Monday Interview: Edinburgh recruitment chief finds silver linings to a tumultuous year

Discussing some of the ramifications of the last 12 months, which have seen a working from home revolution and children spend week after week being educated outside the classroom, the managing director of Edinburgh-based Core-Asset Consulting strives for the positive.

While Ms Williamson, whose firm specialises in financial services recruitment, observes there is “nothing to template” lockdown from past generations, she ventures that the experience of children could yet see society “end up with an incredibly resilient next generation”.

“Every cloud can have a silver lining I suppose,” she told The Herald. “I think there will be positive things that come out of it as well as negative things.

“Everything provides a learning opportunity. We will be in a situation where our technology has taken a jump forward, [and] our online capability has taken a jump forward. It might be that the resilience with the kids also takes a jump forward. We don’t know. Try and find good things.”

That is certainly not to say Ms Williamson has not had deal with some incredibly difficult times in recent months. Indeed, the crisis has been the “biggest risk the company has ever faced” since it was founded in 2005.

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A business that had been routinely profitable throughout its existence – its most recent accounts show it made a pre-tax profit of £606,450 on turnover of nearly £15 million – suddenly had a fight on its hands to break even, as clients placed mandates on hold when the scale of the shock became clear.

On the plus side, Core-Asset had already invested in IT infrastructure, which meant the shift to working from home was relatively smooth.

“It wasn’t seamless, everybody had blips… but it wasn’t as scary as if you were in a manufacturing company and you made something, [and wondering how] you can make it remotely. You just can’t.”

Since the shock of those early lockdown weeks, when clients put all but essential hiring on hold, business has gradually picked up for Core-Asset. The recovery gained traction towards the end of 2020, notably in the recruitment of temporary and contract roles.

But it has not been unscathed by the downturn in activity sparked by the pandemic. As it wound down its use of the furlough scheme, before it was announced that the support would be extended beyond October, it was forced to let some staff go to reduce costs.

The redundancy process resulted in the company’s staff being reduced to 22 from 26. Two left the consulting team, and two who had been in office-based operations roles also departed.

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“We did have to make some pretty tough decisions on headcount to protect the viability of the business,” Mr Williamson said.

“That was incredibly difficult for us. Often, when decisions to reduce headcount are made, they can correlate to something specific within the organisation. It usually centres on the company. In this case, it was really external to the organisation. You are not in control of a global pandemic – you are just getting hit by it.”

Ms Williamson, whose clients include some of the biggest names in the Scottish financial services sector, has tried to make forecasts on the “worst possible scenario”. But that forecasting was tougher in her view because the messaging from the UK Government, “not necessarily the Scottish Government”, which at times has signalled the outlook in terms of fighting the pandemic was more positive than the data was suggesting.

“Those kind of mixed messages makes it very difficult for a company trying to make decisions on headcount when people are saying it will be over by Christmas,” she said. “It is quite difficult to navigate that.”

It also became clear to Ms Williamson, who owns 90 per cent of Core Asset, in recent months that the shift to working from home was having some unwelcome effects.

The most recent salary guide for the financial services industry, which Core-Asset has been compiling for six years, found the pandemic was having a bigger impact on women because they picked up a greater share of childcare while working from home during the pandemic. The report suggested the pandemic could quickly reverse the gains made by women in salaries and opportunities in recent years.

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Ms Williamson, whose staff are favouring a “hybrid” working model when restrictions ease, said: “I believe the situation with Covid is disproportionately affecting women, I genuinely believe that. And I say that as a mother and as a working professional, and as a company director.”

“Mothers innately, it comes to a choice between whether you put children first, or your career first.”

She added: “In the grand scheme of things, the children take the default position. Now there is nothing wrong with that, but, unfortunately, the cultural norm means that psychologically we are putting so much pressure on ourselves, because we still have to do the job.”

Reflecting on the events of the last year, Ms Williamson said coronavirus has led to a radical reappraisal of what success means. Hopes and expectations of profits growth have been replaced with a desire to simply break even and keep colleagues in a job.

Ms Williamson, who believes the business has benefited from being private and not expected to deliver profits for shareholders amid the crisis, said: “What we are looking to do is maintain as many jobs and as many people as possible.

“The reality of the situation is all we need to do is to break even. Yes, you want to make a profit. But when it comes to these rather unprecedented times, our worst case scenario is just breaking even.

“If we can break even, and if everybody keeps their job, and we are still here at the end of this pandemic we will have done something amazing.

“We are cautiously optimistic we will have a profit at the end of this financial year, but that doesn’t detract from the fact we had to make some exceptionally difficult decisions to allow us to get to that place.”

Six Questions

What countries have you most enjoyed travelling to, for business or leisure, and why?

I’ve been very fortunate to have undertaken a considerable amount of travel in my life – I have had the pleasure of visiting America, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, the Middle East, many places in Europe and throughout the UK and Scotland. Most of the aforementioned trips have been for leisure purposes. I really love to travel and experience different cultures, foods, history and lifestyles.

When you were a child, what was your ideal job? Why did it appeal?

I’m not sure that I really had an ideal job in mind. What I do remember from an early age is that I loved  being around people, talking, listening to stories and being fascinated with history and what had gone before. Having chosen a career in recruitment has fitted well into that bracket.

What was your biggest break in business?

Not sure that I’ve had a “biggest break”, it’s been consistent hard work over the last 16 years of growing Core-Asset. Certainly the biggest risk was at the tender age of 26 to set out on my own, with my co-director, on the career journey that’s led me to where I am today.

What was your worst moment?

Probably making headcount reductions due to the negative operating climate around Covid – that was excruciatingly painful. 

Who do you most admire and why?

Easy. My mother. She’s definitely been a driving force in my life. She’s always taken an alternative path, and been her own person.