It has been over a year since I joined BTS and what a year it has been! Even in a year of a Global Pandemic, we have been lucky as it has been so busy and pretty much non-stop throughout. We thought we might get a bit of a rest at Christmas, but it was the busiest Christmas I have ever known in recruitment. Gone are the days of dusting off board games to pass the time as all your clients and candidates are off – apparently not anymore. When I joined BTS I knew that it would be quite an all-hands-on-deck approach, especially as when I had joined, the business wasn’t even a year old, but I LOVE the diversity of my role and I literally adore the people I get to work with, not only colleagues but candidates and clients as well. Due to shielding restrictions, I have been fully remote working, I love the peace and quiet of being able to get my head down but quite simply I do miss people!
We are incredibly lucky that we all like making homemade food so am looking forward to being able to share some nice lunches with the others and just to eat food that someone else has made will be such a treat. There are such mixed feelings from our candidates in terms of returning to an office. Many seem to want a more hybrid approach, with the majority liking the flexibility of having time at home and time in the office. I suspect a positive general outcome will be people having a better work/life balance going forward. One thing close to my own heart, from an environmental aspect, not having everyone sitting in their cars during rush hour is fantastic. We were very lucky as pre-COVID BTS already had an environmental policy that ensures employees won’t ever have to travel in rush hours so at least we are doing our small bit for the environment as it all helps.
As I am posting this blog I am beyond excited as today is our first chance to go ‘out out’ as a team, so I suppose officially this is my ‘welcome to BTS’ meal, albeit a year late. We have tried to keep having Friday month-end drinks on Teams and it has been lovely, but I cannot wait to actually be sat with my wonderful team and raise a glass (or two). In many ways, it has been an incredibly sad year for obvious reasons, but workwise it has been the best of my working career so far. So, wherever you are, have a fantastic weekend and here’s to getting some normality back. Apparently, we can hug - but only sensibly. I have never been sensible in my life, so I better start learning this trick fairly quickly.