We're proud to announce that Stockford Recruitment has been named Best Emerging IT & Tech Recruitment Agency 2025 – Lancashire at the Corporate Vision Corporate Coaching & Recruitment Awards.

For a business that only launched in 2024, this is a milestone we're incredibly proud of.

The award recognises Stockford Recruitment's growth within the IT and technology recruitment market and, importantly for us, the approach we've taken to building the business: putting relationships, quality and long-term outcomes ahead of transactional recruitment.

Building recruitment differently

When Stockford Recruitment was launched, the ambition wasn't simply to create another recruitment agency.

We wanted to build a specialist recruitment partner that genuinely understands the businesses we work with, the people behind them and what a successful hire actually looks like.

That means going further than matching keywords on a CV to a job description.

We take the time to understand why a business is hiring, where it is going, the challenges it is facing, the dynamics of the existing team and the skills and behaviours somebody needs to succeed once they join.

For candidates, the same principle applies.

Changing jobs is a significant decision. Our responsibility is to properly understand what somebody wants from their next move and give them an honest picture of the opportunity, rather than simply trying to get another CV into a process.

That relationship-led approach was specifically highlighted by Corporate Vision, alongside our focus on acting as an extension of the organisations we support.

From Chorley to supporting growing technology businesses

Stockford Recruitment may be based in Lancashire, but our network and client base extend far beyond it.

We work with startups, scaleups and SMEs, supporting organisations with specialist recruitment across areas including Software Engineering, ERP, Data & AI, Cloud, DevOps & Infrastructure, Go-to-Market and Digital & Performance Marketing.

What has been particularly rewarding is seeing many of those initial assignments develop into long-term partnerships.

A successful placement shouldn't be the end of a recruitment relationship.

We want to understand how that person performs, how the business develops and what the next stage of growth looks like. That knowledge means that when a client hires again, we're not starting from zero.

Recognition for the journey so far

Corporate Vision described Stockford Recruitment as having experienced significant growth in a relatively short period and highlighted our hands-on approach, commitment to cultural alignment and focus on supporting ambitious growing businesses.

Founder and Managing Director Oli Stockford said:

"I'm incredibly proud of this one. When I launched Stockford Recruitment, I wanted to build a recruitment business where relationships came before transactions and where clients genuinely saw us as an extension of their team.

"We're still early in our journey, so to be recognised as the Best Emerging IT & Tech Recruitment Agency in Lancashire means a lot.

"More than anything, it's recognition of the trust our clients and candidates have put in us. Every placement, repeat assignment, recommendation and introduction has played a part in getting the business to where it is today.

"The exciting thing is that I still feel like we're only getting started."

And we made the local news...

The recognition has also been picked up by the Lancashire Post, which featured Stockford Recruitment and the award – another proud moment for a business built here in Lancashire.

It's great to see a Chorley-based recruitment business receiving recognition locally while continuing to work with growing technology companies across the UK and internationally.