In my search for a new employer I’ve experienced the good, bad and the ugly in the world of talent management and head-hunters – in fact I’d learned to steer clear.

That said, James is a class apart from his peers. Open, honest, hard working and clear about the needs of his clients and as such he spent several hours gaining insight into me, my background, experience and capability. With this diligence he was able to match me to the perfect role and company.

I highly recommend James to any employer looking for talent or someone to lead their search.

We recently began working with James and his team to identify key talent within the Product and Sales space. We’ve been very demanding with our requirements, expectations and deadlines and James and the team have delivered over and above our expectations. They have successfully sourced and now placed a fantastic candidate against one of our hardest to fill positions within 4 weeks (a role that had been open for 6 months). I would highly recommend James and his team.

His knowledge within the Acquiring space, and the industry, along with his excellent network has bought exceptional results to our business, a fantastic partnership for our talent acquisition.

James is excellent at working out the requirements for a particular role. He is highly effective at ensuring that before a potential candidate meets a potential employer that the person will fit not just the role but also the company culture.

I would highly recommend anyone looking to recruit in the Cash Management, Transaction Banking or Cards space to speak to James.

James operates a heads above others I have worked with, always aiming to exceed expectations without necessarily setting the bar low.

I have been working with James for the first time and I have been hugely impressed with his drive, passion and attention to detail. ‘Customer service’ is easy to say but is more rarely delivered; James is a highly skilled communicator and develops strong relationships which clearly underpin his success.

I would very highly recommend James to both Corporates looking for high quality candidates and also to those of you looking for a potential way to forward your career in a difficult market.

I have known James for many years and I highly recommend his professional recruitment services. His main attributes are finding the perfect match for the business and the individual by understanding the business, the personalities and role profile. James is very knowledgeable of positions at all levels across the business and is loyal, honest and a great business partner.
I highly recommend James for all your recruitment needs.

James is quite simply the best recruiter I have worked with. He knows his clients requirements in detail and positions the role honestly and accurately ensuring not to waste anyone’s time.

James was our secret weapon during intense (almost vertical) ramp up of OYO operations in Europe.

He was instrumental in closing key positions not just across several market of Italy, Spain, France and Germany but also across different functional disciplines from general managing to sales go markting and product.

He and his team have sixth sense in hearing a true business need and then execute on research to the point that we ended up hiring amazing talent from the very first batch of recommended candidates.

His ability to move fast, constant presence and general accommodation to project’s demanding requirements made him the essential member of our team. I look forward to working with James on my next projects and in fact we already started exactly that.

We hired James to recruit a sales leader in Central Europe. James did a fantastic job of finding several strong candidates. James is a pleasure to work with, highly competent, and gave us a great outcome. We plan on using James again in the future

We engaged with Clark Smith and James to help us build a new management structure within our European business. Having previously worked with recruitment firms without great results, we found the approach of James and his team to be exemplary. Not only did they provide excellent, well qualified and great fitting candidates, but also helped us with market information, real time salary data and regular communication to ensure that we not only filled our positions but we hired the best talent in the market.

James and the Clark Smith team were excellent, great to work with and delivered outstanding results in no time at all. Would highly recommend James and his team for your recruitment needs.

James and Clark Smith have been excellent to work with. They approached me with a highly relevant and different opportunity, demonstrating understanding of the workings of both a global start-up business and the Venture Capital investors. During a logistically challenging process with many moving parts, James was extremely supportive, nurturing and well informed throughout leading to a successful hire for both the company and myself as a candidate.

Would have no hesitation is recommending James & his team to candidates looking for a new/different challenge and to businesses with global talent requirements that need solving.

James is a pleasure to work with and have working for you to achieve your goals in finding the perfect working environment. His astuteness in understanding what type of person will fit to which company is one of his major assets. He is confidence inspiring and connects on a personal level to his clients which is a rare thing in the recruitment industry. Working with James was easy, stress-free, and ultimately extremely rewarding.

I had the pleasure of working closely with James on a number of important leadership roles for OYO’s business in Europe. I was very impressed with his efficient way of working and the consistently high quality that he delivered across different geographies and business domains on some very tough searches. James is very responsive, professional, and pleasant to work with. I look forward to collaborating in the future!

I’ve known James for many years both as a client and as a candidate and have always found him to be highly responsive and pro-active. Since he founded Clark Smith, I’ve found his firm to embody these values which are rare amongst his peers. James secured me a great position with a fast growing challenger business through his extensive network, helping me through each step of the process, keeping me informed and with timely feedback to ensure a positive conclusion for all parties. Highly recommend James and his team at Clark Smith for all senior level recruitment.

James at Clark Smith helped us with a challenging senior level search recently. We started the process without a clear picture of exactly what we needed to help our business as we continued to grow. James was extremely diligent, responsive and flexible in helping us to cover skillsets from different functional areas and backgrounds to help us to pinpoint what it was that our business was missing. Once we had a clear idea, James managed the process effortlessly leading to a successful hire with minimal fuss, quickly and efficiently.

I have no hesitation in using James and his services again and would highly recommend him and Clark Smith.

We have worked with James at CS as our exclusive head hunters and recruitment agency in both EMEA and the USA for over two years now and continue to work with him and his agency . They are simply one of the best I have ever worked with in over 30 years of sales and marketing recruitment . Efficient , professional and they understand the client ! No hesitation in recommending James and his team.

For the first time in my career i recently had cause to engage with a number of headhunters to help secure my next move. James truly set himself apart from all others. He invests in a deep understand of a candidate and also the dynamics of his customers, which he uses to benefit all parties through the hiring process. This seems particularly important in the modern world in order to navigate in-depth, lengthy hiring processes, particularly in high growth organisations that are constantly evolving. Somehow, very calmly, in the end James manages to ensure the best fit for the candidate and – i do believe – the best person for the client. It has been great working with you James

I have worked with James as both a candidate and client; initially having a refreshing experience as a candidate.

James provided me with granular company and market insights with honesty and integrity making any decision i made far easier, all information proved invaluable for my early steps into my new role. As a client this also proved vital particularly when moving quickly during hiring.

I have built a fantastic relationship with James over the past couple of years and I know first hand that the incredible reputation he has built in the exec hiring space is very well deserved.