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When it comes to planning your next career move, recruiters can be a hugely valuable resource, particularly for freelancers looking to find new opportunities in a highly competitive market.
With their vast network and expertise across a range of industries and sectors, headhunters and recruitment agencies can play a vital role in your professional development. Whether you’re a freelancer seeking contract work, interim roles or project-based assignments, they’ll help you find the roles you didn’t even know existed – and often never reach the open market. We’ve picked out five leading London headhunters and recruitment agents below.
Major Players
Major Players has operated within the creative, marketing and digital industries since way back in 1993 – and the company has grown to become one of the most respected names on London’s recruitment scene during that time. Based in Shoreditch, the agency covers everything from freelance and contract roles to permanent positions, spanning everything from copywriting, design and UX to PR, social media, e-commerce, performance marketing and project management. It also produces its own industry Census, drawing on hundreds of thousands of data points around salaries, careers and workplace trends, while its B Corp status (given to companies for high ethical and social standards) adds to its appeal.
Stopgap
Stopgap has been recruiting for marketing-related roles for more than 30 years, with its team based in Richmond, south-west London. The agency works across areas including digital, creative, content, communications, research and insight, with the aim of finding candidates permanent positions as well as freelance, contract and interim assignments. One of its main strengths is the breadth of employers it works with, which ranges from agencies and charities to some major consumer brands.
The Industry Club
The Industry Club has more of a focused approach compared with many of the larger recruiters in this article. The company works exclusively across the creative communications sector and recruits for permanent, freelance and fixed-term roles with a wide range of advertising, PR, media, digital and content agencies, together with brands and in-house teams. Vacancies tend to be found across areas such as account management, strategy, creative, design, social and content. A distinctive feature of the company’s services is its training arm, The Industry School, which runs certified courses for people already working in a particular sector.
Handle Recruitment
One of the longest standing recruitment players in the capital, Handle Recruitment originally built its reputation in music in the late 1970s before casting its net into media, entertainment, fashion, live events, sport, publishing and tech in more recent years. From its London base, the company recruits across marketing, finance, HR, legal, sales, creative, tech and business support. It’s also well set up for freelancers, with outsourced payroll and compliance services making it easier (and therefore more likely) for employers to hire and manage temporary workers.
Profiles Creative
With more than two decades in the industry, Profiles Creative has grown from its original Twickenham base into a specialist recruiter for the creative and marketing world. Its vacancies tend to span design, digital, ecommerce, social, content, marketing, PR and client services. Freelancing is a particularly well-established part of the business, with a dedicated freelance division set up in 2008 featuring a specialist team focused on finding creative and marketing talent temporary positions.