Leading specialist recruitment and executive search agency, Marks Sattin, has strengthened its team in the South West and the West Midlands with the appointment of Andrew Wilkinson as Associate Director.
A specialist financial recruiter, Andrew has almost two decades of experience sourcing candidates for Head of/ Director level roles at FTSE 100 companies, as well as to innovative start-ups and fast-growing SMEs. He brings a wealth of knowledge to the Marks Sattin teams in Birmingham, Bristol and Cheltenham and will be leaning on it to strategically grow the business’s reach, impact and reputation in the West Midlands and South West across the accountancy and finance sectors.
Commenting on his experience to date, Andrew said: “Marks Sattin has a genuine senior team who offer clear communication and a down to earth approach. When its recruitment team reached out to me, it came at a time when I was ready for a brand-new challenge. To be met with such an authentic, talented and passionate team when I joined the business was really refreshing.
“Taking on a new position, for me, is all about making an impact and bringing a fresh perspective to processes and strategies,” he added. “It’s a pleasure to be joining a team that does this as part of their ‘business as usual’ approach, clearly always looking at how we can better serve our clients and candidates. My new team is very talented and we share all the same values of partnership and collaboration as the key piece to any successful recruiter-client relationship.”
Andrew, who has previously supported recruitment efforts for major brands like National Grid, The Phoenix Group, FEDEX, DHL, Peugeot Citroën, and Jaguar Land Rover, among others, is skilled at offering tailored recruitment solutions, ensuring the right fit for each client’s specific requirements. With such a storied career across major brands and conglomerates he has developed broad and deep understanding of placing candidates in roles from CFO to Finance Director, and Financial Controllers to Head of Group Reporting.
Marks Sattin’s 2024 Insight Salary Trends Report, which surveyed over 2,200 professionals, reveals that the most common way of finding a new role is an even split between being headhunted and using a recruitment consultancy (25 per cent of respondents did one or the other).
Andrew shares insight on his regional market, given the interesting findings of Mark Sattin’s latest report. He said: “2021 and 2022 were fantastic years for recruitment. It wasn’t until 2023 when things really turned across the board, and 2024 when we hit a very challenging market. I worked through the challenges of 2008, and I feel quite confident in saying 2024 was tougher. The market became very head count and cost conscious, with recruitment being one of the main areas that spend can be limited without affecting company operations. Today, recruiters must be agile and creative to remain valuable and relevant to our customers and candidates.
“As a result of these challenges,” he continued, “the market is now a lot less saturated with inexperienced recruiters and instead filled with a dedicated bunch of hard-working, experienced individuals who have proved themselves in the face of adversity. There is now more business for fewer recruitment consultants. In the Midlands particularly, there has been an uptake in interim recruitment, which is certainly due to the imminent rise in employer National Insurance contributions. With this in mind, we have seen permanent recruitment demands remain low. I think both of these trends will continue throughout 2025, with slower growth across permanent roles but after a crash, the industry always rises and I think that’s exactly what will happen – growth will be the next chapter.”
Commenting on the industry shifts ahead Andrew said: “As we look to the future, AI is a hot topic. In my view, it’s only a threat if people don’t get onboard. This tech is going to be revolutionary to streamline business processes and open opportunities for people within businesses. It should be utilised to improve business processes and therefore allow human progression.
“Specifically for recruitment within the finance sector, AI can take the administrative tasks and automate transactions which can place greater emphasis on higher level communication and roles for people.”
Overseeing the company’s West Midlands and South West branches’ finance and accountancy team strategies, Andrew will travel regularly up and down the M4/5 corridor strengthening bonds with long-standing and new clients.
