The Ladder Group

What The Ladder Group does

The Ladder Group is a London-headquartered, for-profit consultancy founded in 2021 that helps global enterprises identify, hire, and develop early-careers talent with a measurable social mobility impact. It operates a B2B advisory and delivery model targeting FTSE 100 and multinational clients (named customers include BlackRock, KPMG, Salesforce, Pearson, Glencore, British Airways, Pleo, Travelodge, and Puig) and addresses pain points around early-careers strategy, employer branding, RPO/screening/assessment, programme design (graduates, internships, apprenticeships), recruitment campaigns, and youth engagement. The offering is organised into two pillars — Early Careers Initiatives and Youth Engagement Initiatives — spanning 11 distinct services from attraction events and assessment-centre design to social mobility research and internal progression frameworks, all grounded in behavioural science and psychometric profiling rather than a proprietary technology platform.

The company monetises through professional services fees on bespoke project or retainer engagements; pricing is not publicly disclosed and there are no standard tiers. GTM is direct enterprise field sales with no channel or self-serve distribution, supported by content marketing (blog, case studies), LinkedIn, and university/student-society partnerships. Geographic footprint includes London (HQ, 10 East Rd, N1 6AD), New York (104 West 40th Street), and Mumbai (Carnival House), with engagement evidence across the UK, EMEA (including Switzerland and South Africa), and the US.

In 2025 The Ladder Group was acquired by Unseen Group, a strategic operating parent branded as 'the future talent partner for enterprise employers'. Under the deal, Ladder retains its brand and founder (Dan Ball continues as Founder), combining its early-careers expertise with Unseen's assessment science, technology platforms, and storytelling capabilities. Headcount sits in the 11–50 band, revenue is not disclosed, and there is no public funding history. The legal entity is a UK private limited company (The Ladder Group), with no subsidiaries, patents, or regulatory actions on file.

Name

The Ladder Group

Legal name

The Ladder Group

Website

https://laddergroup.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Ladder Group is a London-based B2B consultancy that helps global enterprises design, attract, and assess early-careers talent with a measurable social mobility impact, serving FTSE 100 clients such as BlackRock, KPMG, Salesforce, and Pearson across the UK, EMEA, US, and India.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Recruitment & Talent Acquisition Consulting

NAICS

Human Resources Consulting Services (541612), Employment Placement Agencies (561311), Employment Placement Agencies and Executive Search Services (56131)

SIC

Services-Employment Agencies (7361), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Services-Management Services (8741)

akta.pro primary industry

Corporate & Leadership Development (BPACANAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Leadership Assessment, 360 Feedback & Development Planning (EDABAAAK), Job Placement, Matching & Career Navigation Services (EDAAAOAL), Corporate Team-Building & Offsite Services (HSACADAF)

Keywords

• Early careers recruitment
• Social mobility consulting
• Talent acquisition advisory
• Graduate programme design
• Employer branding services

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Consulting and Advisory Services: Ladder generates revenue through professional services fees charged to enterprise clients for early careers strategy consulting, programme design, recruitment process outsourcing, assessment centre design, and social mobility research. Services are typically delivered as project-based engagements or retainer arrangements, given the bespoke nature of client engagements.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Ladder Group is a B2B consultancy that designs and delivers early careers and social mobility advisory services for global enterprises. Its offerings span employer branding, attraction events, recruitment process outsourcing, screening and assessment design, graduate/apprenticeship/internship programme design, recruitment campaigns, talent engagement programmes, partnerships and mentoring, social mobility research, and talent progression frameworks. Services are delivered as bespoke project engagements or retainer arrangements directly to enterprise HR and Talent Acquisition teams.

Product overview

The Ladder Group (now operating as Ladder) is an early careers and social mobility consultancy that offers a unified portfolio of advisory and delivery services. The offering consists of two main service pillars: Early Careers Initiatives (covering attraction events, employer branding, RPO/screening/assessment, strategy, programme design, recruitment campaigns, and talent engagement programmes) and Youth Engagement Initiatives (covering bespoke solutions, partnerships/mentoring, social mobility research, and talent progression frameworks). Following its acquisition by Unseen Group in 2025, the company now combines its consultancy expertise with Unseen's assessment science and technology platforms to deliver end-to-end solutions for enterprise clients.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Early Careers Attraction Events Design and delivery of bespoke virtual and in-person attraction events that engage early talent and drive recruitment outcomes by bringing together curated candidate audiences and authentic employer insight, for global enterprise HR and TA teams.
• Early Careers Brand & Value Proposition Helps organisations define and articulate a compelling early careers brand that attracts the right talent, using market insight and research-led recommendations to shape messaging and candidate value propositions.
• Early Careers RPO, Screening & Assessment Design of fair, accessible and performance-aligned assessment processes and end-to-end early careers hiring, covering competency frameworks, assessment centre design, candidate screening, interview coordination and offer processes.
• Early Careers Strategy Insight-led analysis and practical recommendations to help organisations design or evolve their early careers strategy across attraction, assessment, programme design and progression.
• Programme Design: Graduates, Internships & Apprenticeships Design of high-performing early careers programmes from the ground up, including programme structure, learning pathways, performance benchmarks and progression routes to onboard and develop talent.
• Recruitment Campaigns Targeted recruitment campaigns for organisations hiring beyond traditional graduate cycles or high-volume milk-round activity, combining employer brand positioning with active outreach through partner networks and student communities.
• Talent Engagement Programmes: Insight Days & Work Experience Structured early engagement programmes including insight days and scalable work experience programmes that build meaningful connections with future talent through real skills development and early pipeline building.
• Bespoke Solutions Tailored solutions for organisations with specific early careers and social mobility challenges or ambitions, designed to align with their business strategy.
• Partnerships & Mentoring Strategic partnership building to strengthen access to early talent and underrepresented communities, including universities, student societies, mentoring initiatives and community organisations.
• Social Mobility Research & Insight Qualitative and quantitative research into social mobility, access and progression within organisations through data-led insight and evidence-based analysis to inform strategy and strengthen reporting.
• Talent Progression & Internal Development Frameworks People-centred frameworks grounded in behavioural and organisational psychology to help organisations develop, retain and progress talent through progression pathways, promotion criteria, and internal mentoring programmes.

Quantifiable outcome

• Pleo hired over 100 people with improved socioeconomic and ethnic diversity across Europe
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles4 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.

• Unseen GroupflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Ladder has joined the Unseen Group, described as 'the future talent partner for enterprise employers'. The acquisition combines Ladder's early careers expertise with Unseen's assessment science, technology platforms, and storytelling capabilities. Ladder clients can now access strategy, delivery, technology, advisory, and assessment design from a single partner.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Capp: UK-based psychometric assessment and talent acquisition consultancy. Closely comparable to Ladder's assessment design, competency frameworks and inclusive hiring practices within early-carees programmes.
• Milkround: UK graduate and early-careers recruitment site owned by GTI Media. Overlaps with Ladder's recruitment campaigns, employer branding and candidate engagement services for FTSE-style clients.
• Bright Network: UK-based early careers and graduate recruitment platform connecting top students with employers. Directly comparable to Ladder's early-carees attraction, employer branding and candidate pipeline work for enterprise clients.
• SHL: Global psychometric assessment and talent measurement provider. Comparable to Ladder's assessment centre design, screening tools and behavioural science-led early-carees selection.

Broad incumbents

• Korn Ferry: Global organisational consulting firm with a talent acquisition and RPO practice. Overlaps with Ladder on enterprise RPO, assessment and early-carees strategy as part of a broader HR services portfolio.
• PageGroup: Global recruitment group (Michael Page, Page Personnel) with enterprise hiring and HR services. Comparable to Ladder on enterprise recruitment delivery, though PageGroup's scope is far broader than early careers.
• Robert Half: Global staffing and consulting firm serving enterprise and mid-market clients. Overlaps with Ladder on recruitment delivery and HR advisory, particularly for entry-level and professional hires.
• Handshake: US-based early-careers platform connecting students, universities and employers at scale. Comparable to Ladder on early-talent attraction and candidate sourcing, though Handshake operates a productised platform model rather than bespoke advisory.
• Hays: Global recruitment and workforce solutions firm with established early-carees and assessment offerings. Competes with Ladder for enterprise recruitment campaigns and talent pipelining across EMEA.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ladder-group

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

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 The Ladder Group