Recruiters Live Lounge | Get Inspired! | Weekly Interviews With The Best Recruitment Business Leader

Darren Ryemill, CEO of Opus Professional Services Group founded Opus Recruitment Solutions in 2008 but has since grown the initial unique offering into a fast expanding Group which now includes Opus Information Technology, Opus Engineering, Baltimore Consulting Group, McLean Ross, Hinton Spencer, JDR Energy, Addocura and Talentcubed. Having been recognised with multiple awards for his leading and innovative approach, including “Best Leader” from The SundayTimes, Recruiter magazine’s “Entrepreneur of the Year” and “Entrepreneur of the Year” from Recruitment International - Darren is revolutionising the recruitment industry.

Nikki started her recruitment career in 2002 as a consultant and with her passion and determination remains excited about the challenges and rewards that the industry has to offer. Nikki started her business REJS with business partner Richard over six years ago on the Gold Coast of Australia and they now search talent exclusively for the Real Estate industry. Nikki’s passion and energy and has changed the lives of many within real estate today and she is proud to now be the ‘go-to’ company for the top 10% in their market.

David Spencer-Percival was the Managing Director at Huntress Group for almost 9 years before he launched Spencer Ogden in 2010 with Sir Peter Ogden and has always remained the driving force behind the company’s growth and success. With more than 15 years’ experience in recruitment, David used his knowledge to fill the gap in the market and create Spencer Ogden to service all energy sectors on a global scale. His passion for recruitment comes through in all he does and he remains one of the biggest champions of our industry's strength and potential. 

David Gittoes has worked within the recruitment industry for just over 11 years, a career which he feels he ‘fell into’ after being a golf professional for 4 years previously. He joined Artemis Search over 5 years ago as a commission-only recruiter, but worked his way up to management level and then in July 2013 he was offered the chance to become an equal partner in the business which he accepted and he now holds the position of Recruitment Director.  Artemis Search works within the Emerging Technologies Sectors, Financial Services Sectors and the Print Industry.

​Lee McQueen is the Managing Director of 'Raw Talent Academy' which he founded after growing frustrated by the lack of high calibre sales talent in the UK. Now Raw Talent Academy is fast becoming recognised as the number one provider of emerging sales talent providing talent for companies who are looking to grow and nurture their own leading sales teams. Lee has worked in recruitment for over 16 years and famously won Lord Alan Sugar's 'The Apprentice' BBC series back in 2008. 

Nick Johnston, Director at Recruitment International Asia magazine, founded Wall Street Associates in Japan in 1999. It became the first international recruitment company to receive the ISO 9001:2000 certification in Japan and eleven years later was purchased by en-japan, the premium Japanese job portal, and rebranded as Enworld. Nick stepped down as CEO in June 2012, by which time Enworld had over 180 staff in offices in Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Osaka, Singapore, Hong Kong, Seoul and Sydney. Nick now focuses on growing Recruitment International in Asia, as well as private investments mainly based in Myanmar.

Angela Middleton founded Middleton Murray in 2002, after spending time in a variety of corporate management positions. The company evolved from a recruitment consultancy into a Group during 2008 to include some interesting divisions, but most importantly resulted in a training subsidiary. Middleton Murray now provides a combination of government and commercially funding training and recruitment – working with the unemployed to place them into jobs and working with the employed to enhance their skills and careers.

Gary Dytor has been working within recruitment for nearly 10 years where he started as a Trainee Recruitment Consultant at IT Works, but within 2 years started to develop new markets, grow team and was finally promoted to Ops Director. Gary then moved to the US in May 2014 where he set up a new IT Works Recruitment Inc out there as their CEO and he has already developed to a team of 10 consultants and built a business in excess of $1.5mil GP in their first full year. 

Bob Kelly has over 30 years of information technology experience with significant expertise in enterprise systems and founded CareerPlanners Services in 1999 with a focus on recruiting and staff augmentation in emerging technologies. Bob also served in the United States Army, and as a result CPSI is certified by the U.S. Veterans Administration as a VOSB (Veteran Owned Small Business).

Tim Watts is the Lifetime President of Pertemps Network Group, which is one of the UK's biggest independent recruitment agencies with over 1040 staff and 200 branches in 70 towns. Pertemps was started in 1961 by Tim's mum who took a £500 loan to start the company. Tim then started in 1970 when he was 19 years old as a temporary worker.  As well as still being involved in Pertemps Tim finds time to be raise large amounts of money as Vice President of the Spinal Injuries Association and also to fulfill the duties of being High-Sherrif of the West Midlands.

10 years ago Dawn left a well-respected career within HR to pursue her passion for diversity and inclusion, and as a result she created Equal Approach as an inclusive recruitment agency, in order to remove barriers for candidates with difference. Dawn specialises in diversity and inclusion, specifically in championing individuals with difference to maximise their potential.

Daniel Faulkner is a headhunter and Director of Arthur Financial specialising in senior appointments and team moves within the Lloyd's & London insurance markets. Since Daniel has been heading up Arthur Financial it has seen consistent growth in all areas which Daniel believes is due to the strong value he places on company culture, advancement, innovation and integrity. 

Tony Goodwin, CEO of ANTAL INTERNATIONAL In 1993, spotting the potential of the new professional employment markets in the former Warsaw pact countries, Tony Goodwin set up his own recruitment business and named the company Antal – Hungarian for ‘Anthony’. Since then Tony and his team have developed substantial recruitment businesses in some of the most challenging emerging markets across the globe, such as Russia, India and China, through a mix of wholly-owned operations, franchises and joint ventures.  His impact on the recruitment industry has been recognised through a series of major awards including Ernst & Young’s ‘Entrepreneur of the Year (Business Products and Services)’ and Recruiter magazine’s ‘Best International Recruitment Agency’. 

David Lawrence has been in the recruitment industry since 2000 and is still as passionate about recruitment as the first day he started. As the Managing Director he's responsible for the strategic plan for growth for Vine Resources growing to 40 people over the next 3 years to support their clients in the global telecommunications market providing executive level recruitment, contingent workforce and permanent hires. 

Alex Raubitschek has over 20 years experience in the recruitment industry, most recently focusing on the buying and selling of recruitment businesses through his roles at Hamilton Bradshaw and currently Principal at Claremont Board Management. 

Ann Swain is the CEO of APSCo (Association of Professional Staffing Companies). Ann has worked in the recruitment industry for over 30 years and is globally recognised as one of it's strongest ambassadors.