Press Article from November 2006
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Already, the company is finding job roles for individuals in India, Finland, France, Cuba and Russia and is looking to open a Paris base to streamline its operation.

Thirty-four-year-old Julian Anthoney, from Derby saw a niche in the market for placing bi-lingual white collar construction professionals after working for two UK based international recruitment organisations.

He said: “We saw that in France they need good British engineers and we know in the UK they need French engineers. We put the two together, and it has mushroomed.”

But the company directors are quick to point out that pigeon French spoken by a British quantity surveyor or broken English from a French engineer just isn’t good enough.

“Not many people speak a second language well enough to make a presentation at meetings,” said Julian.

“We test the language skills. All of our consultants speak fluent French and are able to advise if it’s not quite right. The main problem is sourcing these people - there are thousands who would like to go but their language skills are not up to it.”

An invitation to interview at Wessex House for professionals lured by the French lifestyle starts with an initial telephone conversation - and that soon gives an indication if an applicant’s language skills measure up.

“Most of what we do is send British people to France but we also work for a lot of French companies who want people who speak both French and English,” said Julian.

“We have one French company building 3,000 supermarkets and a head office for an Indian Corporate Giant while another French firm is constructing the first new generation nuclear power station in Finland.”

The partners say the culture of international postings in the construction industry still exists and that globalization is now adding fuel to the fire.

They predict that London’s 2012 Olympics will see UK companies recruiting heavily and, with the current skills shortage, French engineers speaking good enough English could well fill the gap.

Business is booming for the young Eastleigh company which is looking to take on another member of staff by early summer.