Hunter Philips is growing - what that means and who we're looking for

Growth is an easy word to throw around in recruitment.

More people. More markets. More jobs. More desks.

But headcount on its own doesn't tell you very much.

For Hunter Philips, growth is about something more specific. The renewable energy market we work in is getting bigger, more international and, in many areas, harder to recruit for. Our clients are building projects and teams across wind, solar PV, battery storage, grid infrastructure and the wider energy transition.

We need people who want to understand that market properly.

So, we're growing our own team.

And if you're considering a career with Hunter Philips, here's what that actually means.

We're growing because the market is growing

Renewable energy is no longer a relatively small corner of the global energy industry.

IRENA and the International Labour Organization reported that worldwide renewable energy employment reached 16.6 million jobs in 2024. Interestingly, employment growth slowed to 2.3% despite another record year for renewable deployment. That tells us something important about the market: more capacity does not automatically mean talent becomes easier to find.

The UK gives us another view of the same challenge.

The government's Clean Energy Jobs Plan estimates that the UK's clean energy workforce could increase from around 440,000 people in 2023 to around 860,000 by 2030. It has identified 31 priority occupations where demand and workforce constraints are expected to be particularly significant.

That includes engineers, construction professionals, technical specialists, managers and directors.

In other words, exactly the kind of people renewable energy businesses will be competing to hire.

For a recruitment business specialising in this market, that creates an opportunity. It also raises the standard.

Our job isn't simply to find more CVs.

It's to understand where the market is going, know the people operating within it and help clients make hires that matter.

What growth means at Hunter Philips

We're building Hunter Philips around a fairly simple idea: specialist recruitment works better when the people doing it genuinely understand their market.

That takes time.

A good recruiter should be able to have a credible conversation with a candidate who has spent years delivering renewable energy projects. They should understand why someone might leave one developer for another, what makes a project attractive and why two jobs carrying almost identical titles can be completely different opportunities.

The same applies on the client side.

When a business needs to appoint somebody into a critical role, they're rarely looking for a recruiter to repeat the job description back to them.

They want somebody who understands the problem they're trying to solve.

As Hunter Philips grows, we want to keep building that depth of knowledge across the renewable energy markets we serve globally.

That means bringing in people who are curious enough to learn their sector and ambitious enough to eventually become genuinely good at it.

So, who are we looking for?

There isn't one perfect Hunter Philips profile.

Recruitment experience can help. Renewable energy experience can help. Neither automatically makes somebody right for us.

We're more interested in how you think and work.

You need to be comfortable speaking to senior people. Hunter Philips works with professionals from specialist technical backgrounds through to Heads of, Directors, VPs, founders and executives.

That doesn't mean pretending you know everything.

Quite the opposite.

Some of the best conversations start with being confident enough to say: "Talk me through that."

We like people who ask good questions, listen carefully and remember the answers.

People who want to know why a battery storage developer is hiring in a particular market. Why grid expertise has suddenly become so valuable. Why an offshore wind professional might consider moving country for one project but reject another.

That curiosity eventually becomes market knowledge.

And market knowledge is what makes a recruiter useful.

You don't need to arrive as a renewable energy expert

One of the biggest misconceptions about specialist recruitment is that you need to know the industry before you can enter it.

You don't.

But you do need to want to learn it.

The clean energy workforce itself is becoming increasingly fluid. The UK government estimates that one in five UK jobs contains skills for which demand could increase in the green economy or which may require some level of reskilling. It also argues that much of the workforce required to meet future clean energy ambitions is already employed elsewhere today.

People are moving between sectors. Skills are transferring. New career paths are appearing.

Recruiters need to understand those movements too.

You might join Hunter Philips knowing very little about grid connections, BESS projects or wind development.

Six months later, we'd expect you to know considerably more.

A year later, we'd want clients and candidates to recognise that knowledge when they speak to you.

That progression matters to us.

What the job actually feels like

Recruitment is a people business, but that phrase can make the job sound easier than it is.

There are brilliant days.

A candidate you've worked with gets the job they genuinely wanted. A client trusts you with another important hire. Someone you've known for years rings you before they go to market because they value your opinion.

Those moments are difficult to beat.

There are frustrating days too.

People change their minds. Projects get delayed. Hiring plans disappear. Candidates accept counteroffers. Someone you've been trying to reach for two weeks finally calls you back at precisely the moment you've stepped away from your phone.

That's recruitment.

We're looking for people who can handle both sides of it.

People with enough drive to keep going, but enough judgement not to turn every conversation into a sales pitch.

Expert Thoughts

Philip Cottam, Managing Partner - Executive Search and Founder at Hunter Philips, says the company's growth is about building a team that can develop genuine expertise in renewable energy, rather than simply increasing headcount.

"As Hunter Philips grows, the most important thing for us is making sure we keep the qualities that have got us here. We want people who are curious about the renewable energy market, who enjoy building relationships and who genuinely want to become experts in what they do. You don't need to walk through the door knowing everything about wind, solar, storage or grid. What matters is having the appetite to learn. The strongest recruiters I've worked with are the ones who ask good questions, listen to the answers and gradually build a level of market knowledge that clients and candidates really value. We're ambitious about where Hunter Philips can go, and that creates opportunities for people joining us now. But growth for us isn't about filling desks. It's about finding good people, developing them properly and allowing them to build a career alongside the business. If you're driven, personable and interested in becoming genuinely good at your market, that's the kind of person we want to speak to."

The people who tend to do well here

The people we think will thrive at Hunter Philips are ambitious without needing to shout about it.

They're interested in building something over time.

They like talking to people, but they're also comfortable doing the research behind those conversations. They care about getting details right. They can take feedback. They can work independently without disappearing into their own world.

Most importantly, they understand that reputation compounds.

Every conversation with a candidate matters.

Every introduction to a client matters.

Every promise you make and either keep or don't keep matters.

Recruitment is a surprisingly small world once you've worked in a specialist market for a few years.

Renewable energy is no different.

We want people who understand the value of becoming somebody that clients and candidates trust.

Where could joining now take you?

That's partly up to you.

As Hunter Philips expands, there will be opportunities to develop deeper expertise, build markets, take on more responsibility and grow with the business.

We're interested in people who can see beyond their next placement or their next quarter.

The renewable energy sector itself is being built for the long term. Governments, developers, investors, utilities, manufacturers and contractors are trying to assemble the workforce required to deliver an enormous pipeline of infrastructure.

In the UK alone, the government's projections suggest clean energy could support around 860,000 jobs by 2030.

Behind those numbers are thousands of hiring decisions.

Thousands of careers.

And thousands of conversations that need to happen between the right people.

That's where we come in.

Interested in growing with us?

Hunter Philips is growing, but we're not interested in getting bigger simply for the sake of saying we're bigger.

We want to build a team known for understanding renewable energy and being good at recruitment.

Straightforward as that.

So, if you're ambitious, curious, comfortable speaking to people and interested in building genuine expertise in one of the world's most important industries, we'd like to hear from you.

You don't need to know everything about renewable energy on day one.

You do need to want to learn.

Speak to Hunter Philips about joining our growing team.