Launching a Brand in the UK? We Build Your Retail Teams Before You Open Your Doors

Expanding into the UK market is an exciting opportunity, but for international brands without an established UK HR team, recruitment can quickly become one of the biggest challenges. From attracting talent and managing applications to conducting assessments, ensuring compliance and coordinating offers, the process can be complex and time-consuming.

At Retail Human Resources (RHR), we provide a complete outsourced recruitment solution for brands entering the UK market. Acting as your dedicated UK recruitment partner, we can manage every stage of the hiring process, allowing you to focus on launching your business while we build your team.

A Proven Solution for International Retail Brands

We have extensive experience supporting global retailers with large-scale UK store launches. One example involved supporting American Eagle's entry into the UK market, where we successfully delivered a recruitment campaign to hire approximately 300 full-time and part-time Sales Associates across new store openings at Westfield White City, Westfield Stratford and Bluewater.

Operating as an extension of the American Eagle brand, RHR managed the entire candidate attraction and selection process, including:

End-to-End Recruitment Management

For brands with no UK recruitment infrastructure, we provide a fully managed service that can include:

Candidate Attraction

Using targeted advertising campaigns, social media promotion, university outreach programmes and our extensive retail candidate network, we generate high-quality applications for your vacancies.

Dedicated Response Handling

Every application is reviewed by experienced retail recruitment specialists against agreed criteria and competencies. We manage all candidate communications, helping to protect and enhance your employer brand from day one.

Telephone Screening and Assessment

Shortlisted candidates are professionally screened to assess their suitability, motivation and alignment with your brand values. We can then design and deliver assessment centres tailored to your specific hiring requirements.

In the American Eagle project, we successfully managed:

UK Compliance and Administration

We ensure candidates meet UK employment requirements, including Right to Work verification and reference collection, whilst managing all associated administration on your behalf.

Acting as Your UK Recruitment Team

Many international retailers enter the UK without a local HR function or recruitment team. RHR bridges this gap by becoming your dedicated UK recruitment partner. We represent your brand throughout the hiring process, answer candidate enquiries, manage applications and provide regular reporting, giving you complete visibility without the need to establish an in-house recruitment operation.

Why Choose RHR?

Whether you are opening one flagship location or launching multiple stores simultaneously, RHR has the experience, resources and infrastructure to deliver high-volume recruitment campaigns that ensure your stores open fully staffed and ready for success.