I don’t know about anyone else but where has the time gone? I can’t believe it’s 2 months into a countrywide lockdown for COVID. I do like to think of it more as we have had 2 months of our not-so-new starter Jane. She’s been a brilliant addition to the team – positive and upbeat and getting onto all the things we have been meaning to do but been too busy recruiting to do so. We will be so prepared to hit the ground running when things get back to a semblance of normality.
It was a great month for the country to come together whilst staying at a safe distance – VE day celebrations. Captain Tom raising millions for the NHS for his 100th birthday – and getting a flypast by the Armed forces (plus over 150,000 cards, getting to No1 in the charts and being honoured in many ways) to the 10th and final Thursday night clap last night for key workers (which I will personally miss, as we then have a chat with the neighbours for the hour afterwards).
Mental health week was also a feature of May – and looking over the month we have just had, Zoom* fatigue is definitely something that’s setting in (*other video apps are available). We laughingly talk about back-to-back meetings in recruitment (that old chestnut), but genuinely there seems to be a theme of full-day zoom meetings for people I am talking to. They don’t seem to have built-in a comfort break of even 5 minutes to stretch your legs. In the ‘old’ world you tended to walk to another meeting room which allowed this stretch and loo break to happen naturally. WFH fatigue is a genuine issue to be aware of and something to consider when setting up meetings and interviews going forward.
On the recruitment front, like most we have slowed down a little – we had rather a good April, but saw a bit of a pause in May, still ticking over nicely but not at the pace we have become used to. In some ways, it’s great to be able to pause and do a job thoroughly without the pressure of a quick turnaround, where quality can sometimes become compromised by rushing. On the flip side, a bit like during the recession, we are asked a lot about the market and when will it change, what is it doing and it is a bit of a crystal ball answer sometimes as no one can predict the future – just draw sensible forecasts based on many years’ experience of market fluctuations.
I thought it would be nice to end on a back to nature theme as it’s a ramble and list the animals seen on our walks, runs and general exercise that the weather has allowed us to do during this time.
- Deer & Alpacas
- Hares & Rabbits, Foxes & Squirrels
- Heron, Geese, and the Starlings arrived in force
- Frogs & Toads
- Horses, Cows & Bulls (& Calves)
- Sheep & Lambs, Goats and Chickens
- Pheasants, Blackbird, Robins, and a lot of other species of bird
- Ladybirds, Damselflies and Butterflies galore
- Lots of dogs greeted on walks and lovely hellos from other humans of our respective towns as they ramble themselves
June ushers in the last month of our 4th Quarter and last month of our 1st year in business, I can honestly say it’s been eventful, but I couldn’t have picked a better partner than Tracy to have made this journey with.
As I finish my May Ramble, let’s keep our fingers crossed that the gradual lift of restrictions works as planned. Most of all, stay safe and well and we look forward to catching up with you soon.