S&B Talent: A New Chapter in HR Recruitment

Two experienced recruiters. One shared approach. A new chapter for HR recruitment.

S&B Talent has been founded with a simple purpose: to connect great people, present exceptional talent and offer a different kind of recruitment consultancy.

Our launch marks the beginning of an exciting new partnership between Sam Stafford and Bella Mestrinho, bringing together decades of combined recruitment and HR experience, deep sector knowledge and, importantly, a shared belief that recruitment should be built around people and relationships — not simply numbers.

For both of us, this is a new chapter built on a long-standing professional relationship and personal friendship. We first worked together more than ten years ago and have remained connected ever since. Having each established our own careers and networks within the HR recruitment market, coming back together felt like a natural next step.

Experience you can trust

We know from experience that finding a genuine recruitment partner can be difficult. The market can be transactional, with an emphasis on volume and placements rather than understanding the people, teams and businesses behind each brief.

We wanted to do things differently.

At S&B Talent, we take the time to listen, understand and build relationships. Whether we are supporting a client looking to strengthen their HR function or a candidate considering their next career move, we believe the same principles apply: honesty, care, expertise and trust.

Our combined experience gives us a particularly strong understanding of HR recruitment within the legal sector, where Bella’s background as an HR professional within City law firms brings an invaluable understanding of how HR functions operate from the inside. Alongside this, Sam brings extensive recruitment experience across legal and wider professional services, with a background in law having completed a GDL and working in firms.

Together, we offer both the specialist knowledge and market insight needed to understand not just what a business is looking for, but why.

More than recruitment

For us, recruitment has always been about much more than filling a vacancy.

Over the years, we have had the privilege of supporting people through multiple stages of their careers, often working with the same candidates and clients time and again. Those long-standing relationships are something we value enormously.

We take the time to understand the detail: the culture of a business, the dynamics of a team, the ambitions of a candidate and the realities behind a job brief. We listen, unpick and provide honest advice, whether that means refining a CV or biography, preparing for an interview, shaping a brief or helping someone navigate a more complex career decision.

And because we understand HR from both a recruitment and practitioner perspective, we can bring a depth of insight that goes beyond the traditional recruitment process.

Two women, shared values

What makes this partnership particularly exciting is that we have both built our careers around relationships and reputation.

We are established in our industry, with extensive networks built over many years, but we are also passionate about continuing to evolve and doing things differently.

For us, S&B Talent represents the opportunity to combine our individual strengths, experience and networks while creating a consultancy that reflects how we genuinely believe recruitment should be done.

Personal, thoughtful and expert.

We don’t see clients and candidates as two separate sides of a transaction. They are people, and both deserve the same level of care, attention and professionalism.

That is the foundation of S&B Talent — and we are incredibly excited about what comes next.