StopPress turned 10 this year and to help celebrate we spoke to some of the partners that have supported us since day one. Here, Portfolio Recruitment talks about how the recruitment sector has changed, and what the biggest challenges have been since 2009.
Q&A with Debbie Kitson, Carolyn Armstrong and Annie McCulloch.
What have been the biggest changes in the recruitment sector?
Lots of changes – huge increase in digital, UX/CX, motion, experiential space and as a result, roles in those sectors. Roles that never existed before becoming the new norm and often titles are very different from past. Roles with the same title can often be quite different – less standard roles than ever before. Constantly evolving landscape. More variety in the roles that we place than ever before.
More candidates seeking work/life balance, and we have noticed especially corporates put a lot of value on this and make it a priority. Agencies are getting there on this front!
Design roles have evolved and in many cases, experience in digital to some degree is often required. Technical requirements continue to evolve as software changes and come and go.
The way we advertise and maintain our brand presence of course has evolved to include a lot of social media and we are always assessing the effectiveness of what works best.
What have been some of your biggest triumphs?
There have been some big changes for us as a team, and we have come through them far stronger and it has given us clarity and drive to continue to be genuine and authentic in our approach and to support each other as a team
Maintaining long term relationships with amazing clients who have genuine partnership with us is a continued triumph and something very important to us. Developing new connections, learning about their business and building those on a basis of transparency and honesty.
Highlights so far?
For us, being involved in the creative community and supporting organisations and people who are championing positive change, inclusivity and community continues to be something we are very proud of. We genuinely enjoy being part of the creative space in Aotearoa and partnering with various supporting organisations…like Stoppress, Design Assembly, TDC (Type Directors Club), DINZ, Coms Council among others over the years.
What are some of your favourite projects?
We love a bit of brand refresh of our own and seeing our brand develop over the years has been fun. Its evolved with us as a business. And we are proud of how it represents us. Our notebooks showcasing talent are always a hit!
Also finding our fabulous new office space at The Scrapyard in Grey Lynn
We’ve got some fabulous clients and we love being a part of what they do and sharing their successes too.
What are some of the biggest lessons you’ve learnt?
Deciding to take a stand on things, cutting out connections that don’t represent the same values we have. It’s not easy but we’ve learned that sometimes freeing our business from things that impact negatively on our team and overall business is the best way forward.
Learning new tech! It’s constant!
Predictions for the next 10 years?
One thing’s for sure there will be constant evolution and change. We’ve seen loads in the last 10 years and that will just amplify more and more. We just need to keep moving with it and embrace all the new opportunities it will offer, learning at every opportunity along the way.
Of course, technology will continue to impact on the industry and also on how we do business. It will provide both positive outcomes and challenges we will need to evolve with. We hope that as the world continues to be closer because of technologies agencies and studios will embrace working remotely with staff both locally and internationally to a greater degree.
Human connection is still at the core of what we do, and we put value on meeting candidates and clients personally and feel this truly does make a difference to the outcome.
This story is part of our wider celebration of StopPress’s 10 year anniversary. To check out more, click here.
