Christmas/New Year Message
AS 2016 comes to a close, the Xmas/New Year period is a welcome opportunity for most of us to enjoy some chillaxing downtime, hopefully over a long hot Kiwi summer! But it’s also a time to reflect back on some of the big events that have shaped the course of the year and might influence the next! For team Virtue, we’ve had a year of many highlights, it really is a “buzz” to help Clients recruit fantastic new people into their teams and on the other side, helping candidates define and shape very exciting career stories!
Recruitment is one of those special industries that keeps on giving win/win outcomes for everyone. When all goes well that is…! So for all those that have partnered with or supported us here at Virtue over 2016, we offer a sincere and special “thank you” on reflection at this time of year, and we look forward to staying in touch over the course of 2017.
2016 has certainly provided “life changing” events that are sure to impact through into 2017 and beyond. Politically, the bombshell of the year would have to be the US election with Donald Trump heading to the White House and in Europe, the Brexit vote with Britain leaving the EU. Sadly, Terrorism is an increasing threat anytime and anywhere, with shocking events in France and only this week, in Germany. Thankfully New Zealand seems to be somewhat removed from the impact so far, but I’m sure nobody takes anything for granted and we all appreciate how lucky we are to live here.
On the political front closer to home, John Key’s surprise resignation has caused a few ripples and the longer term effect may spice up interest in an election year in 2017, in what is an increasingly unstable world. We’re certainly hopeful that a strong economy will mean continued growth and steady job flows right through any election process next year. The earthquake caused chaos in Kaikoura and Wellington, so whilst some of us in Auckland would think the inner CBD is like a “war zone” with the infrastructure works going on, we have little to complain about compared to those badly affected by the recent quakes and the Christchurch rebuild.
In our industry, technology has been changing the face of the recruitment sector for years, but the key is understanding the fine line between using the best technology without losing sight of “old school” human interaction and values around personalised service. In 2016, Virtue launched a new website and implemented a highly sophisticated interactive database, plus placed a continued focus to connect to our client and candidate audience through social media. However more technology also comes with increased threats, with cyber security issues around hacking sadly on the rise and creating havoc on a global basis. Our challenge is to meet and manage this risk, which is sadly one of the few trade-offs that committing to technology causes.
So heading into 2017, whilst we’re taking a break and our office will be closed from Friday December 23rd 2016 and will re-open on Monday January 9th 2017, we’ll be right back up and firing in the New Year, as it always offers a fantastic window for change and opportunity in your career. People are fresh, the market is buoyant, a lot of companies move into growth mode. So we look forward to seeing you then. Meanwhile have a safe and happy Xmas and New Year and all the best for an amazing 2017!