In January 2003, six months after my son Alexander was born, I started a recruitment business and named it after him. At the time, I couldn’t have known what Alexander Appointments would become. I only knew that I wanted to build something I believed in, and that how we treated people would matter just as much as the work we did.

I had come to recruitment by way of accounting. As a management accountant, I’d learned to understand a business through its numbers. But what stayed with me was what happened after the reports were finished: the conversations, the decisions, and the people asked to carry them out. Moving into recruitment gave me a different perspective on where business needs and people’s lives come together.

My husband Daniel and I co-founded Alexander Appointments in 2003. In the early years, we both worked across the business, doing what needed to be done. As the company grew, so did the team and the responsibilities we shared. More than two decades on, I’m proud of the recruitment business we’ve built, and grateful for what those years have taught us both personally and professionally.

Here are some of the many lessons 23 years of AA has taught us…

A hire is never just a hire..

For an employer, it might be the person who helps a team find its footing, brings a different perspective, or gives a leader the confidence to move forward. For a candidate, it might be a chance to grow, to be better supported, or simply to be seen for what they can contribute next. Neither side can be understood properly from a job description or a résumé alone.

That’s why I’ve always believed in taking the time to ask the right questions. What does this team really need? What is making the role difficult? What matters to the person considering it, and what would make the move worthwhile? Sometimes the most useful thing we can do is challenge a brief before we begin a search to help a candidate better see an opportunity or concern more clearly and even help clients ensure they evaluate what their team really needs in a candidate. 

How we chose to work

Recruitment can reward individual ownership: my client, my candidate, my placement. We chose to establish a more collaborative approach. A lead consultant remains close to the relationship, while the wider team shares its knowledge and supports the search. It’s never been about making one person the hero. It is about giving clients and candidates the benefit of more people thinking carefully about the outcome. 

Of course, building a business over this many years changes you. You learn that good intentions need to show up in ordinary moments: returning a call, being honest when a role is not right, listening when someone is uncertain, and following through when a conversation becomes difficult. Trust is rarely earned in a single impressive moment. It is built in those smaller ones, over time.

Today, Alexander Appointments works with organisations and professionals across the private and public sectors. I’m grateful for the clients who have trusted us with decisions that matter to their teams, for the candidates who have shared their ambitions and doubts with us, and for the colleagues who have shaped this business alongside us. The story has always belonged to more than just the founders.

So what comes next?

I want us to keep growing in the ways that matter, not simply by doing more, but by becoming more useful to the people who place their trust in us. That means helping employers think beyond a vacancy. It also means giving candidates an honest picture of an opportunity and room to make their own decisions, while giving our own people the support and freedom to do thoughtful work.

The world of work will keep changing. Roles will change, the expectations will change, and the tools we use will change. We need to remain curious and willing to adapt. But I hope we never lose the instinct to pause, listen, and remember the person on each side of the conversation.

Alexander Appointments began with a name that means the world to me, and the legacy I hope we leave is one that’s larger than a name: people who feel respected, teams made stronger, and relationships that last well beyond an appointment.

This is still the business I want to build!