James Stewart

James is COO at macildowie.  He is responsible for ensuring we have effective operational procedures in place to secure the functionality of the business and assist the CEO to drive extensive and sustainable growth while supporting and enhancing Macildowie’s unique culture. He is responsible for project and programme management and procurement as well as our internal Business Support, Administration, Business Systems, Marketing and HR functions.

More recently James has built a new social media strategy for the business based on cutting edge practices from outside the recruitment industry.

James' aim is to ensure our operational systems and processes deliver the same kinds of quality experiences and results that our people do, optimising average revenue per head and making our business more easily scaleable.

He has over 25 years experience as a recruiter and manager of recruitment teams, as well as significant business process and system change experience.

James joined Macildowie in 1995 not long after the business was started. He progressed from recruiting part-qualified to senior executive appointments in finance across the Midlands. In 2002 James launched our HR Division, growing it for a number of years. In 2011 James was seconded away from recruitment for nine months to manage the selection, implementation and development of our brand new internal recruitment system.

In May 2013 James moved full time into a role as Head of Business Systems, acting as a change agent for the business, directing the development and training of our business processes and systems to most effectively support our client base. In July 2015 he was appointed to the board as Director of Business Systems and in May 2019 became Chief Operating Officer.

James' Client Testimonials

Diane Jones, Head of HR

“James is a credible and professional recruiter who is always very customer centric in his approach and adopts an honest and proactive style. He is a class apart from most in his profession.”

Dominika Nowak, Senior EMEA Recruiter

“I had the opportunity of working with James when resourcing for our HR function and found him extremely competent. James tends to ask all the relevant questions, never takes things at face value level, delivers a broad spectrum of relevant candidates to ensure he covers as many options as possible and his knowledge of the Midlands market is second to none. I would not hesitate recommending him.”

Away from work James plays guitar in a band as well as running his own recording studio.