Six years. One mission. And A Lot Has Happened Along the Way.
Talentheads started in Morpeth in 2020, around a kitchen table, with a simple mission: to build brilliant teams that power businesses and communities by doing recruitment differently. Founded by Sam Spoors, who brought more than two decades of recruitment and talent acquisition experience, Talentheads was created from a belief that there had to be a better way for businesses to access recruitment expertise without relying on the traditional agency model.
Six years on, that mission hasn’t changed. What has changed is the scale of what Talentheads has become. What started around a kitchen table has grown into an embedded recruitment and talent partner working with organisations across the North East, the wider UK and internationally. We work alongside businesses to recruit, retain and develop their people, becoming an extension of their team rather than simply another transactional agency.
A Different Approach to Recruitment
From the beginning, Talentheads was designed to challenge the traditional recruitment model. We don’t operate as an agency, we don’t charge placement fees or commission, and we don’t measure our value by how many CVs we can send across.
Instead, we work as an outsourced internal recruitment team. We embed ourselves within our clients’ businesses, learn how they operate, understand their culture and work alongside their people. That means getting involved in the whole recruitment process, from attraction and employer brand through to candidate experience, recruitment strategy and the development of the people responsible for hiring.
It means we can look beyond the immediate vacancy and understand what the organisation needs now and what it will need next. Sometimes that means helping a business recruit at pace. Sometimes it means improving the way they attract candidates, developing their recruitment strategy or strengthening their employer proposition. Sometimes it means challenging the way things have always been done and finding a better way forward.
The aim is always the same: find great people, keep great people and develop great people.
From Morpeth to the North East, Across the UK and Internationally
Over the last six years, our work has grown far beyond where we started. We’re proud to work with businesses across the North East, supporting local organisations and helping create opportunities for people across the region, while also working with clients throughout the UK and internationally.
Our experience spans specialist sectors including hospitality, charity, professional services, technology and SaaS, manufacturing and accountancy. Over the years, that has taken us from supporting growing North East businesses to working with national organisations and supporting international recruitment. It has given us the opportunity to understand a wide range of people, cultures and business environments, while keeping the same approach at the centre of every partnership: taking the time to understand what an organisation needs and becoming a genuine extension of its team.
The organisations we’ve worked with have played a huge part in shaping Talentheads. Every partnership has brought new challenges, new opportunities to learn and new ways to make a difference. From large hospitality and leisure businesses to growing technology companies, professional services firms, manufacturers and charities, the variety of those relationships has helped us evolve while staying true to the way we believe recruitment should be done.
The Impact Behind the Work
For us, growth has never been just about how big Talentheads can become. It’s about the impact we can make along the way.
Our work has helped organisations recruit and develop their teams, create local employment opportunities, improve candidate experiences and build stronger recruitment processes. We’ve supported businesses through periods of growth and change, helped managers develop their recruitment capability and worked with organisations to think differently about how they attract and retain people.
We’re particularly proud of the role we’ve played in creating opportunities for local people. Recruitment can have a much wider impact than filling a vacancy. A new job can support an individual and their family, contribute to a local economy and help a growing business create further opportunities. That connection between recruitment, businesses and communities is a big part of why Community Driven is one of our values.
Our social value has also grown alongside the business. From supporting local sports clubs and community organisations to contributing to regional employment initiatives and supporting charitable causes, we’ve always wanted Talentheads to have a positive presence in the communities we work in.
More Than A Number
One of the ideas that has remained central to Talentheads is that there is a person behind every CV.
Our More Than A Number approach reflects the belief that recruitment should consider the person, not simply their experience on paper. People bring ambitions, values, experiences, responsibilities and aspirations to work with them, and understanding those things matters when you’re trying to create a successful long-term hire.
The same applies to businesses. Every organisation has its own culture, purpose, challenges and ambitions. That’s why we don’t believe recruitment can be reduced to a simple transaction between a vacancy and a candidate.
Good recruitment is about creating the right connection between people and organisations and then helping that relationship work for the long term.
Six years of growth, change and challenge
Building Talentheads has never been a completely straightforward journey. Starting a business in 2020 brought an obvious set of challenges, but the years since have brought plenty of their own. The recruitment market has changed significantly; businesses have faced new pressures and expectations around work have continued to evolve.
Through all of that, Talentheads has continued to adapt. We’ve grown our services, developed new partnerships, expanded our reach and continued to invest in how we work with clients. We’ve also learned a huge amount about what it takes to build a business while staying true to the principles it was founded on.
Sam’s journey has developed alongside Talentheads. From starting the business at her kitchen table, she has built a recognised North East business and a platform for sharing the realities of entrepreneurship, leadership and growth. Along the way, she has been recognised through awards including North East Chamber of Commerce Entrepreneur of the Year and the Asian Business Connexions Chairman’s Award, while Talentheads itself has received recognition for its approach to recruitment, talent and social impact.
But the awards and milestones are only part of the story. The relationships built, businesses supported, people hired and opportunities created are what really matter.
What Hasn’t Changed
A lot has changed in six years, but our values and mission haven’t.
Community Driven. Legacy Builders. Bravely Disruptive.
Being Community Driven means thinking beyond the immediate recruitment brief and considering the wider impact we can have on people, businesses and communities. Being Legacy Builders means leaving organisations stronger than we found them and building relationships that last. And being Bravely Disruptive means being willing to challenge traditional approaches and look for something better.
Those values continue to influence how we work, who we work with and the decisions we make as a business.
Thank You for Six Years
Six years of Talentheads wouldn’t have been possible without the incredible businesses, organisations and people who have supported us along the way.
We’ve been lucky enough to work with brilliant clients, candidates, partners and suppliers, and to build relationships with people across the North East, the UK and international markets. We’re grateful to everyone who has trusted us with their recruitment, their teams and their careers.
And thank you to everyone who has supported us in other ways too. Whether you’ve recommended us to someone, come along to an event, engaged with our content, followed us on social media, shared something we’ve posted or simply cheered us on from the sidelines, it has all helped.
Every conversation, introduction and show of support has played a part in getting Talentheads to where it is today.
The Talentheads team
We couldn’t have reached six years without the Talentheads team behind us. We’re incredibly proud of the team we have today, with each person bringing their own experience, expertise, strengths and perspective to the business. Together, they drive Talentheads forward, challenge us to keep improving and bring the knowledge and commitment that make our partnerships successful. Every person plays an important part in what we do, and we’re hugely grateful for the energy, ideas and expertise they bring to Talentheads every day. Six years is a milestone for the business, but it’s the team behind it that has made the journey possible.
Looking Ahead
Turning six is a chance to reflect, but it’s also a chance to look forward.
We’re still working with organisations that want to think differently about recruitment. We’re still creating opportunities for local people, supporting businesses through growth and change and investing in the communities around us. And we’re still looking for better ways to help organisations recruit, retain and develop great people.
The world of work will continue to change, and Talentheads will continue to evolve with it. But the reason we started hasn’t changed.
To build brilliant teams that power businesses and communities, by doing recruitment differently.
Six years in, we’re incredibly proud of what Talentheads has become, hugely grateful to everyone who has been part of the journey, and excited about what comes next.
hello@talentheads.co.uk | 0191 300 8688 | www.talentheads.co.uk