LAST summer three friends set up Willcox Matthews Recruitment to specialise in helping people find jobs in the engineering and manufacturing sector.

Jake Willcox, Matt Reynolds and Matthew Dutton launched the Ombersley-based business in August 2018 after amassing 20 years of experience in the industry between them.

Matt, 35, said: “I have lived in Worcester all my life and went into recruitment straight out of university. The other two guys came to the same company as me and we became friends there.

“I always say you fall into recruitment rather than decide to do it, but now I’ve been doing it this long I can’t imagine doing anything else.”

Matthew, 28, admits it was daunting in the early days, saying: “Setting up a business is definitely not something for the faint-hearted.

“There are so many aspects to running a business, you have to be able to take on lots more skills so as a trio we all take on different aspects of the business.

“Going to the bank and getting the money to set it up, it was a very daunting time and we were all nervous but looking back it has gone really well for us.”

Having recently taken on a new consultant, Jake, 27, said there is a great team spirit in the office: “There are only four of us in the office and we all work very closely together as a team to help each other out and work towards common targets.”

Matching the right clients with the right future employees is a time-consuming and at times difficult process, but Matt said it is highly rewarding to see the right person get the right job.

He added: “Generally a client will come to us with a specific role and we then have to find the right person but you never know how long it might take.

“Sometimes it can take a few weeks to get the job done but we have had clients who have found a job the day after contacting us.

“It is a great feeling when you do the job right and the match is made.”