R&A Education
- Client Name: Tommy Bird
- Sector: Education
- Inception: June 2025
- Isotope Partnership: Traditional
Success Story
Xenial Consulting was the physical by-product of the ambitious dup of Tash’ & Tiggs who founded this agency in the middle of 2022 after over 25 years of collective experience within the market. Having worked together & against one another in agency environments for the years prior, the idea of starting their own agency was something that they’d always thought about – albeit, independent of one another. & it was only over the 6-12 months leading up to the inception of Xenial, that they’d started to think about the prospect of working together. A successful stint at their penultimate employer – which was a new branch for an established business – where they took the branch by the horns & really drove it’s success together, made two things clear. (1) They could do this for themselves (2) they’d really enjoy doing that, together. This is their story.
Client Name: Tiggs Tibbenham & Natasha Bosquet
Company Name: Xenial Consulting
Sector: Accountancy & Finance
Inception: July 2022
Isotope Partnership: Equity
Looking Back
Why do you want to start your own recruitment agency?
Yes, you. The reader of this case study on the Isotope website. Why do you want to start your own recruitment agency, similar to the business that Tiggs & Tash are building?
The answer is often rooted in the professional reasons – the opportunity to retain more of your billings, the opportunity to work with clients in the manner that you see fit (not the manner your employer may dictate), the opportunity to spend more time exploring other ways to work with clients (contingency is great, but why not explore retained, RPO, RAAS & TAAS services that can better set your agency apart from the rest). All professional reasons that Tiggs & Tash felt strongly about when they launched Xenial, don’t get us wrong – but that was not the primary driver for them.
You see for this duo it was about what running their own agency would give them on a personal level. & the answer to that was different for both of them.
Both had worked in the A&F market for a long time, they knew the market & felt confident that they could very easily continue working for their then employer & have a good life. Not to say it was easy (when ever is recruitment?) but it was clear – the desk was growing, the branch was developing & they could see the next 5-10 years & how that would map out in that current agency.
& it was that that really made them stop & think about what they wanted in the next 5-10 years. Both had personal goals they wanted to achieve, both had friends & family they wanted to make proud & both had a point to prove to themselves about what a good agency could look like.
This was something that was very evident from the first conversations we had with Tiggs & Tash about their goals & ambitions for their agency – to build a business that provided for them on not only a professional level but a personal level. Why? Because they knew that if personally the business provided that they wanted, everything else would take care of itself.
In July 2022 that journey started.
Support Areas
We have been so lucky over the years to work with so many agencies across the A&F market & while all require a slightly different approach, a slightly different manner – we understand the foundations that are required to support a business like this. Adding that personal touch is, well, the fun bit!… With that in mind, here are just some of the areas of support Isotope are lucky enough to work with Xenial Consulting across:
Visual
Logo Design
Business Cards
Compliment Slips
Letterhead
Social Media Banners
Email Signature
Website
Xenial Consulting
Here are just some of the landmarks Xenial Consulting have enjoyed since opening their doors.
Dual offering
perm & temp solutions
Record year 1 billings
targets exceeded
Varied offerings
contingency, retained, RAAS
Visual
Good to Know
There’s logic in the name. Xen-what? Xenial Consulting; there was never a plan b when it came to what the name for this brand new agency was going to be. Xenial is a Greek word best describing the act of hospitality, an act of service ensuring that all parties get what they want from an event – both the host & guest. So in the world of recruitment, Xenial ensures that all parties get what they want – the candidate gets the role that’s best suited for them & the client, the right team member. & the agency? Well, a nice fee wouldn’t go a miss!
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Isotope
Commentary
So when we first talking to a duo about what they’re looking to do in their own agency, more often than not Isotope will start by talking with both recruiters separately. The hope here is to have an opportunity to have a real undiluted conversation with both about what they were looking to do, why now & what success in that business looked like. In the hope that we can ensure that, as a team, they were on the same page around what they were looking for from their own agency because history had shown us that was one of the trickiest aspects to master when working with duos. Ensuring that both recruiters wanted the same from this new agency & we could support them in that journey. But from speaking to Tiggs about he was looking to do & then Tash’ about what she looking to achieve – it was clear they weren’t only on the same page on the same line!
Max Jones - Director, Isotope Capital