FOR the five members of staff at Niche Recruitment in Royal Wootton Bassett it came as a complete shock when they claimed the Start Up Business of the Year Award.

The company was founded less than two years ago by Michelle Graham and Nick Wimshurst and has gone from strength to strength in that time.

They offer expertise in a number of sectors, including digital and marketing, head office and management and project and programme management, and have recently moved offices to further grow the business.

“This is a complete surprise,” said Mr Wimshurst, “we started the business two years ago and we genuinely have a passion for recruitment.

“We’re surprised by how many people here at the awards work in recruitment but we like to think we offer something unique.

“We’ve placed 150 people in jobs around Swindon and the support we have had from the start-up has been fantastic.

“Recruitment gets a bad name but we genuinely care about our customers and candidates.

“We just want to keep our feet on the ground but obviously use this opportunity to tell people who we are.”

Second in category was AAIR and third was IBP Recruitment.