📝Nicola Smith, BA(Hons) Assoc CIPD’s Post

🎄✨ Balancing Family, Recruitment, and the Magic of Christmas ✨🎄 As the festive season approaches, I find myself reflecting on the delicate balance we all strive to achieve—juggling family life, careers, and the holidays. For me, recruitment has always been more than just a job; it’s about making a difference in people’s lives. Whether it’s helping a client find their perfect candidate or supporting someone in securing a role that transforms their future, it’s rewarding in so many ways. But as any recruiter (or working parent!) knows, it’s also a fast-paced, high-pressure world. Then there’s family—the reason why I do what I do. My children remind me of the magic of Christmas, the importance of being present, and the joy of creating memories together. It’s their excitement that reminds me to slow down, cherish and live in the moment of the season. For those of us in recruitment, December can feel like a whirlwind of closing placements, prepping for January hiring surges, and wrapping up the year. But it’s also a time to reflect, reset, and reconnect—with our loved ones, our goals, and our purpose. To my fellow recruiters, working parents, and anyone balancing a busy career with family life: let’s give ourselves the grace to pause, celebrate the wins, and embrace the festive spirit. After all, Christmas is about connection—and isn’t that at the heart of what we do every day? 💙 What are you celebrating or thankful for this year or this December?? 🎁✨ #FamilyFirst #RecruitmentLife #ChristmasMagic #WorkLifeBalance #Gratitude

Ah Sunday evening. How many of you are scrolling LinkedIn wishing for a different tomorrow? If you’re a manager or leader, how many of your team members are wishing they didn’t have to show up to work tomorrow? These are harsh words, but real experiences that haunt many before the start of a new week. I believe it doesn’t need to be this way. Loving to work isn’t about working in a subject that delights you (necessarily). In fact I’ve met many people who’ve said they started working in the area they used to have as a hobby: IT, social media marketing, floral design, and many others. And a few years in felt burned out and didn’t want to do their career or their hobby any longer. Loving to work is about creating workplaces where people feel valued and appreciated, where they can grow and develop and get a sense of accomplishment. Where they feel their efforts are worth their time and where they know their time outside of work is as valued by their employer as the time they spend at work. It’s about doing work that we’re good and at playing to our strengths. But also learning what else we’d love to be good at and working towards that too. It’s about creating workplaces of mutual respect. It’s about ensuring people can do good work, earn a fair wage, and support the company to grow but also feel growth for themselves. It’s about being human. So if you’re worried your people aren’t feeling that way as we move into a new week. Or you’re someone who’s dreading Monday morning, give me a shout. We can all love to work, it just requires a bit of research and bit of adjustment to create workplaces where people truly want to be, or to figure out your path to a career that makes you shine. Surely we all deserve that. Here’s to Monday. #LetsLoveToWork #CareerCoaching #OrganisationDevelopment #TeamCoaching #LeadershipDevelopment #EmployeeEngagement #EmployeeExperience #OrganisationDesign #HumanWorkplaces #LoveMondays

I couldn’t work out why I was getting so many LinkedIn notifications today. I was onsite at a clients and could see them coming through and then saw my automated work anniversary announcement. Thank you for all the messages (I will save them for September when hit the actual milestone 😉) The reality is, 5 years ago today I was actually in one of the most stressful points of my career. 💥 11 July the company I loved working for went into administration, so many jobs lost, a community of people overnight coming to the realisation that it was over. All that hard work. 😔 However- for so many of us, it was just the start, we just didn’t know it at the time…. Looking back on photos from that time I have a collection of house build updates, my youngest was just finishing pre school, swimming lessons, end of term choas of assemblies and added pressure to remember everything. It is much calmer 5 years on. ⭐️ I now get to be present at swimming lessons, I do still juggle emails but on my terms ⭐️ I can attend end of year assemblies without any guilt ⭐️ We have a home, designed by me, built by my step dad and his team and feel fortunate for it everyday ⭐️ I get to manage my diary, the work I do, the people and clients I work with, under my own company P&M! ⭐️ I start the day in my own way, I talked about my reason why in the newsletter this month, by sitting in the peace of the day, often using the same mug I had way back in the early days of that old life. 5 years ago, I didn’t have the head space to even think about 24 hrs ahead, let alone imagine all that has been accomplished since. Everything in life happens for a reason, even if at the time it is really bloody pants! 😊 #workanniversary #hrconsultancy #lookforward #hrleadership #newbeginnings

Bid farewell with meaning. Discover how goodbyes can transform into unforgettable experiences for your valued team members. Explore our latest blog for thoughtful leaving gift ideas that resonate with gratitude and leave a lasting impact. Because at Wondergifts, we believe in celebrating departures with meaningful moments. https://lnkd.in/dGsP7mZw

Whilst Thanksgiving is not as widely celebrated in the UK, seeing the festivities of our North American friends and colleagues inspires thoughts and reflections. So after this year's Thanksgiving weekend, I'm taking a moment to share #gratitude for the little every day things in my work life that I never want to take for granted. 🙏 I'm grateful for the Permutive Customer Success team who is by far the most hard-working, intelligent, and accountable I've worked with. All our CSMs are experts in their field, strategic creative thinkers, and incredible team-players - I learn from them every day. Thomas, Aarti, Gillian, Monica, Klemen, Alexander, Brittany - thank you! 💗 🙏 I'm grateful for the leadership team I am part of - thank you, Brendan Farrell and Adam Kovonuk - we are always there for each other, we fight challenges head on, we never point fingers. 🙏 I'm grateful for Jeffrey Rosello's leadership and the culture he and the rest of our leadership team have created. Permutive is a place where we work incredibly hard, but we're also given the freedom to prioritise health, wellbeing, and personal life with access to a very generous holiday allowance, frequent and flexible wellness days, and access to mental health support via Spill A time like Q4 can feel like a real crunch and it can be difficult to take the time to recognise the positivity around us. Take this as your reminder to consider the things you are grateful for every day 🐱 💡 PS: Did I mention we are #hiring on our North American team? If you're passionate about advertising, understand the broadcasting space deeply, and the above team sounds like something you want to be part of, check out the role in the comments or ping me or Lucy Willingham (whose thoughtful and dedicated partnership in Recruitment is my fourth reason for daily gratitude 🙏 )

Just as Thanksgiving, a time for gratitude, precedes the season of giving at Christmas, employees must feel valued at work to perform their best as a form of appreciation. So what exactly makes us Grateful to our Employers enabling us to offer our best work? Remuneration: Feeling valued by our employers is crucial, and this often comes from fair compensation. Whether it’s market rate salaries, commissions above a draw, or commission-only arrangements where we receive the majority of the invoice, these reflect our worth and expertise. Without feeling valued in our roles, it’s difficult to feel gratitude or deliver our best work. Career investment development is also key: Recognition, validation, and value can be felt through ongoing training, leadership opportunities, mentoring, and promotions. Such investments by employers make us feel appreciated and motivate us to excel in our roles. Flexibility and Culture: The concept of “partnership” is often considered the most effective way to manage. The best leaders and coaches are those who work alongside their teams and support them actively. When leaders demonstrate that they have our backs and collaborate closely, it fosters gratitude among team members. Offering flexibility—whether in terms of work-life balance or options like additional work-from-home days without financial penalties—shows that employers value and trust us. This gratitude and understanding from our employers encourage us to deliver our best work. When we gather with friends and family to celebrate Thanksgiving this week, let’s take a moment to reflect on what aspects of our current roles we are grateful for, ensuring that we are contributing our utmost effort and excellence to our jobs. As the year draws to a close, I encourage you to schedule a meeting with us to discuss your career journey. Let’s identify what might be lacking in terms of gratitude in your current role that’s holding you back from delivering your best work and realizing your full potential. Together, we can set the stage for your future success and a strong 2025! #thanksgiving #GratitudeAtWork #CareerGrowth

Your staff might not want the same Christmas party that you enjoyed 20 years ago. Yep I said the C word in August deal with it. 🤣 It is that time of year when companies have started to finalize the plans for the end of year gathering. In days gone by it was essentially an excuse to get absolutely gorilla’d and make bad choices with colleagues and then have to face them in the office the next day (or Monday if it was a Friday party) with a pseudo walk of shame. Awkward does not even begin to describe it. Fast forward to today and more people are aware that drinking is not the only way to have fun. I have seen more and more businesses shift to experience days with food and no drinks to accommodate those in their teams that do not drink (a growing number of people are not drinking or drinking a great deal less these days). Even more pleasing to see is the trend towards incorporating this end of year experience as part of the wrap up and kick off next year piece in their people (and overall business) strategy. Does your team want you to spend loads on an event they don’t even really want to be at? Could you use that money to do a team building experience (not a team activity aka paintball) where they got to reflect on the year and then do some visioning for next year? Would you not want one of the last memories of this year be a positive one that has hope for the next year? Just a hunch, but you may just get less resignation letters in January as a result… #PeopleStrategy #HumanResources #EndOfYearParty

🏠 Employee lasting impressions are just as important as firsts! Read below to find out why ⬇️ This weekend, we said goodbye to a house that meant so much more than four walls. It was home. It’s where we brought Luan after he was born, where we celebrated milestones, and where we shared so many “firsts” as a family. The move wasn’t planned, the owners decided to sell, and we suddenly had to find a new place just before Christmas. While I’m grateful (and relieved) we’ll be settled in time for the holidays, closing that door one last time felt bittersweet. Leaving our home felt a lot like leaving a job.🚪 You’re excited about what’s next, but there’s still that pull of what you’re leaving behind. ⭐ Maybe it’s the company that gave you your first big break. ⭐ The team that supported you through life’s ups and downs. ⭐ The role where you grew into the professional you are today. As employers, we focus so much on the “hello”; onboarding, first impressions, and welcoming people in. But what about the “goodbye”? The last impression someone has of your company is just as important as the first. Why? 💡How someone feels when they leave defines how they remember you. 💡Will they leave with gratitude and speak highly of your company to future employees, clients, and peers? 💡Or will they leave frustrated because their exit felt rushed, impersonal, or poorly handled? Here’s what I’ve learned: It’s okay to feel sad when someone leaves, mixed emotions are natural. Leaving a company, just like moving house, can bring both nostalgia for what you’re leaving and excitement for what’s ahead. But how you handle the goodbye matters. A thoughtful farewell leaves a lasting impact. It shapes how your employer brand is remembered, talked about, and shared long after employees have moved on. Because at the end of the day, the way you say goodbye says just as much about your company as the way you say hello. Have you ever left a company and had an experience (good or bad) that stayed with you? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Discover Your Talent and Make Christmas Magic Happen Christmas is a magical time, filled with lights, laughter, and, above all, opportunities to shine. In a world where each of us has a special talent, why not take advantage of this festive season to discover and apply those unique skills in our professional lives? The Magic of Discovering Your Talent Imagine Santa Claus in his workshop, surrounded by elves, inviting everyone to discover their talents. Just as they create magical toys, you too can transform your passions into action. The key is to recognize what makes you unique and how you can use it to contribute to the world around you. What Makes Your Talent Special? We all have something to offer. Whether it’s creativity, leadership, or a technical skill, each talent has the potential to make a difference. This Christmas, we invite you to reflect on what motivates you and how you can integrate that into your work. Creativity as a Driver of Change Creativity isn’t limited to the arts; it’s a powerful tool that transforms ideas into realities. Just like the elves designing toys and decorations, you can apply your creativity in your profession. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box. Innovation arises from courage and the willingness to experiment. Tips to Make Your Dreams a Reality Here are some practical tips to help you shine in your career: 1️⃣ Explore Your Passions: Take time to discover what truly motivates you. 2️⃣ Don’t Be Afraid to Be Creative: The best ideas often come from experimentation. 3️⃣ Collaborate with Others: Magic multiplies when we work together. 4️⃣ Never Stop Learning: Personal and professional growth is an ongoing journey. Celebrate Your Magic and That of Others Christmas is also a time to celebrate. Just like Santa and his new helpers, each of us has something to celebrate. Share your achievements, recognize your colleagues' talents, and foster a supportive and collaborative environment. This December, we encourage you to join us on this journey of self-discovery and creativity. Are you ready to make magic in your career? At our staffing agency, we are here to help you find your next great talent and transform your passions into concrete actions. Don’t let this Christmas pass without discovering what you can truly achieve. Make the magic happen! Connect with us and discover how we can help you shine in your career! #ChristmasMagic #DiscoverYourTalent #Creativity #StaffingUSA #ProfessionalGrowth #TransformYourPassion #CareerSuccess #Christmas2024

🎄 Excited for Christmas? I certainly am! 🎄 It's that time of year again when the buzz of festive preparations fills the air. At KC Group, we know how important it is to balance work with the joys of the holiday season. As recruiters, we often see the year-end rush, with many candidates eager for new beginnings in January and companies looking to fill roles before the Christmas break. It's a busy period, but also a wonderful opportunity to reflect on achievements and set goals for the coming year. 🎅 Don't let the stress overshadow the joy. Here are some tips to stay on top: ✅ Plan ahead: Ensure your projects and deadlines are in order. ✅ Delegate tasks: Share the load with your team for a smoother workflow. ✅ Take a break: Make time for holiday cheer and family gatherings. How do you balance work and festive preparations? Share your thoughts below or visit www.thekcgroup.co.uk for more insights and please get in touch with me on 0121 705 0077 if you are looking for a fresh start in the new year. #ChristmasPreparation #WorkLifeBalance #Recruitment