SMRS in 2023 - What is our team excited for this year? Part 2

At the end of last year, we asked SMRSers from across the agency to tell us their 2023 hopes, dreams and expectations for their work, their teams and the wider industry. Now that the year is fully up and running, we thought we’d share what they said.

Employer

There’s lots to get excited about in 2023. We’re onboarding new clients and launching employer brands and careers sites for clients we started working with in 2022 so it’ll be great to see our work out there, making a difference. Last year we saw a huge increase in the use of Performance Media, so it will be interesting to see how the more traditional media channels try to tap into this market. The recruitment market is still unsettled in the wake of Covid and Brexit so finding the right balance between performance-based media and brand-led activity will be the key to success.?

We’re intrigued by some of the new entrants to the market too - how far can attraction marketing push TikTok? Can a recruitment video go viral, for the right reasons? We’re seeing better and better results from this platform in recent months, giving us an opportunity to reach huge and new audiences.?And we’re?raring to get back out in the real world, attending more events, more awards, and more client meetings – building stronger relationships with clients we’ve potentially never met in person before. And we’ll be relaunching our face-to-face masterclasses across attraction, youth and employer branding. These are always a great opportunity to meet lots of new people and have some really interesting conversations.?

Culture

Going into 2023 I am incredibly excited about the new organisational culture products and services that we are ready to deliver to clients across the employer, education and youth markets.?The post-pandemic world has forever changed people’s values, expectations and ways of working. Other hurdles, such as rapid technological change and economic and climate crises, mean that organisations are grappling with the challenge of creating the right kind of organisational culture.

A key opportunity comes from the development of our theoretically sound approach to culture measurement and change.?This will help our clients to?create healthy cultures; winning organisations with?environments, relationships and ways of working that are positive, purposeful and supportive of the wellbeing of their people.

My personal project for 2023 is getting ready to run the Manchester Half Marathon in May on behalf of Cancer Research UK

Education

I’m once again excited by the huge variety of projects that we’ll be working on here at SMRS. Every year sees our experts develop new ways to change universities for the better and this year I think our work on organisational culture is going to have a big, positive impact on the UK Higher Education sector. Culture is such an important priority for our universities and success here will help institutions overcome many of the other challenges they face. And on that note I’m also?looking forward to continuing our pro bono work with Student Minds, as I know that great organisation will play a vital role in supporting students during any difficult times?ahead.?

Consultancy

2022 wrapped up with a several new projects starting, so I’m?looking?forward to getting to know a bunch of new clients and helping our teams to deliver some really impactful work for them. 2023 will also see a few internal innovations come to fruition – we’ve been working on these in the background for a number of months, so I’m excited for when we get to unleash them to our colleagues and our clients. It’s set to be a difficult year for lots of people so my focus will be on supporting our colleagues and helping our clients navigate the rough waters as best as possible. There’s plenty to think about and lots of challenges to solve – which makes for an exciting year?ahead.

Brand and content

Personally speaking, I’m?looking?forward to getting some new employer brands off the ground in 2023 and helping some existing ones grow. There are some intriguing university-brand projects coming up too. Oh, and I’m excited about more meetings with physical people in actual rooms – it’s been great to have them back. Industry-wise, I’m very interested to see what comes of the Metaverse. After all the talk of what it?could?do, let’s see what it actually does.

We have already had a busy start to 2023, and we want to keep the energy going for the rest of the year, with a focus on changing organisations for the better.

Click here to read part 1.