I lied to you.....
When people asked me why the market was so quiet in the latter part of 2019, I said it was because of Brexit and The General Election. Brexit….I miss that word now. And I never thought I’d say that. January is notoriously quiet, and I kept saying “Things will pick up in February, I promise, things will pick up.” And then February it did pick up a bit, and then March 2020 happened.
As I write this, I’m on day 31 of March 2020. Day 7 of Lockdown because of a worldwide Pandemic. In the UK we are pretty much in Lockdown with the exception of 1 hour’s exercise outside every day and the ability to go to the shops for “essentials”. I’ve been to the shops this morning, jam, mint poppets and garden canes. I plan to walk after lunch, and this evening as I put my feet up and watch the latest box set, I’m ploughing through (not willing to share what it is due to embarrassment of lack of intellect and concentration!) I plan to eat some of my “essential mint poppets”.
As for recruitment……IT DIDN’T PICK UP LIKE I PROMISED! And I am so sorry. I am sorry for candidates who are searching for a new job, I am so sorry for candidates who haven’t got a job and thought that 2020 would see everything improve. I am sorry for businesses who want to grow that can’t, I am sorry for companies who are making cutbacks that they don’t want to, I am sorry for candidates who are being furloughed or being laid off. I am sorry for the self-employed who are getting 80% of what they earn, I am NOT sorry for the self employed who are moaning that they’re not getting what they truly earn as they don’t declare everything. And I am incredibly sorry for my business.
Tomorrow Winhurst Recruitment will be 6 years old. As an owner of a small limited company, I pay myself a small salary and take dividends and as is stands, I get £585 a month to run my business and my home on. I have just written to my local MP who has just replied saying he will look into it but as it currently stands, myself and a lot of other businesses have fallen through the cracks with how the Government can help. Will my business survive? Hell yeah! As long as all my family & friends around me, including those friends who are key workers as well as working on the front line in the NHS, as long as they all survive, then I will be fine. It doesn’t mean to say that I have moments where sadness comes over me like a tidal wave. The moments where the tears won’t stop falling, the mascara keeps running and I’m just overwhelmed by it all. Then I remember this time is about survival and nothing else. Physical and Mental Survival. On Sunday I thought I’d lost the second survival. I live and work on my own, my family, friends, my neighbours, my work all support me but when faced with 12 weeks of being on my own, it’s bloody tough. The clocks changed this weekend and on Sunday evening when the nights were lighter, it dawned on me that the next time I could get a hug from someone, the nights could be getting darker again. Tonne of bloody bricks hit me. But today is a good day and I’m writing this with no tears falling, with optimism in my heart and focusing on people who are worse off than myself. We all have a story of how it’s impacted on us, we all know someone who is having the most horrid time, people who are caught up in this who are having cancer treatment, who are stranded overseas, people who have and will die of Covid-19, people who have sold their house and can no longer move into their new house and are homeless, people who can’t visit loved ones who are critically ill in hospital, people who have had to put life changing decisions like adopting a child on hold, people who will give birth to their first born alone……the list is endless.
So, I am sorry that I lied to you and I am sorry for every single person who is going through the roller coaster that we are all experiencing every day. I hope every single day that your loved ones are still with you when you close your eyes at night. I hope that no-one has to face financial ruin because of this, I hope the good in communities continues to shine. I hope the oceans and the skies go some way to recovering from the damage that has been done. I hope my business sees its 7th birthday a year tomorrow. I hope. I hope. I really hope. As without that, we have very little.
Please sign this to help my business and other businesses who are in the same situation. Thank you.
Email: jo@winhurstrecruitment.co.uk
Tel: 0115 972 6513
@winhurstrec