Matt Collingwood

Managing Director

Phone number

0121 227 8200

Email address

[email protected]

Social

Our MD Matt started his first business at the tender age of 18, installing luxury marine and tropical fish tanks in large houses and hotels across the UK – he even had a couple of celebrity clients on his books!

In 1997, Matt decided to leave his ‘fishy business’ behind to see what the IT recruitment industry was all about… back then recruiters relied on pagers and fax machines, today they couldn’t do without emails, Microsoft Teams and job boards, but the core of the industry is exactly the same. Matt’s just as passionate as he was at the beginning of his recruitment career!

After 17 years working his way up the corporate recruitment ladder, earning many acknowledgments along the way, including being named Computer People’s first £1m biller, Matt started VIQU in 2014. Since then he’s volunteered as the Midlands Chair for APSCo and acted as a non-executive for a number of local recruitment companies to support them with super growth. Matt sits on the board for BID Services, a charity which supports people who are deaf, hard of hearing, visually impaired or have dual sensory loss.

In 2018, Matt co-founded the Recruitment Canaries – a network that encourages West Midlands recruitment agencies to collaborate and network together, upholding the standards and ethics of the recruitment industry.

Matt is an extreme traveller – his idea of a holiday involves hiking up Machu Picchu in torrential rain and fog so bad that he couldn’t see further than a metre in front of him, or ascending Mount Everest (granted, he did take the easy way out, and got a helicopter halfway up).

If you’d like to find out more about Matt’s background and his passion to make VIQU one of the best IT recruitment agencies in Birmingham and Southampton, why not listen to the episode of ‘The Recruitment Rollercoaster’ that Matt took part in!

Tell us more...

  • What’s the best and worst thing about your role?

  • The best thing is when we genuinely get to make a difference to a candidate or a client, or when we see recruiters doing well and progressing their careers. Worst thing is the lack of hours in the day!

  • If you weren't in IT recruitment, you'd be….

  • Growing up, I always wanted to be an airline pilot. So, I'd like to think if I wasn’t working in recruitment I'd be flying passengers around the world on an Airbus A380

  • Favourite place in the world?

  • I've been lucky enough to see lots of the world, so choosing one place is going to be very difficult. I've travelled through Mongolia and China on the trans-siberian express, visited base camp at Mount Everest and tracked Machu Picchu, but my favorite place in the world would be Brazil. I love the Amazon, the beaches, the food and the people

Matt's latest articles

individuals sitting on chairs reading about the 2024 recruitment trends

2024 Recruitment Trends To Be Aware Of

Are you curious how recruitment trends will affect your hiring in 2024? From the use of AI to headhunting and ESG initiatives, read our MD Matt Collingwood's predictions here.

Person working out how changes to IR35 will impact them on a calculator surrounded by papers.

Will Changes To IR35 Rules in 2024 Make Any Real Difference To Businesses?

Businesses face significant risk due to potential 'double taxation' of contractors. Will changes to IR35 in April 2024 encourage them to hire more contractors?

An IT contractor looking happy after reading my advice for contractors in 2024

My Advice For Contractors In 2024

Are you an IT contractor? With 26+ years of experience working in IT contract recruitment, take a look at my advice for contractors wanting to improve their work opportunities in 2024.

Meet more of the VIQU team!

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Account Manager

Adam Smith

Senior Account Manager

Nipaphorn Penlington

Recruitment Consultant