Jim Sykes

Jim Sykes

Chief Operating Officer


About me

Jim is responsible for our global teams within Client Operations.  Jim is passionate about talent acquisition, talent development and talent retention and is seen as a thought leader on all things talent.  

Jim has c. 25 years’ experience in talent acquisition and holds significant international experience having supported clients and managed teams on a global basis. He has been with AMS for more than fifteen years and in his time with the company has led a number of our largest client solutions including HP, GE and Santander before moving to a sector leadership role in 2014 and into his current role in 2023.

Coming to the company following five successful years with a global staffing provider where latterly he worked as part of their EMEA International Accounts team, Jim joined AMS to both broaden and deepen his expertise across the Talent agenda. He took on his role as an opportunity to work with some of the most inspiring clients possible and to work with and learn from the best talent in the industry within AMS.

Jim's Posts


24 February, 2025 03:10 (GMT) | By Jim Sykes

The Emerging Trends Shaping Talent Acquisition in 2025

Talent acquisition (TA) is in an era of rapid change, certainly the fastest that I’ve known within my 25 year…

29 June, 2023 11:05 (BST) | By Jim Sykes

Time to hire now averages 43 days and is increasing

At AMS we're proud to be partnering with the Josh Bersin Company to produce a new series of quarterly reports…

13 April, 2023 08:03 (BST) | By Jim Sykes

Exclusive Upcoming Research – The Talent Climate

It has been a remarkable few years for those of us working in Talent Acquisition (TA), without doubt the most…

29 March, 2023 02:22 (BST) | By Jim Sykes

Strategic influencers: Talent acquisition’s time to lead on addressing global skills gaps

2023 is set to be the year of the ‘job full recession’ - an economic slowdown where we see declining…

28 March, 2023 08:40 (BST) | By Jim Sykes

Boomerang employees now account for >25% of hires

For this article I wanted to share some fascinating new data on the importance of Boomerang hires, employees that have…

16 March, 2023 05:11 (GMT) | By Jim Sykes

An economic slowdown won’t make hiring any easier

If 2022 was a year of bullishness for companies and peak hiring volumes for Talent Acquisition (TA) functions, 2023 is…

28 February, 2023 03:27 (GMT) | By Jim Sykes

Talent is our world

I’ve now been in my new role within AMS for a month and I thought I would share some thoughts…

08 February, 2023 10:42 (GMT) | By Jim Sykes

Demonstrating value in Talent Acquisition through candidate experience

I am incredibly excited to have moved to a new role within AMS where I now lead our global Client…

04 January, 2023 11:59 (GMT) | By Jim Sykes

Do passive candidates make better hires?

I had a conversation with a Talent Acquisition (TA) leader late last year that I’ve been reflecting on. The sentiment…

03 November, 2022 09:10 (GMT) | By Jim Sykes

Despite the challenging jobs market, internal hiring reduces by 4% over prior year to just 27%

This is a further article expanding upon the insight that I presented at the LEAP TA Life Sciences conference in…