RECORD figures for the placement of permanent skilled jobs have been announced by Russell Taylor Group as the company looks to a promising start to 2019.

The Bromborough-headquartered national recruitment operation has reported placing 50 people in new posts for January start-up.

The business has also revealed that its teams recruiting white-collar roles in all of its operational sectors - Engineering, Manufacturing, Scientific and Construction – are experiencing a surge in demand for skilled, permanent hires.

Net fee income from permanent placements in January has also shown a 50 per cent increase on the company’s previous record month of April 2018.

Managing director Rob Kurton said: “These figures are immensely encouraging particularly in light of the uncertainties around our leaving the EU.

“There tends to be a ‘new year, new job’ trend in January anyway but this surge in demand for skilled, permanent hires has exceeded our expectations. Also, the Brexit situation is maybe making companies think they need to grab talent while they can.

“However, any uncertainty surrounding Brexit has so far not shown any signs of slowing down our core markets.”

More than a third of the high volume of Russell Taylor Group’s January placements has come from within its Scientific Division where the largest growth areas have been identified as in contract testing, specifically e-cigarette testing, biotechnology/microbiology testing, R&D and pharmaceutical.

Scientific Division manager Tom Hammond said: “We’ve seen a significant increase in permanent recruitment from the Q3 2018 period rolling into Q1 2019 which has been our record-breaking month.

“With the uncertainty of Brexit at the forefront of people’s minds, we have seen a more notable increase in companies’ investment into sustainability by pushing for more skilled workers, particularly on the analytical testing side.

“Companies have pushed for faster turnaround times in the laboratories by implementing lean policies, investing in more skilled staff and outsourcing test work which enables them to get their product to market quicker. We have also seen a lot of growth from our SME clients, through government backing in innovation and R&D, plus rising profits leading to investment.

“We plan to grow the team again in Q2 and are looking into new verticals. We have won a number of large tenders too that will help us in our continued growth.

“It’s really encouraging to see the team growing so quickly and we are really looking forward to pushing forward now in 2019 after a very promising start to the year.”