Friendly UK recruitment for people who would rather not be a number.
Mon-Fri 8.30am-6pmUK-wide
Recruitment, but make it friendly

The bit of the job market that still feels human.

We are a small UK recruitment desk that places permanent staff into office, finance, marketing, HR, commercial and operations roles. We talk like people. We listen properly. We do not ghost.

Quick numbers

How a Wote Street brief works.

First callSame day
Shortlist3-5 humans
Average time-to-shortlist6 working days
Replacement cover12 weeks
Per clientOne named contact
4.4★
Google rating
25
Reviews and counting
6 days
Average time-to-shortlist
12 wks
Replacement cover
Three things we will not budge on

Recruitment for people who would rather it didn't feel like recruitment.

We are not the loudest desk in the market and we do not want to be. We just want every person we talk to, on either side, to come away feeling like the conversation was worth having.

1

Real conversations.

No CV-spamming. We pick up the phone, we ask the awkward questions, and we tell people the truth about whether the role is right for them - even when it costs us a placement.

2

One named person.

The person you book the chat with is the person who will run your search end-to-end. No researcher in the next room. No handover when you sign the contract.

3

We will not ghost.

Every applicant gets a reply, even if it is a polite no. Every client gets a Friday update, even if the update is "still searching, here is why." The bar is just basic respect.

Eight specialisms, one desk

The kinds of roles we run searches for.

Mostly permanent, mostly mid-to-senior, mostly the roles where you would rather get the right person in eight weeks than someone passable in two.

Office & Administration

Office managers, executive assistants, team coordinators, receptionists, facilities leads, customer service supervisors.

Finance & Accountancy

Finance managers, management accountants, finance business partners, bookkeepers, accounts payable / receivable, credit controllers, FP&A analysts.

Marketing & Comms

Marketing managers, content leads, brand managers, digital and PPC specialists, internal comms, PR and copywriters.

HR & People

HR managers, HR business partners, talent acquisition leads, L&D specialists, payroll, ER advisors, people directors.

Commercial & Sales

Sales managers, BDMs, account managers, commercial directors, customer success leads, partnership managers.

IT & Digital

IT managers, support analysts, systems administrators, digital project managers, ERP and CRM specialists, junior-to-mid developers.

Operations & Logistics

Operations managers, supply chain leads, warehouse managers, transport coordinators, inventory specialists, project coordinators.

Customer & Client Services

Customer service managers, contact-centre team leaders, service desk supervisors, client account managers, complaints specialists.

Project & Programme

Project managers, programme managers, PMO leads, business analysts, change managers, transformation leads.

How we actually feel about it

Recruitment is meant to be about humans.

We are not on a mission to revolutionise the industry, we are not building a CRM, we are not a platform. We are a few people who care a lot about whether the right person ends up in the right job, and we treat both sides of the room like grown-ups.

- The desk at Wote Street People
From the people we have placed

What clients and candidates actually say.

A handful of recent words from Google reviews. We will not pretend we are perfect, but we are pretty proud of the conversations we get to have.

★★★★★

Took the time to understand what we actually needed instead of sending CVs the next morning. Found us someone who has now been with us nearly two years.

- Operations director, Hampshire
★★★★★

The conversation felt like a real one, not a sales call. Got me into a role I would never have applied to on a job board and it has been the best move of my career.

- Finance manager, placed 2025
★★★★★

Friendly does not mean unprofessional. They were brilliantly thorough on references and right-to-work, and they kept me in the loop the whole way through.

- Head of HR, SME services

What you can expect from us

Most of the time, you will be talking to one person. They will know your business, your team, the names of the people you have hired through us before, and roughly what kind of person makes you visibly relax when they walk into the building. That is the whole offering.

We do not run sector-specialist desks because we have never wanted to. The roles we cover are the kinds of roles a friendly local agency in the south of England has been running searches for since the 1990s, plus the modern ones - digital marketing, ERP support, business analysts and so on - that have crept in since.

Who we work best with

SMEs and mid-market employers across the UK who have grown to the point where they need a hire, but do not want to be sold to. HR leads who would rather book a 30-minute call than read a 12-slide pitch deck. Founders who can describe their dream hire in a paragraph and trust someone to take it from there.

What we will not do

Pretend to be a national brand. Sell you on retained models you do not need. Send you a CV before we have spoken to the candidate. Ghost an applicant. Inflate a salary band to win the brief. Boast about how many roles we have run if you do not ask.

Want to see if we are a fit?

Book a friendly chat. No pitch deck, no commitment. Half an hour, two cups of tea, and a clear answer.

Book a chat