Manufacturing

Recruitment firm's specialist engineering arm plans to quadruple in size over next four years

The Holt Engineering Recruitment team: (Back, left to right) Dan Jay, Julian Knott, Nathan Dixon, Joss Holford and Luke Hickson. (Front left to right) Sophie Cox, Lianne Wright, Alice Alcock and Debra James.

By Staff Reporter [email protected]

Published: January 28, 2020 | Updated: 28th January 2020

A specialist engineering recruitment business is planning to quadruple in size over the next four years.

Holt Engineering Recruitment already has a 12-strong team, including three support staff, but is planning to increase that number to at least 48 by 2024.

It is also targeting other areas of the country with the intention of eventually recruiting engineers all over the UK.

Julian Knott. Picture: Dorset Biz News.

Julian Knott, Director of Engineering, said many of the team – including himself – were ex-engineers or had worked for engineering companies.

“I believe this sets us apart from our competitors. We understand and completely identify with the needs of our clients because we know the engineering sector so well,” he said.

Julian launched Holt Engineering Recruitment from scratch in 2017 after being approached by Stuart Holt, the owner of Holt Recruitment.

The 50-year-old had previously worked for several recruitment firms where he’d specialised in the engineering and manufacturing sectors.

Before that he had been involved in the building of guidance systems for the Channel Tunnel tunnelling machines as well as supporting mainframe computer and storage devices.

Julian said: “I was planning to set up on my own after leaving another recruitment agency but then I got a message from Stuart to come in and see him.

“Stuart is just amazing and I immediately felt the buzz. Being given the opportunity to start up Holt Engineering Recruitment was a complete no-brainer and I jumped at it.

“We’re now into a five-year plan and very pleased with the progress so far.

“Our financial year is from July to the end of June and we’re 40 per cent above the previous year to date.”

Julian said his team was slowly extending the reach of the business by moving eastwards to cover Southampton and Portsmouth and westwards to Bath and Bristol.

Eventually it would move into areas further afield before eventually covering the UK, he added.

As for Dorset, Julian said: “There is a real demand for our services. Dorset’s engineering and manufacturing sectors are quite unbelievable.

“They truly are world-class with some exporting to 60/70 countries around the world. We have a lot to be proud about.”

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