SUNSHINE RECRUITMENT IS 2 YEARS OLD TODAY!

If you’d have asked me then what I thought the business would look like in 2 years this would not have been the answer! It has been a steady stream of learning, challenge, success and joy, however, so much has changed in the last few months since the Coronavirus outbreak and the recruitment world I know and love is currently almost unrecognisable.

You may have noticed, whilst the sun has been shining outside for the last few months, we have been very quietly working through these unprecedented times. Here at Sunshine HQ it’s been a strange blend of home working, home schooling and planning for the inevitable changes we will face once we come out of lockdown.

One thing that has become very clear is that the recruitment industry is going to take a while to bounce back, it will of course, as it always does, recruiters are nothing if not resilient! But for a small agency like Sunshine, we could be waiting a long time before our services are genuinely needed in any sustainable way. I am not good at sitting and waiting, I like to be busy!

So, rather than sit and wait while local employers recover, gain confidence and gently start to rebuild their own businesses, I have decided to use my skills where they are most needed, which right now is not in the private sector, but alongside those trying to rebuild our Isle of Wight economy as it emerges from the pandemic.

I am, as always, focused on supporting the needs of our Island community and currently we are facing new and continued demand in our public sector workforce. So, I have decided to take a sabbatical from Sunshine Recruitment, and am extremely proud to announce that I will be joining the Isle of Wight Council from today on a 12-month fixed term contract in a brand-new role as their Resourcing Specialist. As a result, Sunshine Recruitment Solutions will remain closed until that contract ends to ensure no conflict of interests

I am extremely excited about this new project, my recruitment career started in the public sector, and now rather than providing staff from the outside, I will be able to support the Council staffing needs from within.

The wonderful thing about Sunshine Recruitment Solutions is that it has been designed to weather any storm and we are easily able to adapt and flex to meet demand, in this case thankfully we are able to simply close the doors temporarily and place the business on hold, without the need for closing our doors permanently like so many smaller agencies are sadly being forced to do in this new working landscape.

It would certainly be a conflict to be actively recruiting whilst independently providing internal services at the Council, so Sunshine Recruitment Solutions will not for the next 12 months be taking on any clients or working any live vacancies. We do hope to still be able to provide general advice and guidance through this period and will release information at a later date of any services we are still able to provide.

Thank you so much for your continued support of Sunshine Recruitment, it has been an absolute pleasure building this brand and working within this community. It’s going to a busy 12 months in recovery and I hope by this time next year you will all be feeling brighter, stronger, more resilient and be working once more towards goals of perfecting your own work-life balance however that may look.

Decisions like this are never easy, so many businesses and individuals are having to make drastic changes in their working lives in order to move forward from this crisis. I wish you all the very best of luck and hope you too find ways to find the sun behind the clouds.

Finally, remember, in the words of Walt Whitman,

“Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you.”

Katy Harwood
Founder of Sunshine Recruitment Solutions