RECRUITMENT software provider Hireserve has come of age this week celebrating its 18th birthday.

The firm based at Norton House, in Stewart Road, Basingstoke, was founded in 1997 by husband and wife team Jeremy and Karen Ovenden.

That was a time when e-recruitment was in its infancy.

Jeremy identified a gap in the market for an internet candidate management database.

Jeremy, who is managing director said: “We’ve steadily built a product and reputation of which we can be proud.

“We’ve been at the forefront of an ever-changing, exciting industry for almost two decades, and have come out the other side of common start-up challenges – not to mention the effects of the UK recession.

“I’m incredibly proud of our product, customer base and team,¬ without whom we could not have achieved 18 years of being in business.”

Today the growing company employs 20 people – recruiting six people this year, including an apprentice web develop-per and a paid marketing intern.

Among its customers are Arriva, RNLI, CERN, Global Radio and Cranfield University.

The business also has strong links with the University of Reading and is an active supporter of Academic-Business collaboration between SMEs and Universities, in addition to supporting local charity the Basingstoke Consortium in order to enhance employability in young people.

Looking back over the past 18 years, Karen, operations director, said: “It’s been hugely challenging, exciting and hard work, “We’ve managed to grow the business this business from an idea Jeremy and I talked about over the kitchen table to what we have today.”

Karen, who was a Women of the Year, SME category finalist, at the Women in Business 2015 awards, recently held at Oakley Hall, added: “It makes me very proud of everybody who works for us. They are very bright people and it is a pleasure to have them as colleagues and friends.”

To coincide with the 18th anniversary, this week Hireserve has announced that it is renaming its applicant tracking system. Previously called iCams, it is now known as Hireserve ATS.

Jeremy explained: it’s time for a stronger, more relevant name for our product.

“Renaming iCams as Hireserve ATS will allow us to focus on marketing, selling and developing one core premise.

The features and functionality of our applicant tracking system will remain unchanged, as will the service and support to our customers.”