They gave us one role to prove ourselves. Two years later we’d made 37 hires.

A SaaS business scaling from 10 to 50 people doesn't need a recruiter who can fill a vacancy. It needs one who understands the market, knows the territory, and can still be trusted when the hiring gets complicated. That takes time to establish. It usually starts with a single role.

They found us the way most good relationships start in recruitment - reputation and geography. They were growing fast and needed a Technology & Change recruiter who actually knew the local market. Not someone parachuting in with a database, but someone already embedded in it. That description fit us, so they picked up the phone.

The first conversation was exploratory. They weren't handing us the keys. They gave us one role, a Senior Software Engineer, while testing a couple of other agencies on different positions at the same time.

Sensible. It's exactly what you'd do if you were being careful with a hire that mattered.

The candidate was placed within two weeks. More importantly, the client noticed how the process felt - not just the outcome. Structured from the start, clear at every stage, no chasing for updates or wondering what was happening next. That part registered.

Getting the first role right isn't just about filling the job. It's an audition. Every interaction is data the client is collecting about whether they can trust you with more.

They decided they could. The other agencies didn't make it to the second round. we became their recruitment partner for the full two-year growth programme and the scope of that partnership expanded in ways that wouldn't have been imaginable at the start.

37 people placed, moving a headcount from 10 to 50.

Across two years, those 37 hires spanned almost every corner of the business. From Software Testing, DevOps, Infrastructure, Business Analysis, Project Management, Scrum Master to Operations and Sales.

Operations and sales are worth noting. Those aren't technology roles. The reason they came to us with them anyway is the reason long-term partnerships form in the first place: by that point, we knew the business. We knew the culture, the pace, the standards, what kind of person thrives there and what kind doesn't. The discipline on the job spec barely matters when you already understand the environment you're hiring into.

The lesson here isn't about volume. It's about what happens when you earn trust incrementally and then don't waste it.

One role done well becomes two. A preferred supplier becomes a genuine partner. Eventually you're hiring across functions you weren't originally brought in for, because the client has stopped thinking of you as a recruiter and started thinking of you as someone who understands their business.

If recrutment for your STEM role is taking too long - we shoudl talk.