Richard Hilliard has been appointed as the first ever internally focused Recruitment Consultant at leading UK recruiter, Acorn.

Mr Hilliard takes the newly created role of Talent Scout within its Human Resources department in response to an unprecedented demand for its services, and on the UK recruitment sector as a whole.

Acorn itself has appointed more than 60 new members of staff since last summer as it continues working to address ongoing challenges within the UK workforce arising following Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic and more.

With a long-standing background in the recruitment industry, and having owned his own business within that time too, Mr Hilliard is more than well-placed to support Acorn in further strengthening its own workforce for the continued prosperity of its clients.

Mr Hilliard said: “I am over the moon with my new appointment and I’m looking forward to making a real impact on organisational growth, especially with the candidate landscape changing so dramatically over the last 12 months.”

“I’ve been in recruitment for over 20 years and always enjoyed working with external clients by assisting their own HR teams with their needs, so when this opportunity was created internally, it felt like the logical progression for me - it’s exciting to still be challenging and developing myself professionally after more than two decades in the recruitment industry.”

 “I’ve been in recruitment for over 20 years and always enjoyed working with external clients by assisting their own HR teams with their needs, so when this opportunity was created internally, it felt like the logical progression for me - it’s exciting to still be challenging and developing myself professionally after more than two decades in the recruitment industry.”

Having previously worked for Blue Arrow and Gap Personnel, Mr Hilliard went on to launch his own personal training business before re-joining the recruitment industry as an Account Manager for Newton Abbot and Plymouth with Acorn in 2015.

Since then his presence within the team and his role in driving the company forward has continued to prove significant, his most recent position being Project Manager for the South West region before taking on his new position as Talent Scout.

Emily Meredith, Head of HR at Acorn, said: “This is a brand-new role and something we deemed essential given the current labour market.

Having a dedicated resource will give our own hiring managers the consultative and professional support they need to recruit new members of staff and add real value to the service our teams in turn are able to provide to our clients.”

“Richard is the perfect appointment as he has experience of working in many different recruitment roles and recruiting permanent heads for our client companies.”