It started with a coffee…

Four years later, they got the job.

I once recruited someone into a role four years after we first connected.

They weren’t looking for a new role the time we first met, and they weren’t looking for the next four years either. But we kept in touch, caught up now and then for a coffee and a chat.

They were always happy to give their opinion when I rang asking if they knew someone for other roles. Sometimes they knew someone, sometimes not, but they always took my call.

Four years later they got in touch. They were ready for a new challenge and asked if I could help.

A few weeks later I was taking a brief for a GM of HR role. They were the first person I thought of, during the briefing, and they got the position.

At a time when people complain that recruitment is increasingly being reduced to algorithms, keywords and impersonal application processes, it’s worth remembering that real relationships still do the heavy lifting.

Whether you’re recruiting for your team or thinking about your next move, don’t wait until you need to fill a role or find a job. 

Build and nurture your own networks, keep in touch with old colleagues and be open to a conversation with professional recruiters. 

You never know where it might lead.