Terry Hillier, People Group CEO, gives his view.

You hear the phrase unchartered territory so often that it has lost its meaning. It’s moving into a place where you’ve never been before. Where the normal rules no longer apply and everything you previously relied on is shaky at best. And regardless of what anybody says, nobody actually knows what happens next. Only on Monday night the Prime Minister announced the biggest lock down since the second world war. Massive, life-changing news is a daily occurrence. We’re all worried about our health, our loved ones, our businesses and our colleagues. Unchartered is scary.

Particularly for recruitment businesses. Recruitment has always been a double-edged sword. When times are good, recruitment’s great. But when times are bad, recruitment’s horrible. And there’s no script for our current situation. What can you do to get through this and come out the other side?

Cashflow is life. The Government has acted to protect businesses and you need to understand what you’re entitled to [Link here]. Recruitment leaders tend to be entrepreneurial, focussed on growth and opportunity. I’m the same. But for right now, this is not our world. We need to listen to the steady pragmatists and rein everything in for the time being. How much credit can you get? I’m not saying you should use it, but it’s another lifeline. You’ve been rocked to the core. Unless you supply healthcare or transport, your income is going to drop like a rock. A healthy balance sheet will only sustain you for so long. Your survival is going to depend on minimising your costs, stretching your money out as far as you can and using every single safety net available to you. Do what you need to keep everything ticking over while we wait for this storm to settle.

Cashflow is life. The Government has acted to protect businesses and you need to understand what you’re entitled to [Link here]. Recruitment leaders tend to be entrepreneurial, focussed on growth and opportunity. I’m the same. But for right now, this is not our world. We need to listen to the steady pragmatists and rein everything in for the time being. How much credit can you get? I’m not saying you should use it, but it’s another lifeline. You’ve been rocked to the core. Unless you supply healthcare or transport, your income is going to drop like a rock. A healthy balance sheet will only sustain you for so long. Your survival is going to depend on minimising your costs, stretching your money out as far as you can and using every single safety net available to you. Do what you need to keep everything ticking over while we wait for this storm to settle.

We’re all guilty of it. We have a big to-do-list that we keep meaning to get around to. We know we should, but there’s always an excuse. Well, now your only excuse is Joe Wicks’ PE class. It’s time to sort out your database and your systems. Your database is fundamental to your business. And yet, how robust is it. How current is the data? Is it completely GDPR compliant? Now’s the time to trawl through your database, clean it up and get it match fit. Because a clean database is a powerful tool when you’re ready to get back in the game. But it’s not just about your database, this new way of working is forcing us to embrace new technology. Zoom, Teams, Hangouts, Slack. We know these things exist, but now we have to use them. And do you know what? They’re pretty good. I just had a Board meeting across Zoom and three different countries. Apart from the usual interrupting each other because of the connection, we got a lot done. Was it as good as face-to-face? No. Was it better than a conference call? Absolutely. We’re going to be using this new technology for the next three months at least. Think about how it can make you more efficient and productive when this is all over.

This catastrophe has very few upsides, but one true gift is perspective. It’s one thing knowing what’s important on an intellectual level, it’s quite another to feel it. To have your entire world teetering on the edge of chaos. Our definition of a ‘Key Worker’ has been fundamentally altered. Being able to buy the food we want, when we want. Will we ever take that for granted again? We’ll come out of this with a new appreciation for family, community and health. This perspective will make us better at our jobs. We’ll sweat the small stuff less, instead focussing on the bigger picture. We’ll never treat a problem like it’s life or death again. We’ll just use common sense to deal with it. We’ll appreciate more. We’ll be patient. We’ll be grateful. This will make us better people and better professionals.

I don’t know what’s going to happen next. But I know we’ll get through it, I don’t know when, but we will. And the people who come out of this stronger are the ones who don’t try and fight the wind. The ones who adapt to this new world and use it to become fitter, leaner and better. Good luck to you all, let’s get to work.

Terry Hillier