Rochdale recruiter celebrates 30th anniversary

Posted by on 31 May 2023

As part of Rochdale Development Agency’s 30th birthday celebrations we’re speaking to some of the boroughs biggest names in business.

Privately-owned recruitment company Northern Employment Services has just celebrated its 30th anniversary.

The recruitment company and the Rochdale Development Agency (RDA) opened within a few months of each other in 1993 and they have worked closely together ever since.

Based in Yorkshire Street, Rochdale, Northern Employment Services specialise in the manufacturing, engineering, production and logistics sectors.

The company was founded in 1993 by four former colleagues of Brook Street Bureau - Joan Pooley, Stephanie Duckworth, Carole Sanderson and Sue O’Shea.

Since then the business has had to contend with pretty much every challenge life could throw at it, including recessions and a global pandemic.

Recruitment veteran Philip O’Hara joined the business in 2013, becoming a shareholder and co-owner two years later.

Pooley still remains in the business, which today has nine staff and last year hit £2.7m turnover.

O’Hara, who has worked in recruitment for 28 years, said: “We’ve experienced the high highs and the low lows. Cashflow is king and even during the harder times we’ve remained profitable.”

Northern Employment Services works with everyone from independent SMEs to global brands.

Around 60 per cent of their work comes from the Rochdale area.

O’Hara said: “We’re only one location. We don’t work with a client without meeting them first. Similarly, we don’t engage with a candidate without meeting them too.

“We work on personal recommendations and by building relationships. We see ourselves as an extension of our client’s business.”

O’Hara said the strength of their relationship with the Rochdale Development Agency has been central to their success.

“The RDA has become an invaluable ally,” he said. “They really came to the fore during Covid. They became like a godsend during the pandemic and a trusted source of information. They really came into their own.

“Unless you’re in Rochdale you don’t realise how many great businesses there are. Many of them have got national and global reputations and yet they’re always so helpful.

“We’re really proud to have celebrated our 30th birthday and it’s fitting that we’re sharing it with the RDA.

“This year is all about consolidation, maintaining our cashflow and remaining profitable. You can’t stand still in business and nobody in Rochdale stands still.”