Providing HR support and advice to SME across the UK since 2006
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Providing HR support and advice to SME across the UK since 2006
Employment law is changing faster than at any point in a generation. Our structured HR audit gives you a clear, prioritised compliance roadmap so you know exactly where your business stands and what to do next.
HRCentral, Recruitment Services for Growing Businesses
Recruiting the right people is one of the most important and expensive costs for your business. HRCentral’s recruitment service combines smart technology, proven assessments and expert HR guidance to help you get it right so that you can be more confident your new hire will pass probation. Our process also helps you become an employer of choice that attracts great candidates in the first place, without the agency markup.
new hires fail within 6 months, costing businesses thousands in rehiring
of salary is the average cost of replacing a mid-level employee
the realistic window to decide if a new hire is right, once probation notice is factored in
Most SMEs approach recruitment the same way they always have: write a job advert, post it online, sift CVs, interview a shortlist, and go with gut feel. It feels straightforward but it’s one of the highest-risk decisions your business makes.
HRCentral gives SMEs everything they need to acquire the best talent: a branded, professional careers presence, a smart applicant tracking system powered by hireful, structured assessments to predict job fit, and expert HR guidance at every stage. All without paying agency fees.
Unstructured interviews have surprisingly low predictive validity for job performance. Instinct leads to bias and poor outcomes. And once you've made the hire, you typically have just six months (five in practice, allowing for a probation notice period) to decide whether they're right for your business. Getting the decision right first time is sound risk management.
If your jobs don't appear on the right job boards, or your careers page looks dated, the best candidates won't apply. They have options, and they make quick judgements about employers based on first impressions.
Slow responses, disorganised processes and a lack of communication reflect badly on your brand, even with candidates you don't hire. Every touchpoint shapes how people perceive your business.
Agency fees of 15–25% of salary are justified for genuinely hard-to-fill roles, but many SMEs pay them for standard hires they could manage themselves with the right tools and support.
Speak to our recruitment team about hiring smarter, without the agency markup.
One of the most underrated elements of successful recruitment is looking the part. HRCentral sets up and manages a branded careers page on your website, powered by hireful’s applicant tracking system. Your vacancies appear on your site automatically, are distributed to the major job boards, and are removed the moment a role is filled.
Presenting a polished, seamless candidate experience is one of the most effective ways to attract better applicants, and it is central to how HRCentral helps our clients become employers of choice in their sector. When candidates encounter a well-run, professional recruitment process, it signals exactly the kind of organisation they want to work for.
| Your Careers Page – Current Vacancies | |
|---|---|
| Operations Manager – Reading | Live |
| Marketing Executive – Hybrid | Live |
| Customer Service Team Lead – Oxford | Live |
HRCentral uses the Saville and Holdsworth OPQ (Occupational Personality Questionnaire), one of the most widely validated psychometric tools available, alongside cognitive ability tests. Together these give you a structured, evidence-based picture of each candidate, going well beyond what an interview alone can tell you.
The OPQ measures 32 personality characteristics relevant to workplace behaviour, giving you insight into areas such as:
The OPQ identifies whether a candidate's natural working style matches the demands of the position. Are they detail-orientated or big-picture thinkers? Do they prefer structure or autonomy? Are they comfortable with pressure and deadlines? These traits predict on-the-job performance far more reliably than interview impressions.
Every team has its own dynamic. The OPQ helps you assess whether a candidate's interpersonal style, communication preferences and approach to working with others will complement your existing team, or create friction. Hiring for team fit is as important as hiring for technical skills
Resilience, adaptability and emotional stability under pressure are difficult to assess in an interview. The OPQ surfaces these traits objectively, helping you identify candidates who will thrive when things get tough, not just when everything is going smoothly.
If you are hiring with growth in mind, the OPQ can help you identify candidates who have the potential to take on greater responsibility over time, giving you a longer-term return on your hiring investment.
Cognitive ability tests complement the OPQ by measuring reasoning and problem-solving capacity, giving you confidence that a candidate can handle the analytical demands of the role.
The 6-month window. Under the Employment Rights Act 2025, the realistic window to make a dismissal decision is closer to five months once a notice period is factored in. A bad hire who passes that point becomes significantly more complicated and costly to exit. Using structured assessments to get the decision right first time is not just good practice, it is sound risk management.
Why this matters: Research consistently shows that unstructured interviews have relatively low predictive validity for job performance. The Saville and Holdsworth OPQ, used alongside a structured interview and cognitive ability testing, increases predictive accuracy significantly, helping you hire people who will genuinely thrive in the role, not just impress on the day.
Want to know more about how psychometrics and ability tests can improve your hiring decisions?
Technology and assessments are only part of the picture. HRCentral’s HR professionals support you through the entire process: helping you write compelling job descriptions, advising on salary benchmarking, structuring interviews to be legally sound and predictively valid, and managing offers and onboarding.
We also help you think beyond the immediate hire. Good recruitment is the foundation of good employment. How you onboard, develop and retain the people you hire matters just as much as the decision to hire them in the first place.
We write job descriptions that attract the right candidates, are legally sound, and reflect your employer brand accurately. Poorly written adverts attract the wrong people, or no one at all.
We use live market data to help you set salaries that are competitive and sustainable. Underpaying attracts weak candidates; overpaying creates internal equity issues.
We build interview frameworks that are consistent, legally defensible and designed to surface the behaviours and competencies that actually predict performance.
From making the offer through to the first 90 days, we help you set the tone for a successful employment relationship from day one.
We are an HR consultancy, not a recruitment agency. That means we are on your side, not incentivised to fill vacancies as quickly as possible regardless of fit. We combine genuine HR expertise with smart technology to help growing SMEs recruit well and become employers people want to work for.
Ready to recruit smarter? Talk to HRCentral today
Book an HR audit
Talk to our recruitment team about how HRCentral can help you hire the right people, faster, without the agency fees.
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About HRCentral
The Employment Rights Act 2025 is now in force. Getting your recruitment process right from day one is more important than ever. HRCentral ensures every hire is compliant, structured and legally defensible.
Join the growing number of SMEs using HRCentral to acquire the best talent, without the agency markup.