About us

We recognise talent and how to resource it. We know “what good looks like” and understand workplace behaviours & practices. Established in 1998, we are recruitment specialists with a proven background in providing recruitment solutions within legal and professional services.

Hear about us

The Harcourt Matthews Story

Established in 1998 by a husband and wife team with a focus on clear, honest and helpful communication to each and every applicant, Harcourt Matthews quickly grew its reputation in London and the Home Counties as a true industry expert in the qualified finance and accounting arena.

Successful and enjoyable recruitment in additional functions such as HR; IT and Project Management as well as expansion into new countries

Continued expansion into new sectors allowed founders to retire and two of its longest serving consultants to take over and continue to evolve the business as the recruitment landscape changes.

1998

Year established
4

Number of Recruiters
1 in 2

Job Fill Rate

OUR MILESTONES

Harcourt Matthews History

1998
2003
2010
2017
2020

New Beginnings

Harcourt Matthews is established by husband & wife team Guy Matthews & Helen Shearman in their front room after 20+ years working for large recruitment corporations. Under the strapline of "Recruiting Intelligence", Harcourt Matthews was set up with a focus on communication and a consultative approach - something that still remains integral today.

Key Growth & New Hires

Having partnered with Harcourt Matthews on a large scale recruitment project whilst at a local competitor, Heather Allen is headhunted to launch the local market desk. This develops rapidly and Heather recruits a team of 4 consultants.Mark Ostrowski joins as part of the newly created Temps and Contracts Division. After successful development of this area, he then moves to focus on part-qualified finance followed by qualified and C-Suite hires.

Global Reach

Harcourt Matthews is retained for their first ever hire outside of the UK. This would see continued recruitment across Europe, US, South America, Asia and Australia over the next few years as Harcourt Matthews was often retained to support companies as they expanded into new territories and needed a recruitment partner who understood the importance of their working cultures & environments.

Legal Operations & Legal Project Management Division Established

A Leading Magic Circle Law firm retained Harcourt Matthews to hire their newly established Legal Project Management function this was one of the first London based LPM teams and market-defining at the time. A successful roll-out of this new function led to the creation of a new Legal Operations & LPM division at Harcourt Matthews spear-headed by Heather Allen.

MBO & A New Era

After furloughing all Harcourt Matthews staff on full pay for 6 months, husband & wife founders Helen Shearman and Guy Matthews retire and an MBO sees long-standing employees Heather Allen and Mark Ostrowski take ownership with an initial remit to rebuild after the huge impacts of Covid-19.

Get in touch

Working for Harcourt Matthews

Do you want to leverage your recruitment career in a small boutique firm with a global client base? Contact us to enquire about our vacancies.

Work for us

Step One
Every CV application is reviewed by an experienced consultant
Step Two
Short listed candidates are thoroughly interviewed by the hiring consultant either by phone, video call or in person. We provide detailed insight on the role, opportunity and business.
Step Three
Feedback is very important to us. All candidates are provided with feedback throughout the process. Everyone has a thorough telephone briefing before any interview.
Step Four
Every consultant is able to support throughout the offer process to help candidates make the right decision for their own career journey. We also keep in touch throughout onboarding and probation period.