Celebrating 40 years in Recruitment!

I cannot believe where the last 40 years has gone- I am really that old?

Right now, the world feels a very strange and unstable place, with European wars, political upheaval, the cost of living crisis, the advent of AI and all the uncertainty as well as benefits that it may bring.

When I first started in recruitment  Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, the world suffered its worst ever nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after lift-off, Apartheid was still in force in South Africa, The Berlin Wall still stood separating The West  from communist Eastern Europe and `Living Doll` by Cliff Richard and the Young Ones was number one in the charts and we think we are living in strange times now!

This year I celebrate 40 years in recruitment joining `City Legal Specialists Recruitment ` in 1986 before joining Michael Swaby and Joe Neilson in setting up Career Legal in 1991 and I don’t regret a minute of it not just the good times but the tougher times too. Every person I have met and situation I have found myself in has left an indelible mark in me which I believe has changed me for the better and given me perspective in life and business.

We may have laptops instead of mountains of application forms now, AI tools, mobile phones, text messaging, PCs instead of just card indexes and law directories, hybrid working rather than 40-50 hours per week in the office, allowing us a much healthier balance in our lives, but building lasting relationships (and friendships) is still at the very heart  of what we still do.

As we look ahead, who knows what the next 40 years will bring? I suspect that the rapid advances in technology are about to change our lives more in the next 5 years than it they did in the previous 40 and only those businesses able to embrace those changes will survive 

Here's a pic of Joe Neilson and myself circa 1986 looking impossibly young and yes I did once have hair! along with a recent pic on our roof terrace and still the best of friends!