Signature Recruitment is a recruitment consultancy based in London. It is female-led and owned, set up by Evelin Zauchner and her business partner, Sharon Alred, in 2010. They are a small business and specialise in business support and recruitment into education.

We spoke to Evelin about what it meant to win the award.

Mentoring students through job hunting

Evelin and her team won the Heart of the City Dragon Award, which celebrates companies that have started to work on CSR, responsible business and social impact in the past three years. Signature won for their mentoring programme which they established in 2019.

The mentoring programme is to help students and graduates get into employment and they started it after the students told them the career support at university was theoretical, so they weren’t learning things like how to write a CV and cover letter, and how to answer interview questions.

So, Signature partnered with mentoring departments at the University of East London and the University of Westminster to help students feel ready for work when they graduate. Most of the students they work with are from less advantaged backgrounds or are the first generation in their families to go to university who are less likely to have access to networks and work experience.

Together with the universities, Signature runs workshops, one-to-one mentoring and online Q&A sessions giving practical advice to help recent graduates get placements, internships and jobs.

Winning a Dragon Award

Signature applied for the 2020 Dragon Awards (which took place online in 2021) and were a runner up. In 2022, they tried again. They say they are cautious about which awards they apply for, as they want to be recognised for the positive impact they are having rather than the more traditional awards in the recruitment industry. In the company’s thirteen years, the only awards they’ve applied for are the Dragon Awards.

Because they’d missed out at the 2021 ceremony, the Signature team were expecting the same in 2022. So when it was announced on the night that they had won, they were thrilled. Evelin said “the team were really excited that they made a difference, because they do this voluntarily. Because we’re such a small company, there’s nobody to externally validate you and say, ‘well done!’, we were quite shocked to win.”

The Signature team really enjoyed being at Mansion House on the night. It was the first time they had been to an awards ceremony, and they loved seeing all the other businesses that were shortlisted and learning about the social impact they are having. Evelin said it felt exciting for them to be in the same room as some really big organisations, such as NSPCC and Morgan Stanley, being recognised for the volunteering Signature does.

Small businesses having a big impact

For Evelin, small businesses having a positive impact on society is really important. She believes that smaller businesses have difficulty putting time aside for social value, but when they do, it makes a real difference, not only to the communities they are supporting, but also to the business itself.

Signature has found that winning this award has boosted morale in the team and helped differentiate themselves from other recruitment companies – and they even made a connection at the ceremony to expand their mentoring programme to another university.

Advice for Dragon Awards hopefuls

When asked what she would say to other small businesses entering the Dragon Awards in 2023, Evelin’s biggest advice is to enjoy the process. She said that the winning is the cherry on the cake, but all the work you put into the social value activity you’re applying for, is the most important part.

“The true value of the Dragon Awards is what you get out of actually doing the work to make that positive impact”, said Evelin, “to any SME considering applying, I would say go for it, because you can’t really quantify what you get back in goodwill.”