Not a ‘U’ shape recovery but a ‘V’. With the bounce-back has come the need to find a new generation of recruiter to support our growth agendas.

An opportunity to promise a new generation that they will have a career surrounded by support, reward, development and fun. An environment that will allow a career to flourish.

We know all the benefits that the sector brings to people’s careers.

And it all starts with the intimacy and structure of the induction experience. Structure and definition designed to set this new generation of recruiters up for success. Defining performance expectations, created to show a pathway to succeed. Frequent one-to-one meetings providing feedback opportunity on successes and areas to work on.

The global corporates do all this well… GSK, Aldi, PWC and Google all populate their induction experience with clear comms, weekly structure, variety of tasks and visibility to a whole raft of internal success stories. Huge organisations that we can all learn from.

Yet it is the small-to-medium business that can offer graduates an amazing platform and foundation for careers to begin – and this is most of us within recruitment. We can offer not just a platform but an environment that provides fast career progression, intimacy of company culture, an opportunity to stand out, develops creative and entrepreneurial thinking, and rewards handsomely for over performance.

Our industry has led many with our approach to how we look after our people, and this should continue.

At the core of how the workplace is changing lies the desire from people to have greater flexibility around when and where they work. No longer a figment of imagination, this approach is becoming embedded in the fabric of company culture. How we ensure that we protect the learning & development of a new generation of recruiter with no previous experience is a question that should sit at the centre of all L&D conversations – a mix of classroom delivery from the management team, webinars with subject matter experts, experiential learning, tailored 1-2-1 coaching plans and self-learning opportunities.

Our industry has led many with our approach to how we look after our people, and this should continue”

And then there is exercise at work. It should be work’s best friend and should become part of work itself. It should become part of a working day. It touches everything – performance, health, productivity, togetherness and camaraderie. Helping our people look after their own personal wellbeing and fitness must be part of the ongoing conversation and working experience. Integrating this into a daily working routine is our responsibility.

So, with the ‘V’ shape bounce back comes the need for a new generation of recruiters to embrace and enjoy their careers ahead. How we meet our obligation as a sector to provide the environment for this generation to become the generation of future leaders is a question that we all need to answer

Guy Hayward - redefiing the modern workplace CEO, Goodman Masson