Happy Birthday to Us – Curtis Recruitment is Six
Happy Birthday to us – not just another year in recruitment – what a strange year it has been
It’s that time of year again, a time for reflection and celebration. Our trading year draws to a close and 1st August 2021 marks the beginning of the seventh year for Curtis Recruitment. So ‘Happy Anniversary’ to us and I will take the liberty of giving ourselves a pat on the back for our hard work and resilience in very testing times. Thank you to our partner agencies we work with on a daily basis for the assistance and support.
Our sixth year has been especially unusual, insofar as, it has been entirely under the shadow of Covid restrictions and specifically for us, still working from home when our office in Burnham remains empty. However, we do plan to return to our office within the next couple of weeks and it will be nice to have the house back as a home. And get the dining room back! Also, get back out there meeting clients and candidates face to face, like the old days but with caution.
How was our sixth year?
But it’s not all gloom and doom. We are still busy as always and our year has ended positively, all things considered. It has been a struggle with an extreme shortage of suitable candidates applying for our roles, intensified by the pandemic, so every placement that we have made has been hard fought for. We are pleased to say that we have placed some fantastic candidates with our clients and in that respect, we have made a tangible difference to people’s lives whilst continuing to trade as a successful business.
The shortage of candidates is historical and with the uncertainty brought about by Covid, those that would ordinarily consider looking for a new role, seem to be staying put. This isn’t just the case within accountancy, we are hearing of candidate shortages across all sectors, so there is a strong case for firms in all industries to consider widening the remit and look towards ‘growing your own’ talent.
Whilst there is a shortage of suitable candidates for our roles, we have experienced an uplift in the number of vacancies, which has made life even more difficult for us and our clients.
What are our plans for year seven?
Given that we know that there are still tough times ahead for the UK as a whole, we are resolute in maintaining our intention of providing high levels of service to clients and candidates, although the last year has shown us that we cannot assume that there will be a high volume of candidates on the market. Therefore, we need to ensure that when we speak to candidates about a role, that it is the right role for them, but equally important is that the candidate is right for our client. Synergy is a vital element of recruitment and as an agency, it our job to ensure the compatibility of candidate to client and vice versa.
Being more mature folk here at Curtis Recruitment, the use of technology can be challenging at times, but we will continue to employ appropriate means of developing our business further. We intend maintaining traditional values of integrity, fairness and respect, while embracing the modern, changing world.
You may have noticed Debbie’s videos on LinkedIn and we plan to up our game on this front. As some of you are probably well aware, making videos for public consumption can be a terrifying prospect, but there’s not getting away from it in the social media age, it is part of the zeitgeist. We will be pushing harder this year and overcoming our fears in this regard to engage with people in more tech savvy ways, and I will say that in difficult times, in the words of Susan Jeffers, ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’.
So, as we look forward into August and year seven of Curtis Recruitment we aim to continue as we have, finding the right candidates for the right roles and being totally honest if we cannot assist either client or candidate alike, and in either case, we will do our very best.