Glitz, gladrags and a photo booth....

So, this week our team got the amazing opportunity to go to the glitzy Recruiter Magazine awards!  It was a FANTASTIC night!  It was a fab chance to get glammed up and spend some time celebrating successes with the team and let our hair down!

Why I was so excited...

We made the shortlist for 4 awards as a team which made me so proud - especially since I've been subscribing to the magazine since starting my career in recruitment in 2005.  Considering I stumbled into a career in recruitment, it feels amazing to be a contender for an award!!  I especially love this as it's testament to how positive it is to choose a career path based on what you love, what you're good at and what you stand for.  For me personally, I joined recruitment as it largely enabled me to make a difference to people's lives (I've lost count over how many excited people I've heard whooping because they've landed a role they really wanted!). 

My personal mission when it comes to recruitment is to ensure that I give every person I work with the best opportunity I can to showcase their skills and give them meaningful feedback regardless of outcome to enable them to develop.  So pleased to see where my career has taken me.  

Why this evening was great for the team....

We've got a fab team, who are all really conscientious, so it was fab that we got the chance to let our hair down, down tools early and take a trip up to London on a sunny day to party at the very swanky Grosvenor Hotel.  We met in a pub round the corner and it was fab seeing everyone all glammed up, looking amazing!  (especially as I think each and every one of us must've asked at least one person what they were wearing beforehand - it's a tough decision!)

We're with the Mizza....

The icing on the cake was that our Manager, aka The Mizza, was shortlisted for best in house recruiter of the year!  She'd kept it all a secret from us, but little did she know that we all already knew!!  We were all so proud of her and pleased as punch to share it with her.  She's such a recruitment guru and has shaped our team into what is is today.  She also has put a real emphasis on enabling us to play to our strengths, work collaboratively and gives us real freedom and belief that she backs us 100%.  So, given how much she backs us, it was lovely for us to show how proud we are as a team of her (often managers don't get nearly as much positive feedback from their team as they give their team!).  We  often joke that we're going to get 'We're with the Mizza' t-shirts made up to wear when we're out at Recruiter events, as we're all so chuffed we work with Emma - she's a big player in the recruitment industry.  Think she'll be glad we decided against it at a black tie event!

The evening was super fun, we all had such a giggle and it was so good to spend some time away from the busy day jobs and just focus purely on having a good time.  There was lots of whooping, plenty of giggles, fist pumping (Chris' signature move) and all in all a good time had by all.  We were also really chuffed to be joined by our HR Director who made sure our glasses never went empty and Sophie from our Associate support team, who bless her had a full day of meetings booked in for the next day!

How did the evening pan out....

Well, we didn't win any of the awards this year, but do you know what?  It was fantastic to be shortlisted!  Considering how new our team are, it is fab to see how much we've accomplished together and I personally am really looking forward to seeing what else is to come (and determined that next year, we will win an award!).

Here are a few pics from the night....

Here's some of the email conversation the next day which captured the team's thoughts!

Me:

Had a fab time last night!  Was such fun – thanks Emma for giving me my first taste of awards glitz!  Thanks also to Rachel for making sure we all got home safely and for Amanda for making sure my wine glass was literally full to the brim all night!

I’m not sure we will have made it into the Recruiter magazine (and given the level of tipsy, I’m kind of glad in retrospect!).  However, Recruiter Awards have retweeted one of our tweets from the night!  #semifamous

 Hope everyone is keeping hydrated today! 

Emma:

Hi Team

What a fabulous night - I have a video of us all on the dance floor which will share when I can recharge my phone as its soooooo funny. Hope you are all feeling better than me today! I know we didn’t win but we did so well to get nominated for four awards in our first proper year as a team together and its an amazing achievement and a testament to everyone's hard work.

Well done I am so proud of you all and it was great to party together and celebrate our journey last night

Me:

Aw, thanks Emma!  It was fabulous and am so proud to work for the BEST recruitment team! (trophy or no trophy, we all know it’s true!).

 OMG, dance floor footage, that will be hilarious!!!

 Helen:

Such a fun night!!!! So lucky to be part of such a great team.

 Not sure about the dancing footage, its making me cringe just thinking about it...................................for some reason after a few drinks I think I’m the greatest dancer ever.............. gawd 

Chris:

Oh my god, that video will be hillare! J  Well played everyone on a great evening! What a team…definitely the best, surely! 

Shereen:

Best night out I’ve had in a long time – great company and fab team – roll on our next outing....... !!! 

So, how does the photo booth come in???

We were all delighted that there was the London cab photo booth (with props!) that we got to cram into.  Here are a few of the snapshots!!