Prosper Autumn, Black Country Chamber of Commerce magazine

ADVERTORIAL SPOTLIGHT: MET RECRUITMENT
It’s recruitment, but
not as you know it
A tale of how three Black Country recruitment experts are rewriting
the rule book when it comes to finding staff. Prosper finds out more…
It’s safe to say that the world of
recruitment hasn’t always had the best
reputation and, in most part, it’s a
reputation richly deserved.
For too long the sector has been all
about the next sale, treating candidates as
numbers and undercutting rivals by a few
pence per hour if it meant snatching the
contract off a local challenger.
In other words, things could be done a
whole lot better.
“That’s what really motivated the three of
us to make MET Recruitment different to
your run-of-the-mill agency,” explained
Nella Share, who joined the business in
2014 to launch its commercial offer.
“Founder Robin Tong and fellow director
Matthew Hunter and I had all worked for
another high-street agency and, while the
business was successful, there were lots of
processes that didn’t sit right with us and a
real lack of culture and social impact. We
wanted to be part of something different.”
MET Recruitment has come a long way
since it was first formed as Mechanical
Electrical Trades 14 years ago.
Robin, who had been in the sector for
ten years, took the plunge to go on his own
first and operated from a one-man office in
Pensnett, supplying predominantly
manufacturing workers to several nearby
employers.
The business was bolstered by Matt’s
arrival in 2012 to work alongside Robin and
to pursue more industrial clients and, with
Nella overseeing the launch of the
commercial and permanent arms of the
firm two years later, the platform was set to
create one of the leading independent
recruiters in the Black Country.
“I’m not sure we’re there yet, but the
development of our company has been
beyond our wildest dreams, with year-onyear
growth since we started. Better still,
we’re doing it in the right way, which is
really pleasing,” added Robin.
“What I mean by that is we’re building
long-term strategic relationship with our
customers, who span the length and
breadth of the West Midlands. It’s not
about profit margins, it’s about getting to
know them and their labour needs and
‘‘
Matthew, Robin and Nella bring
something very different to the
recruitment table
The development of our
company has been beyond
our wildest dreams... better
still, we’re doing it in the
right way, which is very
pleasing...
‘‘
ensuring we can provide solutions.
Sometime those solutions aren’t evident to
managers dealing with day-to-day issues.”
He went on to add: “We always had the
vision of being a small business with a big
heart and so charity work, giving back to
the local community and ensuring it thrives
is very important to us.
“To this extent, we launched MET’s Black
Country Trust, which has already raised
over £5,000 for charities, with the target of
doubling that by the end of the year.”
Today MET Recruitment is a £11m
turnover, 23-strong agency operating
from a dedicated head office on
Wolverhampton Street in Dudley and
The Permanent Staffing Hub on the
Waterfront.
Investment in its 360 degrees recruitment
solution for clients and an industry-best
support infrastructure for candidates has
helped it secure a strong client base across
engineering, manufacturing and
professional services.
44 PROSPER AUTUMN 2022