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A former Philologist, Glen Hall’s mission to provide a more affordable alternative to traditional recruitment agencies with his company, Write Research, is paying dividends with a host of awards and a level of growth that is making him the envy of his industry. He spoke to Business 550.

Glen Hall is in an ecstatic mood. Founder and MD of Write Research he has just heard that his executive research company has just won Alliance & Leicester and BA as clients in the space of a morning.

The news comes as the latest accounts for the firm he founded in 2001 in Newcastle revealed that Write Research has grown by 100% year on year (profits have grown by 102%), and on recent evidence, shows no signs of slowing down. This also follows Hall being names the North East Chambers of Commerce Entrepreneur of the Year for 2006.
Explains Hall: “I am delighted that our people and our quest to dismantle the ‘myth’ of head-hunting are now being recognised at the highest level. I believe more strongly that head—hunters and recruitment agencies have for too long creamed the crop and propagated the ‘myth’ of special networks needing fees of 25%, 33% and 40%. There is no transparency in fee structures only the mudded waters of the ‘myth’. There was no passion about delivery, mutual understanding, true-relationships – only short-sighted obsessions with end of month P&L figures and the bonus of the recruitment consultant.”

The 33 year old originally from the tough Holmewood estate in Bradford (the inspiration for the movie ‘Rita, Sue and Bob too’, set up Write Research from his bedroom with a £2000 overdraft, to provide what he calls “a more affordable alternative to recruitment agencies”. He appears to have done just that, much to the chagrin of competitors, he says, with this daily rates rather than commission helping to fund offices also in Leeds, and secure clients which currently consist of 20 of the FTSE 100 and 40 of the FTSE 350.

This is in stark contrast to his earlier years; when after completing a Masters Degree in English he went on to study Philology (or Ancient English) at Leeds Uni.
A self-confessed bookworm, his love for Philology was sparked after he picked up a copy of Prince Caspian at the age of seven. It wasn’t all books. Signs of his entrepreneurialism (his mother ran her own business) also surfaced at a tender age, when he launch a gardening round as a teenager (his first employee was his best friend!).

This isn’t to say it’s been all straightforward for Hall and his fellow academics (his fellow directors studied at North East Universities). In the early days Write Research was also a head-hunter, before Hall took the decision to drop all of his headhunting clients overnight – losing 75% of his business revenue in the process – to concentrate on executive research instead. Clearly he knew because the very next day he secured ASDA and as he says “has never looked back. I love the challenge. If I don’t I go around the bend”.

His company is now branching out into the public sector, after its purchase of Smart Public, opening an office in Central London in an effort to break into the lucrative public sector executive recruitment world. It is also sharing its success with the community through The Write Research Foundation.

Next year Hall hopes to see Write Research well placed in the Sunday Times Fast Track 100 as well as starting to make inroads into Europe. Another venture, the Write Publishing Group, has also been muted. It’s not all work though, Hall’s also keen to take time out and get himself reacquainted with Philology, maybe even teach at Maudlin College in Oxford, its spiritual home. A book is also in the offing. “I’m writing one at the moment”, he reveals. Is it going to be anything like the most Philologist of them all, a certain J.R.R, Tolkien? “Possibly. All I can say is it is going to be an adventure story!”