Wild about meeting people face to face
The benefits of face-to-face communication are being undervalued, according to a recruitment leader from Portsmouth.
Michelle Merritt believes the lockdown trend of communicating and issuing instructions through messages and notifications is potentially harming the economy.
The boss of Wild Recruitment in the city says there is no replacement for seeing people face-to-face, whether in person or through a screen. She says this allows a recruiter to understand clients and job-seekers in a way that nothing else can. It also helps forge closer relationships and ultimately benefits everyone involved; recruiter, employer and worker.
Michelle said: “I am not against tech or working remotely as long as people still meet face-to-face, in person or through programs such as Zoom or Teams.
'We communicate through our facial expressions and through our hands, so seeing each other makes a big difference.
'Since the Covid lockdowns when we had no choice, much work is being done without parties ever meeting face-to-face - by just messaging each other. It can work, but it is far more likely to fail than when people can actually see each other’s faces and build up a rapport.
'When we visit a client we can get a feel for the company and its values and culture. And when we meet a job-seeker we can better understand them and how they would fit into the workforce of a client.
'While we will never return to how it was before Covid, we must return to those practices which will benefit us now.
'Some of those in younger generations prefer to communicate just through notifications, but they still need experience of dealing with people face-to-face, developing relationships, gaining inter-personal skills and building confidence. Tech solutions are great but they work best if they run alongside face-to-face communication, which no impersonal messaging can replicate.
'We do not just simply find people for our clients, we provide a consultancy service, building that long-term relationship in person.
Understanding their strategy, challenges and culture is so important for us to be able to deliver a quality service.”