Locking down a new role during COVID
Author: IntaPeople | Date published: 09/12/20
2020! What a year!
It was a year of dramatic change, growth and at times, pure madness! Overnight, IntaPeople, like many other local businesses, switched from a typical sales office-based environment to everyone working from home and communicating daily through Zoom.
(I think the phrase of the year “You are on mute” won for ‘most-said phrase’ of 2020!).
Looking forward to 2021; we want to grow and add new members to our IT, Engineering, Life Science & Operations teams. We managed to achieve some growth during 2020 with fantastic results!
Joining a new team is always a little daunting, but this year it felt particularly so for many. But through hard work collaborating and going that extra mile to communicate between ourselves, our team managed to incorporate two new members successfully.
Meet Dafydd – Recruitment Specialist – Electrical and Mechanical Engineering at IntaPeople
“Being in the industry just over three years, I’ve placed candidates remotely and thanks to 2020, have now experienced it myself when joining IntaPeople.
After relocating to Cardiff during the pandemic, I thought recruitment agencies would be trying to keep their current staff busy rather than bringing new consultants onboard, luckily for me I found IntaPeople and was interested to see what they had to offer, having been in the industry for over 25 years. The recruitment process was efficient, consisting of one telephone chat and two zoom video calls, during which I got to speak firsthand to the right people, just like I would have if called in for a face to face. The whole process took place within seven days, which is really good as my previous interviews were still fresh in my mind.
Onboarding remotely, like everything, has its pros and cons. The pros included the speed of the recruitment process; compared to onboarding for previous roles in my career, I felt it was around 2-4 weeks quicker, no need to book days off to attend interviews and you could get away with wearing your shirt with pyjama bottoms!
The cons included not meeting the team in the office, or actually seeing the office, working environment etc. but it’s the employers’ responsibility to paint the picture for the candidate of what life working for them will look like, and I felt IntaPeople did exactly that.
For anyone interviewing through these strange times, it’s important to ask the employer as many questions as possible, even ones that may seem too silly to ask! At the end of the day, you will be spending a third of your life working in this environment so you need know what your day-to-day environment will look like (even if you’re just picturing it in your head). Overall, I think onboarding remotely has worked well for most businesses during the pandemic, but when there is a bit of normality back in these unprecedented times – businesses won’t hesitate to bring back face-to-face interviews.”
Meet Natalie – Life Sciences Recruitment Consultant at IntaPeople
“As most of us know, the recruitment industry was hit hard by the pandemic. After two years in the rec2rec industry, I found myself on furlough and then, unfortunately, made redundant due to the market being so badly affected. I have always enjoyed my career in recruitment and when I found myself jobless, I saw it as an opportunity to move into a new, exciting recruitment sector.
IntaPeople has always had a reputation in the rec2rec world of being a nice, friendly company to work for, with down-to-earth recruiters who want to do a good job and maintain strong relationships with their clients, candidates, and within their own team. This mentality really spoke to me, so I decided to reach out and see if they were looking to hire. I was called into interview the next day and found the process to be enjoyable. Speaking with members of the senior team, I quickly realised IntaPeople’s reputation rang true. I could clearly see a management team who cares about their team and were putting their people first, during what has been a difficult time for everyone.
After a few interviews with several members of the team, I was offered a role to start the following month. I was excited (and nervous) – but I felt confident that I would be supported in my journey, especially as I was coming into a completely new sector.
When I heard I was working from home, initially I thought it would be a huge positive, especially as there was no commute or cold morning walk to the office. However, I soon realised how much I took for granted. Working from home can be hard at times, as you are not around people to reassure you or ask simple questions. However, the team at IntaPeople have been so receptive and understanding, that I feel comfortable to message anyone in the team a question or ask for advice. And anyone I reached out to, gladly, took a moment away from their busy desk to offer me the assistance I needed – which I am so grateful for!
My advice for anyone looking to join a team remotely is to ensure that the company you are joining has a supportive network of colleagues and strong team environment. Just because you are working alone, does not mean you need to feel isolated. Ensuring the company has a strong team spirit and community feel, will enable you to start your new career in a supportive environment, and allow you to really hit the ground running.”
We are currently adding to our sales teams across IT, Engineering, Life Science & Operations!
If you are a recruitment consultant with 12 months’ experience, based in South Wales or relocating to the area, looking to join an agency, then check out our Join Us page or get in touch.