About Jo Thompson Recruitment

A little bit about us…

Meet Jo

If you’re calling Jo early in the morning, you might hear a whinny and the clip-clop of horse hooves in the background. That would be Magic, Jo’s beloved thoroughbred.

When she is not working diligently to secure top talent for her clients or finding exciting career opportunities for her candidates, Jo takes inspiration from her home in the lush countryside of Exmoor. Outside of office hours, she can be found with her family or tending to her menagerie of animals, including her pygmy goat Elvis, her daughter’s pony Paddy, one cat Olive, one dog Silky, and a few prized chickens.

Jo believes matching the right candidate to a role requires both a deep understanding of the organisation’s culture and enlightening scientific insights. That is why, along with leveraging her 20 plus years of experience when meeting new candidates, Jo trusts SHL assessments to provide an accurate snapshot of critical skills, potential, and role suitability that might not be observable from a competency-based interview alone. As a result, the recruitment process is not only unbiased, but also filled with predictive insights that reveal how a candidate will be an asset to the organisation.

For Jo, it is all about quality over quantity. She founded JTR on the principle that she would offer like-minded clients and candidates a niche, value-added service. When working with companies, this means digging deep to the root of an organisation to understand its culture, values, and needs. With candidates – whether they are executives, middle management, or fresh graduates – this means being a motivator and providing a quality candidate journey with guidance and feedback at every step of the way, no matter the applicant’s outcome. At heart, Jo is particularly passionate about helping candidates realise key attributes that will lead to their success in the marketplace.

Our Values

At Jo Thompson Recruitment, our business philosophy is grounded in several key values. By keeping these values at the forefront of all that we do, we consistently provide our clients and candidates with quality, value-added services. Our offering is personalised, packed with insights, and designed to fully understand your talent needs for a smooth, seamless connection.

Enhance our expertise with science. The best people for the job cannot be recruited on an interview alone, just as they cannot be recruited through assessment alone. We rely on a balanced blend of competency-based interviews enriched by our recruiters’ expertise, plus skills assessments that deliver unbiased data analytics. With our winning recipe of recruitment prowess and scientific insights, we deliver value from the start.
Be a partner. We treat clients and candidates with respect, and engage candidly with tact. We are always fair and objective, and we ensure there is a consistent flow of feedback and consultation at every step of the way.
Deliver excellence. We strive for excellence in everything we do. Whether it is sourcing world-class assessments, providing expert advisory services, or pairing outstanding candidates with like-minded, high-calibre employers, JTR provides you with a premium service.
Look forward and adapt. The landscape of employment is constantly evolving. Whether it be helping candidates navigate the rise of AI in the selection process, or assisting companies in managing a fully remote talent acquisition campaign, there are constant changes that need mitigating and we are always prepared to rise to the challenge.
Bolster brands. A good recruitment experience enhances both the employer’s brand and the candidate’s personal brand. JTR serves both sides of the aisle by crafting compelling campaigns and ensuring an engaging, candidate-centric journey. Because we dig deep to understand your brand, we find your best match.

Dedication To Recruitment

Over the years, Jo Thompson Recruitment has added services and grown into a premier boutique recruitment consultancy offering a diversified portfolio of talent solutions and advisory services.

We offer an agile, solutions-based approach that is supported by a robust methodology, bringing employer’s brands to life through an enhanced candidate experience.

We identify and assess candidates, develop compelling campaigns, and align your talent to organisational objectives to ensure you recruit and retain the talent necessary to stay competitive.

Our success is based in our commitment to invest in long-term relationships, to truly understand your company, work with your hiring managers, and source and assess talent for today and tomorrow.

Our clients range from FSTE 100 companies to smaller SME businesses in a wide range of industries and sectors. We have grown from reputation, personal recommendations, and delivering quality results.

We have a reputation for being one of the best recruitment agencies in the South of England, and we operate throughout London, Reading, Theale, Newbury, Oxford, Swindon, Bath, Bristol, Andover, Taunton and Exeter.

Our Delivery

Starting with the recruitment process, our team of experienced SHL consultants are passionate about the employee lifecycle. Delivering a positive, engaging candidate experience is part of our everyday work. We offer our candidates continuity, personal support, fulfilling career opportunities, and a bespoke career coaching service, whether they are seeking permanent, temporary or contract positions.

We have an enviable track record of demonstrating tangible business results, from providing the expertise, experience, tools, technology, and resources to improve your recruitment outcomes, including an enhanced candidate experience, time to hire, cost per hire, and quality of hire. Beyond improving such basic metrics, our recruitment solution is designed to help our clients improve retention and their employer brand through an engaging and collaborative hiring process.

Qualified SHL Consultants

A team of experienced SHL Consultants help you improve and achieve better hiring decisions by selecting best-fit candidates using targeted, predictive assessments set in a real world context, reducing attrition and maximising on-the-job performance.

Comprehensive Selection Process

A comprehensive selection process significantly improves your quality of hires and identifies candidates most likely to succeed in a role.

Talent Assessment Technology

Technology-enabled talent assessment platforms engage and retain candidates, convey a positive employer brand, and predict candidate potential.

Experience and Values

A seamless, positive, and engaging experience which treats clients and candidates with respect, acts with integrity, imparts knowledgeable advice, and delivers tangible business results.

Personalised Service

Continuity and a bespoke service which ensures both clients and candidates receive a personalised service with the same Account Manager every time they call.

Assessment Centres

A world-class experience that delivers real business outcomes. Our assessment centres offer a streamlined experience that provides fast and impactful insights. Virtual centres will wow new hires and show how you invest in your people. A highly engaging experience, packed with predictive power.

Having worked with Jo for some years, I’m delighted to be able to recommend her and JTR. I have always respected Jo’s tenacity in sourcing the right candidates that equally fit the technical and cultural requirements, for both the companies and the candidates she represents. Jo ensures the right amount of time is taken to really understand the needs of the business and this is a rare attribute. I have appreciate Jo’s candour and the value she places on getting it right for everyone. Her flexibility and resourceful outlook have been a great asset to Twinings broadly across our organisation. Many thanks Jo.

Sundae Spiers FCIPD Human Resources Director, Aspire Defence Services Limited

I would like to thank you for your efforts and time that have resulted in my new job. It was my first nice experience when dealing with a recruitment agency and a successful one at that. Your approach and determination have been very refreshing and reassuring. I am very impressed and grateful for all that you have done to help me secure this position. I’m starting on the 1st Feb and can’t wait. Reaction Engines is a great company with a really nice team that I know I will get on well with.

I wish you and your agency all the best, you truly stand out above the market standard and provide a great service.

Grzegorz Szylo IT Infrastructure Engineer, Reaction Engines

I have used Jo and the team on a few occasions in the past decade both for temporary and permanent recruitment roles at Ferguson. I have no hesitation in recommending them they are very tuned into the M4 corridor and know all the best candidates. Jo takes the time to get to know her clients and to carefully understand their requirements so that she can get a short list right with a strong bench of candidates. Ferguson has got some outstanding hires from working with Jo in recent years and we love her roll up the sleeves and can-do approach.

Mark Fearon Director of Communications & IR at Ferguson PLC

When someone is recommended to you by an esteemed colleague, in this case Group HR of a Footsie 100 Company, expectations are high. Jo Thompson exceeded these in every aspect. Jo got the two briefs exactly and then improved on them. She took thoroughness to a new level and collaborated and steered the process with charm and discretion. We would not have achieved anything like the outcomes without Jo. It was a pleasure working with her and I would love to work with her again.

Denise O’Donoghue Executive Chairman, 110% Content

Thank you for your help in fulfilling our last two vacancies. I feel we have developed a great working relationship and on each occasion you really understood the type of person suitable for the roles we were seeking to fill. You presented us with an excellent shortlist of candidates for interview and for each vacancy we would have been happy to recruit more than one of the candidates. You respected our timescales and offered advice and guidance without placing undue pressure on us to make a decision.

Jill Owen Office Manager, Greenham Trust

Jo and her team were instrumental in resolving a difficult recruitment issue for us.

In contrast to other Agencies, we found that Jo listened to our requirements and, most importantly, used these as the basis for her candidate evaluation. I found this particularly helpful, the focus was tailored to us and not simply the standard template of a CV database search. Also, Jo was prepared to challenge us with her experience, often to the detriment of a potential immediate vacancy fulfilment and securing a fee in doing so.

Richard Cunningham Global Category Leader, Twining & Co

I have experience of working with a large number of recruitment agencies, both through my work and for my own personal job searches, and working with Jo Thompson Recruitment is among the best experiences I have had of working with an agency. As well as being very helpful and supportive throughout the process, Jo was very knowledgeable about the role, company and their requirements. Her help and support ensured that I secured the role that I was interviewing for, through Jo Thompson Recruitment.

Renee Jacobs Business Project Manager, Actual Experience

Thanks for all your help with this appointment; you have been fantastic and really got to the essence of the right person for the job!

Gemma Wildman Executive Assistant, Twinings UK and Ireland

I have worked with a number of recruitment agencies and can honestly say that Jo and her team stand out from the crowd. You really feel that Jo is on your side and endeavouring to find you the right role, not just any role. You build an honest and trusting relationship where she truly understands what it is you’re looking for – for me this was paramount and where so many other agencies fail. Jo Thompson Recruitment would be my first call every time.

Nathalie Haysom Temporary Associate

Jo Thompson has been recruiting for Wolseley Group Services for many years now, in several different functions and varying levels of authority. What I like most about working with Jo is that what you see is what you get, she’s always honest, if she thinks she can find the right person, she will. If she doesn’t, she will be up front and tell you from the start. Jo has an incredible talent of not only finding the candidate with the right experience, but more importantly able to find the right fit when it comes to culture and what does the team need. I have yet to meet another recruitment consultant who is able to achieve this as many times as Jo has. I would have no problem in recommending Jo to any prospective clients.

Tash Farquhur Head of HR, Wolseley Group Services & Central Europe at Wolseley

I found Jo to be very knowledgeable on the company and industry. Jo maintained contact well at all stages of the recruitment process and throughout my role, always remaining helpful and professional. I would not hesitate to recommend Jo and her team to anyone looking for a new role.

Sarah Rixon Temporary Associate

The difference with JTR is that the candidate is just as important as the client! – even though recruitment agencies are obviously client-driven.

Linda Mansfield Temporary Associate

I have had the pleasure of working with Jo and her team on several senior level assignments within my new role, including being hired via JTR initially for the HR Director role I now hold. I would highly recommend JTR as they are excellent communicators from candidate and business entities. The approach and style taken reflects the great business values of the recruitment sector and Jo herself is excellent at what she does in finding the right talent and keeping the business dynamics in mind.

Dan Creed HR Director, Executive Serviced Apartments (esa) Limited

I first worked with Jo during my time at Porsche where she helped to recruit some high calibre individuals for both the Retail and Head Office businesses. Each recruitment process was carried out to the highest standard with honesty and integrity. As a result of this I have remained in contact with Jo throughout my career and wherever possible have called on Jo’s expertise and skills to help me in a variety of recruitment and development assignments. Most recently I have contracted Jo to help with our Sales Excellence workshops at Twinings which consisted of set up and content of 4 development days for our sales team, running the days and providing 1-2-1 developmental feedback for each individual. This programme has been invaluable to provide all our sales employees with a detailed 12 month development plan. Great work Jo!

Bridget Marshall HR Direct, Twinings UK and Ireland