Reed was founded on May 7th 1960 when Alec Reed, then aged 26, opened the first Reed branch in Hounslow, West London. He started with just £75 and worked alone for a year. Since then the company has grown organically into one of the UK's largest private businesses with over 4,000 co-members both in the UK and internationally in Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific.
In the early 1960s Reed pioneered specialist recruitment services, a move which fundamentally changed the UK recruitment market. Today, with over 30 specialist recruitment divisions, the provision of temporary and permanent staff remains a core focus for Reed. The organisation of the Reed Group into six separate operating companies has allowed Reed to expand its service offering to encompass the provision of training, HR outsourcing and Welfare to Work services.
Underpinning many of these achievements is Reed's leading position online. reed.co.uk was established in 1995 and has since become the UK’s leading commercial jobsite. Over 12,000 recruiters also use reed.co.uk and can post jobs on the site entirely free of charge. The integration of Reed's online and physical presence has resulted in a database of over 2.5 million jobseekers registered worldwide - online and through the branch network.
Reed is a specialist provider of permanent, contract, temporary and outsourced recruitment solutions, IT and HR consulting.
Assisting jobseekers and employers since 1960, Reed’s global expertise spans Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. Reed is independent, has 400 offices worldwide, employs 4,000 people and delivers a world-class service across more than 30 specialisms.
reed.co.uk is the UK's biggest jobsite and receives over 1.3 million job applications per month. Internationally, reedglobal.com enables jobseekers to search for opportunities across multiple industry sectors around the world.
Reed is passionate about the environment and in 2007 won the Sustainable City Award for Resource Conservation. Reed continues to maintain its Carbon Neutral (R) status and commitment to being Carbon Responsible