Office & Commercial Support

Chris joined the business in 2011 as part of the Macildowie Training Programme and progressed through our Part-Qualified, Qualified and Senior Financial Recruitment desks. As part of a business growth strategy he recruited for Blue Chip clients in Northamptonshire and Milton Keynes, quickly growing and developing his desk.

After a successful period of growth in those markets, Chris established our Milton Keynes division, before returning to Leicester to run the Financial recruitment team. Following his success in those roles, Chris became Regional Managing Director for the North East Midlands and South Yorkshire.

He also specialises in Senior Executive Finance Recruitment across the wider East Midlands.

Chris' Client Testimonials

ALEX HILL

Commercial Finance Manager at Weetabix

"Chris Huffen was excellent. He listened understood what I was looking for but challenges me in the right way about what my next step needed to be. Really appreciated all his support."

SHETUL MASHRU

Group Marketing Accountant / Analyst (Manager) at Travis Perkins / Wickes

“I thoroughly recommend Chris for your recruitment needs, because he makes the recruitment process more structured and simplified than others, thereby ensuring a smooth journey from candidate registration to employment offer(s).

His competency and professionalism is the reason as to why I have already recommended Chris to my colleagues and friends looking to progress in their career.”

VICCI TAYLOR

Recruiter (Credit Risk, Finance and Marketing) at Barclaycard

“I have worked with Chris since joining Barclaycard in November 2011. Chris' understanding of Barclaycards requirements and culture is second to none and has provided some outstanding candidates. He always has Barclaycards best interest at heart and can see that his view is quality rather than quantity. I look forward to working with Chris in the future and would highly recommend Chris as an exceptional recruiter.”

Darius joined Macildowie in 2010. Having built an enviable reputation as an HR recruiter of choice across Northamptonshire, and leading our HR and Sales and Marketing Divisions, Darius was appointed as Regional Managing Director for the South East Midlands. He also specialises in Senior Executive HR Recruitment across the East Midlands.

Darius has pioneered various networking and Thought Leadership events for our customers and believes that working in a true partnership based on transparency and trust is the key to a long term sustainable relationship.

I’m a recruitment outsourcing expert.

Having worked for three of the country’s most successful recruitment outsourcing firms, in different guises and across vastly different accounts – from Operations Manager of the largest MSP in Europe, to the lone running of an SME-sized RPO – I’ve experienced a lot in my nearly 10 years in recruitment.

I believe the future for permanent recruitment for every company SME-sized and above, should be a partnership focused RPO. Most businesses state that their people are their biggest asset, and an RPO is the best recruitment method to protect those assets when they’re in the process of entering your business. In tandem with Macildowie’s Retention Service, our RPO is also the best way to help protect those assets when they’re already in your business too.

I believe all RPOs should focus on three key things for their clients: cost, time and talent.

In a post-Covid-19 society, these things will matter even more - with budgets being tighter, smaller teams doing more, and the importance of “the best, not the first” candidate being paramount - and therefore the benefit of an RPO relationship to businesses will be even greater.

Macildowie’s Managed MRS has those three elements at its heart, but it can go further than that, and in what we believe, a unique way.

Macildowie’s MRS is small and flexible and as such its service can genuinely be tailored to exactly what your business needs from a recruitment function (something that larger outsourcers with significant overheads are unable to do). We’re also able to offer two exceptional value-adding services which – from what I understand no other competitor is currently doing – in our Retention Services and People Hub facility. All of which is underpinned by years of quality Macildowie service.

My aim is for Macildowie MRS to be a trusted and valued partner for our clients, delivering on the three key objectives of cost, time and talent – and doing it in a unique way that we can be proud of.

After graduating from Birmingham City University in 2020 with a degree in Media and Communications (PR-focused), Eve kick-started her career in marketing. She even founded her own social media agency alongside full-time work to grow her expertise!

It wasn’t until Spring 2024 that Eve realised she wanted a new challenge. This led her to recruitment, and she hasn’t looked back since.

Holly joined Macildowie in October 2024 after working in the recruitment industry for three and a half years. She is part of the Office & Commercial team and Focuses on the permanent division. She partners closely with various organisations across Nottingham, Derbyshire, Stoke on Trent, and Lincoln, providing recruitment expertise, hosting tailored events, and offering wider support.

Holly has worked in both temporary and permanent recruitment, covering a number of different sectors, so she brings a wealth of experience. She prides herself on building strong relationships with both candidates and clients through honesty, transparency, and continuous advice throughout the recruitment process.

After 6 years working as an in house recruiter for a well-known retailer, Jess decided now was the time for new and exciting challenge. She is looking forward to working one on one with each individual client and Candidate and prides herself on taking the time to really get to know and understand what both want and be there to provide honest and effective feedback and advice. Jess will be focusing on office & commercial support recruitment for Coventry & Warwickshire.

Jodie has been in recruitment for nearly 10 years after being in the travel industry for 6 years. She decided it was time for a change and never looked back! Jodie started her journey in recruitment recruiting engineers for the lift and escalator industry and then moved over to recruiting for the exciting fast paced world of the commercial across the Midlands in 2014!

Jodie joined Macildowie in 2016 and work alongside my AMAZING team, Sonny, Annabel, Nav and Zoe! She cover temporary, contract and permanent commercial recruitment across all levels (graduates up to directors)! Jodie is happy to help anyone in the area!

Luke joined the business in 2019, overseeing the Clerical Finance Recruitment desk for interim, contract and permanent roles.
Specialising in the clerical finance sector, recruiting for SME and private equity backed businesses. Always interested in speaking with Finance professionals in Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Sheffield with the below experience:

• Purchase Ledger
• Sales Ledger
• Credit Control
• Accounts / Finance Assistants
• Book Keepers
• Payroll professionals.

Luke's client testimonials

Elaine Marshall, Candidate

"Very professional recruitment company, found me a great position suited to my skills set.
Luke Bull has been amazing, very attentive and helpful, couldn't have asked for better, always making sure I was informed. A very positive experience"

Hazel Anne, Candidate

"I called Macildowie on a Thursday saying I was looking for temp work, I spoke to Luke Bull in the morning, by the afternoon he had a role suitable to put me forward for. Friday I had a telephone interview with the company & Monday I started the job! Quick turnaround & Luke was amazing at sorting everything out for me. Thank you!"

Debs Simpson, Candidate

"My whole experience from start to finish was excellent. Luke kept me informed at all times providing support and advice even when office hours were well and truly over." 

Melissa joined Macildowie in June 2024 as an Associate Director in Nottingham, after 18 years with a blue-chip recruiter. 

Melissa leads the team that specialises in Clerical Finance and Office & Commercial Support recruitment across Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Staffordshire and Derbyshire.

She recruits temporary Commercial Support roles across this region.

 Melissa's key mantra is:

‘Treat your candidates and clients how you would expect to be treated yourself’.  

Phoebe joined Macildowie after graduating from Nottingham Trent University in Summer 2023. She has started her journey with us on our Training Programme, working on the Office and Commercial desk covering Coventry, Warwickshire, Northampton and Milton Keynes. She is excited to work with candidates and clients on both permanent and interim roles.

Simon joined Macildowie in February 2022 after 19 years with a blue-chip recruiter as the Associate Director for the Public Sector business.

Simon leads the team that specialises in the provision of consultancy services across their core disciplines of Finance, Procurement & Commissioning, Project & Programme Management, HR and Marketing.

He personally recruits permanent roles within Local Government whilst continuing to build their brand across the UK with the aim to make the Macildowie name synonymous with a consistently, high-quality delivery of services within Local and Central Government, NHS, Education, Charities and Housing.

After spending 3 years as an internal recruiter for one of the UK’s leading Multi-Site FTSE retailers where he was responsible for recruiting roles in the E-commerce Trading, Digital Marketing and Creative sectors from Entry Level through to Senior Management. Sonny took the plunge into Agency Recruitment for the first time, he joined Macildowie in 2018 and has since been able to prove himself as a valuable member of the Macildowie family being promoted twice in this time, Sonny now holds the title of Managing Consultant and is using his skill set to lead and develop the next generation of consultants.

Sonny is our Clerical Finance Specialist and recruits for Administrative Finance positions from entry level to senior management. Sonny prides himself on his integrity and honesty as a recruiter and drawing upon his time as an internal recruiter, understands the importance of relationship management and always ensuring the right fit for both clients and candidates alike.

Before joining Macildowie Will was a restaurant manager.

After spending most of his time within hospitality, he is excited to be here at Macildowie.​

He is now a member of the clerical finance team.

After starting out as a trainee at Macildowie 10 years ago, Zoe is currently Associate Director based from our Nottingham office. Previously, Zoe has managed and grown our Clerical finance and Commercial Divisions across our Nottingham and Leicester offices. Currently, Zoe continues to support our Commercial Division in Nottingham in addition to assisting across the business with Training, Development, Mentoring, Recruitment and other projects.

Zoe also heads up our charity committee at Macildowie, working with local charities and organising fundraising events throughout the year.

Zoe's client testimonials

Edward Fernandez

“Zoe is a true professional in every way. She will work extremely hard to place you and is always honest. I would happily recommend her professional services as a recruitment consultant. Good luck and thank you.”

Nick Weatherspoon

“Zoe has supported the recruitment of key roles of the HR/Payroll Team, often at short notice. Zoe is great at building relationships to fully understand the businesses that she is finding resource for - I have no hesitation in recommending Zoe.”

Nicholas Carey

"I would like to put on record for you, my sincere thanks to both Ben and Zoe for the manner in which they conduct themselves and represent Macildowie.
I have recently found myself out of work and I have of course used the services of a few well-known Recruitment Agencies. Macildowie is the only one I will recommend to anyone.
Ben and Zoe have shown themselves to be unique, in that they are the only people that actually returned a phone call, and responded to emails from me. It doesn't matter that the roles discussed with Ben didn't materialise, or that I'm no longer available to attend my interview with FloGas, it's about them returning contact and doing what they said would do.

People who use your services, like me, are not at all happy about having-to in many cases, and it's a very stressful time, looking for work, staying positive, and coping with the lack of response, silence, and the knock-backs. Simple contact helps.
Customer service is a much thrown-about term, and every business likes to think they have it cracked, but actually very few do. It's just about courtesy and professionalism at a a human interaction level, and Ben and Zoe are a credit to your organisation in this respect.

I won't hesitate to recommend, and should the need arise in the future for me in my new role, to use your services.
Do please pass on my compliments to them both, as I always think good news should travel just as fast as bad news.
​Thanks very much indeed."