Entrepreneurs launch first enterprise in Telford

Ben Yale, 29, and Chris Steele, 34, have opened recruitment agency Staffing Lab, endorsing Telford as a growing, exciting and dynamic place to start and build a business.

Along with rapidly growing their new enterprise, they are also planning to create about 15 new jobs in the town from their new offices at Stafford Park 1.

Ben has lived in Telford for five years while Chris both lives and grew up in the town, attending local schools including Idsall School. As local people, Chris said they were both “really proud” to be part of the local economy, creating future job opportunities for local people.

“We’re really excited about working for ourselves,” said Chris.

“It means we can now deliver exactly the kind of recruitment service for clients and people that we always wanted to as employees. We are in control.

“I don’t think we could have picked a better location for Staffing Lab than Telford. You see the development and investment coming forward at the business parks like T54, and big businesses choosing to locate in the area like Jaguar Landrover, Polytec and Cosma Castings.

“We’ve worked across the West Midlands and into London, but we firmly believe that Telford is as exciting a place to do business as anywhere in the UK.

“We’re also hugely proud to be contributing to the local economy and helping to boost the town’s growth."

Staffing Lab will serve the temporary recruitment needs of the region’s key business sectors, including industrial, automotive, engineering, transport, driving and logistics food, and will also handle permanent staff recruitment.

Chris said that although there is a national challenge in finding enough people with the right skills, Telford businesses were actually better placed than most to secure the staff they need.

Ben said: “Our priority is fully engaging with both job candidates and our clients and really going the extra mile to meet their needs. In the current labour market, that’s all-important. We have several tools and processes which we think are going to really set us apart as a recruitment agency for the area and help us to deliver outstanding service.

“And our experience and local knowledge of course will be a huge advantage.”

Ben’s brother Alex also joins the team as a recruitment consultant and they all have big ambitions for the future.

After planning for a small profit in year one, they want to quickly scale up the business, leading to a fully developed multi-divisional operation and becoming one of the Telford area’s biggest recruitment agencies. Expansion into new territories through new offices is also a future goal.

“We are just raring to get started,” said Chris.

“We have a fantastic back office infrastructure already, so we are very much hitting the ground running.”