Mick Cooper
Senior consultant,
Detail 2 Retail

Monday
Walked into the office to be greeted by a panicky client calling me at 8am — one of their sales consultants in their Cambridge site had walked out over the weekend and they didn’t have an internal replacement. Never one to shy away from a challenge, I got the ad campaigns running by lunch. Rest of the day sandwiched with team meetings. I’m running an incentive to keep the team motivated in this difficult time - cheers all round when they discovered they had a free breakfast!

Tuesday
Our admin team has been putting together a salary survey for one of our clients. I sat down with them to review its progress. Had an interesting conversation with a candidate we’d dealt with in Cambridge a few years ago — his best mate’s girlfriend’s cousin’s postman’s brother is a retail sales professional who’d just been made redundant. He sent his CV within the hour and is all over the job. Client seems keen as well, so fingers crossed.

Wednesday
Today has been lo-o-ong. I offered to hep at a client’s assessment centre to get a better understanding of their business. Unfortunately, it was in Swindon, started at 9am and I live in Central Manchester. Well worth the journey though. Treated their team to lunch and am feeling betterabout our ‘blossoming relationship’. Nap on the train was interrupted by the Cambridge client calling my mobile at 8pm to let me know they’d confirmed an interview on Friday for the referred candidate. Need sleep now…

Thursday
Frustrating morning. A senior candidate currently on a three-month notice period revealed he’d been counter-offered a significant amount (far more than the client has offered) and was unsure what to do. It didn’t shock me but a pleasant ‘arm round the shoulder’ reminded him of hisreasons to move and we re-assured him he’d made the right choice. Candidate agreed. Glad we stuck close to him!

Friday
Offer in Cambridge! I’m a little surprised as it’s usually a nightmare area to recruit in, but candidate and client are both delighted and he starts Monday. Had a cheeky cup of coffee to celebrate. Got a phone call from the client I visited on Wednesday with a range of new roles, so made sure they were all were advertised and prep work done. The weekend feels well earned!

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