New Year's Resolutions!

“I’m going to lose 2 stone, run everyday and only eat healthy food!” – A New Year’s resolution set by many each year… but why is it that by the second week we are ordering a huge chinese and thinking “I’ll run next week instead” and “I’m actually ok with this weight, I’ll try again in the summer”? Could it be that we have set our expectations too high? Was it a goal we actually wanted to achieve? Or just January blues? My personal opinion is that when we really, really want to achieve something, it’s a goal we are passionate and excited about. We make it happen, regardless. 

It’s not uncommon for recruiters to receive calls from interior designers looking for a new opportunity in the New Year. The Christmas bonus may have been fruitful, but now it’s time to move on. I love hearing from designers, seeing if I can find them their next role and when we find the perfect match it’s such a great feeling for all parties. 

There is a combination of three things though that need to happen in order for the magic mix to work:

1. The candidate is clear on their motivation to move and what they need from their next role.
2. The client recruiting is clear on what skills set they need and are motivated to set time aside to recruit for a new team member.
3. The recruiter is motivated because both parties are excited, clear on their goals and passionate that they really want to find someone.

If one of the three parties is not intune it doesn’t work, it’s parked and motivation is lost.

In the recruitment world ‘momentum’ is key. If you are a client, there is no point using a recruiter if you don’t have the time to recruit, if you are passing the recruiting over to someone who isn’t clear on what you need or you would prefer to recruit directly. 

As a candidate, recruiters can be excellent sounding boards to discuss next steps, inform you of the market conditions and to gain constructive feedback on how your CV and portfolio compare to others searching for a similar role. The relationship between a recruiter and candidate can be strong even without the ‘ideal’ opportunity being there for you immediately but  when a job does align with your values and expectations they will be on the phone to you asap! So be transparent.

New year resolutions / goals are great, be it recruiting for a new team member or finding a new job however they do require time and effort. 

Top tip – write down your goal in the present tense, set a date, how do you feel at that time, what are you doing: ‘It’s 1st February and I’m excited to be contributing to the weekly design meeting with my new colleagues at a retail design studio in London’. 

Visualise, be passionate and it will happen – Happy New Year!