APSCo Alison Humphries

Award winning NED and strategic advisor. Working with recruitment business owners to help them achieve their objectives profitably, intentionally and with individuality.

Nearly 40 years in the recruitment sector working as  a Managing Director and director of sales, operations and training for some of the most successful, listed businesses in the industry and their client organisations (Hays, Robert Half, Barkers Norman Broadbent, Penna Plc).

*Built successful businesses in contingent (permanent and contract), retained, SOW and RPO
*As MD, led a successful Manchester business from c.£40m to £100m plus t/o and 140 staff in 2 and a half years through unprecedented growth resulting in a successful trade sale (over £20m)
*Personally negotiated contracts up to £120 million value with RBS, IBM, Boots, etc, including RPO and SOW.
*As a NED/advisor, supported businesses to enter new, profitable markets, resulting in growth of gross profit by 350% between 2020 and 2023
*Significant, fast gains to productivity through staff engagement and developing structured training, reducing time to bill and improving average performance by 20%
*Moved businesses from 100% contingent to 100% retained and double their average fee
*Retrained forty established recruiters in one business who tripled their fees in four months.
Established a specialised consultancy in 2013 , working with businesses across the recruitment spectrum to help them maximise performance, achieve competitive advantage and optimise cultures. Also an experienced executive coach, conference speaker, columnist and author:
“The seven behaviours of successful recruitment leaders”. (Amazon 5*)

Host of the Recruitment Leadership podcast, won awards including Best International Recruitment Agency, Best Achievement through L&D,  and Recruiter Best Recruitment Company transformation, awarded Honorary Fellowship of the REC for services to the industry, one of only 25 people worldwide to hold this honorific.

Reference 1

"At Select Offshore, we have worked with Alison consistently since 2020. During that time we have grown from a 8-person business to 35 staff and increased our revenues by 225%.
Alison learned our market, which is international and involves unique levels of regulation, and has advised us on growth, hiring, organisational
structure, business support roles, HR matters and compliance. We now have an international office and Alison has given very useful input, interviewing some of our key hires, introducing suppliers, and building on our Queens Award for export sales to win the Recruiter Award for best international agency and be recognised in the Recruiter Hot 100 list.
I'd definitely recommend her to ambitious business owners."

Reference 2

"We have been utilising Alison for around 9 months now across both our businesses. I can't put into words how impressed I am by Alison and the catalyst she has been in making a hugely positive impact on both our businesses. When looking for an NED you want that person to have something different to bring to the business, to add significant value to your leadership team and be worth the money they charge. I strongly feel Alison meets all this criteria and is exactly what we needed to help with our next phase of growth. Alison’s counsel has been paramount on major strategic decisions, her commercial advice is exceptional and if you are looking to have all the ingredients in place to properly scale up your recruitment consultancy without having as many of the headaches and challenges that come with that then I’d strongly recommend using Alison’s expertise. In a crowded marketplace of NED’s Alison really stands out."

Reference 3

"At Menlo Park Recruitment, my business partner and I have been working with Alison as our NED/advisor since 2020. Originally we engaged with her becasue we wanted to diversify our portfolio, and secure a market leading position.

Although not all our new desks have been succesful, Alison's support and advice has been invaluable in terms of her sector knowledge, challenge and broadening our horizons. She has advised us on areas including financial reporting and analysis, sales strategy and tactics, HR and staff planning, marketing and infrastructure as well as compliance. She remains up to date with suppliers and market opportunities, and makes sure that actions are followed through."

Reference 4

"I started working with Alison in 2023 and have been very impressed so far!

Alison brings a range of different perspectives to our decision making, and while her advice can be strategic, she supports in detail with effective implementation. She has already impacted our sales processes, hiring plan, financial reporting and compliance. Alison's engagement with the team has been fantastic so the company are fully on board with all new processes and focus.
If you're a director of a small to medium enterprise, don't think that you don't need a non-exec. After running a business nearly 15 years, Alison has given lots of input due to her extensive knowledge within the sector.

I feel confident about the changes we are making and our positive future growth. Alison always has an eye on profitability rather than vanity metrics, and is engaging to work with."
 

Reference 5 

"We engaged Alison in early 2023 as we separated our recruitment agency business from the care provider business.

Right from the outset, Alison's extensive recruitement and sector knowledge were applied at a strategic level to the business to identify things to fix, models and markets that would deliver better and everything from rewards to job descriptions and KPIs.

Her advice has made us rethink our markets, job descriptions, structure and processes. She doesn't only dispense high-level advice, she works with us to ensure implementation, overcome obstacles and sees the connections and effects of making change in one part of the business on other processes. 

Alison's manner is engaging, motivating and curious. At the same time, she is thoughtful about implementation and anticipates issues based on many decades of experience at a top level in the industry. We enjoy working with her and would recommend her to other business directors."