About Richard
More than 30 years spent inside all three.
Richard has spent his entire career in Built Environment recruitment; as recruiter, manager, business leader, international MD. Today he brings that breadth to Lusso: a deliberately personal practice across Search, Advisory and Transactions.
The Thread Through It All
Richard's ability to stay above the business is what makes the perspective useful: close enough to understand and retain the loyalty of people, but far enough above the day-to-day noise to see what is actually happening, and to deliver difficult messages when required.
It is a balance most leaders never hold. Either they are too close, defending decisions they can no longer see clearly, or too far removed, missing what the people closest to the work already know.
Look after the people. Understand the numbers. Don't avoid the difficult conversation.
Richard Lescott
From Graduate Trainee to International MD
Originally from Oxford, Richard moved to Cambridge to read Law. He joined Hays as a Graduate Trainee and started on Civil & Structural Engineering temporary recruitment, the ground floor of the trade.
He moved into permanent recruitment and then management on a fast track driven by results. The rest wasn't planned; it was earned, one desk, one team, one region at a time.
Graduate Trainee
Civil & Structural Engineering
He developed a new temp desk from zero to bill £50k per month in East of England.
Recruiter
Temp & Permanent Desk Recruitment
Built a technical team while managing a £40-60K desk across MEP, Architecture, Property & FM.
Manager
Teams & Offices · Multi-Sector
Built teams of up to 50 across blue & white collar, technical, public and private sectors.
Regional Leadership
Multiple UK Operations & Regions
Expanded offices across Home Counties, Thames Valley, East Anglia & Midlands, 200+ consultants.
Board-level Leader
UK Board Director · Profit Leader
Led the UK board's highest-performing business, the only one profitable through the recession.
International MD
Country MD · European Turnaround
Led a European turnaround, restructuring, developing new markets and driving a change programme.
Lusso
Search · Advisory · Transactions
Award winning rec2rec. Best in class for Built Environment. Over 500 people placed in UK.
Graduate Trainee
Civil & Structural Engineering
He developed a new temp desk from zero to bill £50k per month in East of England.
Recruiter
Temp & Permanent Desk Recruitment
Built a technical team while managing a £40-60K desk across MEP, Architecture, Property & FM.
Manager
Teams & Offices · Multi-Sector
Built teams of up to 50 across blue & white collar, technical, public and private sectors.
Regional Leadership
Multiple UK Operations & Regions
Expanded offices across Home Counties, Thames Valley, East Anglia & Midlands, 200+ consultants.
Board-level Leader
UK Board Director · Profit Leader
Led the UK board's highest-performing business, the only one profitable through the recession.
International MD
Country MD · European Turnaround
Led a European turnaround, restructuring, developing new markets and driving a change programme.
Lusso
Search · Advisory · Transactions
Award winning rec2rec. Best in class for Built Environment. Over 500 people placed in UK.
Built in the Real World
Increasingly, Richard became the leader trusted with businesses needing acceleration, turnaround, restructuring, leadership change or commercial refocus. His approach was always the same: understand what the numbers said, what the people were experiencing, and what was actually preventing performance.
Businesses that needed accelerating, and businesses that needed fixing. Richard became the leader trusted with both.
Personal responsibility for teams and performance across the UK and international operations.
Restructuring, leadership change and strategic redirection, delivered with the numbers and the people in view.
Different Conversations
Search
The person considering their next move.
Richard has hired, managed, promoted and competed for recruiters throughout his career. He understands fit beyond salary and title, and knows what a move should actually achieve.
Explore Search
Advisory
The leader deciding what happens next.
Growth, underperformance, restructuring, leadership, remuneration, expansion. Richard brings the current wider-market visibility that Lusso Search provides, and the experience to act on it.
Explore Advisory
Transactions
The owner considering what their business could become.
Recruitment businesses are unusual people-and-relationship-led assets. Richard's market knowledge and network help engineer the right conversations, discreetly and commercially.
Explore TransactionsWhat 30+ Years Gives You
Different company, different year, often the same underlying problem.
Data shows where to look; people explain why.
Difficult decisions are remembered by how they are handled.
Yesterday's solution is not automatically today's.
Recruitment is a small world. Word travels.
Complexity often disguises an undecided issue.
In Their Words
As recruiters, we all like to think we know how best to find jobs or talent — but when it comes to recruiting recruiters, there is no better than Richard.”
Julian Murray
Managing Director
I'm so grateful you followed up with the initial contact. When my anxieties spiraled, you fully understood the difficult environment I was in and the impact it had on me.”
Emily Brooks
Senior Consultant
Richard was always good at telling me what I needed to hear, not just what I wanted to hear — and because of this, I found the perfect role and now the best staff as a client.”
Patrick Webb
Director
In stepped Richard. I think we probably spent close to 5 hours if not more on the phone — I had career advice, personal advice, validation and more importantly, he wasn't a yes man.”
Harry Bryant
Recruitment Consultant
Away From the Desk
Richard is originally from Oxford. He moved to Cambridge to read Law and has made Cambridge home for most of his adult life.
He is a lifelong Tottenham Hotspur supporter and a former basketball player, commitments that taught him about patience, persistence and loyalty long before they were ever useful in business.
Oxford
Where it began
Cambridge
Home for most of his adult life
Tottenham Hotspur
Lifelong supporter
Why Lusso Is Different
Lusso is deliberately personal. Richard takes the brief, asks the questions, gives the advice, makes the introductions and says when something doesn't make commercial sense.
No account managers. No hand-offs. No unnecessary layers.
Start a Conversation
Whether you're considering your next move, thinking about the direction of your business or quietly exploring what it might be worth, it starts with a conversation.
