About us
Established in 1999 the Ashdown Group set a mission to deliver value, service, transparency and quality advice to all. 20 years on these core values are still at the heart of everything we do.
Specialists at providing contract and permanent IT, Marketing, HR and Accountancy recruitment across the UK, working with businesses of all sizes, from Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to large international corporations, we have partnered with thousands of firms across all industry sectors.
Our Story
Rollback 20 years, business managers were choosing their own recruitment suppliers, nothing was centralised, there were no internal recruitment teams, HR teams heard of hires when the hire had been made, companies were being charged astronomical amounts for a basic service.
There was clearly a space in the market for an honest, quality recruitment partner with fair terms, reasonable charging structure and success that was guaranteed for the long term - Ashdown Group occupied this space. No ‘cold calling’, marketing fair and reasonable fees and a 100% rebate appealed enormously and within a short space of time, Ashdown had grown from the two founders to a team of 38 supporting thousands of companies across the UK with some of the largest company names joining the fold.
As early adopters of technology innovation in the recruitment market, we were able to maintain high standards of quality, deliver rapid results for our customers and maintain our competitive fee structure.
How we’ve evolved
The speed of change in the UK recruitment space has been dramatic, recruitment for larger firms went ‘in house’, HR teams defined the recruitment process, hiring and employment legislation changed annually. By maintaining our innovative approach, using advanced recruitment technology solutions and delivering our policy of a close working partnership with every one of our customers, we have been able to maintain our position as leaders in the specialist recruitment sector.
Our market changed, we extended our working relationship to work in partnership with HR teams, recruitment teams, business stakeholders and delivered rapid results in a fast moving employment market.
But our customers still needed exactly what we have always delivered, support, advice, employment market guidance, a team that cares about their customer's success as well as their own. The market changed, the people changed, the laws changed but our fundamental core service and values remained the same.
Partnering with great organisations
Building the best
We understand that hiring the best people is the most important task. So we hired the best people to build our own team and those of our customers. Since inception, we've known that we are only as good as the team we develop.
Our consultants are highly skilled at providing a tailored recruitment service to meet your individual needs. We understand that every requirement is different and deliver our services accordingly, taking pride in our ability to precisely match the best candidates to great companies.
Working closely with our network, using a collaborative approach, focusing on open communication has resulted in 85% of our vacancies coming from returning customers, many exclusively choosing to work with us.
The majority of our consultants are degree qualified with commercial backgrounds in Business Management, Marketing, IT, or HR and have been with the business for an average tenure of 8 years.
We have achieved the highest online rating of any recruiter, receiving 5 stars and hundreds of reviews by consistently offering outstanding quality service to our customers and candidates.
Looking to hire?
More than 20,000 people register with the Ashdown Group every month. We have access to hundreds of high-calibre professionals living within an easy commute of your business.
Membership and Partners
The Ashdown Group are accredited, audited members of:
Approved Crown Commercial Service Suppliers. Ashdown Group can work with any government or public sector employer in the UK.
We take our legal counsel from Osborne Clarke, the UK leader in employment and recruitment specific law.