We were asked to take part in unLTD Business magazine’s ‘If you ask me’ feature in May 2020 to discuss how Covid-19 has impacted on our business activities, and how our staff are dealing with the lockdown and working remotely.
Our MD, Rob Shaw takes the positives out of a difficult situation.
How has COVID-19 affected your business?
Like most industries we’ve been adversely affected by Covid-19. It’s mainly hit the permanent side of our business as most of our clients put their recruitment plans on hold, understandably due to the market uncertainty.
The temporary side of our business has been buoyant and we’ve re-strategised to focus on growth and fulfillment in that area which is holding us up during these very strange and challenging times.
It’s been interesting to see how adaptable the team has been to the new working from home life and I’ve been impressed and proud with how hard they’ve all continued to work, how productive they’ve been and how they’ve focused their activities on helping candidates that have sadly found themselves looking for a new job in the most challenging time.
We’re using the time to cleanse our candidate database, keep in touch with our lovely clients and keep on top of the new candidates that are coming on to the market, so that when we come out of lockdown we are well positioned to help as many of those people get into a job quickly.
What changes you have made to your operations to work effectively during the crisis?
The resources that have been put in place from the government should really help us and although we can’t predict what things are going to look like after this is over, I can only hope that the permanent recruitment market isn’t seriously affected long term, only time will tell.
For now, we’re focusing on doing those jobs that you don’t get the chance to do when you’re operating at full speed and also taking some time back by working reduced hours and enjoying some precious time with our families.
We’ve looked at the business costs and cut anything that’s un-necessary and re-negotiated where possible. In a time where there’s little you can control; costs are one of them!
How are you planning to make the best of an undoubtedly challenging situation?
Waking up a little later than normal, working in our pyjamas and focussing on what’s really important! Having some down time has given plenty of opportunity to reflect and look at our short and long term strategies, and we’ve made some amendments to those which I think will see us even more efficient when we get back to work and more targeted in our new client acquisition strategy.
We’ve set up a weekly quiz on zoom for our clients, contacts and those in our networks as a way to keep in touch and provide some fun in this tricky time. We also use MS Teams and have a daily catch up with each other. I think it’s made all of us appreciate the small things, the things you (without intention) take for granted, and each other more. We miss working together collectively in one place but we hope that it’s not for long.
In terms of our business development strategies, whilst we still need to seek out and take any opportunities that arise, we also understand that our clients are also in the same situation as we are. Therefore, we are conscious not to bombard them with too may sales focused messages. It’s always been part of our strategy to educate and offer advice where possible, so we are focussing most of our client communications around this at the moment. If we can provide some useful advice that will really help local businesses this will stand us in good stead once the market picks back up again.
For us cleansing our database, helping new to market candidates and fulfilling short term temp needs is our current focus as well as looking after each other and spending time with our families.
We are still very much open for business for candidates that are looking for employment, as well as employers who still have vacancies to fill and can be contacted as usual on 0114 321 1873 or hello@glurecruit.co.uk