News & Events

​This September, Recruitment Consultant Rae, who specialises in commercial roles for the garden suppliers, Horticulture and Agricultural industries, was invited to New Leaf Plants Nursery. Rae hosted a discussion about recruitment needs and succession planning within this specialist sector. Whilst touring the nursery, she was able to network with a mixture of horticulture growers and garden centre professionals to not only discuss her insight from the recruitment perspective, but also to hear some of the industry challenges and gaps from the professionals. This was a crucial experience for Rae, allowing her to plant herself (no pun intended) within the sector she recruits for, to gain even more industry insight to help her clients and candidates!We caught up with Rae to find out how her visit to New Leaf Plants went and what insight she gained."Public speaking is something I haven’t done much of in my career so I thought it would be good to get out of my comfort zone. It helped that is was more of a discussion rather than me on stage giving a speech. I did it because it is important that the businesses that I recruit for understand that while I may not be a horticulture expert, I am an expert at recruiting for the horticulture industry. Another reason I did it was to hear and understand the issues in recruitment and retention that the industry is having. Getting the opportunity to sit in a room with businesses that I work with and hear what issues they are all facing helps me do my job better and provide them with people who are relevant to their business".Next StepsWhether you are a client considering your hiring options, or a candidate thinking about their next career move, get in touch with Rae to discuss your next steps!You can reach her below or by clicking here.Rae Goss | ​Rae@morepeople.co.uk | 07483 110 764 ​​

Let's take a moment to look back on last month and recap MorePeople's efforts for Movember! It was great to see so many of us getting stuck in and of course, spreading awareness of men's mental and physical health.Movember is an annual event targeted to raise money for men's health challenges such as prostate and testicular cancer, but also to highlight the impact of mental health on men. We lose 1 man to suicide every minute of every day across the globe which is an incredibly scary statistic.MorePeople wanted to help promote this incredible charity, like they do every single year, in a variety of different ways!Our ResultsThe MorePeople team managed to raise an incredible £1339! Whether it was from growing a moustache, getting your steps in, or baking for the office, it was a great effort from everyone.We wanted to give a special shoutout to Rae for not only hitting her target of moving 60km (she hit 60.5k), but Rae achieved her fundraising target of £500!Check out some of the team images below, where you can see the final moustache results from the guys, the bake sale where we consumed more sugar than humanly possible, and fun with fake moustaches!All of our efforts were to get everyone talking to break norms and spread awareness of the mental and physical health challenges men face daily. Well done to the MorePeople Team!You can see the MorePeople's Movember page by clicking here.​

​The Institute of Food Science and Technology (IFST) marked its 60th anniversary with an Autumn Conference held on October 14-15, 2024, at the University of Leeds. The event united leaders in food science, industry experts, and academics to celebrate the institute’s legacy and explore the future of food science and technology, and being a gold corporate sponsor for 2024, of course, MorePeople’s Technical team was in attendance!Pre-Conference Highlights…A pre-conference dinner was held the night prior with IFST President Stirling Crew opening the evening with a warm welcome, emphasising the importance of collaboration and innovation in the sector.Professor Gleb Yakubov, a leading expert in food biopolymers at the University of Leeds, delivered a thought-provoking talk, "Food Science and Technology at Leeds - Past, Present, and Future," highlighting the university's contributions to food science advancements and its ongoing commitment to innovation.Adding to the occasion, Tom Hollands, Innovation and Technical Director at Raynor Foods was honoured as an IFST Honorary Fellow for his exceptional contributions to food innovation and sustainability.Conference Day Highlights…The main event on October 15th showcased a dynamic program addressing global challenges in food science and technology. The event attracted an engaged audience, including Technical team members, Alex Marshall and Luan Harrison, Associate Directors at MorePeople. MorePeople have a proud history of supporting the IFST and contributing to the food sector’s growth by connecting businesses with top technical talent! The IFST Autumn Conference 2024 was a fitting tribute to six decades of progress, collaboration, and innovation. It highlighted the critical role of food science in addressing global challenges while celebrating the institute’s remarkable achievements. Themes throughout the day consisted of food safety, the role of technology in the food industry – including AI – and more!Alex comments;“MorePeople and the IFST have built a really good relationship and it was great to be part of The IFST Autumn Conference 2024 and celebrate their 60th Jubilee. There were so many great and informative talks from industry professionals covering important topics including – Sustainability, Food Security and the potential of AI in Food Production. The IFST has done a fantastic job within the food science space over the past 60 years, and I look forward to working with and supporting the IFST moving forward”.MorePeople’s Technical team have attended all the IFST’s events this year, as well as being involved in Student LaunchPad events speaking with food science students on life after university and how to secure their first job in the food industry.

On Wednesday, our CEO Andrew and Sarah, specialist recruiter in the horticulture and agriculture industry, were invited to the Parliamentary Reception of the All-Party Parliamentary Gardening and Horticulture Group.As a company, we feel incredibly privileged to be invited to this reception and network with influential, industry professionals. Let's catch up with Sarah and Andrew to see how the reception went!Sarah"There were roughly 150 attendees at the reception with a number of MPs also in attendance. We saw industry leaders and experts across arboriculture, commercial nurseries, gardening and landscaping. We were introduced to the representative for Food and Rural Affairs Minister Daniel Zeichner, who emphasised his eagerness to support the industry, whilst having some challenging questions thrown his way. He explained elements of the new Oxford Economics Report which values UK horticulture at £38 billion annually, which could rise to £51 billion with the correct government backing"."We also heard from actor Jim Carter who passionately spoke about his love for gardening, the need to nurture the industry and the people who will continue to help the industry thrive"."After reading through the Oxford Economics report, I was fascinated to see that in 2023, the government reported that 417,000 people were employed by the UK horticulture industry, with over half of these being in landscape services".Andrew"I often feel in a privileged position at MorePeople in the sense that we get exposure to great people and superb events. The trip to parliament was no exception"."In speaking with a broad range of extremely engaged and passionate horticultural professionals, it was clear that people from lots of (often competing) businesses are pulling together for the betterment of the industry. The opportunity to speak to many influential people and MPs to help drive the Horti agenda felt productive and it’s nice to see lots of views align. The litmus test will be as to whether the government can give it the attention and the boost it needs".Want to discuss your next career steps within the horticulture or agriculture industry?Schedule a chat with Sarah by clicking here.​ 

​To celebrate the dedication and achievements of those in the garden retail sector, The GIMA Awards are hosted yearly and are described as the ‘most prestigious industry event of the year’. This year, MorePeople had the privilege of sponsoring the awards. CEO Andrew and Senior Recruitment Consultant Brian who specialises in commercial roles for the garden suppliers, horticulture and agriculture sectors attended.The impressive judging panel consisted of names such as Blue Diamond's Alan Roper, GTN's Trevor Pfeiffer and many more. We caught up with Brian to understand more about the GIMA Awards and MorePeople’s involvement.“The GIMA Awards were hosted at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, South Wales. MorePeople sponsored the raffle where we chose 4 winners with a range of prizes"."I think there are clear, underlying themes of it being a difficult year within garden retail due to a range of issues, from the weather, retail sales and economic challenges. Despite this, it was great to see a variety of successes at the show, impressive innovation and exciting new products in the sector across many categories. As always, it is a great event to network with some truly talented individuals at a great venue, led by the amazing Tom Allen… I’m already looking forward to the next event!” Looking for your next commercial role in the horticulture, agriculture or garden supplier industry? Get in touch with Brian and Rae who are specialists in this sector.Click below to get in touch. Brian - brian@morepeople.co.ukRae - rae@morepeople.co.ukWant to see the winners of the GIMA Awards? Click here

We are sponsoring!Back by popular demand, Garden Trade News (GTN) is hosting The Great Christmas Awards of 2024! This is a chance for customers to vote for the Greatest Garden Centre Team out of 120 Garden Centres who have applied. Last year a remarkable 19,000 votes were counted and judges will start their visits to the garden centres to analyse the competition in the upcoming days. Gates, Rutland Nursery and a selection of Blue Diamond Garden Centres are amongst many of the contestants and it features garden centres both locally and across the UK.The Greatest Christmas Awards have various categories to best recognise each department, and MorePeople are privileged to be sponsoring The Greatest Large Garden Centre Christmas Team. Other categories span from Christmas gift teams to outdoor plant and Christmas tree teams. Lastly, there will be the overall and regional winners as voted for by customers. These categories will also be grouped depending on the size of the garden centres.When will the winner be announced?The judges will be meeting in early January to decide the winners. The winners will then be announced on the stage at Spring Fair, Hall 2 at the NEC, Monday 3rd February 2025 at 5 pm.Head over to the GTN website to hear more & to place your vote!Interested in finding your next job within the garden centre industry?Click here to see our vacancies and chat with the team!