“Found a GMP-trained QC technician in four days instead of three months.”
We’d been trying to fill a QC role for twelve weeks through Reed and an agency. The agency sent us three candidates — one had food manufacturing GMP experience, not cosmetics. The other two had never operated our testing equipment. Within four days of posting on BenchLab, we had a shortlist of five practitioners, all with verified EN 15493 and cosmetic GMP experience. The person we hired had employer-confirmed skills from a previous role. We couldn’t have found them on any other platform.
4 days
Time to shortlist
vs 12 weeks previously
£7,200
Cost saving
vs agency placement fee
5 of 5
Candidate quality
Verified matches
“My twelve years of bench experience finally became visible.”
I’ve been making candles for twelve years — cold-pour, hot-pour, fragrance blending, filling lines, burn testing. None of that shows up on a normal CV. It just says “Production Operative.” On BenchLab, I built my Logbook in about eight minutes and it captures everything I actually know. Two former managers verified my skills. Within a week I had three employers reach out — all of them understood exactly what I could do before they even spoke to me. I’ve never had that experience on any other platform.
14
Skills verified
By 2 former managers
3
Employer approaches
Within first week
“Went from invisible to fully booked in six weeks.”
After thirty years in skincare formulation, I semi-retired and wanted to do project work. But I had no way to make myself visible to the brands that needed me. I wasn’t on LinkedIn properly, and agencies don’t really handle freelance chemists. I listed on BenchLab’s consultant directory with my day rate and availability. Within six weeks I had three active projects — a startup skincare brand, a contract manufacturer needing stability testing support, and a regulatory compliance review. The platform essentially replaced my need to network.
9 days
Time to first engagement
3
Active projects
Within 6 weeks
£650
Day rate achieved
Full rate, no deduction
“As a small brand, I could never afford an agency. BenchLab changed that.”
We’re a five-person candle company scaling from artisan to commercial production. We needed someone who could operate a semi-automated filling line and understood fragrance loading for soy wax. An agency wanted £6,000 to find someone — that’s a quarter of our quarterly revenue. BenchLab Starter costs us £79 a month and we found exactly the right person in two weeks. She had peer-verified filling line experience and three years with coconut-soy blends. Perfect fit.
£79
Monthly cost
vs £6,000 agency fee
92%
Skills matched
Verified capability match