Hermitage entrepreneur scoops top recruitment award

A female-led startup has won a top industry award in London.

In 2021, Hermitage-based entrepreneur Penny Daniels took a brave step into the unknown when she founded her startup recruiting HR directors for tech companies called The Search.

After working tirelessly to establish her brand, her efforts have now been recognised.

Miss Daniels’ company picked up The Best New Agency award at this year’s Recruiter Awards, held at The Marriott Hotel in London on Thursday, September 28.

Hundreds attended the ceremony, hosted by British comedian and actor, Richard Ayoade.

Miss Daniels and her team applied and nominated themselves for the award and learned they had been shortlisted three months before the ceremony.

They were up against eight other businesses in their category.

Speaking about what winning the award means for her business, Miss Daniels said: “One of the hardest things when you’re growing a brand is people knowing who you are.

“This will really help with getting our name out there and getting more employers to come to us.”

Miss Daniels has worked in HR recruitment since 2013, first in Reading and later in London.

She had always aspired to create her own startup but was discouraged by the risk and uncertainty this posed.

But a dramatic event in her personal life changed her view.

“My son was diagnosed with leukaemia when he was one,” she said. “It was in the middle of Covid. I was working with an agency but was on furlough, and I was pregnant with my daughter.

“She was born on the same day he was diagnosed.

“After that, I didn’t care anymore about failing because I’d been through the hardest time of my life.

“Nothing can be as bad as being told your son has cancer.”

Fortunately, her son has now had the all clear.

But this was not her sole reason for starting her company.

Miss Daniels says she was keen to create something fun, modern and sexy which would change people’s negative perceptions of HR being dogmatic, safe and traditional.

She says her bold branding and high-energy staff have helped her to realise her goal of connecting forward-thinking employers and clients.

“I just wanted to prove everybody wrong and focus my time on something,” she added.

“Our brand is different in that we won’t register everybody; if you’re not forward-thinking enough, then we’ll feed that back to you and we only focus on what we consider to be the top talent.”

Miss Daniels and her team work remotely, but also have offices in Reading and London.

She hopes to continue growing her company from strength to strength moving forward.