It feels late to be saying Happy New Year, but at the same time weird not to! My newsletter this month is  a week later than normal as I unfortunately contracted Covid over the Christmas and New Year period. Back to work and almost fighting fit now, thankful that I was able to manage it at home.

Wishing you all Happy New Year! I'm not going to dwell on the last couple of weeks of news, we all know what has happened what with Covid, Tiers, Lockdown, Brexit and Trump - there hasn't been a dull minute!   3 words To help me stay focussed this year, I've adopted a personal '3 word mantra' Consistent - Positive - Loyal Choosing a 3 word mantra helps, especially when things are tough, they serve to remind me 'what I'm about', what's important to me and when the chips are down, where I need to strive to get back to. Choose them when you're feeling positive and confident about yourself. Stick them on a post-it note, somewhere you look everyday and remind yourself of your personal mantra. My three words are important in all walks of my life, with clients, candidates, friends and family. I know when I'm having a wobble, I can work myself back towards them. What will your three words be I wonder?

While we continue to see growth in new jobs, companies are remaining cautious and temp jobs have started to overtake permanent roles in terms of popularity. So, if you’re struggling to find a permanent job or don’t want to tie yourself down to one role for a long period of time, temping could be the answer

One of my favourite moments in the week is when the latest ‘Savage Truth’ blog post lands in my inbox. What a treat!   Greg Savage is the author, and this is how he describes himself:  “With a career spanning four decades, Greg is a founder of 4 highly successful businesses, is a trusted advisor and respected voice across the global recruitment and professional services industries, and a regular keynote speaker at conferences around the world.”

Here are 6 Things You Can do to Help Yourself People across all industries in the UK have been affected in some way in recent months with the UK unemployment rate standing at around 4.5%. There doesn’t seem to have been a single industry that hasn’t been affected in some way or other.

We've had a busy few weeks since our last newsletter, November is looking to be a really productive month, the previous quarter was close to where we usually are. Looking forward to the next quarter it feels somewhat uncertain as to what we'll achieve, but as usual we strive to support where we can and deliver great service along the way! This month I'm sharing 3 articles on different topics, all of which are pertinent right now. 

There is a common misconception that its an "Employers Market" right now and that if you are recruiting then you will have the pick of the talent pool - right?

What would you like to ask me? This is your moment. Your chance to shine. Your chance to stand out in an interview and make the interviewer sit up and listen. Don't sit like a rabbit in the headlights and ask about benefits or salary, show the interviewer what you're made of, show them you're a critical thinker. Show them you've given real thought to this interview before you showed up.

Workplaces will not 'return to normal' after the coronavirus pandemic but most companies will not let employees work from home permanently Figures from report commissioned by British Contract Furnishing Association The report, released today, says speculation that the office is dead is 'misplaced'  Recommends companies look at mixed system of working in office and at home 

One of the main reasons that companies choose to manage their recruitment in-house and not use an agency falls to cost. The recruitment industry is huge and was born out of a need and that need has not gone away, though the cost of using an agency is often seen as prohibitive. But is it really? A recruitment process takes time, time we’re paid for which is commensurate with the effort put in. Margins in recruitment businesses are usually reasonable, we’re not charging onerously, far from it.

It's tough out there for job hunters, there is no doubting that...  

I recently attended the Dorset Chamber Business Leader event where the speaker was Lord Mark Price from Engaging Business. With over 30 years in the John Lewis Partnership as Deputy Chairman and a decade as MD of Waitrose, Mark Price created Engaging Business to help organisations improve their workplace happiness and employee engagement to drive greater commercial performance. I've included the report he shared with us during the presentation here.