Reed
Reed is a UK-founded, family-owned global recruitment agency founded in 1960, connecting employers and job seekers across 20 specialist sectors via permanent, temporary, RPO, executive search, and screening services through 350 offices and a 22M+ CV database.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1960
- HeadquartersIstanbul
- Headcount—
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Reed does
Reed is a UK-founded, family-owned global recruitment company founded on May 7, 1960 in Hounslow, West London by Sir Alec Reed. The company is positioned as the world's largest family-owned recruitment firm and operates across 20 specialist sectors with roughly 350 offices, 3,400+ employees, and a candidate database exceeding 22 million CVs. Reed Group ownership is anchored by an 18% stake held by the Reed Foundation (established 1972), reflecting a long-term, family-controlled ownership structure with no external private equity or venture capital backing.
The company's core offering is specialist recruitment delivered through direct consultant engagement, covering permanent placement (contingency-based fees as a percentage of annual salary), temporary and interim staffing (hourly/daily contract margins), Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO on multi-year contracts), and senior/executive search (transaction-fee with psychometric testing). Supporting service lines include pre-employment screening (1M+ annual screenings across 116+ countries with 5-day turnaround under the Reed Screening brand), outplacement services, and a broader Reed Group ecosystem comprising reed.co.uk (UK's leading job board), Reed Learning, Reed Courses (40,000+ courses), Reed Business School, Reed Professional Services, Reed in Partnership, Reed Wellbeing, and Reed Franchise Partnerships (launched 2021).
Reed's go-to-market is sales-led and consultant-driven, supported by digital self-service through reedglobal.tr and reed.co.uk, content marketing, webinars, and thought leadership via the James Reed Podcast. The company serves two primary horizontal customer segments — employers seeking talent across sectors and seniority levels, and job seekers seeking placement — across geographies including the UK, Turkey, Malta, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland, Bulgaria, South Korea, Singapore, the USA, New Zealand, Chile, and the Middle East. Reed operates an AI-powered Interview Question Generator across 27 industries as a content/utility tool, and the company has remained privately held throughout its 60+ year history.
Reed firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Reed
- Legal name
- Reed
- Website
- https://reedglobal.tr
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1960
- Operating status
- Operating
- Short description
- Reed is a UK-founded, family-owned global recruitment agency founded in 1960, connecting employers and job seekers across 20 specialist sectors via permanent, temporary, RPO, executive search, and screening services through 350 offices and a 22M+ CV database.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Reed industry classification
Industry- Product category
- 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 industries
- Recruiting Administration Outsourcing (Recruitment Support, Scheduling, Onboarding Ops) (BPACAKAG), Agent of Record (AOR) / Contractor Engagement Services (BPACAGAB)
Keywords
Where Reed is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Istanbul
Offices4 records
Markets served
Reed business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Permanent Recruitment Services: Contingency-based placement fees for permanent hires. Consultants provide end-to-end recruitment services including job profiling, candidate sourcing, screening, and placement
- Temporary & Interim Staffing: Contract staffing services providing pre-screened candidates for temporary positions across various sectors and durations
- Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO): Outsourced recruitment process management where Reed handles part or all of client's hiring processes, providing scalable workforce solutions
- Senior & Executive Search: Executive search services for C-level and senior management positions, including psychometric testing, candidate shortlisting, and executive job postings
- Pre-employment Screening: Background verification and screening services provided through Reed Screening, serving clients across multiple sectors with global coverage in 116+ countries
- Outplacement Services: Career transition support services helping displaced employees find new positions, providing moral support during restructuring
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Permanent Recruitment |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Temporary Staffing |
| Hybrid | Multi-year contract | RPO Solutions |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels7 records
Reed product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Reed is a specialist recruitment agency connecting employers with candidates for permanent, temporary, contract, and executive positions across 20 specialist sectors. The company provides end-to-end recruitment services including permanent placement, temporary and interim staffing, recruitment process outsourcing (RPO), senior and executive search, global recruitment, pre-employment screening, and outplacement services, supported by a candidate database of 22 million+ CVs.
Product overview
Reed is the world's largest family-owned recruitment company, founded in 1960 in the UK. The company offers specialist recruitment services rather than a unified software product. The core service offerings include: Permanent Recruitment (Daimi Seçme ve Yerleştirme), Temporary & Interim Recruitment (Belirli Süreli ve Dönemsel İşe Alım), Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO/İşe Alım Süreç Yönetimi), Senior & Executive Search (Üst Düzey Yönetici Seçme ve Yerleştirme), Global Recruitment (Global işe alım çözümleri), Pre-employment Screening (İşe alım öncesi tarama hizmetleri), and Outplacement Services (Yeni Kariyere Geçiş Hizmetleri). The Reed Group ecosystem includes subsidiary brands: Reed.co.uk (job board platform), Reed Screening (background checks), Reed Talent Solutions (workforce solutions), Reed Learning (corporate training), Reed Courses (online learning platform with 40,000+ courses), Reed Business School (professional qualifications), Reed Professional Services (consulting), Reed in Partnership (public services), Reed Wellbeing (employee wellness), Reed Franchise Partnerships (franchise program), and Reed Foundation (charity). Reed also offers an AI-powered Interview Question Generator tool.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Reed Screening: Pre-employment screening services providing comprehensive background checks, available 24/7 worldwide with over 500,000 screenings conducted.
- Reed Learning
- Reed Talent Solutions
- Reed Courses
Products and services
- Permanent Recruitment (Daimi Seçme ve Yerleştirme) Contingency-based permanent recruitment service connecting employers with candidates for permanent positions. Provides expert advice on job descriptions, salary offerings, and attraction strategies, along with interview organization, job offer guidance, and post-placement follow-ups.
- Temporary & Interim Recruitment (Belirli Süreli ve Dönemsel İşe Alım) Temporary and interim staffing solutions providing access to a large candidate database, position suitability matching, candidate reference checks, expert consultant support, and ongoing process follow-ups for contract positions across various sectors and durations.
- Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) Recruitment Process Outsourcing service enabling organizations to outsource part or all of their hiring processes to Reed, providing scalable workforce solutions, managed recruitment process management, and digital tools with measurable advantages in time, cost, and talent acquisition.
- Senior & Executive Search (Üst Düzey Yönetici Seçme ve Yerleştirme) Senior and executive search service placing C-suite and senior leadership positions including CIO, CFO, and CEO roles through an eight-stage selection and placement consulting process, including psychometric testing and candidate shortlisting.
- Global Recruitment Solutions International recruitment solutions supporting organizations with cross-border hiring, recruitment process outsourcing, and employee screening across 20 specialist sectors, with operations in the UK, Europe, Middle East, and Asia.
- Pre-employment Screening (İşe alım öncesi tarama hizmetleri) Pre-employment screening services including criminal record checks, identity verification, work permit checks, and custom verification solutions. Operates 24/7 and completes over 1 million checks annually across 116 countries, with average turnaround of 5 days across 500,000+ screenings.
- Outplacement Services (Yeni Kariyere Geçiş Hizmetleri) Outplacement services supporting individuals through career transitions during organizational restructuring or downsizing, providing moral support and helping displaced employees find new positions.
- Reed.co.uk UK's leading career platform connecting people with online career opportunities. Offers job postings, resume database access to 22+ million candidates, recruitment advice, and industry news.
- Reed Talent Solutions Workforce solutions provider offering scalable recruitment solutions designed with digital tools providing measurable advantages in time, cost, and talent acquisition for clients operating in complex hiring environments.
- Reed Learning Corporate training and professional development services offering digital and face-to-face learning products, training packages, and custom consulting services for organizations.
- Reed Courses Online learning platform with 40,000+ courses and 726+ subject titles, one of the UK's fastest-growing learning marketplaces covering higher education programs, CPD points, and professional certifications.
- Reed Business School Professional qualification training institution specializing in finance and accounting qualifications with above-national-average success rates, serving both Reed employees and external accounting students through residential courses.
- Reed Professional Services Management consulting and technology services providing customers with net solutions and expert technical knowledge, helping private and public sector organizations save millions of pounds.
- Reed in Partnership Public services provider operating in employment, health, skills development, justice, assessment, and youth development areas, helping transform lives positively through government-commissioned programmes.
- Reed Wellbeing Employee health and wellness services helping businesses create healthy workplaces and support employee and community wellbeing.
Companies that use Reed
Customer profileNamed customers5 records
Segments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Reed technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability2 records
Feature3 records
Reed partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- GS Talent Recruitment (Reed Group subsidiary)corePart of the Reed Group, GS Talent Recruitment specializes in freight and logistics sales talent recruitment, providing sector-specific expertise within the broader Reed portfolio.
Scale indicators11 records
Recent moves10 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Reed competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- ManpowerGroup: ManpowerGroup is a global leader in workforce solutions, including permanent placement, temporary staffing, and RPO — a broad incumbent with comparable offerings to Reed across most of Reed's geographies.
- Adecco Group: Adecco is a global staffing giant operating across permanent placement, temporary staffing, and career transition services, overlapping with Reed's diversified service mix but at significantly larger scale.
- LinkedIn (Talent Solutions): LinkedIn's Talent Solutions platform offers recruiter tools, job postings, and candidate sourcing at massive global scale — a broad incumbent competing with Reed for both employer spend and candidate engagement.
- Randstad NV: Randstad is one of the world's largest staffing and HR services firms with broad permanent, temporary, and RPO offerings — a larger incumbent competing with Reed across multiple geographies.
Direct peers
- Hays plc: Hays is a UK-headquartered, listed global recruitment firm operating across permanent placement, temporary staffing, and RPO across 20+ sectors — making it the most directly comparable specialist recruitment peer to Reed.
- Korn Ferry: Korn Ferry is a global organisational consulting firm with a substantial executive search and permanent placement business — directly comparable to Reed's Senior & Executive Search offering.
- Cielo Talent: Cielo is a leading pure-play RPO provider offering outsourced recruitment process management — a direct competitor to Reed's RPO and Talent Solutions business.
- Robert Half International: Robert Half is a global professional staffing and consulting firm providing permanent, temporary, and contract placement across finance, technology, and office — closely comparable to Reed's professional staffing offerings.
- Alexander Mann Solutions: AMS is a global RPO and talent acquisition specialist, directly comparable to Reed Talent Solutions' Recruitment Process Outsourcing offering and serving a similar enterprise client base.
- PageGroup: PageGroup (Michael Page, Page Personnel) is a UK-listed multinational recruitment firm with similar multi-sector specialist recruitment focus, comparable office network, and overlapping client base to Reed.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Reed social profiles
Digital presenceReed financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Reed leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
Reed subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries11 records
Reed funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Reed M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Reed
What does Reed do?
Reed is a specialist recruitment agency connecting employers with candidates for permanent, temporary, contract, and executive positions across 20 specialist sectors. The company provides end-to-end recruitment services including permanent placement, temporary and interim staffing, recruitment process outsourcing (RPO), senior and executive search, global recruitment, pre-employment screening, and outplacement services, supported by a candidate database of 22 million+ CVs.
Is Reed a public or private company?
Reed is a private company. It is classified as family owned and is currently operating.
When was Reed founded?
Reed was founded in 1960.
Where is Reed based?
Reed is headquartered in Istanbul.
How does Reed make money?
Six revenue lines are on record. Permanent Recruitment Services are the primary driver. The others are temporary & Interim Staffing, recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), senior & Executive Search, pre-employment Screening and outplacement Services.
Who are Reed's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are ManpowerGroup, Adecco Group, LinkedIn (Talent Solutions) and Randstad NV. Direct peers are Hays plc, Korn Ferry, Cielo Talent, Robert Half International, Alexander Mann Solutions and PageGroup.
Does Reed have an API?
No public API is recorded for Reed.
What industry is Reed in?
Reed's product category is Recruitment Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPACAFAA, General Permanent Placement (Multi-Industry), with a secondary code of BPACAKAG, Recruiting Administration Outsourcing (Recruitment Support, Scheduling, Onboarding Ops). Its NAICS code is 561311 and its SIC code is 7361.