I just simply cannot believe that I have been with Dovetail for TEN years. Firstly, there’s no way I’m old enough to have spent that much time in one company 😉 But that’s what my LinkedIn is telling me so it must be true!
So much has happened in the last 10 years, both in my professional life and personal life.
When I started at Dovetail, I had just relocated from London to be back in my home down south, with my then boyfriend, now husband Jonathan. I wasn’t ready to come home, but we agreed, if he hadn’t been able to relocate to London for his job a year after I finished university, then I’d relocate back home. However, it turned out to be the best decision I’d ever made.
I took the job with Dovetail as I liked the team. I knew nothing about recruitment, had never stepped foot in an office, and had no clue how to do a telephone interview. Liz and the team took me under their wing, and I was soon singing from the same hymn sheet as it were. Not only that, just one month after I relocated, my husband got his dream job based in Bournemouth. He’d applied all over the country for the last year, and he’d ended up with Bournemouth. It was perfect.
Fast forward a few more years, I gained more experience, made strong relationships with my colleagues, two of whom I still see even though we’ve not worked together for 6 years, and I felt that I knew what I was doing. I still had a lot to learn, to be honest I still am learning, but I was in my stride.
Then the good old pandemic hit. We were all floored. Had no idea what was going to happen. Long long long story short, Liz, our founder, had decided to take early retirement and offered the business to Suzi and I. With some help, and a LOT of meetings, spreadsheets, and phone calls, Suzi and I had a plan. Business picked back up again and things returned to ‘normal’. Except this time, the company was ours!
Nothing much changed, we still focused on looking after our clients and candidates, never stopping no matter how difficult a role was to fill. We took on more team members, took on more clients and I FINALLY got a proposal out of Jonathan!
The last two years have been different, because I’ve happily welcomed our son into our lives. Maternity was strange – not working every day! Not SLEEPING every day! But it was great. And here I am now, back at my desk, business as usual.
It’s been interesting to see the job market change. In the 10 months I was off, AI really changed the landscape, businesses started becoming more keen to have people back into the offices, and candidate’s priorities have shifted. When I started in recruitment, it was ‘easy’ (ish). There was an abundance of candidates, and it was great to give our clients choice. Now, it’s very much candidate led. We are constantly gently educating our clients on the market, what people are looking for, and what they need, while also taking into account the fact that many are SMEs who have tight budgets, where it’s just not practical to offer all the flexibility of the big corporates.
But this is where I’ve found a love of recruitment even more. The challenge, the ability to educate, but most of all to partner with our clients. To become that external talent partner, that acts as if we’re situated in the business, and have known it all our working lives.
So yes in the last 10 years, life, and recruitment has got a whole lot more challenging. But would I change any of it? Not for a second!
