A young Bristol recruitment consultancy beat its first-year targets by more than 300 per cent, turning over a massive £2.2 million.

Expanding Internationally

Paratus People, which was launched in April 2016, is now opening a new office in Amsterdam to expand its European client base.

The company, which specialises in recruiting for the broadcast technology and Internet of Things (IoT) industries, is hoping to grow its sales to £6million this year.

Impressive Growth

The company was set up by recruitment expert Tom White, who previously worked as a director at People Source helping grow the company until its sale for nearly £20 million in December 2015.

Paratus People now employs six staff at its Queen’s Square office and two further staff at its new Amsterdam office.

‘Passion and Drive’

Managing director, Tom said:

“Companies want to work with people with passion and drive, who aren’t going to become complacent.

With some of the really big recruitment agencies, it can become a churn whereas for us, every client matters.

With Paratus People, we want to create a culture that makes people feel at home, enjoy what they do and feel proud of their work.”

High-profile clients

Paratus People provides consultancy and recruitment services for FTSE 100 companies through to fast growing young tech firms. Its clients include TomTom, BSkyB and NTT Data.

The vast majority of Paratus People’s clients are in mainland Europe so the team provide consultancy on EU compliance and regulatory issues.

Tom, who studied a computing course at the University of the West of England (UWE) Bristol, believes his strength has been in understanding the industry he serves.

“After university, I was fed up of coding so went into recruitment, but a lot of my friends remained in the field so I started doing work for them and quickly built up a reputation as a recruiter who really understood the industry,” he explained.

The IoT sector is forecast to be worth £364 billion by 2020, according to Bain, with the number of smart home devices shipped growing from 83 million in 2015 to 193 million in 2020, so Tom is optimistic about Paratus People’s potential to grow alongside this.

“By the end of 2018 I would like the company to be employing 20 people and turning over £10 to £15 million,” 

he said.