About Reed
Reed enjoys a leading position in the UK recruitment, training and HR consultancy sector at a time when people are recognised to be the key component of any organisation's success.
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 3,000 employees and 305 branches nationwide.
In the early 1960s Reed pioneered specialist recruitment services, a move which fundamentally changed the UK recruitment market. Today, with over 20 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, featuring over 200,000 live jobs online. Over 12,000 recruiters also use reed.co.uk to post jobs on the site entirely free of charge. The integration of Reed's online and physical presence has resulted in a database of three million jobseekers registered online and through the branch network.
