Once upon a time, in a land far, far away (otherwise known as Sleaford) a company was born in a small office above Gohill’s Chemist shop. That company was FMC Global Talent…

…well, almost.

Like a butterfly starting its life as a chrysalis, in 1988 FMC began its life under a few other names. It’s come a long way over the years.

A timeline of FMC

1988 – Steve McCracken starts a business which will become the FMC we know today. As a reaction to the restraints of corporate life and with a dream of buying a Jaguar (the car not the cat!)

1998 – Iain, Steve’s son, is a fresh-faced graduate working long hours in a corporate London Job. Here he meets Dave (aka ‘Tie Pin’ due to an unfortunate sartorial choice on his first day), Chris and James. The rest, as they say, is history!

2000 – FMC officially becomes FMC (or Fairfax Management Consultants). Following in their father’s footsteps, Steve’s sons Iain and Tim join the business…sharing the desire to create an environment with strong values and ethics, having tired of corporate life.

2001 –Dave, Chris and James all join the troops and together they establish the first division of FMC headhunting. It’s called, you guessed it, FMC Headhunting…we hadn’t quite found our feet in creative branding yet!

2005 – Iain is appointed Managing Director. Chris and James propose opening the Bristol office, and move down to make this a reality late that year. (Gloucester services en route is now a firm FMC favourite!)

2007 – Iain goes on holiday… the recession hits (unconnected). He returns, burnt as usual, to a dramatically different economic climate. The changing landscape for recruitment was the catalyst to a move to greater specialism and the markets we are known for today.

2008 – FMC is awarded a government funded contract to launch a regional graduate recruitment business…HotProspects. The business became nationally recognised and award winning, placing over 1000 STEM graduates.

2008 onwards – Our three main markets, Software, Automotive and Meditech take shape with a focus on technical recruitment. Our innovative culture leads to service quality for candidates and clients that has a big impact in the recruitment market.

2013 – Buoyed by our success in graduate recruitment, contingent recruitment and headhunting, FMC merges its divisions to establish FMC Global Talent. From humble origins FMC successfully operates in 32 countries.

2014 to 2016 – Bursting at the seams with rapid growth the business doubles the size of both offices and gives them the ‘Changing Rooms’ treatment to reflect our innovative culture. Smeg fridges and astro turf make us feel a little more San Fran and a little less Lincoln!

2016 – FMC responds to the challenges faced by young people caused by the tuition fee crisis. We start taking on Fast Track recruiters straight from sixth form at age 18. This has proved a resounding success and we now have career streams for school leavers and graduates…even if it is making some of the business feel their age!

2017 – FMC bills more accounts than ever before! Our specialism really starts to develop into viable independent divisions. The first division to launch is FMC Meditech…more will follow.

2018 – FMC turns 30 and the FMC Smart Industry division is launched, born out of the teams experience in digital transformation recruitment!

A lot has changed, but our core values never have

As someone who has joined FMC within the last six months, the core values FMC has at its heart were clear to see straight away. There’s a distinctive feel that the company is grounded in these values. The office is filled with positive, ambitious people who encourage each other to excel, they’re all real experts in their field with specialised knowledge. A commercial and systematic approach is taken towards every vacancy… and I know that recruiters can get a bad rep, but ours are a pretty ethical bunch!

Stay tuned for more on 30th birthday celebrations and what FMC means to us!