I sincerely hope you managed to switch off and enjoy a relaxing Christmas and New Year with your loved ones.
It would be very easy to draw parallels with last January as we look forward into 2022; the pandemic is still making the headlines and is likely to influence the recruitment market at least for the first quarter. However, things are slightly different this year for two main reasons;
1) The market today is radically different to this time last year, 2021 was a year of recovery for most businesses
2) Although rules are very different through the UK, vaccination role out has meant that lockdowns are not as severe in comparison
In 2020, the UK permanent recruitment market contracted by 55%, 2020 without a doubt highlighted resilience in most if not all businesses throughout our client base, whilst 2021 showed how adaptable we can all be. In the first qtr of 2021, the recruitment industry saw a “big bounce back – with a 16% uplift in permanent placements” (REC).
At Citrus Connect, we continued to see further growth from Autumn 2021 onwards showing a supercharged recovery pre Omicron of course, which brings with it new challenges and what I believe opportunities in 2022.
Recent Recruitment Highlights
- The number of job vacancies in September to December 2021 continued to rise to a new record high of 1,219,000; this was an increase of 434,500 from its pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic level (January to March 2020), with 13 of the 18 industry sectors showing record highs.
- According to REC, labour shortages and worries about rising inflation have been weighing on employers’ minds for a while now. With the Omicron variant added into that mix, it’s no surprise to see business confidence in the economy falling slightly. The good news is that firms remain confident in their own prospects as confidence in hiring and investment decisions continued to improve. (See graph below)
We are currently living in a world of constant change. Most of this change has been imposed and so we have to react. Recruitment is primarily a reactive business requirement. Those clients who proactively look for the right people to enable their business to grow and flourish are increasing in number, which is incredibly encouraging, but there is still the scramble to engage with the right recruitment firm that can deliver.
Businesses need to think and behave differently to the traditional set of recruitment practices if they are to claim their place back in the fast lane. If you want the best results, you must first focus on how to enable your people to deliver them and give them the tools to do so. It’s about structuring your business to allow your managers to lead, inspire and enable the delivery of your desired results and of course sales headcount.
OUR 2022 VALUES
Many set goals at the start of each year, however I am a firm believer in habits, not goals. In addition, we have to learn the secrets of time, the secrets of having a robust plan, how to develop leaders and generate sales and more importantly placements for our clients very quickly.
We asked our team what results are our habits and our routines producing now and what habits would we like to align to in 2022. How do we create fulfilment, freedom security and adventure? Together we agreed on the habits of humility, capacity and opportunity.
HUMILITY – builds trust. Humility means putting the needs and desires of others higher than yourself. It does not mean putting yourself down to make the other person feel better. It means taking the focus off yourself and shining a light on other people. True humility gives credit where credit is due – it is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less.
OPPORTUNITY – Consistent follow-through proves you are trustworthy. We make our word our bond. Delivering on your word, and honoring it, speaks volumes. We’ve all heard “actions speak louder than words” and this is so true! It is with our actions that we create opportunities for our clients, candidates and each other.
CAPACITY – Frustrations arise when we are over capacity, this is when fear, doubt, anger and rage arise. We understand the accuracy, not the volume that is perfect for our own capacity to achieve results for our clients and feel fulfilled. We cannot expect and assume that someone else’s capacity is the same as ours, but understand our own capacity so we can delegate unnecessary tasks and focus on the ones that positively impact results. And finally, to ask ourselves what do you have the capacity to tolerate (or not)?
I feel incredibly blessed and honoured to work with a soul mate team every single day, a team that would do anything for our clients and candidates, who will go the extra mile. A team that follows their shot and always has each others back.
So I leave you with this one question – is your team aligned with your company values? So that no matter what they will do whatever it takes?
Wishing you a powerful start to 2022 and wonderful weekend.
Best wishes,
CV DROP OFF ⮁