that assesses, trains, and places graduates into technology sales roles for employers across the technology, retail, pharmaceutical, and finance sectors, operating from offices in Manchester and London.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Graduate Recruitment Services

NAICS

Employment Placement Agencies (561311), Business and Secretarial Schools (61141)

SIC

Services-Employment Agencies (7361), Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Credentialing, Certification Prep & Exam Training (BPACANAJ)

Keywords

• Graduate recruitment services
• IT sales placement
• Sales training programs
• Graduate assessment
• Technology sales hiring

Headquarters

HQ city

Sale

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Employer Recruitment Fees: Celsius charges employers for recruiting and placing graduates in technology sales positions. This is a contingency-based recruitment model where employers pay upon successful placement of a candidate who remains in the role (typically with a 3-month guarantee period mentioned in referral scheme).
2. Sales Training Services: The company provides ISM-endorsed sales training programmes including the Diploma in Professional Sales and Advanced Diploma in Professional Sales. Training is offered to clients and graduates, with clients receiving these programmes as part of their service agreement with Celsius.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Celsius Graduate Recruitment matches first-class graduates with first-class IT sales jobs, specialising exclusively in the technology sector. The company runs assessment centres, places graduates with UK employers, and delivers ISM-endorsed sales training (Diploma in Professional Sales and Advanced Diploma in Professional Sales) to prepare candidates for technology sales roles.

Product overview

Celsius Graduate Recruitment is a graduate assessment, placement, and training organization that operates as a single unified service rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture. The core offering combines graduate recruitment services (matching graduates with IT sales jobs in the technology sector) with ISM-endorsed sales training programs including the Diploma in Professional Sales and Advanced Diploma in Professional Sales. Additional services include Job Alerts for candidate notifications and a Refer a Friend referral program. The company holds regular Graduate Assessment Days at their London and Manchester offices to evaluate candidates before placement with clients.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Graduate Recruitment Services

Quantifiable outcome

• First year graduate earnings can reach £30K-£50K with commission
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers12 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

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• ISM (Institute of Sales Management)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCelsius has developed ISM-endorsed sales training programmes including the Diploma in Professional Sales and Advanced Diploma in Professional Sales. These training programmes are a core part of their value proposition, provided to graduates placed with clients and to other sales professionals through their Sales Academy.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Pareto Law: UK-headquartered graduate sales recruitment and training firm. Directly comparable to Celsius in the graduate-sales vertical, with a similar assessment-and-training-plus-placement model targeting UK employers.
• Give a Grad a Go: UK graduate job platform and recruitment agency, focused on placing graduates into commercial roles including sales. Comparable target customer (graduate candidates) and overlapping employer base in UK retail, finance and tech.
• Buchanan Search: London-based specialist sales recruiter with a strong graduate and entry-level division. Overlaps with Celsius in placing junior commercial talent into UK employers.
• EMR | Graduate Recruitment: UK graduate recruitment specialist with multi-sector coverage. Comparable to Celsius in serving both graduate candidates and UK employers across commercial roles.

Emerging players

• Sales Impact Academy: Provider of structured sales training programmes for early-career sales professionals. Comparable to Celsius's ISM Diploma arm and addresses the same candidate upskilling need.
• Wiley Edge (formerly mthree): Graduate tech-sales training and placement programme with placement guarantees into investment banks and tech employers. Directly overlaps Celsius's graduate-tech-sales-placement-plus-training proposition.

Broad incumbents

• Reed: One of the UK's largest generalist recruitment firms. Overlaps with Celsius on UK graduate and commercial placements, but operates a much broader sector and seniority portfolio.
• Michael Page: Global professional recruitment firm with a UK graduate and commercial practice. Competes with Celsius for the same candidate pool and entry-level sales mandates, with significantly broader coverage.
• Hays: Global recruitment group with deep UK coverage across technology, sales and finance. Adjacent competitor for both candidates and clients, though not specialist in graduate sales.

Others

• Institute of Sales Management (ISM): UK professional body that endorses and accredits sales qualifications, including the Diploma in Professional Sales that Celsius delivers. Partner rather than competitor, but shapes the credentialing standard Celsius's training must meet.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/celsiusgrads
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCVlTcWUPXUMsfmQYwdJ7usQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/CelsiusGrads
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/celsius-graduate-recruitment-limited

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 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 Celsius Graduate Recruitment