Reed Specialist Recruitment is celebrating its 50th anniversary. From humble beginnings in a small shop in West London, Alec Reed, aged just 26 at the time, opened the first Reed office.

Little did he know then that 50 years later his name would span the globe and lead the market in specialist recruitment.

"Energy, ideas, and innovation, have been central to Reed's success over the last 50 years," a company statement said.

Reed was the first recruitment company to specialise, with the start of Reed Accountancy back in 1961, and was the first recruitment company to go online with the launch of reed.co.uk in 1995.

"Reed has always enjoyed trying new things and using entrepreneurial flare and energy to carry the company forward.

"The creation of Reed Learning in 1996 with its extensive range of training courses, was a new innovation that took Reed beyond its core recruitment specialisation and complemented the core business very well, maintaining Reed as a market leader in its field.

More recent brands have included Reed i-gaming and Reed Finance reflecting the current changes in the jobs market."

Today Reed celebrates its 50th anniversary and is led by Alec Reed's son, James Reed, who like his father shares a passion for the job and creating close working relationships with both clients and candidates.

A regular visitor to Malta, James Reed opened Malta's branch in 2007 and has taken pride in watching it go from strength to strength.

"The Reed team in Malta celebrate Reed's 50 years of success and look forward to the next 50 years with pride, enthusiasm, and anticipation," the company said.