I have taken to talking about the potential effects of Brexit on the jobs market as being a bit like the Night King from Game of Thrones. Everyone talks about it coming up – but no one quite knows how much to worry and what will happen. The same might be said about other fast-moving changes we’ll have to deal with too – including technology changes and the climate crisis.

As recruiters, all we can do is be ready for the market as it changes – as it undoubtedly will. It is doing so already in many sectors. That’s why the REC has been all over the country during the first part of this year helping firms with the strategies they can take to ensure their businesses are robust in changing times. We’re here to help – reach out when you need us.

But we also need to be careful of only seeing challenges. When I opened our fantastic TREC conference in June, I asked delegates to focus on optimism for our industry – because what we do is getting more important to clients, as long as we do it well.

All our speakers at the event emphasised that getting the right people and bringing them into companies in the right way was crucial to performance – from best-selling author and Twitter executive Bruce Daisley on the need to build a sense of belonging in work, to Tony Danker, CEO of the Be the Business movement, identifying that people performance is the real differentiator between the businesses that succeed and those that don’t.

All of this was brought home to me by one comment made by Jayne Haynes, SVP of talent at GSK. She said that “increasingly we need sourcing advisers, rather than recruiters”. That’s the key – wherever Brexit, new technology or other changes lead us, the firms who can align what they do to changing client business plans and then help them access new and different pools of talent are the ones who will succeed.

Recruiters are well placed to do this – entrepreneurship and adaptability are in our blood. So let’s head into the summer optimistic about the future. Not without challenges – but we have the answers!

If you want to keep up to speed with all things recruitment, then follow me on Twitter @RECNeil