When I addressed the final Recruitment Society social event of 2008, I spoke of ‘the need to belong’. An unusual thought for resourcing professionals as we face the multiple challenges of this year? Not at all. I believe that this sense of belonging is more, not less, important
against the economic backdrop of 2009.

Resourcing — whether in-house in corporate life within HR, for an intermediary employment agency or for a upport service business — can be a lonely career. This applies whatever the size of your organisation. Even within HR teams, resourcers often work independently with linemanagers and directors who they see infrequently, and within agencies they often maintain their own portfolio of client contacts. Wherever you work, though, your decisions affect the lives, careers, income and future prospects of many others.

This is a weighty, but often solitary, responsibility. It also carries more responsibility when the outcomes are even more significant at present for the individuals involved on the ‘receiving end’. That is why it is even more important now to belong to professional associations and bodies that are relevant to you — not just because it is important to wear the badge of that society or carry the ‘letters’ after your name to demonstrate our professional standing. That is important, and just as much so as staying close to your customers and contacts at the present, but it is even more important to know that you have that support network of like-minded professionals standing with you. You are not alone.

When I spoke, I closed by invoking the motto of the 101st US Airborne Division (as showcased by the TV series Band of Brothers) — ‘Currahee’. This roughly translates from the Native American as ‘we stand alone together’.

An appropriate message for our times, I feel. Those who demonstrate their value and professionalism in harsher times will build a more successful long-term career — another fact. Thus it is that you need to ask what you stand for and what bodies, associations and societies you belong to which both demonstrates your professionalism and provides mutual support for you and your peers.

We stand alone together.

Steve Huxham Chairman, Recruitment Society