06:30am. I make my customary morning Twitter check and, though it’s far too early for such a choking realisation, I see the latest crushing decision made by our government and feel tears begin to roll down my face. 

The blows keep coming for hospitality, a sector I’ve worked in and adored for over 20 years, and for the first time since this began, I wonder – are we going to make it? I’m truly at a loss. How to move forward? I feel stuck in a world of never-ending pause – frozen, powerless.

This isn’t like me. Positivity has always been my natural default. And although this default disposition has been challenged since March, I have stuck with it and have done what everyone advised me to do. I dug deep, stayed strong, I innovated, I crusaded. Most of all, I did my best to remain defiantly chipper. 

February, we had a record month. March, we fell off a cliff. We were saved by [Chancellor] Rishi [Sunak], an admittedly surprisingly turn of events that allowed us to keep going and support our industry like never before. Our subliminal message was simply that if we can survive as a hospitality recruiter, then any hospitality business can. Strength, positivity and innovation would get us through.

A CV school, a collaboration to upskill candidates, training videos. A manager workshop, a mentoring scheme, an ambassador, a curfew club. I concocted idea after idea over sleepless nights, never once moaning or feeling exasperated. I created more logos and initiatives than I care to count and threw everything at campaign after campaign. 

One campaign we created even went viral. #Nomorenoshows hit the big time: 12m Twitter impressions, 450 billboards, national press coverage and a spot on BBC news meant we truly made an impact, and I couldn’t have been happier. We were living out our purpose.

Nobody can say I didn’t fight. Nobody. 

The part that feels so desperately unfair is that I know I did things properly. I arrived on the scene, armed with a huge passion to change the perception of recruiters. I had a solid purpose, a crusade to change lives, disrupt recruitment and shape hospitality. Every project we worked on, every decision we made and every penny we spent felt simple – is it in line with our purpose? Then do it! I knew to measure everything, I knew to ‘do’ niche, and I knew to add much more value than simply pushing CVs.

So, how do I ‘un-pause’ and move forward from here? Dig deeper? Campaign harder? Right now, I’m not so sure. I guess I must continue to show the strength, positivity and innovation that got us through March. It is, without question, our purpose that led to our success pre-Covid, so perhaps I need to lean a little harder on that.

Speaking of purpose, you may wonder why I’m so keen to write these words. Why expose my heartache in such a manner? Well, I have a suspicion, whether you are in my boat or not, that every recruiter at some point recently has had to dig deep. Has felt the same as I feel today. The best advice I can give? Get up, get dressed and get there. And for me today, that’s enough.

Abi Dunn is chief of dream jobs, hospitality recruiter Sixty Eight People.

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