It’s been more than a year now of living with the pandemic right outside our doors. The struggle is indeed real as we witnessed Covid-19 caused massive upheaval across our entire operation here at Quay Appointments. As recruiters continue to push through, it is important to pay attention to opportunities to improve ourselves, to learn more about our business in order to better serve our clients and employees. Here are some of our learnings right here that we plan to bring with us after this pandemic.

Camaraderie is more than just about teamwork

Last year in March, the entire team of Quay Appointments rallied together to keep each other motivated during trying times. We didn’t spend a lot of time together because we were sent to work from home. During those times we felt more connected than ever before. It became a default setting for us to check on each other and even our families. Crisis management is strategic but must be guided by empathetic principles.

We wanted every interaction to be authentic and bring value to one another. It is about professional and personal purposes becoming one big purpose, to be more human, be more present.

Technology will enable us in the future, not render us obsolete

We have really got to dive deep into incorporating technology in our everyday operation and it has been liberating, to be honest. I am pretty sure that after this pandemic, technology will remain imperative not just for us but for other organisations as well. If we play our cards right, technology will enable us to create more fulfilling jobs to help us perform better.

“Utilising technology as the enabler and always putting humans first at the heart of our decisions,” says Caleb Baker, Managing Director for Will International, Quay Appointments’ parent company. Tech reskilling here in Australia remains a big agenda. The tech workforce here continues to grow and is expected to exceed 1.1 million professionals according to the latest Australia’s Digital Pulse report by ACS.

Expand your thinking when taking care of your team

For organisations to thrive, it is important to create a culture wherein everyone is inspired and driven to be part of. Taking care of your team is more than just checking on them or giving them recognition for their hard work. I realised that to really take care of my team, it was important to understand what motivates them, not what I think would motivate them. There are a lot of ideas we can consider for this, mental health support, reskilling and upskilling, EVP, etc.

Job candidates, especially the younger ones as asking for growth and guidance

In my previous article, I’ve talked about helping job candidates better envision their career. There are Gen Z and Millennial professionals pursuing career journeys different from their college degrees or what they’ve been studying for pre-pandemic. Then there are those who just got out of college and are unsure of what track to take. As recruiters, we must be mindful when determining the indicators that would motivate job candidates to engage.

Ensure great candidate care or experience for everyone

Let’s face it, recruitment is mostly job rejections. However, there can be added value to a candidate’s experience even if he or she didn’t get the job. Candidate care or experience should always be on top in recruitment. We can attest to that. Because of our focus on maintaining our level of candidate experience, we were nominated by the RCSA Industry Awards for the category of “Excellence in Candidate Care.”



These are the things we should continue to instill in our business DNA and practice beyond this pandemic and into the future.