APSCo Jo Sellick

Entrepreneur. Founder. Business expert. Advisor. Leader.

Jo has walked in the shoes of innumerable MDs and CEOs in the UK and Europe’s recruitment industry, and is one of the sector’s most passionate, progressive, and insightful leaders.

He founded one of the UK’s best and most profitable independent recruitment businesses, before selling a majority stake to an international conglomerate, and growing again before exiting.

Jo now advises and works with business leaders of all sizes to help them achieve their personal, organisational, and business objectives.

He shares his experience, strategic understanding, and very real grasp of the challenges facing today’s leaders, both internally and externally, in the recruitment sector.

Throughout Jo’s career, he focused on the people side of the business as much as understanding the operational and commercial needs.

In particular, the importance of culture to creating high-performing teams that keep delivering for each other and for the business.

He offers business leaders an external perspective on their challenges and a sounding board outside of their existing network and echo chamber.

Throughout his career as a MD and founder Jo stayed hands-on, talking to clients, candidates, partners, as well as employees of all seniorities.

He maintains this approach today and it gives him a very broad and deep understanding of the business landscape – and the challenges - that APSCO members face.

Specialisms

• Culture and brand – attracting and retaining the right personnel, building rewarding cultures, understanding the multi-generational landscape.
• Sustainable Growth & Expansion – scaling up from small to multi-office, multi-sector and to international operations. Balancing risk, investment and profitability.
• People – training, investment, and retention
• Sale – preparing a business for sale, marketing, valuing, negotiation and completion, internal and external risk and opportunity.

Jo is a sought-after expert and commentator on the recruitment and wider economy in the North-West, where he’s based, as well as working across the UK.

Reference 1 - Heather Beattie
Investors in People 

"I’ve worked with Jo Sellick and his recruitment business from 2013 to the present day as an Investors in People practitioner, and it’s been a really positive partnership in supporting, tracking and recognising good working practices. Jo has always focused on the cultural elements of the business , enabling the company to grow steadily with branches nationwide and increasing specialisms to support their current and potential client base.

Jo is always passionate about creating the best environment for people to work and thrive, focusing on a growth mindset which enables and empowers everyone within the business to stretch boundaries and achieve to their greatest potential.

I’ve enjoyed working with him and his team and I’m confident that anyone working with him in the future will find immense value in not only his knowledge and expertise but his passion and enthusiasm for making recruitment a great place to be."

Reference 2 - Daniel Clarke
Great place to work 

 "I’ve known and admired Jo for years as an inspiring and courageous leader who’s not only built a great business but also a Great Place to Work. Through his personal commitment, drive, and the backing of his leadership team, Jo built a brilliantly positive workplace environment for all his people at Sellick Partnership.

We’ve been proud to recognise these achievements over many years. Sellick Partnership has been a UK Certified Great Place to Work for more than a decade, as well as being one of our Top-100 UK’s Best Workplaces across many different award categories and criteria including for women in business, wellbeing at work and consulting & professional services.

These are outstanding achievements and a huge testimony to Jo’s leadership."

Reference 3 - Jo Perrotta
Marmalade Marketing 

"I have known Jo for a number of years and since starting my recruitment marketing business in 2017 Jo has been an incredible support to me. 

As a person who started a business on a credit card (like my self) and remained independently owned until a successful trade sale, I have the upmost respect and gratitude to Jo for his inspiring journey. 

Throughout the years of knowing him, Jo has gifted his valuable time to offer invaluable insights and support at no cost to myself. Jo has been my biggest champion, someone who I trust implicitly and who I know cuts through the noise and offers simplistic and creative solutions. 

Being a business owner is tough, and the past few years feels like it’s the survival of the fittest but Jo’s pragmatic outlook is reassuring and helps to build confidence. 

I would highly recommend any business owner or leader working with Jo. He is the most down to earth person with the gravitas of a sale and the incredible knowledge he has gained over the past thirty years in the recruitment sector."

Reference 4 - Rob Gee
Gee Associates 

"I have known Jo Sellick for more than 16 years. I began my relationship with The Sellick Partnership in 2008 as a leadership consultant; I later became a NED and finally a part-time group director with the firm until my retirement in 2019. During this whole period Jo was the MD of The Sellick Partnership and it was my privilege to work with the board and senior leadership as an advisor on matters relating to personal leadership and to act from time to time as a mentor to Jo and his fellow executives.

I always found Jo to be a remarkably successful business leader, blending a compassionate personal style and a remarkably keen insight into the constantly changing world of recruitment. Jo is a visionary and one of the most enthusiastic and diligent senior executives I have ever worked with. (I spent almost 20 years travelling the globe as an executive fellow of several UK business schools as an expert on personal leadership.) I found Jo always willing to listen and marvelled at how he was keen to maintain, wherever possible, a one-to-one relationship with each and every member of his staff. And they loved him for it.

I often said that I would have had the confidence to place Jo and his several key executives at the head of any company and they would have made a success of any venture. But it is in recruitment that Jo has excelled – he understands exactly how recruitment works and he keeps a very close eye on all the many changes and trends that the industry has undergone. Jo also has a heart for the community and led many charity and other such interventions that The Sellick Partnership undertook from the hospice work the company supported to the business cricket league that Jo founded and enjoyed being a part of.

Finally, I would say, without hesitation, that if any recruitment business were looking for an advisor or an NED, look no further that Jo Sellick. I have met many recruitment leaders over the past 20 plus years and Jo is, by some distance, the most insightful and competent I have ever had the pleasure of knowing."

Reference 5 - Alison Humphries
Recruitment Leadership Ltd

"I was retained by Jo over 2018 to 2021 to work with Sellick Partnership on a number of important projects including an in-depth review of reward and recognition, and the design of a structured L&D program for new hires and one for experienced consultants.

Jo is a pleasure to work with. He is highly ethical in his dealings and truly demonstrates how he values long-term relationships with clients, candidates and suppliers. He is able to see the value in investment in a business, and adopts a consultative approach to management. Jo is great at building strong teams and a pleasure to work with."