Jack Johnson (2003 Leaver) – The Digital Frontier

The Digital Frontier – Hard Work Pays Off.

After leaving Merchants shortly after my GCSEs (in 2003) I finished off my studies at Lancaster Grammar before attending Lancaster University, where I graduated in 2008 in Geography.

After working for a couple of recruitment businesses I founded Blu Digital Recruitment (www.blu-digital.co.uk) in 2013. There are over 17,000 recruitment businesses in the UK and last year we were shortlisted for the Best Newcomer within recruitment.

I saw a niche in digital marketing recruitment, which was quickly becoming one of the fastest growing emerging markets.

The business was started on my kitchen table in March 2013 with no investment, then moved to a five person office shortly afterwards. At the end of last year, we moved into a 17-person office in the heart of London. We’re now recruiting and hope to have a full team by the end of this year.

Running my own business seemed like a natural step to take. Many of my family are entrepreneurs and own businesses, so it’s in the blood. We’re more pro-active than our competitors. Many recruitment firms can be very sales driven, which can compromise on the quality of candidates. On top of the usual advertising, we adopt a consultative approach to finding candidates. This means we head hunt for every role to ensure we source top-quality candidates.

When I started out I didn’t have any savings, so had to start making money straightaway. So I’ve worked seven days a week from 8am until 9pm. The only day I’ve had off in the last 12 months is Christmas day!

We’ve also been looking at having more of a global presence. Perhaps expanding to other areas which are ‘on fire’ in digital such as Australia, Berlin or Silicon Valley, but that’s the longer term plan. Our ultimate plan is to be the industry leader!

Jack Johnson

Old Boy (2003 Leaver)