Farewell to a Tumultuous Year in Recruitment

There’s something of the “last day at school” vibe in the air today.  Even though there are still, officially, four days of work next week, there’s a fair number of recruiters I’ve spoken to who are hanging up their sourcing gloves for the season today.  As is usually the case at this time of year, there’s a mixture of muted satisfaction at another year in recruitment done, coupled with an ever-encroaching feeling of heavy-lidded exhaustion creeping into the usual spritely strut of us recruiter types.

I’ll be around for most of next week still, although I’m thinking shoes might be optional.  And in answer to the most frequently asked question (now that the question “Will Abramovich sack Mourinho?” has been answered…) is that no I’m not joining the hordes fleeing to the beaches of Coromandel and Northland, and will be enjoying the delights of Auckland, which are many, without all you people getting in my way.  A “stay-cation” I heard it described as this morning.

But even though I’m not quite done with my recruitment efforts for the year just yet, I do find myself in reflective mood today:

My own small business has been through a lot of change in 2015 as we farewelled Renee and welcomed in Mary, Anastasia and Sarah.  There should be more to announce from us in the New Year too, along with new look websites and a freshening up of this here Whiteboard blog (so at least it should be possible to scroll down on Android devices soon!)

It’s been a year of great change and upheaval in the wider #NZRec community too.  RPO and in-house recruitment has continued to grow, and in some cases improve, and the squeeze on the established way of things in agency land has continued to tighten.  Several recruitment Directors and Managers have parted ways over 2015 and, with rumours of a significant Acquisition afoot, plus a strong likelihood of ongoing fragmentation of the larger, older brands into sparkly new entities run by previous consultants means that 2016 is likely to have a very different look and feel.

Change is as good as a rest, and change is certainly on the menu for next year.  But a rest is what many of us now need.  So enjoy your last few days at the desks this year and have a nice break with your families and friends.  Thanks to all of you who have been a part of our recruitment community this year, and worked with us as a business.

Now I’ve got to make some more calls before time runs out and I start choosing a gift for my Secret Santa… Merry Christmas everyone, see you again in 2016.