GUEST ADDRESS
Helen Livesey MBA MREC CertRP Senior business director, Hays
Please allow me to pass on my warmest congratulations to all of you here today, such an incredible achievement – you should all be very proud as I am sure all of your friends and families are too.
Many of us study so we can improve our skillset and self-development – so we can be better ourselves, expand our mindsets and carve out the best career we are each capable of. With this in mind, I thought I would give you a flavour of what Hays Payroll Management are currently seeing in relation to recruitment and careers in payroll, so you can understand how your payroll qualification will help you thrive and achieve your career goals. The last eighteen months has been a challenging time for everyone, and the payroll industry is certainly no different. Government initiatives such as the coronavirus job retention scheme were introduced to help keep people paid during the Covid pandemic. Whilst this created massive amounts of additional work and pressures within already busy payroll teams, these government schemes highlighted the vital role of the payroll profession, and the importance of payroll within the economy and within organisations. I welcomed the calls I received during the pandemic from financial directors and human resource directors telling me how much they appreciated the value of their payroll department and how they would be lost without them. After going into lockdown in March 2020, there was a slow down of recruitment activity as both recruitment and projects were placed on hold from our clients. However, it didn’t take long for the market to pick up. Our clients began to realise this new way of working was going to be the new norm and if businesses didn’t adapt quickly, they would lose ground to their competitors. Since the turn of the year, the market has shifted to high growth. I’ve worked for Hays for twenty-one years and I’ve never seen anything like it before. Data from the Office of National Statistics states there are over 1.1 million unfilled vacancies in the UK currently, this is the highest we have seen since before the credit crunch in 2008. Why am I telling you this? Because you should have a great choice of job opportunities available to you now, and in the months ahead. You need to use this time wisely and plan your next career steps carefully. With your qualification and experience, you have the key skills that employers want, and you need to use this to your advantage. This is an opportunity to go and test your skills and qualifications and, whether internally or externally in the market, to find the best opportunity to help your career accelerate, using your qualification to its fullest. Managing your career can be difficult and confusing to many, and indeed time-consuming. At Hays, we pride ourselves in providing good advice, an honest and open dialogue, expert guidance and a caring approach. Our job is to ensure you find the best job, that is right for you at every stage of your career.
Congratulations once again and enjoy your celebration. You deserve it!
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The CIPP’s Graduation Ceremony
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