A SOUTHAMPTON recruitment firm celebrating its first anniversary has recruited two new people.

Orchard Recruiting, based at business hub Ocean Village Innovation Centre (OVIC), recruited Laura Baker as a permanent consultant and Rachel Mashall as a recruitment advisor.

Founded by Lisa Orchard, the start-up focuses on filling roles such as office administrators and customer service – temporary and permanent – for employers and job seekers, including in finance, accountancy, marketing, insurance, law, HR and manufacturing.

Ms Orchard said: "As well as Laura and Rachel joining, 25 candidates have been placed into permanent roles in Orchard’s first year.

“Business performance has exceeded expectations and the first year was also a good one because of the support we receive here from OVIC’s team, which is outstanding.

“We started out with a shared office to keep overheads down as much as possible, with organic financial growth providing us with the flexibility to scale up to our own office on site.”

The firm says it has seen demand "steadily increase" from companies struggling to fill vacancies or expand themselves due to the UK's labour shortage.

Lisa added: “Employers across the Solent region are crying out for staff. According to figures from the Office for National Statistics, there were officially 1,105,000 vacancies in January to March.

“I’ve never known anything like this in my 30 years’ experience in the recruitment industry. Companies tell me they could make more profit but are hampered by the lack of personnel.

“It’s also worth noting that candidates’ expectations can be unrealistic at times, perhaps because of the normalisation of work-from-home practices during and after the pandemic.

“There may be a gaping hole in the UK workforce but that doesn’t mean all employers are able to offer flexible conditions and top-whack salaries if the hire’s career experience doesn’t justify them.”