The coronavirus outbreak and lockdown restrictions have presented challenges for everyone. As recruiters, many of us have been fortunate enough to continue working from home and, though adjusting to new ways of working is not easy, we are privileged to be able to carry on working.
One particularly difficult adjustment has been staying motivated at a time when there are fewer companies hiring and we’re away from the busy sales environment that we’re used to in the office. It’s been my job to make sure that everyone at CPS and Faulkner Scott keeps positive and energised throughout the lockdown. Here are a few things we’ve been doing that have really helped.
Create new goals
Us recruiters are target-oriented people, but it’s not useful to keep targets to the same, pre-lockdown, standard. We know that good recruitment is based upon strong relationships with candidates and clients, so we’ve asked our teams to use this time to build new and existing connections with their networks.
This doesn’t mean we’ve given up on making any placements! But we are considerate about what the team can realistically achieve now, so that we are all in the best possible position when this lockdown ends: strong relationships with clients, valuable candidate networks and ready to hit the ground running.
Get help from people around you
Trying to keep everyone feeling productive is a big task, so try not to let this fall to one person. Find other people who are championing positivity around the business and help spread this by connecting them with the rest of the business. Share the funny moments from Zoom meetings and the achievements of different team members with the wider business to build a sense of momentum.
We’re lucky to have a team that has a high energy and it is so important to make this visible to the whole organisation. Whether it’s Jordan’s motivational morning videos or the latest social media challenge, we encourage people to get involved and share, share, share.
Find new ways to keep old traditions alive
It’s funny what you miss when you can’t go to the office; the daily rituals that you don’t always give much thought to until they are taken away. For us that has been hearing the gong when we’re celebrating a win and ending the week with Friday drinks from the beer fridge.
We want to replicate these traditions as much as possible, so we’ve found new ways to do them virtually. Friday drinks still happen, we’re just in our homes and connected by a Zoom call and those that have had a really good week get a special takeaway treat from the boss. One of my favourite things has been seeing how creative the team has been in finding new ways to hit the gong when they’re celebrating – you can see exactly what they’ve been up to here.
It’s not easy to stay positive all the time at the moment, and everyone has their good days and bad days, but by keeping going through this challenge we can emerge stronger and more resilient on the other side.
