Denholm pushes button on digital recruitment platform

Recruitment agency Denholm Associates has pushed the button on a new digital platform designed to help clients scale up by beating the ongoing talent shortage.
From left: Karen McNab, Nicki Denholm and Marisa Carroll of DenholmFrom left: Karen McNab, Nicki Denholm and Marisa Carroll of Denholm
From left: Karen McNab, Nicki Denholm and Marisa Carroll of Denholm

The Edinburgh-headquartered executive search and recruitment firm has launched Scout, a system which it claims will meet an “urgent need” to help clients secure qualified staff.

Founder and executive chair Nicki Denholm highlighted the struggle for talent, particularly in the fields of sales and marketing, as “the biggest drag” on scale-up plans for Scottish companies.

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Recent reports have shown that the proportion of new hires in Scotland is outstripping the UK average, demonstrating a strong employment market.

However, this surge in activity is also resulting in a shortage of qualified candidates in key business sectors.

Scout incorporates Denholm’s employer brand tool BrandBox, along with behavioural assessments and online reference checking supported by Edinburgh-based compliance start-up Amiqus.

The roll-out of the platform comes as the recruiter unveiled the appointment of its new managing director, Marisa Carroll, who has been promoted from chief operating officer, a role she had held since the beginning of 2017.

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Denholm also recently recruited Karen McNab as commercial and operations director, who has been central to building its Scout platform and is tasked with upgrading the firm’s management systems.

Denholm said: “The biggest drag on company growth in Scotland right now is around the difficulty in finding the sales and marketing talent to maximise market opportunities and we are hearing this is a problem being experienced across most industry sectors.

“We urgently need to apply the best possible digital and human solutions to solving this challenge because the old fashioned recruitment and search methods just aren’t enough to ensure that clients can attract, assess and successfully on-board the best range of talent from home and abroad.

“Ultimately human skill supported by technology is key in recruitment.”

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Commenting on the duo of recent appointments, Denholm added: “We are in the process of rapidly scaling up ourselves and Marisa’s promotion is a key part of strengthening our management team to power this growth.

“Marisa has been an exceptional team member at Denholm and is equally highly-rated by our clients, so we’re excited that she will continue to be part of our strengthened leadership team in the years ahead.”

Denholm posted record revenues for the year to 31 December, following a 12-month period which involved strengthening its leadership team, expanding the Glasgow office it opened in 2017 and extending its international network.

In November, the agency announced that it had been chosen to be the UK partner of Vienna-headquartered global executive search group Talentor.

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Founded in 2002, Denholm’s client base includes Standard Life, VisitScotland, The R&A, Edrington-Beam Suntory, Baxters, Skyscanner, ScotRail, National Galleries, Scottish Investment Trust and Hilton Worldwide.

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