A NEW recruitment firm has launched in York specialising in contract and permanent positions.

Charlotte Watson and Kate Chandan set up Blond Brown to match people with businesses across a range of sectors including accountancy and finance, engineering and manufacturing, hospitality, retail, human resources, logistics, and sales and marketing.

They have previously managed recruitment for employers, from independents to major blue chip organisations across all levels of business.

As independent recruiters, they are on hand for people looking for their next move and for firms expanding teams.

Charlotte said: “The UK labour market is experiencing unprecedented times following the aftermath of Brexit and the ongoing pandemic. Businesses across many sectors are struggling to recruit staff or fill long-term vacant roles.

"It’s very much a candidate-led industry as people who were either furloughed or made redundant over the last 18 months and took on temporary positions as a stop gap are now seeking new roles.

"It’s an exciting time to be launching Blonde Brown and we’re looking forward to working with local businesses in a bid to support their recruitment needs.”

Charlotte began her recruitment career in a busy office in Westminster, London, working with temporary and permanent candidates within a commercial office.

She then moved into a business development, corporate sales role with responsibility for securing all new business over 12 central London branches.

Charlotte successfully worked with several high-profile clients and managed the accounts before relocating to Yorkshire, where she managed several local and regional offices with experience in finance and accounting, IT, sales and marketing, design, graduate, commercial office and industrial recruitment .

A change of direction led to Charlotte running her own businesses and, during the pandemic, she has been involved in business consultancy work for a number of local York businesses.

An opportunity earlier this year to project manage a large piece of recruitment for a Yorkshire company led to the launch of Blonde Brown.

Kate initially worked for an agency in Leeds focusing on marketing positions before moving into corporate sales with large FMCG brands, including Heineken, Fox’s Biscuits and Seabrook Crisps.

Kate took a career break to be a full-time mum before returning to the world of sales until launching the recruitment venture with Charlotte.