Yesterday afternoon, over 50 guests arrived at Sanderson’s Bristol HQ to celebrate the launch of this year’s Strive Internship Programme, including the 29 students who have worked extremely hard to be part of Strive this summer.

Sanderson’s Strive journey started back at the beginning of 2024, when we got in touch with our friends at Hargreaves Lansdown to ask if we could invite an intern to spend the summer in our Bristol office. We were duly joined by an intern who so impressed the whole team that we knew we wanted to keep being part of Strive for as long as it kept running.

Fast forward a few weeks, and we were in touch with Hargreaves Lansdown again – this time to hear that they were looking to pass Strive on to ensure it could keep running, and that they wanted us to do it.

It didn’t take a lot of discussion before we agreed. We believed wholeheartedly in the good work that Strive is doing.

The data shows again and again that students from underrepresented backgrounds face more difficulty getting into sustained employment after leaving university. This cohort can often face discrimination, and are more likely to lack a support system that can make connections with potential employers; arrange work experience; and advise on CV writing, interview technique, and everything else that helps you start a career post-university.

The goal of Strive is to become that support system – to create connections, offer paid work experience, and teach students some of the crucial skills they’ll need to find a long-term position post-university.

Yesterday afternoon let us see that in action.

After a brief introduction from our CEO Jon Ball, Business Enablement Director Steve Phillips and the Strive Programme Lead (me!), we stepped back and encouraged everyone to get talking.

Interns were given the chance to chat to each other, to all the employers and colleagues who came along, and to representatives from Strive’s partners DeepLearn HS and our friends at Not Impossible. In turn, employers and partners got to know each other and the interns, and pick up useful tips and tricks for improving inclusion and supporting their Strive interns to get the most from their work experience.

It demonstrated one of the other things we love so much about Strive: it’s not all about what the interns can take away. As employers, we get to invite more diversity into the heart of our organisations, improving our perspectives and exposing ourselves to new viewpoints and ways of working. Plus, we get the enviable opportunity of talking to a cohort of talented, highly motivated, and enthusiastic students who keep proving that the future of the workforce is in very good hands.

We had representatives from nearly all the employers taking part this year:

• ARAG
• Ashton Gate
• Bishop Fleming
• Bristol City Council
• BOM IT Solutions
• Carter Jonas
• Hargreaves Lansdown
• IntellectBooks
• Nucleus Financial
• Plimsoll Productions
• QinetiQ
• Squarcle
• University of West of England
• Willmott Dixon

In addition, we were pleased to welcome key Strive partners from UWE. UWE helped Hargreaves Lansdown set up Strive in the first place, and have been tireless champions of the scheme ever since. At least 80% of Strive candidates this year came from UWE, and they have taken on three interns themselves this year in their web and molecular biology teams.

It was great to see interns throwing themselves into the networking, talking to employers about potential career paths and opportunities within their industries. We overheard conversations about graduate schemes, special interests, experiences so far, and much more. Plus all the interns got the chance to talk to one another and start making connections that we hope will stay long after Strive is over.

Now that the event is over and Strive is officially launched, we’re focusing on running our weekly Life Skills sessions (supported by our fantastic employers and partners), prepping surveys to send out, and getting our ducks in a row for Strive 2026.

Speaking of which: if this article has piqued your interest, send an email to [email protected] to chat about whether Strive might be right for your business. There’s no obligation and no hard selling from us. Just a gentle hope that you can see its positives, and that you’d like to be part of it in the future.

Today Sanderson is excited to share that Highams is going to be officially taking on the Sanderson brand, merging with Sanderson to create a specialist Financial Services division.

We’ve been collaborating with Highams since 2021 having acquired them to work together on delivering permanent and contract recruitment solutions to the Financial Services and Insurance sectors.

We’ve worked together on everything from delivering MSPs to the largest UK insurance companies to global RPO solutions, and this move will only continue to strengthen our capability in the Insurance, Pensions & Wealth Management sectors thanks to the Highams team bringing 35 years of industry experience and unrivalled personal networks with them.

Commenting on this news, our CEO Jon Ball said:

“With our combined strength and experiences, we can accelerate our ability to develop offerings in the financial sector both in the UK and globally. Together we can help organisations across the world meet their most complex talent challenges.”

Click here to find out more about this exciting news.

Sanderson have recently been featured in the Financial Times following new research suggesting that half of UK businesses plan to prioritise investment in artificial intelligence (AI) over hiring staff due to the decision of chancellor Rachel Reeves’ to increase employers’ tax bills.

Commentators have suggested that many companies are beginning to see more of the potential that AI can offer them in terms of productivity, and a recent poll from BCG has even revealed that 44% of responders from the 251 UK businesses surveyed are investing in AI as a priority this year.

Staff with AI skills

This rise in the use of AI has led companies to look for staff with skills related to this technology.

Our data has suggested that demand for AI engineers in the UK jumped in the first half of 2024, despite lay-offs in the wider tech sector over the preceding 18 months.

James Corcoran, head of recruitment in our Government and Defence practice went on to say “AI will replace some jobs, support some jobs and generate some jobs, it will balance itself out.”

To read the full article in the Financial Times, please click here.

If you would like to access more data around the emergence of AI related skillsets, you can download our Tech & Digital Insights Report here.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you would like to discuss the use of AI in your business, or are interested in hiring staff with skills in this area of technology.

We are pleased to announce that Sanderson and Outsource are joining forces. Sanderson has acquired Outsource, offering growth and increased capability opportunities for colleagues, candidates and clients alike.  

The acquisition will significantly expand the Sanderson Solutions group portfolio that already supports recruitment, MSP and RPO services in a number of sectors including insurance, banking and retail. Outsource have a superb reputation in the delivery of technology and engineering recruitment for the UK defence industry and Supply Chain and Logistics amongst others.  

The deal will mean that the combined group will have close to 4,000 workers under management across the UK and will ensure that all clients within the group will have the opportunity to benefit from a comprehensive suite of services to meet all of their talent acquisition needs.  

Sanderson already operate across Europe, Asia and the US and Outsource are positioned well to use this geographical reach to further develop opportunities with current clients and take existing UK MSP arrangements into Europe and the US.  

This acquisition will continue the Sanderson strategy to look for opportunities in new sectors and geographies and follows the successful acquisitions of iKas International, Sopra Steria Recruitment and Highams in the last 5 years.  

The combined business will have over 500 colleagues around the world and has excellent opportunities for growth. Outsource clients will continue to work with the people they know and trust, whilst having access to Sandersons capabilities, financial strength and global footprint.  

Jon Ball, CEO of Sanderson says; 

“This an exciting time for Sanderson, we are two independently owned businesses, both originating with pride from the Southwest. What was very apparent from our first conversations with Outsource was our shared values and cultures. We are incredibly excited about Outsources ability to take us into markets that we are not operating in and keen to provide further firepower to Outsource in the markets where we already have synergy. With our combined strengths and experiences, we can accelerate our ability to develop offerings and expand our ongoing contribution to our clients in the UK and globally. Together, we can help organisations around the world meet their most complex talent challenges.” 

Nick Dettmar, CEO of Outsource, says, 

“This marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Outsource.  Sanderson is a business we have admired for a long time and joining forces with them, will mean we can accelerate our growth plans and significantly expand the range of services we can offer our clients. This new partnership will also provide us with a strong platform to extend our capabilities beyond the UK. From our earliest conversations, it was clear that our two organisations complement each other perfectly—not only in our services and expertise but also in our shared values and cultures. Together, we are uniquely positioned to deliver innovative solutions to meet the most complex talent challenges, while providing an environment of stability, growth and opportunity for everyone at Outsource.” 

About Sanderson  

With over 40 years in the industry, Sanderson is a leading global talent solutions company, offering specialised recruitment services and outsourced solutions including RPO and MSP in locations across the UK, Ireland, Hong Kong, Singapore and India. Find out more about Sanderson. 

About Outsource UK 

Outsource UK is a leading talent solutions provider with over 30 years of experience, specialising in technology, engineering, logistics and supply chain recruitment. The company is renowned for their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Head over to Outsource UK’s website to find out more. 

Sanderson is delighted to announce that we have been awarded the Fast Payer Award for 2024 from Good Business Pays CIC.

We are thrilled to be awarded this prestigious award for the 3^rd year in a row. The accreditation means that we are in the top 5% of large companies that have consistently paid their suppliers in 27 days or less, demonstrating our commitment to our business values and our communities.

Commenting on this achievement, our COO Adam Meadows said:

“Sanderson is part of a large business community; a community that has had huge challenges to meet over the last 5 years in order to remain profitable and as large employers. Sanderson is proud to make its contribution to this community by taking special care to pay its suppliers on time, every time, and to be recognised for doing this consistently, year after year, is a fantastic achievement.”

On Tuesday 3^rd December our CEO Jon Ball and COO Adam Meadows were pleased to be invited to the Good Business Pays Awards Ceremony in London at the House of Lords. It was an honour to receive our recognition as a Fast Payer 2024 in person at this fantastic event.

We’re delighted to announce that Sanderson has taken on the award winning Strive Internship programme from our close client, Hargreaves Lansdown.

We took part in the scheme in the summer of 2024 and we’re now excited to continue this fantastic work that provided over 100 paid internships to Black, Asian and minority ethnic students across multiple organisations and industries.

What is it the Strive Intern Programme?

The programme offers paid work experience placements to Black, Asian and minority ethnic university students across organisations in the West of England. It is a fantastic opportunity for students to fully immerse themselves in placements with partner organisations for 6–8 weeks, gaining hands-on work experience, building confidence, and developing their professional network.

The cross-sector programme also includes opportunities for interns to attend valuable skill-building sessions designed to enhance career confidence and provide opportunities for interns to connect with each other.

Find out more and get involved

You can find out more about the Strive Internship programme, as well as register your interest in taking part as either a student or an organisation by heading over to this page.

At the end of October this year Sanderson were delighted to once again collaborate with Tech West England Advocates and our colleagues at Sanderson iKas Hong Kong to sponsor Tech Mission to Hong Kong for 2024.

This fantastic event takes place every year and offers founders and scale-ups in the technology industry an unrivalled insight into the tech ecosystem in Hong Kong as a potential destination to set up their business.

Attendees enjoy a jam-packed programme from exploring the vibrant city, meeting with Hong Kong accelerators and incubators as well as the opportunity to pitch at the official ‘UK Tech Founder Showcase Event’ as part of the StartmeupHK Festival.

Adam Kennedy, Country Director for Sanderson i-Kas shared his key takeaways from the week and this year’s mission:

“It has been fantastic to once again get involved with this Mission – the event really is the perfect opportunity to showcase the scale, diversity and quality of the tech community here in Hong Kong. And this year’s Tech Mission was no different! We have been able to show once again that Hong Kong really is pushing the boundary on being the biggest research and innovation hub in Asia, and this year’s delegates were incredibly impressed with all the city had to offer, not just the tech ecosystem, and many are now exploring setting up their businesses here.

The week was hard work for all and packed full of activities and networking, but also lots of fun with some great new connections made. We’re thrilled that it looks like we’ll be seeing strong partnerships forming with some of the businesses looking to set up here, and Sanderson can’t wait to work with them to assist in setting up their teams and filling talent gaps as they grow here.”

We can’t wait to see what next year might bring – so watch this space!

You can find out more about the Mission here.

Sanderson is delighted to announce our fantastic Net Promoter Score for Q2 2024.

A Net Promoter Score, or NPS, is a market research and customer satisfaction metric based on a single survey question which asks respondents to rate the likelihood that they would recommend us and our services to others.

In Sanderson’s survey, we asked all of our candidates across both permanent and contract recruitment following one week of their placement whether if based on their experience of working with us, they would recommend Sanderson.

From this survey, we are extremely proud to have gained an outstanding NSP score of 83.

To put this into perspective, NPS survey results are based on a scale of:

• -100-0 = Needs improvement
• 0-50 = Good
• 50-70 = Excellent
• 70 and above = World Class

A score as high as 83 demonstrates the market-leading experience our candidates have when working with Sanderson as well as the strength of our customer loyalty and the true partnerships we have with our candidates and clients alike.

Commenting on this result, Chief Executive Officer Jon Ball said:

“Nothing feels better than getting outstanding feedback from the people we provide with contracts and permanent placements; and nothing is more valuable to our business than the referrals that this performance delivers.

Well done to everyone at Sanderson in every department for scoring a massive 83 Net Promoter Score so far this year.”

We are extremely proud of this excellent result and see it as a testament of the hard work and dedication our team continue to provide. We will continue to strive to keep our score in this fantastic range, as well as constantly look for ways we can improve.

Would you like to hear more from Sanderson and learn about the work we do? You can sign up to join our mailing list here for a variety of updates, access to our market leading salary benchmarking data, white papers, reports and blogs PLUS our latest news and event invites.

In 2023, the Marine Society & Sea Cadets (MSSC) launched its Future Ready Strategic Plan with a clear vision: to empower Sea Cadets by giving them a user-friendly way to identify their unique skills, explore potential career paths both within and beyond the maritime industry, highlight areas where additional training can enhance their employability and to foster a sense of empowerment and confidence in navigating future career opportunities.

Collaboration and Development

To bring this vision to life, Sanderson Government & Defence are joining forces with MSSC and The British Army’s Specialist Group Information Services (SGIS) to develop a new Artificial Intelligence based application that’s tailored specifically for over 15,000 active cadets and adult volunteers.

The Application will be hosted on the Cadet Portal and will support the development of employability skills, provide signposting to recruitment opportunities as well as offer insights into job roles to enable cadets to better focus their learning and training.

To support this development Sanderson have been actively engaging with the Cadets to support their funding development and are assisting with powering the data and opportunities the cadets and adult volunteers have visibility to in order to help the cadets make informed decisions about career options going forward. These will include things like cover letter templates, interview technique preparation tools and helpful case studies.

G&D team members Lewis Snell and Graham Complin are excited to be working on this project.

Commenting on our involvement, Sanderson G&D Managing Director Nick Walrond said:

“This is a mission that is extremely important to our Government & Defence team. Having recently been awarded a Gold Armed Forces Covenant Award in the Employers Recognition Scheme Award for 2024 (which you can read more about here), we have pledged to continually demonstrate our unwavering support of the armed forces community and ensure that any personnel in this industry, be it serving veterans, cadets just starting out on their journey or volunteers, feel empowered in their career aspirations.”

Benefits for Cadets and Employers

This initiative will enhance the career readiness of Sea Cadets, offering them pathways to work experience or employment. It also provides future employers a clear view of the skills and training the cadets receive, helping to bridge the gap between training and employment.

For Sanderson and our position as a specialist talent and consulting organisation for the defence sector, we are proud to be involved with this initiative as we recognise the exceptional skills, dedication, and leadership that Armed Forces personnel can bring to the workplace and supporting this community is our continued commitment.

Next Steps

Our Government & Defence team will be continuing to work alongside MSSC and SGIS as we work together to help build this Application. Once completed, we are excited to get stuck into the population of the portal to ensure it is full to the brim with useful information.

We look forward to working together and sharing our progress on this exciting initiative as the Application progresses!

If you have any questions regarding this, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Lewis Snell.

[email protected]

Would you like to hear more from Sanderson and learn about the work we do? You can sign up to join our mailing list here for a variety of updates, access to our market leading salary benchmarking data, white papers, reports and blogs PLUS our latest news and event invites.

Today is World Clean Up Day (Friday 20^th September) and yesterday the Sanderson team rolled up their sleeves and once again got involved with World Clean Up Day in association with our longstanding client Northumbrian Water.

What is World Clean Up Day?

World Clean Up Day is a global event recognised in the UN Calendar of International Days and aims to bring people together from all sectors and nations to catalyse and drive lasting societal and sustainable change around waste-management processes.

As the movement strives towards a healthier and waste-free world, there have been fantastic results. Since 2018 there have been 211 countries get involved and engage 91million participants (this is equal to 1.13% of the world’s entire global population!) and have seen 543,704 tons of mismanaged waste be removed from our environment.

How did Sanderson get involved?

Sanderson first heard about the important impact of World Clean Up Day from our client Northumbrian Water at their yearly Innovation Festival and collaboration with The Skill Mill, the UK promoter of World Clean Up Day.

With the environment being something that extremely important to Sanderson as one of our Three Core Pillars of being a responsible business and a cause that is close to the heart of all in our CSR Team.

Speaking to Karen Brabin, Account Director in our Manchester office and key CSR member, she commented:

“World Clean Up Day was a no brainer to get involved in. Each year we aim to bring together all our offices throughout the UK and overseas to participate in this great cause, and allow us to do something within the communities we all live in.”

What is Sanderson doing for World Clean Up Day 2024?

The Sanderson team is once again taking to the streets to get involved in the Day.

With people from our office at Bristol HQ, through to our regional offices such as Manchester, and colleagues in our Noida office in India gathered as volunteers this week and headed out in our communities to litter pick and do all we can to ensure our roads, streets and communities are as clean as they should be.

Would you like to get involved? You can find out more about World Clean Up Day here: https://www.worldcleanupday.org/ 

Would you like to hear more from Sanderson and learn about the work we do? You can sign up to join our mailing list here for a variety of updates, access to our market leading salary benchmarking data, white papers, reports and blogs PLUS our latest news and event invites.