Thank you for downloading this programme. In this edition of the bottom line, Evan Davis and guests explore the ups and downs of the recruitment business.

Hello and welcome to the programme. Today, we're talking to three people whose job is to find jobs for other people. It sounds a bit circumlocutory, but they're in the business of recruitment, and a very large business it is too.

So we'll ask what they actually do and whether it really makes a difference.

My three guests represent three different segments of the business, so let's meet them all.

First up is Virginia Bottomley, who is chair of a company called Odgers-Bernston,

Virginia at the executive end, finding chief

executives principally. But we should say before that, you've had a long career in British politics.

You were in the cabinet, no less, an MP for a couple of decades. Why did you leave politics and

go into headhunting? Well, I didn't really like argument and debate, but I do like problem solving.

And after many years in government, I thought it isn't the policy of the problem. It's who's

the person who's going to wear a tin hat and make it happen. So to me, finding the key person

who's going to deliver a project is really thrilling and rewarding. But what is fascinating

is working out where is the organisation on its development?

What are its ambitions?

And what's the sort of person who can help them deliver?

Did you have a psychology background?

I did.

I was a behavioural scientist for many years.

So people always say, why is Virginia such a good headhunter?

My family say,

how did she ever survive politics at all? But I really, I passionately think that some people

feel they're oppressed by their work. They hate their work. They resentful of it. For other

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