Goodbye 2020… Hello 2021.

As 2020 drew to a close, I started to write my Q3 & Q4 summary to post out before I logged off for an extended Christmas break. However, I decided not to post and to hold off for two reasons;

1)     I wanted to take the time over the break to properly reflect on 2020 and to dissect, in detail,  how we had ended the year.

2)     I had a strong feeling that 2021 would start off extremely positively and therefore, I wanted to wait a few additional weeks to allow me to kick the year off with some positive news about our 2021 plans….

In my 2020 Q2 round up I spoke of the strong performance we had seen across the LA office. I highlighted some key promotions within the team and spoke proudly about the way that our office had adapted to the new work from home situation we all found ourselves in.

Q3 came around really quickly and whilst the team did well all things considered, we failed to grow at the continued rate that we had hoped for. This was a great wake up call and a chance for me as a leader to reflect on what was working well, and what we needed to change to help push our performance back to the level we typically operate at.

We also used Q3 as an opportunity to make some key hires, with an intake of new graduates and the addition of three experienced recruiters in Erica Sanchez, Jillian Campbell & Alan Olivera, we found ourselves in a fantastic position to finish the year with some real momentum.

As we wrapped up Q3 and moved into the final quarter of the year, the small tweaks that we made as a business unit, as well as the key hires we had made, resulted in us having a record month to end Q3!

We then followed that up with another record month to kick off Q4. Every person, from the leadership team, through to the new graduates we had hired, played a huge part in contributing to the successful run we went on.

From a revenue standpoint we were in great shape, but from a culture perspective we were in even better shape! Our ‘Good Humans’ mantra and our ‘Younger You’ mind set bled through the office and the positivity could be felt during our calls and zoom meetings. Huge kudos to the leadership team who stepped up, drove the office forward and really supported everyone in their teams.

As a result of some excellent leadership and a hugely talented team here in LA, we were able to achieve 55% growth in written business from 2019 to 2020. A HUGE achievement and something we should be massively proud of. We have pivoted and found new niches and focus areas across all of our brands and we are now thriving across Lawrence Harvey, Piper Maddox and SciPro.

I do want to take the time to shout out our SciPro division specifically, who last year stood out across the whole of the LHi Group globally. Their consistency, the service they offer to all of their clients and the opportunity that they have created for their internal team members, make them a formidable force and in my opinion, they are one of the best staffing teams in the market. This was validated at our end of year awards ceremony, with team SciPro LA winning ‘team of the year’ and with Imogen Simpkin taking home the ‘Manager of the year’. Two great awards and a huge testament to Scott Cook & Imogen for building something extremely special. The structure that we have in place in team SciPro ensures that our clients receive the best possible service and internally we play to all of our team members strengths.

Four more fantastic humans, who embraced the challenges last year threw at them and put in amazing performances were promoted in the second half of 2020, congratulations to Shaina, Spencer, Austin and Mickey. Both Austin and Mickey were promoted within the first 6 months of joining our team.

Onboarding new hires remotely is a challenge, but a huge shout out to our back office and our Learning & Development team who helped to make the onboarding process extremely smooth. With 50% of the office being promoted through 2020 I can’t wait to talk about the next round of promotions we see this year!  

So, 2021 is here, and following a hugely successful Q4 we are motoring towards another record quarter.

We have already seen considerable contribution across all three of our business units and we continue to hire driven, motivated, hardworking individuals with two new faces already joining our team. If you are reading this and would like to know a little more about our inclusive and innovative culture and find out how you could help us to write the next chapter of our story, please do get in touch with me or our extremely talented internal talent team – James Westwood & Taylor Amato, we will be more than happy to share some information.

2020 was a real journey, but one we embraced with open arms. I am excited about 2021... excited about the growth plans we have in place and excited about the culture we will continue to build. Personally, I am excited about the opportunity that I have to help develop every member of our LHi LA family, making them great recruiters but even better human beings!