Helen Sanders

Every bad hire costs you £50-100K and 6 months you can't get back. I've spent 27 years making sure that doesn't happen.

My unusual journey started as the BBC's first female football commentator in 1997. While breaking barriers in the commentary box, I noticed something crucial: the teams that won weren't necessarily the ones with the most talented players. They were the ones where people just clicked.

That insight became the foundation of everything I do at HFBAC.

HFBAC = Hiring For and Building Awesome Companies (pronounced "Half-back")

WHY CLIENTS STAY:
Most recruiters disappear after the invoice clears. I don't.

13 companies I've worked with for 3+ years. 
11 more who've hired through me multiple times over 5+ years. 

Two partnerships spanning over a decade - including one where I've been their embedded Talent Partner for 10+ years.

My favourite success story? A US tech start-up company asked me to help build their UK team. I hired their second employee. Today they're 80+ people across both countries.

That's Chemistry First in action.

WHAT I DO NOW:
- Fractional Talent Partner: Your embedded Head of Talent - without the £80k salary. Hiring strategy, full-cycle recruiting, candidate experience. For growing teams of 15-100 who need serious talent capability without a full-time hire.

- Starter Retainer Monthly strategy: The bridge between DIY hiring and full talent support. For bootstrapped teams of 5-20 scaling fast.

- Project Hiring: Chemistry First methodology for critical hires - first hires, leadership, founding team roles.

I work with founders in the UK and US. British-American dual citizen who understands both markets from the inside.

WHY "CHEMISTRY FIRST"?

Chemistry matters more than credentials. Every time.

46% of hires fail within 18 months. 89% of those failures? Not skills - chemistry. 
That's why I test for values alignment and team dynamics BEFORE anything else.
Result: 90%+ success rate.

12-month replacement guarantee. Most recruiters give you 3 months. I give you a year.

WHAT DRIVES ME:

In 2008, my 3-year-old son was diagnosed with cancer.

Watching him fight - and win - taught me what really matters when pressure's on. 

People who show up for each other. People who refuse to give up on the team.

He's thriving today. 

Now I'm raising £1 million for Young Lives vs Cancer. A portion of every HFBAC engagement supports families facing the same fight.

When you work with me, you're not just building your team - you're part of something bigger.

LET'S CONNECT:
Growing a team? Let's talk → hfbac.com

Recruitment Strategic Partner | SME Recruitment Growth Specialist | CEO

There is an easier way to recruit and nurture new staff. Your People Partners can do it for you.

As a business owner responsible for every aspect of your company, knowing how to save time and money hiring your next member of staff is rather useful!

Would you love an easy, cost effective and efficient service to help you spend more time on the business and not just in it as you go about recruiting your next member of staff?

Good news.

You don't need to use a recruiter in the traditional sense.

I am Helen Sanders. And I head up a talented team of talent acquisition specialists who are Your People Partners.

You can use my 22 years (!) recruitment expertise in helping business owners like you to save time, save money, cut the risk of poor hires and remove the stress of the recruitment process.

Did I mention we are not an 'agency'?

If we work together, we're partners. We work together to make sure you hire well and your team can grow to meet your vision and better support your clients/customers.

Done-With-You:
We stand by you, jump in when you need, we guide and do the bits you cannot do, and you learn how to be really awesome at hiring. No, we're not trying to make you into a recruiter. Being a business owner who hires well can make or break your business. 

Done-As-You:
We are your in-house team. We ensure all people in touch with your company have an awesome experience of you, the business owner as well as your company. Given our partners (companies like yours) are between 3 and 50 staff, we know that you're competing for the talent you need.

All this for the same cost, or sometimes less, than a 'normal' recruitment agency.

Call me now on 0117 290 0208 for a chat about how we can take the stress out of your next hire, as well as support your growing team with all things 'people' and talent-related.

Turning digital presence into a brand-boosting, money-making machine!

I help established service businesses get more clients from your website.

If your website looks professional but enquiries are random (or zero), it’s usually because three things aren’t set up properly:

👉 Message: the right people don’t instantly see “this is for me”
👉 Conversion: your pages don’t make the next step obvious and easy
👉 System: leads slip through cracks because tracking and follow-up are missing

We fix those three things in order so your website becomes a predictable enquiry channel, not a brochure.

Here are a few recent results:

✅ A UK law firm: 0 to 60+ enquiries per month, ranking for 1,134 keywords, grew from 1 office to 5 (under 10 staff to 30+).

✅ A multi-location barber brand: 166 to 1,696 bookings per month (700% growth) with £0 ad spend, plus 47,642 total bookings tracked over time.

✅ A local therapy practice: from no visibility to page 1 on Google, generating 6 to 8 enquiries per month with £0 ad spend.

✅ A video agency: grew keywords from 1,248 to 2,090, producing 5 to 15+ enquiries per month, plus Google Ads at £8.34 per conversion.

If you want a simple 90-day plan for your website, book a More Clients From Your Website Call. You’ll see what’s leaking enquiries, what to fix first, and the fastest wins.

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Helen Sanders

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