2020- what a year! I am yet to meet anyone who has not been affected in some way by the Covid-19 pandemic and all its secondary effects. Even for those with relative job security, other difficulties ensued; the perilous loneliness of living by oneself, the adaptation to working from home or sadder still, the health concerns of family and friends. Everyone was tested.
For me it was a year of double-edged swords. At the beginning of the year, I moved to the outskirts of London, nervous about being away from the epicenter of activity in the city, having lived in London my whole life. In reality, I couldn’t have been luckier. The move gave me an upstairs in my house and a small but wonderfully welcome outside space, during months on end spent at home.
My partner is a front-line worker and was away dealing with the response to Covid for much of the year, leaving me living by myself during lockdown and nervous about doing so, as someone who has always surrounded themselves with people in my work and social life. Again, whilst this took some adjustment and in the early days I found myself filling my time re-watching old Netflix series for the 400th time (I will never tire of Gossip Girl and New Girl!) eventually I settled into my own company and used the time to read all the books I had never got round to, completed a virtual 100km running race and signed up to the online platform ‘Masterclass’, learning about topics as varied as global economics, gourmet cooking, business strategy and leadership.
In April I was furloughed from my job and eventually at the end of August, my company decided to close down the division I was a part of, and I was gutted. I had never envisaged joining another recruitment business and yet there I was, having to look for another job in the middle of a global pandemic. My initial thought was panic. Fears of financial instability, clients forgetting about me after so long away and losing all the momentum I had built with diversity related initiatives I had been running. But then I was pleasantly surprised. People began reaching out to me, espousing realistic confidence in the market. The prevailing message was that the days of mass hiring would likely take some time to return to, but that law firms still had key shortages of specialist talent which they needed help addressing.
This was a positive for me. I had always enjoyed this work the most; partnering with clients and helping them to source individuals with niche skillsets, in areas that were strategically critical for the firm. How brilliant that amidst such horrible circumstances, this was the work I now got to focus on. Associate hiring alone could not sustain me though and so I set about finding a new home where I could work on more senior level searches too and where I could make a significant difference to law firm diversity, something I am particularly passionate about.
I was fortunate enough to end up with several options and an incredibly difficult decision to make. Eventually though, I identified Elemar as the place for me. A new business set up by a brilliant former colleague of mine and longstanding mentor Leanne Clark, I knew it would be an instant success and I wasn’t wrong. In our first month, we have already completed the development of our brand, created our website and made our first placement. What a way to say goodbye to 2020 and ring in the new year!
In 2021 I can’t wait to continue building the business and to develop some of our new and innovative client services. One such example will be the use of people analytics to better inform lateral hiring decisions, with a particular view to balancing gender diversity across law firms. This is something we are especially thrilled to be involved with and a strategy we are confident will be hugely influential for the future of our industry. For more details about this and our other upcoming news in 2021, follow us on LinkedIn and have a little look at the aforementioned branding, which we are very proud of.
So despite a shaky start, all in all I feel very fortunate to be in the position I am now in. Well fed, well read and part of an amazing business ready for the year ahead. One thing’s for sure, it’s not likely to be boring!
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