The 5 waves of COVID

With today being the one year anniversary of when we first went into lockdown in the UK, it has led many of us to reflect on our experiences over the last year, both personal and professional.

I wear many hats in life, I’m a business owner, manager, leader, Mum, wife and (not to forget) human being. So initially I focused on the really important things - family, my immediate team and myself. Focusing on what I could control and manage in the situation.

But one of the areas I couldn’t manage or really affect was the market in which we operate as a business. Unsurprisingly this last year has been probably the toughest I have experienced in recruitment.

What happened to marketing recruitment?

It has definitely come in different waves, so these are marketing recruitment's 5 waves of COVID, as observed by me:

Wave 1 : Everything stops – freeze and go home. No one has any idea of what is in store or how long this will last. Those businesses that can set their staff up for working from home, but there is huge uncertainty over what is to come.

Wave 2: Companies act - they make mass redundancies or furlough and a huge influx of marketing people come in the market. Marketing job applications go though the roof as job seekers try to find a new role.

Wave 3: Those few companies who were recruiting tended to be inundated with applications and it was an employer's market - some great marketing talent was acquired for those in a position to invest in their marketing teams at this stage.

Wave 4: Slowly companies started to unfreeze; but they were taking 12 weeks to hire and up to 7 rounds of interviews, worried about making costly mistakes in hiring someone remotely. However, things started to move and the number of people searching for a new marketing job slowly reduced.

Wave 5: Lockdown has become the new normal; in the last 6 to 12 weeks everything has come back on line and the battle for great marketing talent is back. Recruitment got quicker and candidates now have a choice again.

Wave 6: Watch this space....

read more about how covid has impacted marketing recruitment

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The 5 waves of COVID

It has been over a year since we went into lockdown in the UK; reflecting on our experiences has shown the marketing recruitment market affected by different waves So here are marketing recruitment's 5 waves of COVID, as observed by me.

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Recruiting for Marketing, Marketing Career AdviceKaren LloydMarch 23, 2021marketing recruitment, COVID19, candidate