6 months in to HRLife….
If you’ve been following the HRLife story and followed us since our launch 6 months ago you’ll know that Kerry and I worked together for 12 years, solely recruiting within the HR market across London and the South. It was always our intention to work together again but we never knew when that might be, mainly down to timing in our personal lives, but if we really thought about it, it was mostly down to the fact we are possibly the most risk adverse pair you’ll ever meet. I guess with the security blanket of a big corporate behind you it’s hard to make that break and go it alone.
From day one, we were back on the tools and doing the job we both loved – meeting clients and candidates and finding people their dream jobs… I know you’ll think that sounds cheesy (I did when I wrote it), but what recruiters don’t love hearing the excitement at the end of the phone making an offer to someone who really wants your job! I can assure you we were equally as excited to get the calls from our clients asking us to recruit for their team and find the best talent!
So, our first 6 months have been busy, we had the initial fun of designing our website, working out what suppliers we would engage with and defining what HRLife stood for and agreeing a few working practices. We knew when we had taken 7 exclusive job briefs in our first week, we were going to be straight in at the deep end! No real time for a 30, 60 or even 180-day business plan, just a to-do list and at times it was learning as we went but it was go, go, go…. I think at times a pair of reins wouldn’t have gone amiss!
On a serious note though we have been lucky to have met and worked with some fabulous people and are truly grateful for all the support our network has shown us. We’ve loved working across different sectors and geographies and have been able to tailor our solutions to each client need – creativity and flexibility have been key.
If we were to summarise the first 6 months and our observations, we’d agree that:
1) It’s a candidate driven market…. It’s getting harder to find talent who are actively looking for a move
2) Clients are still being specific…. Many have a wish list with less negotiable criteria
3) You never know exactly where you’ll get that perfect candidate from – you’ve got to cast the net wide – job boards, networking, social media and for us we’ve even made an offer to a candidate off the back of a twitter post!
4) Contrary to popular belief not all clients believe in a lengthy recruitment process! We’ve seen a few permanent roles turn around in less than a week! Got to love a slick process and a decisive client! You know who you are!
5) It’s been great working with our network and trusted clients again…some we initially placed into roles almost 10 years ago!
6) With no fixed office it’s allowed us to travel to our candidates and clients and base ourselves somewhere different most days – we certainly know where to get the best coffee!
7) Managing our own costs versus a corporate budget has made us think– it’s all visible and accounted for!
8) The SME market is definitely thriving – we’ve learnt lots about VC backed businesses and it’s been really exciting to meet candidates to hear their ‘start-up’ stories
So, thank you to everyone who’s been working with us! Roll-on the next 6 months!
To find out more about HRLife, please contact us via our website – www.hrlifegroup.com or call us – Jemma Rawlins 07796 332 565 or Kerry Miller 07881 933 272