At 28, Josh Powell has achieved a lot at a young age.

Now the director of his own firm, Joshua Robert Recruitment, he started off at an accountancy and financial advisory when he left school at 16, before joining a nationwide recruitment firm and becoming the youngest director in the country at just 25.

At the end of 2017, Josh, who is from Droitwich, decided to set up his own firm, saying: “Around that time there was an option to create a specialist property recruitment company because I didn’t see a clear market leader or anybody offering anything different in this sector.

“It was a real gamble and even though I had the expertise to be able to do it, it was terrifying being responsible for setting up the business on my own at my kitchen table. I had to beg and borrow to raise the capital and it was a big lifestyle change, but ultimately I knew the sacrifices would be worth it.”

Since then, Joshua Robert Recruitment has grown and, after starting with a Worcester office, now has one in Birmingham too, and Josh says a large part of the firm’s success has been a candidate- focused approach.

“It is very much about building long-term relationships with our candidates so that once we have helped them, they come back to us because we really emphasise finding them a job they enjoy," he said. "We want to support their growth throughout their entire careers, not just earn a quick buck. You have to put yourself in their shoes and think ‘would I like to get up every day and do that job?’ and that means you can really make sure you are finding someone a role which is right for them.”

Josh has big plans to expand this year, including doubling the firm’s current number of staff from six to 12. He said: “I am really lucky that the team I have here are highly skilled and each have many years of experience operating in their sectors. Even though most of our business currently is within Worcestershire and the Midlands, we are dreaming big.”