Specialist recruitment firm Matrix is rapidly scaling up its Bristol operation – taking its headcount from six to 50 – to meet spiralling demand in the city’s food manufacturing industry.
Matrix, which has specialised in IT programme and project management recruitment for the past 19 years, has identified the growing demand for fresh talent in the food sector. 
It has hired specialist consultants to set up a new division and a major recruitment drive is now underway to increase the original six-strong team to a team of 50 consultants by the end of 2015.
It says demand for staff in areas such as engineering, technical, operations, HR and new product development has grown significantly over the last few years in line with the exponential growth of the industry.
Matrix managing director Nathan Arter said: “It was too good of an opportunity to miss; there was a noticeable gap in the market and we have been able to recruit consultants into the team with specialist knowledge of that industry.
“The food manufacturing industry is growing rapidly and yet the recruitment market in this area is still relatively untouched. With an increasing skills shortage and a static ageing workforce, this is the perfect time to broaden our offer and help fill these jobs with fresh, young talent.”
The company has recently moved to a larger workspace within its current offices on Queens Road, Clifton, to accommodate its ambitious growth strategy.
As well as its move into the food manufacturing market, Matrix will look to expand in other industries over the coming years with new, specialist divisions being created in line with industry demand.
Nathan and his team are on a mission to make the manufacturing division at Matrix the fastest-growing specialist team in the UK in 2015 and the largest in the UK in the next five years.
Mr Arter continued: “We are already seeing significant demand from our clients and only expect this to continue over the next few months. To help meet this growing demand, we need ambitious, target-driven people who will help drive the business in the food manufacturing industry and help us to achieve our goals by Christmas.”
Matrix prides itself on having specialist expertise in the disciplines it operates in and is looking to hire consultants that have a background in sales or recruitment to help them grow the business further. In the last three months, Matrix has employed 14 new consultants taking the total number to 20.
The company has recently been appointed to the public sector roster for G-Cloud, the framework where suppliers can offer services to the public sector on the online Digital Marketplace.
