Rob Kurton (Left) Ben Russell (Right)

Russell Taylor Group has announced the appointment of its operations director Rob Kurton as the company's new managing director.

Rob takes over the position from Ben Russell, allowing him to focus on his new role as chief executive of Russell Taylor Holdings Ltd which recently made major acquisitions in the recruitment industry.

At the start of his 15-year career in recruitment, Rob worked for construction specialists Beresford Blake Thomas before moving to Search Consultancy to launch their Liverpool-based construction management operation.

He joined Russell Taylor in 2010 and was promoted to operations director two years later, predominantly looking after the sales and delivery function of the company then gradually becoming more involved in back office functions of the growing business.

Rob, based at the company’s headquarters at Riverside Park, Bromborough, describes today's Russell Taylor operation, as “almost unrecognisable”

from the one he joined seven years ago.

He said: “Then turnover was around £6m but is now predicted to reach well over £20m by the end of this year.

“Closely aligned to the growth of turnover and an increase in headcount to serve our ever expanding customer and client base, we have also become ISO and IiP accredited. We're a much more structured, delivery-focused business now but we always have a keen eye on employee satisfaction and staff retention.

“We aren't like every other recruitment firm. We deliberately manage our consultants differently to anywhere else I've worked. We select our people very carefully, ensuring that they fit our culture - arguably this is much more important than their past experience and results.

“Those who do join us soon flourish because of our family-centric, “grown-up” ethos. This is coupled with a Russell Taylor culture of collective ownership and success which flows right through our business from our exceptional back office teams to the consultants on the front line.”

Rob said his focus would remain on servicing Russell Taylor Group’s core markets of engineering, construction, manufacturing, logistics and power generation but also look to further develop the Russell Taylor brand within those markets.

He added: “My initial direction in this new role will be to continue with the expansion of Russell Taylor so the job will combine strategic detail with my operations experience.

“However, I will still have a very hands-on approach to managing and supporting all of our teams.

“We have our ultimate sights very firmly set on reaching £50m turnover before 2020. It's my job to ensure that we get there but without losing our core values along the way.”