During the lockdowns over the last 2 years, it was often said that people became either “a hunk, a chunk or a drunk”*, depending on how they responded to circumstances.

For certain, in my own circle, I cannot think of one person who was unaffected by the circumstances, often physically.

Now diets and structured fitness programmes abound. People are making significant changes in their lives.

Why? Because they want to be more resilient. Even if circumstances went “back to normal”, they discovered that there were major aspects of their existence they wanted to change. To make themselves less vulnerable to illness, or financial adversity, or exhausting commutes.

What’s that got to do with running a recruitment business?

A lot. Because if something in your business doesn’t work well, it won’t be resilient to changing external forces.

Even if you have a glut of jobs to work, if your client management is poor, or your candidates neglected, you won’t be able to capitalise on the market boom, and nothing will have improved when the external circumstances change again. In the short term, you are probably turning down some jobs now that you would have been glad to take in Spring last year. But if your staff are still under-developed, your client relationships still poor, your database hopelessly lacking or out of date, then when the wind changes you will be just as vulnerable.

Have you heard the phrase “a rising tide floats all boats”?

To extend the metaphor; if your boat has a hole in it, it will still float – for a while.

Market conditions will change. If you want to build a resilient business, one that will thrive despite those changes, get in touch.

(*= chunk, in my case)

Alison Humphries has started and grown several businesses, had huge success in creating new service propositions like RPO and Statement of Works and advised many recruitment businesses on more profitable growth all the way through to substantial exit events. Alison works as a Board Advisor and strategic mentor for carefully selected recruitment businesses, get in touch today.