The boss of one of the county’s most successful recruitment agencies has said the key to her success was banning negativity and talking to her employees on WhatsApp.

Angela Middleton, whose firm MiddletonMurray is the largest provider of apprenticeships for 16- to 18-year- olds in London, said that creating a culture at work was vital to her firm’s growth when it began to struggle during the recession.

Staff at Mrs Middleton’s company, which has recently opened offices in Canterbury and Sandwich, communicate using mobile messenger service WhatsApp, where they share stories in a ‘mutual appreciation’ group.

Mrs Middleton said: “I hate negativity. If people have problems, I want them to think of a solution. We use WhatsApp to talk to each other. Everyone should start a WhatsApp group.”

Mrs Middleton’s book How To Get Your First Job And Build the Career You Want is published by Panoma Press and costs £12.99.