A Brief History

The early 1990’s, really was not the best time to think about opening a recruitment agency, as it was the start of a recession.

So, it was against this back drop that Keith Robinson opened the first branch of Wise Employment, supplying industrial and driving personnel to local businesses in Swindon, Wiltshire.

As a Director for a national recruitment agency, a wife also in the business and soon the imminent arrival of their first born, It was really was a big gamble.  However, it was born out of a strong belief that there was room in the market place for a quality driven recruitment agency and  through grit determination, passion and drive both the husband and wife joint owners of Wise Employment have grown the business to become one of the largest independent recruitment agencies in the South West.

From humble beginnings the Company has grown both organically and through acquisition with the opening of strategic sites from Berkshire across to the far reaches of the South West and, from the initial supply of industrial and driving personnel have come specialist divisions, run by recruitment professionals, to meet the ever changing needs of its client base.

The Wise Recruitment Group today operates across 5 brands; each offering specialist recruitment solutions:

• Wise Employment – High street locations supplying Office and Industrial Staff
• Smart Recruitment – High street locations in Somerset and Dorset supplying Office and Industrial staff
• Elite Recruitment – The provision of Sales & Marketing, Financial, Legal and Office support
• Pro Education – The supply of teachers and teaching support staff across the network
• WDS (Wise Driver Solutions) – The  specialist driving division supplying all types of drivers across the branch network

The Group has weathered 25 years of the ever changing employment landscape and has adapted and evolved with the times, in order to support not only local employers but local people in finding work that they enjoy.

Keith Robinson and his wife Janet set out to create a Company that put the personal touch back into recruitment.  Always passionately believing that the “Candidate is King”, this has been the ethos behind the Company from day one and whether supplying a high volume of Temporaries or placing a Candidate in a Permanent role they have never forgotten the importance of the people they represent.

By 1998 Wise Employment was a 3 branch operation; in 2002 it acquired Jade Recruitment, a company that shared the same synergy of values. The next acquisition of Smart recruitment in 2008, provided a link between the South and South West offices.  In 2011 they acquired Pro Education adding teaching to their specialist sectors and then, in 2014  opened Elite, a specialist division covering Financial and Legal, Sales & Marketing and Office support for London and the Home Counties.  Due to its success the brand was later introduced into Exeter and Cornwall.

Over the past 25 years the Company has worked closely with each of its Clients to find innovative solutions to staffing issues.  From the manning of brand new call centres, to managing outsourced production departments, from high volume Temporary and Permanent staffing campaigns to advertising response management. The services have expanded across office, industrial, driving and linguistics and, in recent years in the provision of teaching personnel and specialist sector staffing.

Over the course of time their services have been endorsed with quality accreditations, proudly being ISO9001:2008, becoming one of the first recruitment agencies with ISO14001 environmental accreditation and being proud to be members of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation with 3 Fellows working directly for the Organisation.  In 2015 Pro Education received the highest accolade from the REC being accredited with the Gold Standard Accreditation for the recruitment and supply of teaching personnel.

In Celebration of their 25 years in business, the Company wants to make it a true year to remember and are excited to be fundraising for Children’s Hospice South West with a full year jam packed with special fundraising events and competitions.  Every member of the Group has pledged a day to volunteer with the charity within, which works out to be more than 1 day per week throughout the year.

The Children’s Hospice South West provides hospice care for children with life-limiting conditions and their whole family across the South West. The charity offers a wide range of care from respite and short breaks to emergency, palliative and end of life care.  All of this is done by a dedicated team from three hospices in Devon and Cornwall. 

Janet Robinson, Strategic Director says “Its’ been a journey and a journey that has been relished every step of the way.  There’s been good times and two recessions, the recent one the worst on record with over 8.7 million jobs being shed in the UK. However, there has never been a time when the Wise Recruitment Group has lost its passion and drive to support each and every one of its Clients and Candidates.  We are proud to be a “Can Do” agency. It has been our unique selling point and served us well throughout these past 25 years.”

So what about the next 25 years?  No one knows for certain how the recruitment industry will change but as a Company, the Wise Recruitment Group will continue to partner its Clients to support new staffing challenges and work with local calibre Candidates to source the most suitable roles.  The fundamental job doesn’t change but the service delivery is something that the Group want to ensure stands head and shoulders above its competition.