Our story

In 2006, Deborah O’Sullivan was co-Chair of the school PTA and hosting a committee meeting in her home. As the session unfolded it became apparent how talented the bunch of people sitting around the table were. As they talked about their families and their careers, the stories that emerged were the same that can be heard in playgrounds and dinner parties up and down the country.

They’d like to work. They had a huge amount to give but there were very few rewarding professional jobs that offered the flexibility they needed in their lives. Further research showed this frustration was likely to extend in the future as more fathers care for children, people care for elderly parents and more people opt out of full-time employment for more flexibility in their lives after a successful and busy career.

Deborah, her husband John and a small team talked to local businesses that were growing and thriving but struggling to find good people or couldn’t risk the investment in high full-time salaries to grow their business. The more established businesses said they often didn’t need the full 40 hours a week and the costs of a skilled professional. Part-time professionals were the answer and the solution was right around the corner.

So our story began. Ten2Two was launched in April 2007 as a flexible recruitment agency, exclusively specialising in professional part-time, remote and flexible jobs. The difference being that we could reach out to companies in local communities, bringing together growing businesses and local professionals; both seeking the benefits of flexibility and looking for each other.

The team set about building a registered community of experienced professionals seeking rewarding, local part-time or flexible roles and quickly attracted a wonderful pool of talented people seeking jobs but frustrated with the lack of quality professional roles and employers’ inflexibility. Clients followed, appreciating the higher levels of experience and capabilities than they thought they could afford and welcoming the expertise and support the Ten2Two team offered.

In the last couple of years the team has seen attitudes towards professional part-time and flexible roles starting to change. Instead of viewing flexibility simple as an employee benefit, businesses started to see the economic advantages – affordability without compromise.

Today, Ten2Two serves local communities of professionals and businesses across London and the south of England through committed, expert teams attracted to Ten2Two not just because they saw the business opportunity but because they’d been there. They had been mums wondering how they could restart their career and employers who struggled to find good people. They’ve all marvelled at the sheer quality of people that local businesses are missing out on (really!) and welcomed the support they’ve had from their local communities.

Andrea, Kirsteen, Louise, Carol-Anne, Emma, Jane, Deborah, Chloe and Jo all help businesses grow and change people’s lives every week. It’s more than recruitment. It’s more than being a local business.

Ten2Two hopes to continue to grow, helping more people and more businesses and spreading the flexibility message.

Deborah O’Sullivan