HR and recruitment: the people who look after your people and bring in the next hire

HR & People VACANCIES

When someone in your organisation has a question about pay, a difficult conversation to have or a restructure to plan, they go to HR. When a role opens, they rely on recruitment to fill it. Both are hard to hire for, because the best people are usually already in a job.

Cathedral Appointments is a recruitment agency based in Exeter, with a presence in Plymouth and Taunton, recruiting for South West businesses since 1988.

Talk to Charlotte Coke on 01392 304784.

What we recruit

HR and recruitment teams are built in layers, and each layer is hard to hire for. Cathedral Appointments recruits across all of them. Payroll specialists sit with our Accountancy & Finance team.

• HR support and systems. HR administrators and coordinators, HR data and HRIS specialists, and reward and benefits analysts. The ones who keep records right and the HR function running.
• HR advisers and employee relations. HR advisers, senior HR advisers, HR officers and employee relations specialists. The first call for managers with a question, and the people who handle a difficult case.
• HR managers and business partners. HR managers, HR business partners and people partners. The ones who turn your plans for the business into plans for your people.
• Recruitment and talent acquisition. Recruitment officers, coordinators and resourcers, in-house recruiters and talent acquisition partners. The ones who bring the next hire in.
• Learning and development. L&D officers, coordinators and managers. The ones who build skills in your team.

Senior and leadership roles

HR and people leaders answer to the board and carry the hardest conversations, and Cathedral Appointments recruits them. These searches are often confidential.

• People leadership. HR directors, heads of HR, heads of people and culture, and chief people officers.
• Talent and development leadership. Heads of talent acquisition and heads of learning and development.

Talk to Charlotte Coke on 01392 304784

What’s shaping HR and recruitment hiring

Three things are shaping who employers need, and how they hire.

Employment law is adding to HR’s workload. The Employment Rights Act 2025 became law on 18 December 2025. Under the government’s timeline, statutory sick pay became payable from the first day of absence in April 2026, the time limit for tribunal claims rose from three to six months on 1 October 2026, and the qualifying period for unfair dismissal is due to fall from two years to six months from 1 January 2027. In the CIPD’s Labour Market Outlook for summer 2026, two-thirds of employers expected the Act to increase administration and compliance work.

Disputes are rising. Ministry of Justice figures show about 14,000 single employment tribunal claims received in April to June 2026, up 28% on a year earlier, and an open single-claim caseload of about 70,000, the highest in the series. Acas recorded 39,822 early conciliation cases brought by workers in January to March 2026, against 31,893 a year earlier. Employers want advisers who have handled cases like these before.

Hiring is steady but cautious. The same CIPD survey of 2,017 senior HR professionals and decision-makers, carried out in June and July 2026, found 62% of employers planning to recruit in the next three months, but a net employment balance of +9, near a record low, and 21% planning redundancies. Three in ten (31%) still had hard-to-fill vacancies, and the median expected pay award has stayed at 3% for more than two years. Many organisations are recruiting and restructuring in the same quarter, which is when HR and recruitment capacity is most stretched.

Permanent, temporary or interim

Permanent. When you want someone to grow with, we search, screen and shortlist, so you only meet people who are right for the role.

Temporary and interim. Cover for maternity leave, a busy period, an employee relations case or a change programme, [with timesheets and compliance handled].

Fixed-term. Cover for a leave or a project, with the option to keep a good person.

Who we recruit for

HR and recruitment people work in every kind of organisation. Cathedral Appointments recruits for:

• Charities and not-for-profits
• Schools, colleges and universities
• Care providers and healthcare organisations
• Law firms and professional services
• Manufacturers, engineering and marine businesses
• Housing associations and public sector bodies
• Hospitality, leisure and retail groups

How we understand the role

HR is a people job twice over: your next hire has to be good at it and right for your people. We look at both.

• We start with the role, not the title. An HR adviser can mean employee relations in one organisation and day-to-day administration in another. We agree what the job really involves before we search.
• We know the difference. Generalist, specialist, business partner: we ask which one you need and what the role has to change.
• We screen before we share. Every candidate you meet has been interviewed by us first.
• We stay with you to the start date. We advise on the offer and keep in touch with your new starter before they join.

What moves pay

Pay in HR and recruitment varies with the role and the organisation. The big factors are the level of responsibility and the size of the team, whether the role is generalist or specialist, the amount of employee relations and case experience, CIPD qualification level, the size and sector of the organisation (a charity, a school and a manufacturer pay differently), experience of HR systems, TUPE or unions, and whether the role can be hybrid. The CIPD’s summer 2026 survey found the median expected pay award has been 3% for more than two years. If you are about to advertise, ask Charlotte for a benchmark for your role.

Questions we get asked

Do we need an HR adviser or an HR business partner? An adviser handles the day-to-day: contracts, absence, employee relations and policy. A business partner works with leaders on strategy, structure and change. Many small and mid-sized organisations need an adviser first and a partner later, so we start from the work.

What qualifications should we ask for? It depends on the role. [CIPD is the usual qualification: Level 3 for HR assistants and administrators, Level 5 for advisers and officers, Level 7 for managers and business partners.] We will help you decide what to ask for and what can be learned on the job.

How is the Employment Rights Act changing the HR hire we need? The changes land first on absence, flexible working, dismissal and redundancy, so ask for employee relations experience and a record of putting policy changes into practice. Tell us what your team has to handle in the next year and we’ll tell you who has done it.

Should we hire an in-house recruiter, use an agency, or bring in interim cover? If you hire regularly, an in-house recruiter or coordinator can pay for itself. If hiring comes in bursts, an agency is more flexible, and interim cover suits a defined period such as maternity leave, a restructure or a change programme. Many organisations use a mix. Talk to Charlotte if you want a view on your own volume.

Do these roles work hybrid? Many HR and recruitment roles can be partly hybrid, though employee relations and people-facing roles often need regular time on site. If you are open to hybrid working, say so in the brief: it widens the pool of people we can approach.

Your contact

Charlotte Coke, Senior Consultant.

Charlotte leads our HR and recruitment team and works with HR leaders across Devon, Somerset & Cornwall.

Charlotte Coke: 01392 304784 | charlotte@cathedralappointments.co.uk