A MOBILE workforce and the end of jobs for life are good news for Mark Stevenson.

After 20 years in the recruitment industry overseas and the North of England, he has headed south to maintain the momentum of one of the country's largest independent recruitment groups.

As operations director of Human Resource Group, with its 45 companies, 450 staff, 70 offices and £70 million turnover, he inherits an enterprise that has grown organically and by acquisition.

The more times people switch jobs, the better it is for HRG. "The job for life is gone," he says. "The mobile workforce is good news for the HR Group.”

The Wigan-born boss believes he is in an industry that has done well and will continue to do well despite a recent blip in the sector. He says the market is now moving and looking stronger. "We are perfectly positioned to go forward," he says.

Will that be by the successful acquisition and organic formula adopted by Jack Parkinson, the company chairman and son of founder Betty, who opened her first outlet in Dartford in 1959?

"We're in a position that if an acquisition comes along, we'll look at it," Mr Stevenson says. "But at this moment in time, I don't think we need to do much in terms of acquisition because we've got the strength and market reach to continue to grow organically."

A cash injection could come from a listing beyond the current Ofex, although he insists money would not be the motive for moving up a gear to AIM or a full Stock Exchange listing.

"Longer-term, we want to move to the main market," he says, "and we're not doing that to get cash."

He has little fear of being bossed about if he went for full listing.

"I don't believe you would get interference -- it's a real opportunity to open the doors to external and internal people in terms of ownership of a piece of the business."

After seeing the impact of dotcom recruitment, Mr Stevenson became operations director for TopJobs, an international online recruitment business. He was responsible for Europe, Asia, the Pacific and Australia,

On the wider recruitment front, Mr Stevenson worries about gang masters and exploited cheap labour.

His company has managed to avoid many of the dangers, thanks to a rigorous training policy and a close relationship with the Immigration service.

But he is diplomatic when asked what the Government should do about it.

"The gang master issue is an ongoing topic and a political topic to be resolved by them and not the likes of me."

HR Group is diversifying by venturing into non-recruitment enterprises such as IT, web design and ergonomics.

Mr Stevenson worked in Cheshire for the first few months of his new role before moving to Hastingleigh. A keen golfer and a fan of both codes of rugby, he is already enjoying life in the south.

"It's a great place, we're very happy here," he says.