An international specialist finance, banking and legal recruitment firm AP Executive is a division of AP Group which opened in 1990 and is celebrating its 25th year anniversary this month. Since its inception as a recruitment provider to financial service organisations in Guernsey, AP Executive has emerged as a leader in its field and expanded from Guernsey to Jersey, Nicosia, Limassol, London, Geneva, Zurich and Singapore, with a Cayman office to be opened in September.
The vision of the company was conceived by founder and CEO, Gina Le Prevost, a professionally qualified and experienced recruitment specialist.
Gina Le Prevost said: “Reaching this massive milestone of 25 years hasn’t been without a lot of laughter but also with many tears too along the way. For AP Group to still be operational is truly a major achievement by AP Group’s directors and staff and for that I thank them for their loyal support, hard work and having had their wits about them during the difficult economic downturn.”
Besides AP Executive, AP Group has three other divisions, namely AP GlobalEnergy (appointments in oil and gas sector), AP Personnel (junior to mid-level appointment in finance and commercial) and AP Technical (IT/Communication appointments), each providing specialist recruitment service to clients and job seekers.
With an international reputation for its efficient, friendly and reliable recruitment services to both candidates and companies across the globe, AP Executive is the only truly ‘global’ recruitment firm to have been organically grown in the Channel Islands. It is also a member of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), reflecting its commitment to high professional and ethical standards.
However, the journey over 25 years, as Gina admits, has not always been a smooth one.
“Particularly since 2008 the recruitment industry has seriously been at the coal face of major job losses caused by the worst global recession in 100 years. The recruitment industry worldwide, along with many other industries, has battled through and suffered real hardship and pain, and difficult management decisions and job losses were made in order to survive”.
Nevertheless, Gina admits that it has been a “challenging experience and a steep business learning curve”, and with the hard work put in by all the employees, and the “economic conditions improving in more jurisdictions”, AP Group is seeing job market growth once again.
AP Executive has a strong global network of top professionals and reputed companies, and offers assistance with overseas recruitment of mid to senior level candidates in wealth management, trust, family office, funds and asset management, accountancy and legal sectors. The firm boasts of a team of highly dedicated and specialised recruitment consultants, and has an impressive track record of placing candidates at all levels of finance. They deal with more than 55 jurisdictions across the world.
Looking ahead to the future, Gina said: “I hope AP Group will continue to grow and our staff will continue to enjoy their work well into the next 25 years.”
She concludes: “I have exciting plans for AP Group’s future which we hope to implement in the not too distant future. I am as enthusiastic for AP Group’s success as I was 25 years ago when the first office officially opened in Guernsey on 1 July 1990. The beauty of business is that it doesn’t stand still, and with current social media affecting the way we think and the change in retirement laws, the recruitment world is still very exciting.”
Over the 25 years, AP Group and its specialist divisions have provided bespoke recruitment service to some of the leading international companies, and helped a number of high calibre candidates achieve their career goals.