Hanson Search was founded by Alice Weightman as a specialist healthcare communications executive search agency in a tiny office in London, just down the road from our current office on the Strand.
With increasing business in Paris, we opened our satellite office in the city of lights in 2007. Our French team works closely with our UK operation. Based out of our London office, they are a mobile team frequently traveling to our Paris office to meet with our brilliant candidates and clients across the channel.
Meanwhile, back in London, things got political. As our communications team grew, we couldn’t keep out of the public affairs industry and we hired our first PA consultant.
Time flies when you’re having fun. We celebrated our ten year anniversary with a big bash at the Ivy Club in London. Shortly thereafter, having outgrown our digs, we moved to our current top floor office at 357 Strand in the lovely area of Covent Garden.
Hanson Search and the CIPR commissioned a study into maternity and the impact of maternity leave on the communications industry as well as its implications for positive change. The report published, ‘Getting the Balance Right’, including best practice recommendations on company culture, responsibilities, maternity comeback framework, and legal issues.
Our first award nod came in 2013 at the Recruiter Awards for Excellence. We were shortlisted for the category Best SME Recruitment Agency! Just a taste of what was to come...
Our fiWe launched UpSkill, in partnership with Hanover Communications and independent charity UpRising. It was a programme to help ambitious young adults break into the communications industry
And our second award nod arrived! We were shortlisted for APSCo Awards for Excellence – Best Recruitment Company of the Year!
We set our sights a bit further afoot and decided it was time for Hanson Search to move into the Middle East. We began working the Dubai market remotely and exploring options for a more permanent base in the region.
We joined the Disability Confident campaign – a UK government scheme to increase awareness about employing disabled talent. We hosted an event in partnership with the government’s Minister for Disabilities to encourage more businesses to sign up.
Hanson Search started working across the pond, initially supporting an international client with a particularly tricky North America CEO role based in New York. We now work across the country, from NY to SF.
Another award shortlist! We’ve got to be getting close now... We were shortlisted for APSCo Awards for Excellence – Best Recruitment Company of the Year.
After many years of shortlists and finalists, we were delighted to win Best Client Service at the Marketing and Digital Recruitment Awards in 2015!
We formally opened up shop in Dubai with Felice Hurst leading our MENA team. With a surge of creative briefs and hiring demand in the region, this was an exciting moment in our international expansion and we have a great team in place to take forward our ambitious plans.
As we were growing internationally, we couldn’t sit still in London. More and more of our clients were looking for integrated experts, so as the division between marketing and communications was narrowing, we felt the time was right to expand our offering into the digital and marketing space. We hired experts in social, content, and digital marketing, and quickly began to build our client list in those markets.
Shortly after our digital and marketing expansion, we launched our advertising, media and creative offering with a few new key hires. We were also delighted to partner with the IPA and Campaign as sponsors of the Women of Tomorrow Awards that year – shining a light on exceptional female talent rising through the ranks in the advertising and creative industries.
We were named Best International Consultancy and Best Candidate Experience at the Marketing and Digital Recruitment Awards in London! After focusing our UK expansion in this space over the last few years, it was such an honour to receive the recognition of these awards.
Hanson Search CEO Alice Weightman joined the 30% Club, strengthening her commitment to improving gender diversity in the higher ranks of business. This comes as a natural step for Alice, who has long been involved in equality initiatives, particularly gender equality in the PR and communications industry. It also follows the launch of the 30% Club GCC Chapter, of which Hanson Search MENA MD Felice Hurst is a founding member.
