On Thursday 22 September, we celebrated 20 years in the recruitment business. That’s 20 years of helping clients find people, helping people find jobs, and supporting organisations across the eastern region with their recruitment strategies.

In 2002 Ian Walters, Gill Buchanan and Caroline Batchelor started a recruitment consultancy with a difference, from a tiny room in Cambridge. Despite only having a rudimentary IT system, dial-up internet and one fax machine, they had a clear mission – to help job seekers find their perfect positions, to build lasting relationships and to become the go-to recruiter for businesses in the east of England. They called this Pure.

Not long after that, they were joined by Lynn Walters and David Culley. Fast forward 20 years and we’re now the leading recruitment specialist in the eastern region. And our Pure family has grown to over 80 people across four offices.

In our own words

When asked about Pure, Ian said: ‘20 years ago we set out to build long-lasting valued relationships, as we believed that was the best thing we could do for our clients and for job seekers. And that’s as true today as it was then.’

David agreed: ‘I’m proud of how we’ve never lost sight of what makes us who we are. This business was founded on a desire to build long-term relationships, go the extra mile and serve our customers the best we can. We did it back then and we’re still doing it now.’

From Caroline: ‘For me, what makes Pure so special is getting the chance to work with such great people – both within the company itself, and with clients and job seekers. I’m also very proud of how we’ve stayed true to our values. We’ve never compromised on quality, not even during the pandemic when times were tough. This is reflected in the fact that we have so many loyal customers.’

Recruitment with a difference

What makes Pure stand out is that we pride ourselves on recruiting with purpose. Our mission is as relevant today as it was 20 years ago – to connect talented people with the right opportunities, and to support the growth of organisations in our region. And when it comes to careers we go the extra mile, teaming up with experts across the region to offer development opportunities and programmes. All to help businesses and their people be the best they can be.

What our clients and partners say

Beverly Dickson has been with Pure as both a job seeker and client since the very beginning. ‘I’ve worked with Pure for 20 years and they’ve placed me in all my jobs in those years. Pure has also recruited all my people into my teams. I asked my team what they thought of Pure and they said they’re proactive, unique, reliable and enthusiastic. I look forward to the next 20 years – although I hope to retire before then!’

We regularly work with Fluent, a digital product development agency. In fact, our Cambridge office is next door to theirs, and we even share a wall. Wesley Cole, their operations director, said: ‘Working with Pure feels like we’re all part of the same team. For your 15th birthday we were asked for words to describe Pure. After some reflection, we’ve decided that our decision then still stands – even if it’s actually three words – “laughter through walls”.’

Jay Wright, Virgin Wine’s CEO and one of our clients, said: ‘It’s been a pleasure working with the Pure team. We were looking for a top-level candidate for a senior position of critical importance to our business, and I can’t speak highly enough about Pure’s approach. Everyone worked with precision, great communication and a sense of real collaboration.’

Pure in numbers

In the past 20 years we’ve:

• helped find jobs for over 28,000 people
• worked with nearly 3,000 clients promoting more than 53,000 jobs
• raised over £170,000 for charity
• seen 12 marriages and around 45 babies born in our team.

Whether you are a client, job seeker or business partner, we’d love to help you. Get in touch today.