Well, what a difference a month makes. I got back from my skiing holiday on the 7 March. My training plan for a 70.3 Ironman race in Finland began on the 9 March. My focus for the next few months was basically going to be work and triathlon training. On the 9 March, PMP had 110 live briefs and for that week, I was perhaps naively thinking that it was business as usual. The first sign of anything going slightly pear-shaped was a Senior Account Director role for a global advertising agency. The role was at offer stage and we were just waiting for some final details to be confirmed. Then, the offer was pulled. Fortunately the candidate hadn't resigned but every party involved was a bit shocked. It felt like the client was being particularly cautious. However, from their perspective...they weren't. Their clients in turn, who were also global, had essentially pulled all their global marketing activity. And so this was the first glimpse of the COVID knock-on effect for PMP. The following week, w/c 16 March was much more dramatic, whilst many clients were still being positive, pretty much every single one of those 110 briefs were put on hold. During the middle of that week, I came down with what may or may not have been COVID and for the subsequent two and a half weeks was completely wiped out. So I've re-surfaced in early April and finally now I'm taking an objective look at how the recruitment sector is being affected.
I'll be frank. The world of recruitment has fallen off a cliff. 90% of my client base is marketing agencies - advertising, digital, integrated, PR, etc. And a large proportion are also independent. The majority of agencies have essentially furloughed their teams and are keeping a skeleton staff working. There are some exceptions. Agencies who have large retail clients, particularly grocers...are busy, but the majority of agencies have stalled their operations and are playing a waiting game to see how things will pan out.
I've taken a very pragmatic view. I can't 'create' jobs. So I'm having some enforced downtime. No client wants to hear from a recruiter at the moment so I'm not going to do any proactive CV sending - there really isn't any point. This has never happened before to me so it's a very strange time. I launched PMP in 2009 when were were in the throes of recession and we were very busy throughout those years.
I've still got a very busy inbox. Candidates fall into different categories at the moment, those who are available immediately having been made redundant or those who have been forced to return from travelling trips abroad and those who have been furloughed but who are panicking that things are not going to get back to normal and they are trying to be proactive and find out what other opportunities are out there. The truth is - not a lot. But it's proving to be a good time for me to catch up with existing candidates and talk to a lot of new ones too.
Having only just begun to feel human again after my COVID/not COVID illness, I've decided I am going to accept how things are. I'm going to try and do very little. Not nothing...but I'll probably never get this time again, I can take the time to switch off a bit, enjoy pootling in the garden, do a few jigsaws. Anyone who knows me will know that work is a huge and enjoyable part of my life and I work at speed - so this isn't easy and it doesn't feel natural. But I do keep reading about how we'll all live our lives differently in the future and whilst I'm not wholly convinced, maybe this is the time to make some changes so that I'm more mindful and living in the moment. We'll see.
At the start of this period, I thought it would be a bit like the tap being turned off and then it will be turned on again. I'm now less sure about that and I do think it's going to take quite a long time (specifically for the advertising/marketing sector) for us to find the new normal. So many businesses have had to make radical changes as a result of their clients making radical changes....we won't see a return to normal life overnight but the time will come when things improve and we'll just have to adapt to the challenges as and when they come. I'm a Limited company with an employee count of one....so I can be very agile to adapt to those changes and I'm going to work on being in the right place, at the right time as and when we turn the corner. Finally, I do feel ready to get on my bike* again so whilst the 70.3 in Finland has been cancelled, I'll be focusing on getting my fitness back for an event later in the year. And that's it really. Musings of a recruiter forced to take a step back and in the absence of a crystal ball, I'm just going to go with the flow.
If you do want to catch up (client or candidate), the mobile is on - 07976 125963.
Stay well and Stay safe.
Fiona
*turbo trainer so don't be sending me any MAFIL abuse...
I'll be frank. The world of recruitment has fallen off a cliff. 90% of my client base is marketing agencies - advertising, digital, integrated, PR, etc. And a large proportion are also independent. The majority of agencies have essentially furloughed their teams and are keeping a skeleton staff working. There are some exceptions. Agencies who have large retail clients, particularly grocers...are busy, but the majority of agencies have stalled their operations and are playing a waiting game to see how things will pan out.
I've taken a very pragmatic view. I can't 'create' jobs. So I'm having some enforced downtime. No client wants to hear from a recruiter at the moment so I'm not going to do any proactive CV sending - there really isn't any point. This has never happened before to me so it's a very strange time. I launched PMP in 2009 when were were in the throes of recession and we were very busy throughout those years.
I've still got a very busy inbox. Candidates fall into different categories at the moment, those who are available immediately having been made redundant or those who have been forced to return from travelling trips abroad and those who have been furloughed but who are panicking that things are not going to get back to normal and they are trying to be proactive and find out what other opportunities are out there. The truth is - not a lot. But it's proving to be a good time for me to catch up with existing candidates and talk to a lot of new ones too.
Having only just begun to feel human again after my COVID/not COVID illness, I've decided I am going to accept how things are. I'm going to try and do very little. Not nothing...but I'll probably never get this time again, I can take the time to switch off a bit, enjoy pootling in the garden, do a few jigsaws. Anyone who knows me will know that work is a huge and enjoyable part of my life and I work at speed - so this isn't easy and it doesn't feel natural. But I do keep reading about how we'll all live our lives differently in the future and whilst I'm not wholly convinced, maybe this is the time to make some changes so that I'm more mindful and living in the moment. We'll see.
At the start of this period, I thought it would be a bit like the tap being turned off and then it will be turned on again. I'm now less sure about that and I do think it's going to take quite a long time (specifically for the advertising/marketing sector) for us to find the new normal. So many businesses have had to make radical changes as a result of their clients making radical changes....we won't see a return to normal life overnight but the time will come when things improve and we'll just have to adapt to the challenges as and when they come. I'm a Limited company with an employee count of one....so I can be very agile to adapt to those changes and I'm going to work on being in the right place, at the right time as and when we turn the corner. Finally, I do feel ready to get on my bike* again so whilst the 70.3 in Finland has been cancelled, I'll be focusing on getting my fitness back for an event later in the year. And that's it really. Musings of a recruiter forced to take a step back and in the absence of a crystal ball, I'm just going to go with the flow.
If you do want to catch up (client or candidate), the mobile is on - 07976 125963.
Stay well and Stay safe.
Fiona
*turbo trainer so don't be sending me any MAFIL abuse...