About us

We practice what we preach. Great people build great businesses.

Our people are what make us special.

And they're the key to making your team special.

Goodbye hard-nosed recruiter
Hello friendly talent partner

To us, bringing great people and great companies together is personal. Because it’s the same journey we’ve been on ourselves, carefully building a workplace culture and mindset, person by person, that benefits everyone’s future. We want to help others achieve the same too. So we apply our passion and personality to go beyond search engines and algorithms and unite quality people with ambitious startups and scaleups.

Our experience working at old school recruitment agencies taught us a lot, namely how NOT to treat clients, candidates and our own team. We’re confident that over the last two decades we’ve mastered a much more positive approach. Our goal is to see startups become scaleups and all individuals thrive in the same way we do here at ISL. And we like to have some fun while we’re at it. We believe there’s never a dull day looking for bright sparks.

About Us

What we care about

The human touch

Algorithms and search engines can’t gauge personality and commitment in candidates like we can.

We embrace technology as a tool with clear benefits but take a people first approach. Our instinct and understanding have been honed through decades of experience. No tech can replace the value in spending time listening to our clients and engaging with candidates.

Beyond talent

We value client collaboration and nurture a long-term team who deliver real understanding.

We’re relationship driven, not KPI bound. We’re not just here to fill roles, we’re here to build startups and scaleups and strengthen the community. Co-hosting events, mentoring via accelerators, intros to our network; we want to help your business grow.

Fast quality results

The breadth and depth of the ISL network gets great candidates at pace.

We know talent inside out and our experience in scaling startups is significant. We’re proactive and don’t wait for the talent to come to us – finding passive candidates not just the few active on the market. You’re looking for a return on investment, and delivering the best results is always at the forefront of our mind.

The long haul

We’re not about one off, transactional encounters. Partnership is our bag.

We want to fully understand you and your business so we can best represent you for the long haul, finding you top people to build your team. Embedded in your business, mapping out your talent plans, reviewing your employer branding; we're building your capabilities for the long term.

Growth focus

Our clients all have one thing in common, they want to scale their business.

Growth is fantastic but has very specific challenges. We understand those, and will work with you on solving them. We'll deliver results today but always keep an eye on tomorrow, making sure we grow the value in our relationship as you build something special. 

Talent not targets

You will never see quantity over quality. Our team are empowered to do the right thing.

Your needs are what we focus on, not arbritary targets that mean we send you a CV to hit a KPI. Across our team and the candidates we deliver to you we'll challenge you to consider all the options, but you'll know we've done a lot of the hard work for you.

Don’t just take it from us...

"Henry was brilliant through the process and really stood out against some of the other people I was speaking to. He paid attention to detail and was very responsive the whole way through."

Graham, Clue

"My consultant was brilliant from the moment I tied up with him. He was really good."

Catherine, Eyoto

"When the consultant rang me to tell me I got the job, I cried I was so happy, she was so helpful and supportive, and I would definitely recommend ISL to anyone making that transition into a new role."

Lily, candidate

"My recruiter was outstanding in her support and professionalism."

Lorraine, candidate

"We met Alan through FemTechLab, and he gave us some tips on our job description and employer branding. He has provided valuable insight and guidance to us, and I’d recommend him to any company looking to scale their team."

Jo Living, COO, Aura Fertility

Awards and Accreditations

Ready to learn more? Let's talk.