Meet two of the senior team members at Holt Engineering Recruitment – arguably one of the fastest-growing specialist recruitment businesses in the south.

Holt Engineering started as a humble two-person business back in 2017, created specifically to service the recruitment needs of local engineering businesses within the BH postcode.

The majority of the recruitment needs were in the blue-collar sector of engineering including Machinists, Welders and Electronic Technicians.

But it soon became clear that the team needed to grow to service the white-collar vacancies that were coming in from its client base.

The rest, as they say, is history.

As the business enters its fifth year it now supports a team of 12 and covers engineering and manufacturing clients in multiple sectors, not only in the Poole and Bournemouth area but also Southampton, Portsmouth, Cornwall, Bristol, Reading and beyond.

Julian Knott, Director of Engineering, is supported by two gifted Business Managers in his team, Sophie Cox and Nathan Dixon, pictured.

Here’s more about what they do…

Sophie, tell us a bit more about your background and the division you head up at Holt Engineering?

Well, I joined Holt Engineering Recruitment at the beginning of 2020. The business started to see a large number of enquiries from clients outside of the Engineering sector, particularly semi-skilled manufacturing and logistic roles such as electronic and mechanical assembly, stores, warehousing, forklift and factory labourers. I come from an Engineering and Industrial recruitment background so when the opportunity came along to join the team and build a new division I jumped at it.

So you work mainly for the manufacturing sector, who are the type of candidates you recruit for?

To be honest, it varies from unskilled to semi-skilled candidates, I work with clients in a few different sectors distribution being one of them – they often require warehouse and forklift staff to cleaners and administrators. A lot of the roles we recruit for are immediate starting roles and need to be filled within 24 hours – I love the fast-paced nature of recruiting for these roles.

What do you enjoy most about working at Holt Engineering?

It is definitely the people, my colleagues that make me laugh every day. I also love building relationships with my candidates and clients and knowing you made a difference in someone’s life. Each day is crazy busy but my team work hard and we have a lot of fun whilst doing so.

Nathan, one of the original two! Tell us a bit more about your team, what you specialise in and the sectors you support

Luckily enough, as mentioned, I was one of the founding two. I have had the chance to see this amazing business grow and flourish. My team comprises of some extremely talented and passionate people including some of us (myself included) having engineering/apprenticeship backgrounds.  Between us, we cover all manner of blue and white-collar engineering vacancies. We support some very exciting sectors including; Aerospace, Defence, Motorsport, Energy and Automation.

The business USP has always been that you are Engineers first, and Recruitment Consultants second. As a qualified engineer yourself, do you think your understanding of the industry adds value to both candidate and client?

Absolutely. Having a background in engineering, and being lucky enough to work for a company at the time that allowed me to cover a full range of areas from machining to design and also build/installation of machinery, gave me an understanding that your standard consultant would not have. This then means that candidates are confident in the fact that you know where they are coming from, and clients do not have to spend hours explaining their requirements to you.  Saving everyone time and adding value to the process. We make use of this when training our recruits as well, ensuring the engineering understanding and appreciation is always there.

What does the future hold for Holt Engineering?

We have worked tirelessly to ensure the business continues to go from strength to strength. We plan to grow the business from 12 to 20 people by the end of June 2022 and continue the expansion at a similar rate until we can offer our services to Engineering businesses across the UK. In addition, we also plan to extend the offering to engineering businesses in the USA within the next 5 years. We are always looking for talented individuals to join our team and be part of something amazing. Our strapline is “Anything but Ordinary” and we live and work by that ethos every day.

• If you would like to find out more information about Holt Engineering Recruitment and their services please contact them on 01202 237383 or visit their website for more information by clicking here.