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As business leaders, there&rsquo;s a challenge many of us encounter throughout our careers, though it&rsquo;s not often openly discussed: workplace friction, especially between managers and new employees. What happens when you bring someone new onto your team, only to realise that aligning on goals and expectations might be more difficult than anticipated?
The key question here is: are you and your new hire working towards the same objectives? Are your priorities aligned? Do you both have a shared understanding of the business direction and how to achieve success?
When you expand your team &ndash; whether it&rsquo;s in a small, one-on-one start-up environment or within a large-scale operation &ndash; several factors can create friction, frustration, and ultimately a dip in productivity. It&rsquo;s no wonder that &ldquo;managing up&rdquo; has become a prominent trend in corporate culture over the past few years.
Oftentimes, tension arises from differences in work styles. Some people thrive in a more spontaneous, flexible environment, while others prefer structure and clear processes. When these differing approaches meet &ndash; especially when one is managing the other &ndash; it can lead to confusion, miscommunication, and a lack of clarity around expectations. This is when employees may start feeling unsure about their role or how to move forward.
This is where the concept of "managing up" comes in.
The idea is simple: no matter your level within an organisation, your manager&rsquo;s success is tied to yours. So, it&rsquo;s in your best interest to understand how they work best and what will help both of you thrive. Managing up is about proactively fostering communication and clarity, empowering your team to get what they need from you in order to do their best work.
One effective way to encourage managing up is to hold regular one-on-one meetings led by the employee. This gives them a safe, private space to ask questions, seek feedback, and discuss challenges they may not feel comfortable addressing in a larger team setting. By letting the employee set the agenda, you not only gain insights into their needs, but also into how they think and work &ndash; which can help you manage them more effectively.
Another approach is to engage in collaborative goal-setting exercises. Taking the team out of the office for a more relaxed strategy session can foster open dialogue, idea-sharing, and the development of shared goals. It&rsquo;s important to create alignment between the company&rsquo;s goals and your employees&rsquo; personal objectives, ensuring everyone feels motivated and invested in the long-term success of the team.
Workplace tension doesn&rsquo;t always stem from personality clashes. Sometimes, it&rsquo;s simply a matter of different working styles creating roadblocks to effective communication. By fostering a culture that supports managing up, you&rsquo;re likely to see not only greater employee engagement but also improved motivation and stronger overall relationships within the team.
Whether you&rsquo;re managing a team of one or one hundred, our expert consultants are here to help. We specialize in building and retaining top talent, and our commitment doesn&rsquo;t end once a placement is made. Our exceptional after-care services set us apart as a leader in the recruitment space. Reach out to us today to discuss your goals and hiring strategies &ndash; we&rsquo;re here to support your success.

Why Managing Up Needs to Be Part of Your Strategy

KPIs, KPIs, KPIs. Is there any other aspect of business operations so widely spoken about, furthermore contested? It&rsquo;s a divisive subject in the business community &ndash; where some live by them, others dispute their place altogether; some employ but largely ignore them, either way.
Whether you utilise them day-to-date or oppose them entirely, if you work in the corporate world, you&rsquo;ve come across KPIs at some point.
The fact is, the reason they&rsquo;re so highly contested is that KPIs are seldom implemented effectively, or used properly.
It&rsquo;s not about the &lsquo;numbers game&rsquo; &ndash; it&rsquo;s about business efficiency.
Let&rsquo;s stop thinking about KPIs as targets, first off. There&rsquo;s a clear distinction between the two.
The definition of a KPI is, as it says on the tin, a key performance indicator &ndash; a figure which is (or should be) derived from information your business is providing you. KPIs should be used to evaluate the activity a business needs to undertake in order to achieve its targets &ndash; not as a target in and of themselves.
Get it?
Let&rsquo;s put it into real terms.
Your business currently has 10 sales execs. The team&rsquo;s target is to generate &pound;100,000 in revenue each month, so each individual&rsquo;s target is &pound;10,000. Currently, each person is achieving &pound;8,000 per month; upon drilling down into their activity, you find that they&rsquo;re each making 8 phone calls per month.
What can you take from this?
Your business is indicating that your team&rsquo;s activity needs to increase in order to reach target, and is telling you, hypothetically, how much it needs to increase by.
Analyse these tricky figures and you&rsquo;ll find it makes sense that, were they each to make 10 phone calls per month, everyone would hit that &pound;10K, no problem. But here&rsquo;s the thing &ndash; there&rsquo;s no need to now storm onto the sales floor and inform the team that they had all better hit those 10 calls, or else. Not in that fashion, anyway. You&rsquo;re not setting this as a target: your business is doing it for you.
It&rsquo;s a KPI, not a target. See?
KPIs should be in place to motivate, not condemn.
Information is king, or so they say, and it&rsquo;s our job as leaders to use it to our advantage. Particularly in sales and marketing, numbers do play a big part in the performance sense &ndash; from calls made to appointments booked, website clicks to conversion rates, your team is constantly running through figures in their mind.
Adding a panel of KPIs into that mix, specifically when posing them as targets/must-hits, definitely creates potential for the pot to boil over from time to time. However, if you were to go to your team and say, &ldquo;Hey, we&rsquo;ve collated some really interesting info here which we think is going to help you do your job better/more efficiently, want to take a look?&rdquo;, any employee worth his/her salt will be clambering to see your notes.
Keep targets and KPIs separate; monitor them both as equals.
Your KPIs should be based on fact and fact alone.
Here at Certus we get to know our clients well, and I&rsquo;d be lying if I said we don&rsquo;t sometimes have to do a little &ndash; err &ndash; re-education, shall we say. Often, businesses blindly set their KPIs based on industry standards or what their competition appears to be doing which, fundamentally, doesn&rsquo;t make sense. Just because Oracle&rsquo;s techs have to sit four appointments per day, doesn&rsquo;t mean that your hyper-growth, disruptive SaaS start-up should be doing the same.
In fact, we need to move away from this idea of &lsquo;setting&rsquo; KPIs altogether &ndash; I reiterate, your business sets them itself. Monitor activity, productivity, operations, all aspects of your business, over time to understand what your KPIs are and where they should sit in terms of activity. Don&rsquo;t pull numbers out of the air and &lsquo;set&rsquo; KPIs based on what you think you&nbsp;should&nbsp;be doing &ndash; base them on what you&nbsp;are&nbsp;doing, and the improvements that you want to make.
Remember, more doesn&rsquo;t always equal more.
Numbers and humans behave in very different ways. When a calculator does a complex mathematical equation, it doesn&rsquo;t need to take into account that, maybe, number 3 is recovering from a bout of the flu, or that number 4 is off on holiday for two weeks this month.
So, when you take a look at your figures and see that 25 calls equals 1 appointment, don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s as simple as commanding your team to make 50, and expecting them to achieve 2 appointments as such. It just doesn&rsquo;t work that way.
I&rsquo;m not saying that we as leaders shouldn&rsquo;t always strive for excellence and improvement &ndash; but, alas, we are humans managing humans. And that needs to be at the forefront of our approach, always.
We shouldn&rsquo;t be setting KPIs, we should be running our businesses based on the information it provides us &ndash; looking at them as the dataset they are, rather than another number to hold over our teams&rsquo; heads.
As ever, love to hear your opinions &ndash; what&rsquo;s your approach to KPIs, and are you making the most of them across your business?

KPI's or Core Activities? Love them either way!

​It&rsquo;s the beginning of a new year and, for the vast majority of us, it&rsquo;s a time when we&rsquo;re feeling more open and receptive to change; we evaluate our past successes, what worked and what didn&rsquo;t, and spend time making plans for the coming year. Changes can apply to any and all aspects of your business; perhaps you&rsquo;re looking to improve your hiring strategy, make adaptations to your policies, change up company structures internally or even implement new systems and technology into the day-to-day. Here at Certus we live by the ethos that if you always do what you&rsquo;ve always done, you&rsquo;ll always get what you always got &ndash; change is inevitable, and truly a good thing for the most part. This year we&rsquo;re embracing it. It&rsquo;s not always easy and the road to business improvement isn&rsquo;t always a smooth one, but it&rsquo;s necessary; so, here are our top behaviours of business leaders who are embracing change for their organisation in 2024: Seeking out what isn&rsquo;t working, as well as what is. Embracing change can also mean facing some home truths and becoming more self-aware. This year, business leaders should be truly seeking out the things that could be improved from external sources, rather than just going off of what you know &ndash; or think you know. In today&rsquo;s corporate world of 5-star reviews and testimonials, harnessing customer feedback is key to bringing about positive change. Instead of just asking for another testimonial to display on your company website, survey customers and question what you could be doing better as a business &ndash; whether it be your product or service offering specifically, improving communication, and so on and so forth. Knowing what&rsquo;s going well and what you need to continue doing is important &ndash; but where there&rsquo;s room for change, there&rsquo;s room for improvement. Understanding the why &ndash; and then the when. It&rsquo;s important that when implementing something new you&rsquo;re able to articulate the reasoning behind it to your workforce. As a business leader you should be able to explain the benefits of what&rsquo;s taking place, always demonstrating strong belief in why: nothing turns people off more than change for the sake of change. And, on the other hand, know when to sit back and let things progress naturally &ndash; it&rsquo;s all about knowing your business, knowing your employees and knowing how to handle things. Change can be timely or not, but as captain of this ship it&rsquo;s your job to ensure that there&rsquo;s always a solid &lsquo;why&rsquo; behind it. Promoting your business&rsquo; goals and vision consistently, despite the change happening. Arguably the most important behaviour to exhibit whilst leading your business through change is ensuring that the company ethos is still as relevant and visible as ever. Exuding your company values and providing reassurance to employees is key; it&rsquo;s incredibly important that they too embrace change as you&rsquo;re doing. Change can, rightly or wrongly, cause frustration or confusion, and feelings of unease amongst staff; so it&rsquo;s important that the things they know and love about their employer stand strong and true. It&rsquo;s your job to lead the business through any period of change large and small, all the while keeping the brand and culture consistent throughout &ndash; assuming that isn&rsquo;t what&rsquo;s changing! ---- As humans, we instinctively shy away from change; as business leaders, we have to overcome this very part of our being to drive our company forward. Even embracing change when it comes to simple tasks, like agreeing on the profile you&rsquo;re looking to hire currently and thinking &lsquo;outside the box&rsquo; to generate new talent, can be tricky to do &ndash; but, as we&rsquo;ve said before, change is all but inevitable and can truly bring about huge benefits. What do you plan to do this year to drive your business forward? What other behaviours do you see as integral to embracing change across your business?

Three Behaviours of Leaders Who Are Embracing Change In 2020

​Give it to me straight: do you struggle to manage your staff remotely? It&rsquo;s something all business leaders have had to adapt to, with varying levels of success and enjoyment. The small things we value so much &ndash; dropping by a teammate&rsquo;s desk for a quick coaching session, or having them shadow you on a call (it&rsquo;s a little more difficult to hide an extra zoom attendee) &ndash; are more tough now that so many teams are entirely remote. It&rsquo;s a problem many are grappling with. Fundamentally, once again, it comes down to adaptability. Adapting your skills to work around the requirements of your business. And those requirements right now are all about management and coaching from afar. Here are some things I implemented across my own team whilst we were all working from home during those long lockdown periods &ndash; but which I believe will come in handy from here on in. Focus on outcomes and deliverables, not actions and activity A huge problem facing many managers is how to effectively ask their team, &ldquo;So, what have you been up to?&rdquo;, without seeming as though they&rsquo;re trying to virtually micromanage. Not only is &ldquo;showing up&rdquo; virtually taking its toll on many employees (that&rsquo;s the need to be seen keeping busy without a visual), but you have to understand that activity may look a little different from home. As such, take care to avoid focusing on this; instead, focus on the goals you&rsquo;ve set and the outcomes you&rsquo;re aiming towards. Where the team is at against them, what challenges they&rsquo;re facing and how we can work around these. What limitations has remote work put on them, and solutions to those. Think about what outcomes can we achieve today; not what activity levels are we pushing out on the daily. Establish effective communication Like I said, when you&rsquo;re in the office, it&rsquo;s more than easy to wander over to a team member&rsquo;s desk for clarification on a certain point or question. When your staff is remote, this is virtually impossible, and often results in frustrating back-and-forths to arrange a call for something which may have taken a quick second to sort otherwise. Establish effective communication processes for different things &ndash; i.e. Slack for the quick questions, email for ongoing projects, picking up the phone for urgent answers. You&rsquo;ll improve communication as a whole once they understand the urgency and intent behind each different tool. Provide more feedback than ever Your formal performance reviews are one thing but, with the pandemic as a whole, people may be feeling less secure or confident than ever. As their manager, it&rsquo;s down to you to help coach and guide them through this. Feedback is a great way to do so. In the office, you can shout out a quick well done and hand out high fives (or elbows, as the times would have it) without issue. It can be more difficult to do so virtually. Don&rsquo;t wait around for performance reviews or virtual 1:1s &ndash; provide real-time feedback whenever you&rsquo;re working with a colleague online, whether that&rsquo;s private to them (where an improvement could perhaps be made) or using team channels (to congratulate a success or achievement). Let them know what they&rsquo;re doing well, and coach them on the things they need help with. Ask how they&rsquo;re feeling, and work to ensure each staff member knows where they stand. Being a manager of remote employees requires patience, empathy and a whole lot of trust &ndash; but build the right team, and these will all come naturally. We&rsquo;re helping businesses find the top talent the global market has to offer. Whether in the office, working from home or otherwise, our processes help you qualify all you need to from the staff who might help you achieve those important outcomes. Get in touch.

Management Skills for the Age of Remote Work

​Online presence is a term that&rsquo;s being banded around all over the place these days. Not only do we have to cultivate a certain gravitas and skill for speaking to people &ldquo;IRL&rdquo;, we now have to do the same in the online world, too?! To answer that question, yes. And it&rsquo;s especially important when you&rsquo;re hoping to recruit new staff, whether the business is your own or you manage a team within one. So what does online presence mean? Literally speaking, your online presence encompasses everything someone could find if they were to search your business or name. It includes any associated websites, social media profiles, published works, news and more. It&rsquo;s every post you make, whether personal or professional, company or individual; every blog you put your name to; any press release in which you&rsquo;re mentioned, whether personally or at company level. The job adverts you post, your online reviews&hellip; You&rsquo;re getting it, right? But why is online presence so important when recruiting? We live in the digital age; if you have a question, I&rsquo;m sure the majority of people would agree that the first place you head to is Google. We have to assume the same can be said for any job seeking candidate who&rsquo;s introduced to your business, whether through a recruiter like us or having found you directly. Whether they&rsquo;ve just seen an advert online or yours is a name many endeavour to work for in general, it&rsquo;s pertinent to think about what your online activities say about you &ndash; because the talent you want onboard is going to be looking at it. What should we be thinking about specifically? In short: everything. At company level, your website needs to reflect the professionalism you embody as a business &ndash; in terms of both aesthetics and usability. Make sure it&rsquo;s a representation of what you do and actually gives jobseekers an idea of your value proposition. You should be using company social feeds to talk about industry matters, news, hot topics and fundamentally what you do, to show that you&rsquo;re &ldquo;with the times&rdquo;, up to date on current affairs and ultimately still relevant. And finally, on a personal level, post about things you care about! Humanise the person on the other side of the hypothetical interview table (/Zoom meeting host). Make someone want to come and work for you, not just the company. And don&rsquo;t forget, it&rsquo;s not just about what content you&rsquo;re putting out. Is your website being kept up to date? Do you still have old, long-ago-filled job vacancies listed? What does your online housekeeping say about your business? CEOs, I&rsquo;m talking to you! You shouldn&rsquo;t just be looking after the company page and be done with it &ndash; your personal presence counts, too. More and more jobseekers are searching up C-suite individuals when looking for a new opportunity, to see who it is they&rsquo;re going to be working for and looking for that all-important cultural fit from the off. Plus, prior research into your personal profile could provide them with strong points on which to build rapport at interview &ndash; everyone&rsquo;s a winner. And as for candidates? Yep, it works both ways &ndash; quite rightly, jobseekers are beginning to look at their own online presence as an extension of their resum&eacute;. If a candidate has included a link to their LinkedIn profile, don&rsquo;t be afraid to take a look! As a hiring manager, you&rsquo;ll be able to get a good feel for how they&rsquo;re spending their time online, the sort of content and ideas they connect with (check out the &ldquo;Activity&rdquo; section on their profile) and whether that&rsquo;s something that works for you. As with anything recruitment-related, it&rsquo;s a two-way street. Online presence is something all business leaders need to be aware and on top of in order to attract the very top level of talent. We&rsquo;re proud to have recently hit 30,000 followers on our company page and, if you&rsquo;ve followed me for a while, you&rsquo;ll see that I like to throw out some of my own inner musings from time to time. The truth is, I&rsquo;m hiring &ndash; and I want people in this wonderful world of LinkedIn to see the real me, so they can make an informed decision about getting in touch. Now is an incredible time to be joining Certus Melbourne so, if you&rsquo;re an experienced recruiter reading this and thinking about how well aligned our values seem to be&hellip; I&rsquo;d love to hear from you!

The Importance of Online Presence

​It&rsquo;s with much pride that I&rsquo;m able to say, after 10 years working in the recruitment industry, the vast majority of roles I work on with clients on are now done so on a retained basis. It&rsquo;s something which we recruiters truly understand the value of &ndash; because we&rsquo;re the ones driving it &ndash; but it&rsquo;s exciting to see that actively recruiting employers are beginning to see retained search in the same light. Particularly in times of uncertainty, engaging with a recruitment partner on a guaranteed-outcome basis simply makes sense &ndash; and here&rsquo;s why. Time is valuable &ndash; so save it Managing applications; working out who came from where. Receiving multiple profiles, which come through at different times, from different recruitment partners who have varying terms. Composing emails to multiple agencies, to coordinate times which may or may not work for their candidate. Receiving confirmations at different times, or requests for a different interview slot, instead of having that one partner simply make the arrangements. Following up with each individual agency afterwards. These are just the extra tasks you have to do when working with multiple agencies&hellip; Now add to that all of your actual recruitment activities &ndash; the interviewing itself, for instance &ndash; and you&rsquo;ve got yourself some serious man-hours to put aside for this. Retained search means one simplified, streamlined channel for all communications. That&rsquo;s one person to talk to regarding who&rsquo;s in the process, when you&rsquo;re meeting them, how they feel about the opportunity, and everything else which comes along with making a hire. Working on a retained basis saves you time &ndash; of that fact, there&rsquo;s no doubt. Quality trumps speed &ndash; the best, not the convenient The upfront nature of retained placements mean that they&rsquo;re our number one priority to fill. However, that by no definition means we&rsquo;re going to rush; in fact, quite the opposite. We want to fill the role with the best candidate for the job, however long it takes, but with a priority push at all times. When working on a retained assignment, it&rsquo;s not a race to pre-qualify candidates and get them over to you before another agency does, potentially missing out key pieces of information and things which needed further qualification, in the name of securing their representation. Now, it&rsquo;s about taking our time to present the most fully-qualified, relevant people &ndash; still in a timely manner, of course, but ensuring that quality of hire is top of mind, rather than speed. Retained search means more candidates who are fundamentally right for the role, rather than those who are simply available. Money is an object &ndash; but not an obstacle Because of the &ldquo;pre-authorised&rdquo; nature of these projects, you simply don&rsquo;t have to worry about &lsquo;paying extra&rsquo; should a higher-level candidate come about, or negotiating salary based on the fee you may end up paying us. Money becomes less of a priority and, again, it all comes back around to ensuring you get the absolute best candidate. When we recruiters work on a contingency basis, nothing is guaranteed; from the off, we&rsquo;re trying to recoup hours (and therefore costs) spent on sourcing, interviewing and placing candidates. When it comes to retained, we can focus our efforts without the stress or pressure which might lead to a less than perfect decision. That&rsquo;s all not to mention that you know what you&rsquo;re paying for this hire from the get-go &ndash; plus the time (AKA cost) savings we mentioned above. In times like that which we&rsquo;ve been experiencing for the past 12 months or so, with uncertainty rife and finances never entirely secured, it just makes sense. Recruitment is what I do, retained search is what I love; if you&rsquo;re currently or soon-to-be conducting a recruitment campaign for a key position within your business, I&rsquo;d love to show you some case studies where my team has been successful in the past &ndash; moreover, how we&rsquo;re doing things differently to add value throughout the process. Send me a direct message here on LinkedIn, or call the Melbourne office today on +61 (03) 8644 6891.

The Beauty & Benefits of Retained Search

​Recruitment - It's who we are - It's what we do! Contact Certus Recruitment to see how we can help you secure the very best in available talent, find that dream job or help you strategise your next hire.<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sDDxlLS46fc" width="560" height="314" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

We Are Recruiters... (Video)

​I think we can all agree that the back end of last year had us contemplating what the next one looks like, more so than ever before. Like many small businesses here in Melbourne, we were in the throes of start-up excitement and growth when the Covid-19 pandemic hit: 18-months or so deep, team growing nicely, solidifying relationships and giving amazing service to some fantastic clients. Things were looking extremely positive. In fact, they still are &ndash; if a little different. All this contemplation has left me asking myself one key question: am I working on the business, or just in it? For any start-up looking to achieve growth, it&rsquo;s important to know the difference; it&rsquo;s something I&rsquo;m slowly learning myself and, as we help so many other start-ups achieve their goals, thought it might be pertinent to share some thoughts. But first off, what&rsquo;s the difference? Working IN your business: It means doing all the things.&nbsp;Speaking to the people. Meeting the clients. Building the relationships. Invoicing the customers. Answering the queries. Working IN your business means to conduct the basic tasks which fundamentally make your business tick &ndash; providing the service and/or products and keeping things moving. Working ON your business: It means the big stuff.&nbsp;Making strategic decisions. Setting goals and milestones. Improving processes. Analysing data. Understanding marketing. Working ON your business is the tough part. It&rsquo;s making time to do those things which might not &lsquo;make you money&rsquo; immediately but, long term, will. With all that in mind, here are some pieces of advice which I&rsquo;m slowly implementing myself to ensure that this year I prioritise working on my business, rather than just in it: 1.&nbsp;Delegate.&nbsp;It can be a painful process, but it&rsquo;s a healthy practice to implement. As the owner of a small business, your time needs to be spent working ON &ndash; so delegate those time-consuming IN tasks to your people. Outsource them even, if need be (until you grow to a point that it makes sense to hire internally). But use delegation as a means to freeing up your time, not to mention headspace, for the more strategic tasks which only you can do. 2.&nbsp;Research.&nbsp;Think you know something? Are things going really well, and you think you understand why? Or do you think you&rsquo;ve cracked the reasons behind something not working? Do some research &ndash; online, speaking with competitors/peers in the industry, mentors or industry figureheads, even your own customers &ndash; and try to pick apart your assumptions. Whilst it sounds counterproductive, it&rsquo;ll bring better clarity around your own business and what to continue/begin/stop doing &ndash; whether it&rsquo;s a deeper understanding of what people want, what your own clients love (or don&rsquo;t love), or simply inspiration as to how the business is going to move forwards. 3.&nbsp;Don&rsquo;t get comfortable.&nbsp;As the owner of a start-up, when things start seemingly falling into place it&rsquo;s an incredible feeling &ndash; but great things never came from comfort zones. When things start working, it&rsquo;s time to start diversifying. Keep testing. Keep trying new things. Utilise your data, listen to your employees and, overall, keep pushing. They say &ndash; whoever &ldquo;they&rdquo; are &ndash; that business owners should spend about two hours a day working on their business. I&rsquo;m in a unique situation as a small business owner, being that I had the backing of our amazing UK contingent with Certus Recruitment Group in London; further to that and better yet, having started my career there myself before emigrating to Oz. 2020 was most certainly not the year we expected it to be, but it doesn&rsquo;t have to have any bearing on 2021. Let&rsquo;s all focus on working on our businesses, whilst continuing to work in them as well as ever. I&rsquo;d love to hear from likeminded individuals to talk start up challenges, achievements and successes, or from businesses who we could help make the strategic hiring decisions which will take yours to the next level. Happy new year everyone.

Working On vs Working In Your Business

​​Management. It&rsquo;s a new height in your career and one which many, nay the majority of us aspire to. So, if you&rsquo;ve recently made it to that level &ndash; congratulations! Making the jump from a general team member or even team leadership role is a big step and great achievement. It&rsquo;s likely that you&rsquo;ve found yourself here by way of one of a few different scenarios: You&rsquo;ve been promoted and are now managing those you worked alongside previously You&rsquo;ve been promoted and given the responsibility of hiring your own team from scratch You&rsquo;ve been hired externally and brought in to build a new team You&rsquo;ve been hired externally and brought in to manage an existing team Each situation poses its own challenges, its own obstacles to overcome, but more than anything, its own opportunities. Here are 3 important things you as a new manager should consider doing as you ease into your new role: 1.Clarify expectations And from every angle. As a new manager with a team already in place, it&rsquo;s important to understand what each individual is expecting from you as a manager &ndash; and to make clear what you&rsquo;re looking for from them. Take some time to sit down with your team and answer some key questions such as what the overall goal is, what they feel is achievable and realistic, where they require your help and support the most. One of the most common causes of discord between a new manager inheriting an in-situ team comes down to a discrepancy in expectations so, over the first 30 days of your new role, take the time to set expectations and hold yourself, and your team, accountable to them. Equally, in terms of your own responsibilities, clarifying the expectations from those sitting above you is crucial. If there&rsquo;s no team in place yet and it&rsquo;s your responsibility to build one, ensure you&rsquo;re on the same page with regards to hiring &ndash; profile, timeline and budget. 2.Be both visible and available It goes without saying that in your new role as a manager, you should be hands-on from the off. Whether that means proving your tenacity to the powers-that-be above and creating an energetic persona as you go about hiring your soon-to-be team, or spending real quality time on the floor with the current one, being seen &lsquo;in the trenches&rsquo; so to speak will ensure your success in the initial stages. Being available and being visible as a manager go hand in hand; when employees become used to you being around, they&rsquo;ll know they&rsquo;re able to approach you for support, expertise and resources. Prove your accountability and presence in that first month, and you&rsquo;ll be off to a flying start. 3.Ask for feedback We&rsquo;re not just talking about, &ldquo;How am I doing?&rdquo; here. If the team is already in place, understanding how they&rsquo;re feeling is important &ndash; what&rsquo;s changed since you became their manager? What hasn&rsquo;t? What could be done differently, or improved upon? Whilst it doesn&rsquo;t hurt to have the odd catch up and understand how they feel about you as a manager directly, it&rsquo;s also pertinent to make your team feel involved. Consult with them on strategy, operations, goal setting. Are you all on the same page in terms of the vision? Asking for feedback and consulting regularly with your team will help you all connect and build strong relationships, employee-employee as well as employee-manager; it&rsquo;ll also help mitigate any problems before they arise or grow out of proportion. Asking for feedback lets your employees know you have their interests at the heart of everything you do &ndash; which will garner trust and respect, from both sides. Management can be challenging, but as business leaders I&rsquo;m sure we can all agree that there&rsquo;s little else so rewarding as seeing the team you work alongside thrive. Our teams are experts in building yours &ndash; and we have a tip or two about strong management and leadership skills, as a business improvement and growth strategy, too. If you&rsquo;re a manager whose team has capacity to grow, we&rsquo;d love to hear more about your vision. Get in touch with Certus Recruitment Group today.

3 things every new manager should do during their first 30 days on the job

25 Years of Certus Recruitment: Built on People, Not Placements
This year Certus recruitment turns 25!
That&rsquo;s 25 years of conversations, careers shaped, markets evolved, and lessons learned the hard way. In an industry that changes as fast as recruitment does, longevity isn&rsquo;t something taken lightly, it&rsquo;s something that&rsquo;s earned.
Certus Recruitment was founded with a simple belief: that recruitment works best when it&rsquo;s built on trust, expertise, and long-term relationships. No shortcuts. No volume for volume&rsquo;s sake. That belief has remained the foundation, even as the world around us has changed so dramatically.
Over the last two and a half decades, we&rsquo;ve seen entire sectors emerge, mature, and reinvent themselves. We&rsquo;ve worked through multiple economic cycles, shifts in hiring philosophy, and the growing complexity of global talent markets. Through it all, our focus has remained the same: understanding what &ldquo;good&rdquo; really looks like for our clients, and what meaningful progression looks like for the people we represent.
What we&rsquo;re most proud of are the partnerships we&rsquo;ve built. Many of our client relationships span years, not transactions. Many of our candidates have returned to us throughout their careers, often as clients on the other side of the hiring table. That continuity matters to us.
Reaching 25 years is also a moment to recognise the people behind Certus. Past and present consultants who&rsquo;ve helped shape the business. Clients who trusted us with critical hires. Candidates who placed their careers in our hands. Certus Recruitment has always been, and will always be, a people business.
As we look ahead,&nbsp;our&nbsp;ambition isn&rsquo;t simply to keep doing what we&rsquo;ve always done. It&rsquo;s to keep evolving without losing what makes us&nbsp;Certus. Staying curious. Going deeper. Slowing down where it counts. Continuing to grow in the right way, not the fastest.
To everyone who&rsquo;s been such a crucial part of the journey so far; thank you. Here&rsquo;s to the next chapter.
The Team at Certus Recruitment Passion | Energy | Integrity | Commitment | Fun

25 Years of Certus Recruitment

Staff turnover is something every leader, HR team and business owner has to contend with. Often grouped under terms like attrition or churn, it ultimately comes down to one simple but critical question: how well are you retaining your people?
In a market where skills are scarce and competition for talent is high, retention is no longer a &ldquo;nice to have&rdquo; &mdash; it&rsquo;s a business imperative. Hiring costs money, time and focus. But beyond that, every new hire represents an investment: in training, equipment, onboarding, relationships and trust. When people leave too quickly or too often, that investment is lost, and the wider business inevitably feels the impact.
While some level of attrition is natural &mdash; retirements, restructures, or mutually agreed moves on &mdash; high or consistent turnover is often a signal that something deeper needs attention. The key to improving retention is understanding why people leave, and what makes them stay.
Below are several core areas that play a major role in employee retention, and where small, deliberate improvements can make a significant difference.
<h3 data-start="1258" data-end="1291">Hiring with Retention in Mind</h3>
Retention starts long before day one. Hiring the &ldquo;right&rdquo; person isn&rsquo;t just about technical capability; it&rsquo;s about alignment. Misalignment between role expectations, company culture and individual motivations is one of the biggest drivers of early exits.
Ask yourself: are you giving candidates a realistic picture of the role and the environment? Are values, pace, leadership style and growth opportunities clearly communicated? Taking the time to hire with long-term fit in mind &mdash; not just immediate need &mdash; lays a far stronger foundation for retention.
<h3 data-start="1849" data-end="1883">Onboarding as a Retention Tool</h3>
Onboarding is often underestimated, yet it plays a critical role in whether someone feels confident, supported and invested early on. Poor onboarding doesn&rsquo;t usually cause someone to leave immediately &mdash; but it can quietly erode engagement from the outset.
A structured onboarding process with clear goals, realistic timelines and regular check-ins helps new employees feel valued and supported. It also creates space for honest feedback early, allowing issues to be addressed before they become reasons to leave. Strong onboarding sends a simple but powerful message: you matter here.
<h3 data-start="2474" data-end="2512">Workplace Experience and Wellbeing</h3>
People rarely leave companies for one single reason. More often, they leave because of how work makes them feel over time. Work-life balance, flexibility, psychological safety and mental health support are no longer optional considerations &mdash; they are central to retention.
Equally important is the internal dynamic. Healthy relationships, strong leadership and a culture that actively addresses conflict and toxicity will always outperform one that ignores them. Employees who feel respected, supported and heard are far more likely to stay, grow and advocate for your business.
<h3 data-start="3095" data-end="3132">Retention Is Ongoing, Not One-Off</h3>
Retention isn&rsquo;t solved at hiring, onboarding or probation &mdash; it&rsquo;s continuous. Regular conversations about development, progression and engagement matter. People want to know where they&rsquo;re going, how they&rsquo;re doing and that their contribution is recognised.
Ultimately, while some staff turnover is inevitable, high retention is intentional. Businesses that prioritise it build stronger teams, protect institutional knowledge and create stability that fuels long-term growth.
At Certus Recruitment Group, we help organisations think beyond the hire &mdash; building workforce strategies that focus on retention from day one and well into the future. If you&rsquo;d like to explore how a more retention-focused approach could strengthen your business, we&rsquo;d be happy to talk.

Retention - A Strategic Priority

In-house talent acquisition teams carry a huge responsibility. Managing high volumes, working to tight timelines, and ensuring every candidate has a positive and consistent experience, it&rsquo;s a lot, and the pressure rarely lets up. This is especially true in fast-moving sectors like technology, SaaS, and GTM (Go-To-Market) hiring, where competition for talent is fierce, and expectations are high.
Yet despite this, the recruitment industry still often frames the relationship between agencies and internal teams as an either/or dynamic. Who gets the credit? Who owns the process? Who&rsquo;s in control?
At Certus Recruitment, we believe that mindset is outdated, and unhelpful for everyone involved. The best outcomes in technology recruitment and GTM hiring don&rsquo;t come from competition; they come from partnership.
An Extension of Your Talent Function
When we partner with clients, we don&rsquo;t show up as an external agency trying to prove our worth. We operate as an extension of your talent acquisition, GTM recruitment, or tech hiring function, aligning ourselves to your goals, your systems, and your way of working.
Our role is to make life easier for internal teams, not create more work or step on toes. We recognise the critical part internal TA plays, and we&rsquo;re here to complement that, not challenge it.
What Partnership Looks Like in Practice
To us, partnership isn&rsquo;t just a headline, it&rsquo;s how we work every day across sales recruitment, customer success hiring, technical roles, and the full breadth of go-to-market functions.
We integrate seamlessly
We align with your processes, systems, and communication style so collaboration feels natural and frictionless.
We support, not duplicate
Your team remains the centre of the hiring strategy. Everything we do enhances what you already have in place, whether it&rsquo;s GTM talent acquisition, technology recruitment, or broader business hiring.
We add bandwidth when it matters most
Hiring peaks, stretched resources, or hard-to-fill roles, especially in tech sales, software engineering, and product,&nbsp;are where we thrive. We keep momentum high when internal capacity is tight.
We bring insight and intelligence
Market trends, GTM salary benchmarks, tech talent availability, competitor activity, and candidate sentiment, we provide actionable intelligence that strengthens your hiring strategy and supports stakeholder conversations.
We protect your employer brand
In highly competitive markets like technology and SaaS, candidate experience matters. Every interaction we have is designed to represent your organisation with professionalism and consistency.
A Shared Focus on Results
Great collaboration requires transparency, communication, and a shared focus on outcomes. At Certus, our goal is simple: help internal teams deliver stronger hiring results with less pressure, whether that&rsquo;s scaling a GTM function, building out enterprise sales teams, or sourcing niche technology talent.
We don&rsquo;t want credit, we want your success.
Looking for a Partner, Not Just an Agency?
If your talent team could benefit from a partner who genuinely works alongside you, someone who integrates, supports, adds value, and strengthens your technology and GTM hiring outcomes,&nbsp;we&rsquo;d love to talk.

Why “Agencies vs. Internal Talent Teams” Is the Wrong Mindset — And How Certus Does It Differently

Have you ever taken a sip of your drink, only to find that it&rsquo;s not at all what you expected? If you thought it was water and find yourself sipping a diet coke, the feeling is unpleasant &ndash; no matter how much you might like diet coke usually. That&rsquo;s because you weren&rsquo;t expecting it. When it comes to managing expectations, there&rsquo;s no skill more important in terms of building strong, happy relationships. In business, this applies to all parties; your clients, customers, colleagues, even your own boss and those who report directly to you. To give an example: if you make a promise to deliver a piece of work in ten days and have it completed in seven, you&rsquo;re a hero. If you made the promise to be done within five but deliver in seven, there&rsquo;s going to be disappointment. The outcome is the same &ndash; the work was delivered in seven days &ndash; but in the case of the latter, because you didn&rsquo;t properly manage expectations the relationship has been negatively impacted. So, whether you&rsquo;re a manager, salesperson, business owner or otherwise, here are some things to think about when it comes to managing expectations &ndash; moreover, how doing so can really improve and strengthen the relationships you build across the board. Managing your employees&rsquo; expectations Unaddressed employee expectations can unfortunately lead to demotivation, and sometimes even resentment in the workplace. This means you need to clearly define what your responsibilities are as the leader, communicate these to your team and then be accountable for fulfilling these actions. In the employee-manager relationship, many things can fall under &lsquo;expectations&rsquo;. This could be the expectation of one-on-one coaching, regular reviews or feedback; the expectation that you&rsquo;ll step in to help close a deal; even down to making sure your team understands when you&rsquo;re available, i.e. if it&rsquo;s okay to get in touch outside of working hours or not. If your direct reports are expecting something from you &ndash; even something intangible like support or guidance &ndash; it&rsquo;s your job to address this by either providing it or, if it shouldn&rsquo;t be coming from you, pointing them in the right direction instead. Miscommunication of expectations can cause myriad problems and disappointments in the workplace &ndash; which will inevitably affect performance in the long run. Managing your customers&rsquo; expectations Whilst we don&rsquo;t necessarily want to champion the somewhat old fashioned &ldquo;under-promise, over-deliver&rdquo; stance, managing expectations is key to building a long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationship with your customers. Instead, try to take more of a &ldquo;be realistic and deliver your best&rdquo; attitude, remaining transparent, open and honest throughout the journey. Whether you work in recruitment like us or another industry entirely, it&rsquo;s universally understood that humans want to know where they stand &ndash; meaning even if it&rsquo;s not the answer we want, we&rsquo;d rather be told the truth. Managing your customers&rsquo; expectations means giving regular updates, making no excuses and being accountable at all costs. Building a relationship on anything less just simply doesn&rsquo;t cut it; building relationships on expertly managed expectations means that even when things don&rsquo;t go exactly to plan, challenges can be overcome (as opposed to the relationship ending on a sour note). Managing the expectations on yourself Regardless of where you sit in the hierarchy of the company &ndash; you could be just starting out or own the whole show &ndash; there are people to report into and progress to manage. Whether that&rsquo;s being held accountable for keeping the board or SMT updated, or simply checking in with your employees for a quarterly business rundown and review, it&rsquo;s important to keep those who need to be in the loop just so. Being a great manager of expectations is a sure-fire way to build your persona as a strong leader; someone who&rsquo;s dependable, reliable and accountable. No nasty surprises, misleading or misinformation. Managing expectations means your customers get better service, your employees learn from your exemplary practices, and your own boss &ndash; whoever they might be, directly or indirectly &ndash; is happy and content. It&rsquo;s no secret that the management of expectations is an area where the recruitment industry has fallen down historically. I couldn&rsquo;t be more proud that, across all three Certus brands, we endeavour to change that in every communication we undertake &ndash; and every relationship we build to prove it. To learn more about the difference you&rsquo;ll find in partnering with us, get in touch.

The Importance of Managing Expectations

<h1 data-start="181" data-end="261">GTM Hiring: What the Data Tells Us &mdash; And Why Certus Outperforms Internal Teams</h1>
Hiring exceptional go-to-market (GTM) talent &mdash; in Sales, Marketing, Customer Success, and Revenue Operations &mdash; is critical to business growth. But it&rsquo;s not just about adding headcount; it&rsquo;s about building competitive advantage.
Too often, companies rely solely on internal talent acquisition (TA) teams. Yet, as the data shows, this can lead to slower hiring, missed opportunities, and lower retention. Specialist agencies like Certus Recruitment Group consistently deliver better results &mdash; faster and with more impact.
Here&rsquo;s what the data tells us.
<hr data-start="817" data-end="820">
<h2 data-start="822" data-end="893">🚨 Internal Teams Take Longer to Hire &mdash; And It&rsquo;s Costing You Revenue</h2>
According to LinkedIn&rsquo;s 2024 Global Talent Trends Report:
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<li data-start="955" data-end="1041">
The average time-to-hire for mid-level GTM roles is 46 days via internal TA.
</li>
<li data-start="1042" data-end="1099">
Specialist agencies reduce this to 28 days or less.
</li>
<li data-start="1100" data-end="1262">
At Certus, we go further: ✅ 5&ndash;10 days to deliver a qualified shortlist ✅ 16&ndash;28 days to offer acceptance (on average, across the UK, US, and ANZ)
</li>
</ul>
That&rsquo;s a 40&ndash;50% faster time-to-fill, translating to weeks of extra pipeline generation, outbound activity, and marketing execution.
<hr data-start="1401" data-end="1404">
<h2 data-start="1406" data-end="1460">🧲 We Reach Passive Candidates Internal Teams Can&rsquo;t</h2>
A 2023 Talent Board study revealed:
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<li data-start="1500" data-end="1562">
Just 30% of top GTM performers are actively job-hunting.
</li>
<li data-start="1563" data-end="1634">
But 80% are open to the right opportunity if approached properly.
</li>
</ul>
Internal TA teams often only reach that active 30%. At Certus, we engage the untapped 70% &mdash; the high-impact performers who aren&rsquo;t looking but will move for the right opportunity. It&rsquo;s how our clients gain access to game-changing talent their competitors never even see.
<hr data-start="1909" data-end="1912">
<h2 data-start="1914" data-end="1961">🔁 Better Retention Starts With Better Hires</h2>
Hiring fast is one thing &mdash; retaining top performers is another.
Data from Bullhorn&rsquo;s 2023 Global Recruitment Insights Report shows:
<ul data-start="2098" data-end="2165">
<li data-start="2098" data-end="2165">
Agency hires are 15&ndash;25% more likely to stay beyond 12 months.
</li>
</ul>
At Certus, our GTM placements consistently outperform internal hires on:
<ul data-start="2240" data-end="2403">
<li data-start="2240" data-end="2280">
Tenure: especially in AE/BDR roles
</li>
<li data-start="2281" data-end="2332">
Ramp speed: critical in B2B SaaS environments
</li>
<li data-start="2333" data-end="2403">
Culture fit: validated by post-placement hiring manager feedback
</li>
</ul>
<hr data-start="2405" data-end="2408">
<h2 data-start="2410" data-end="2464">💰 Vacancies Are Expensive &mdash; Mis-Hires Even More So</h2>
Agency hiring isn&rsquo;t just about speed &mdash; it&rsquo;s about cost efficiency, too.
Hidden costs of slow internal processes include:
<ul data-start="2588" data-end="2738">
<li data-start="2588" data-end="2660">
$25,000&ndash;$50,000 in lost revenue per 30-day vacancy (HubSpot, 2023)
</li>
<li data-start="2661" data-end="2738">
Up to 30% of annual salary lost on bad hires (U.S. Department of Labor)
</li>
</ul>
Certus reduces both the time roles are vacant and the risk of poor fit, improving hiring ROI across the board.
<hr data-start="2852" data-end="2855">
<h2 data-start="2857" data-end="2917">📈 We&rsquo;re More Than Recruiters &mdash; We&rsquo;re GTM Hiring Partners</h2>
Internal TA teams often focus on filling roles. We help shape your hiring strategy.
Working with Certus gives you access to:
<ul data-start="3045" data-end="3186">
<li data-start="3045" data-end="3078">
Live market salary benchmarking
</li>
<li data-start="3079" data-end="3107">
Competitor hiring insights
</li>
<li data-start="3108" data-end="3152">
Real-time candidate feedback on your brand
</li>
<li data-start="3153" data-end="3186">
Strategic GTM org design advice
</li>
</ul>
We&rsquo;re not just delivering CVs &mdash; we&rsquo;re driving better decisions.
<hr data-start="3253" data-end="3256">
<h2 data-start="3258" data-end="3314">In Summary: Certus = Speed, Reach, Retention, Insight</h2>
If you're scaling GTM teams in London, Austin, Sydney or beyond, Certus Recruitment Group is the strategic partner to help you do it faster, better, and smarter.
We deliver: ✅ Shortlists in under 10 days ✅ Access to top-tier passive candidates ✅ Higher retention outcomes ✅ Strategic market insight
Don&rsquo;t let internal bottlenecks hold back your revenue engine. Let&rsquo;s talk about how we can help you scale your GTM function &mdash; with speed, quality, and lasting impact.

GTM Hiring: What the Data Tells Us — And Why Certus Outperforms Internal Teams

<h2 data-start="177" data-end="231">Thriving vs. Surviving: Is Your Team Really All-In?</h2>
There&rsquo;s a big difference between doing well and simply getting by. An even bigger one between being engaged and just being present.
So here&rsquo;s the question: Is your team thriving&hellip; or just surviving?
And no, we&rsquo;re not talking about sales figures or P&amp;L reports. We mean: Are your people fully engaged, bringing their best selves to work, and&mdash;most importantly&mdash;loving what they do?
To thrive literally means &ldquo;to prosper; to flourish.&rdquo; In the workplace, that&rsquo;s more than just hitting target (although that&rsquo;s often the result). A thriving team is:
<ul data-start="815" data-end="919">
<li data-start="815" data-end="849">
Aligned with company goals
</li>
<li data-start="850" data-end="881">
Motivated and energised
</li>
<li data-start="882" data-end="919">
Excited to be there every day
</li>
</ul>
A team that&rsquo;s merely surviving? They might still be turning up&mdash;but they&rsquo;re not bringing their full potential to the table.
<hr data-start="1047" data-end="1050">
<h3 data-start="1052" data-end="1103">3 Signs Your People Might Be in &ldquo;Survival Mode&rdquo;</h3>
1. Energy (or the lack of it). Watch the little things: tone of voice, posture, willingness to get involved. Energy fuels performance&mdash;and when enthusiasm fades, morale usually follows.
2. Relationships. Disengagement often shows up in how people interact. Are there unusual tensions, withdrawn behaviours, or strained collaborations? These can be subtle early-warning signs worth addressing quickly.
3. Performance. A thriving employee will push to achieve; a surviving one may do the bare minimum. If someone&rsquo;s output dips, ask yourself&mdash;is it that they can&rsquo;t, or that they currently don&rsquo;t want to? The answer shapes the solution.
<hr data-start="1763" data-end="1766">
<h3 data-start="1768" data-end="1805">3 Ways to Help Your People Thrive</h3>
1. Encourage Creativity. Invite ideas from everyone&mdash;no matter their role or seniority&mdash;and make sure they&rsquo;re heard. Thriving cultures are inclusive, collaborative, and always evolving.
2. Strengthen Identity. Help each person see the unique impact they have. When employees feel valued as individuals, they&rsquo;re more invested in outcomes and take greater ownership of their work.
3. Invest in Learning. Growth fuels engagement. Whether it&rsquo;s structured training, mentorship, or support for external courses, continuous development keeps people challenged, motivated, and connected to their careers.
<hr data-start="2427" data-end="2430">
<h3 data-start="2432" data-end="2472">At Certus, We Build Thriving Teams</h3>
We go beyond filling vacancies. We work closely with our clients to understand their business inside out&mdash;helping them not only find top talent, but also retain and develop the talent they already have.
If you&rsquo;re ready to turn a surviving team into a thriving one, let&rsquo;s talk.
Certus Recruitment Group &ndash; Your partner in growth.

Thriving vs. Surviving: Is Your Team Really All-In?

​Driven to Distraction: Why Your Team Might Be Underperforming
Are you easily distracted?
Since the beginning of time, leaders have sought ways to keep their teams focused, productive, and engaged. In today&rsquo;s world, where hybrid and remote work are now part of everyday life, distraction has taken on a new meaning.
&ldquo;I get more done without office noise.&rdquo; &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t concentrate at home&mdash;too many distractions.&rdquo;
Sound familiar?
So, what&rsquo;s really pulling your team&rsquo;s attention away? Is it their phone? Email? A barking dog?
Probably all of the above.
With our team now back in the office&mdash;and, truthfully, more motivated than ever&mdash;it got me thinking: why is distraction less of a problem when people feel focused and driven?
Why do external distractions carry less weight when motivation is high?
That&rsquo;s when it hit me: the phone, the dog, the social media scrolling&mdash;they&rsquo;re not the distraction. They&rsquo;re the escape from it.
Distraction isn&rsquo;t the notification. It&rsquo;s the discomfort that drives someone to pick up the phone in the first place. The real cause is deeper&mdash;more internal.
Here are three common, underlying causes of distraction that might be affecting your team&rsquo;s performance:
<hr class="" data-start="1390" data-end="1393">
<h3 class="" data-start="1395" data-end="1437">1. Uncertainty Around Role or Task</h3>
When someone isn&rsquo;t 100% sure what they should be doing&mdash;or how to do it&mdash;they&rsquo;re more likely to avoid the task altogether. Instead of asking for clarity, they turn to something easier and more familiar, like their phone or inbox.
The fix? Clear direction helps, of course&mdash;but the real solution lies in open communication. Create a culture where asking questions is encouraged, not frowned upon. Check in regularly and make sure your team feels supported.
<hr class="" data-start="1898" data-end="1901">
<h3 class="" data-start="1903" data-end="1938">2. Disconnection from Goals</h3>
When people lose sight of the bigger picture&mdash;whether that&rsquo;s personal career growth or company-wide objectives&mdash;they&rsquo;re more likely to drift. Without a goal in mind, the daily grind can feel aimless. And when something feels meaningless, it&rsquo;s easy to turn your attention elsewhere.
You can prevent this with regular catch-ups. Not formal performance reviews&mdash;just genuine check-ins. Ask your team how they&rsquo;re feeling about their progress. Remind them of the impact their work has and reconnect them with both their personal goals and the company&rsquo;s vision.
<hr class="" data-start="2495" data-end="2498">
<h3 class="" data-start="2500" data-end="2542">3. Lack of Challenge (aka Boredom)</h3>
Let&rsquo;s be honest: boredom is a productivity killer. If the work feels too easy or monotonous, the brain naturally looks for something more stimulating. And distraction happily fills that void.
To avoid this, ensure your team is being challenged and engaged. Provide opportunities to grow, solve problems, and learn. A mix of enjoyment and challenge keeps the mind active&mdash;and less likely to wander.
<hr class="" data-start="2947" data-end="2950">
We all get distracted from time to time. That&rsquo;s human. And yes, taking regular breaks is healthy and necessary.
But there&rsquo;s a difference between a break and an escape.
As a leader, it&rsquo;s worth reflecting: are distractions in your workplace a sign of something deeper? If your team is disengaging, it&rsquo;s likely not about Instagram or email&mdash;it&rsquo;s about uncertainty, disconnection, or boredom.
Tackle those root causes, and you&rsquo;ll see performance improve.
So&mdash;when are you most distractible? Awareness is the first step to overcoming it. Whether your team is in the office, remote, or hybrid, staying focused takes intention.
Want more leadership insights? Take a look at my other posts on LinkedIn&mdash;or drop a comment below to join the conversation. And if you&rsquo;d like to talk recruitment, the Certus team is always here to help.

Driven to Distraction – Why Your Staff May Be Underperforming

​KPIs, KPIs, KPIs. Is there any other aspect of business operations so widely spoken about, furthermore contested? It&rsquo;s a divisive subject in the business community &ndash; where some live by them, others dispute their place altogether; some employ but largely ignore them, either way. Whether you utilise them day-to-date or oppose them entirely, if you work in the corporate world, you&rsquo;ve come across KPIs at some point. The fact is, the reason they&rsquo;re so highly contested is that KPIs are seldom implemented effectively, or used properly. It&rsquo;s not about the &lsquo;numbers game&rsquo; &ndash; it&rsquo;s about business efficiency. Let&rsquo;s stop thinking about KPIs as targets, first off. There&rsquo;s a clear distinction between the two. The definition of a KPI is, as it says on the tin, a key performance indicator &ndash; a figure which is (or should be) derived from information your business is providing you. KPIs should be used to evaluate the activity a business needs to undertake in order to achieve its targets &ndash; not as a target in and of themselves. Get it? Let&rsquo;s put it into real terms. Your business currently has 10 sales execs. The team&rsquo;s target is to generate $100,000 in revenue each month, so each individual&rsquo;s target is $10,000. Currently, each person is achieving $8,000 per month; upon drilling down into their activity, you find that they&rsquo;re each making 8 phone calls per month. What can you take from this? Your business is indicating that your team&rsquo;s activity needs to increase in order to reach target, and is telling you, hypothetically, how much it needs to increase by. Analyse these tricky figures and you&rsquo;ll find it makes sense that, were they each to make 10 phone calls per month, everyone would hit that $10K, no problem. But here&rsquo;s the thing &ndash; there&rsquo;s no need to now storm onto the sales floor and inform the team that they had all better hit those 10 calls, or else. Not in that fashion, anyway. You&rsquo;re not setting this as a target: your business is doing it for you.
It&rsquo;s a KPI, not a target. See? KPIs should be in place to motivate, not condemn. Information is king, or so they say, and it&rsquo;s our job as leaders to use it to our advantage. Particularly in sales and marketing, numbers do play a big part in the performance sense &ndash; from calls made to appointments booked, website clicks to conversion rates, your team is constantly running through figures in their mind. Adding a panel of KPIs into that mix, specifically when posing them as targets/must-hits, definitely creates potential for the pot to boil over from time to time. However, if you were to go to your team and say, &ldquo;Hey, we&rsquo;ve collated some really interesting info here which we think is going to help you do your job better/more efficiently, want to take a look?&rdquo;, any employee worth his/her salt will be clambering to see your notes. Keep targets and KPIs separate; monitor them both as equals. Your KPIs should be based on fact and fact alone. Here at Certus we get to know our clients well, and I&rsquo;d be lying if I said we don&rsquo;t sometimes have to do a little &ndash; err &ndash; re-education, shall we say. Often, businesses blindly set their KPIs based on industry standards or what their competition appears to be doing which, fundamentally, doesn&rsquo;t make sense. Just because Oracle&rsquo;s techs have to sit four appointments per day, doesn&rsquo;t mean that your hyper-growth, disruptive SaaS start-up should be doing the same. In fact, we need to move away from this idea of &lsquo;setting&rsquo; KPIs altogether &ndash; I reiterate, your business sets them itself. Monitor activity, productivity, operations, all aspects of your business, over time to understand what your KPIs are and where they should sit in terms of activity. Don&rsquo;t pull numbers out of the air and &lsquo;set&rsquo; KPIs based on what you think you should be doing &ndash; base them on what you are doing, and the improvements that you want to make. Remember, more doesn&rsquo;t always equal more. Numbers and humans behave in very different ways. When a calculator does a complex mathematical equation, it doesn&rsquo;t need to take into account that, maybe, number 3 is recovering from a bout of the flu, or that number 4 is off on holiday for two weeks this month. So, when you take a look at your figures and see that 25 calls equals 1 appointment, don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s as simple as commanding your team to make 50, and expecting them to achieve 2 appointments as such. It just doesn&rsquo;t work that way. I&rsquo;m not saying that we as leaders shouldn&rsquo;t always strive for excellence and improvement &ndash; but, alas, we are humans managing humans. And that needs to be at the forefront of our approach, always. We shouldn&rsquo;t be setting KPIs, we should be running our businesses based on the information it provides us &ndash; looking at them as the dataset they are, rather than another number to hold over our teams&rsquo; heads. As ever, love to hear your opinions &ndash; what&rsquo;s your approach to KPIs, and are you making the most of them across your business?

KPIs: Use them properly, or else

<article class="blog__content">
Starting Fresh in 2025: Embracing Change for a Stronger Year Ahead
With the dawn of a new year less than 2 months away, many of us feel inspired to reflect on past achievements, assess what worked well, identify areas for improvement, and lay out our goals for the year ahead.
At Certus, we live by the ethos, "If you always do what you&rsquo;ve always done, you&rsquo;ll always get what you&rsquo;ve always got." Embracing change isn&rsquo;t just an option; it&rsquo;s a necessity for growth. This year, we&rsquo;re not only accepting change but actively championing it. We know the path to improvement isn&rsquo;t always smooth, but it&rsquo;s essential. Here are some key behaviours that business leaders should embrace in 2025 to foster growth and transformation:
<h3>1. Seeking Out What&rsquo;s Working &ndash; and What Isn&rsquo;t</h3>
Embracing change means being willing to face difficult truths and deepening self-awareness. This year, business leaders should actively seek feedback and identify areas for improvement, not just by relying on internal perceptions but by reaching out to external voices as well. In today&rsquo;s feedback-driven world, customer input can be a powerful catalyst for positive change. Rather than merely collecting testimonials, engage customers through surveys and ask what can be improved&mdash;whether in product, service, communication, or beyond.
Recognizing and amplifying what works is crucial, but where there&rsquo;s room for change, there&rsquo;s room for growth.
<h3>2. Understanding the Why &ndash; and Then the When</h3>
When implementing changes, it&rsquo;s vital to convey the reasoning behind them to your team. As a business leader, you should be able to clearly articulate the benefits and purpose behind every change, inspiring confidence and enthusiasm. Change for change&rsquo;s sake can disengage people&mdash;help them understand why each decision matters.
At the same time, knowing when to let things progress naturally is key. Effective change management is about balancing timing with intent. Lead your team with a solid &lsquo;why&rsquo; for each initiative, guiding them through transformations with clarity and purpose.
<h3>3. Promoting Goals and Vision Amidst Change</h3>
One of the most important qualities to maintain during times of change is a consistent commitment to your company&rsquo;s vision and values. When the pace of change accelerates, people can feel uncertain or uneasy; clear communication and consistent messaging are vital to keep employees grounded in the organization&rsquo;s mission.
While navigating through transformation, remember that the values that define your company should remain visible and steady. Change may be inevitable, but a strong and authentic culture offers stability and assurance, allowing teams to embrace new directions with trust and confidence.
<hr>
<h3>A New Year&rsquo;s Challenge: Change as a Path to Growth</h3>
As humans, we often resist change; as business leaders, we must embrace it to propel our companies forward. Even in seemingly straightforward tasks, like broadening your hiring profile or rethinking talent strategies, openness to change can make a real difference. It&rsquo;s not always easy, but it can yield incredible rewards.
What plans do you have for 2025 to drive your business forward? What other qualities do you see as essential to fostering a culture that embraces change?
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Three Behaviours of Leaders Who Are Embracing Change In 2025

​​We humans are an interesting bunch &ndash; despite there being no scientific evidence that ostriches do in fact bury their heads in the sand, the term &ldquo;being an ostrich&rdquo; has become synonymous with doing exactly that. Fun fact &ndash; ostriches do no such thing. But managers do. The running of a business isn&rsquo;t always a process without its challenges and bumps in the road; problems are going to arise which you need to face head-on, rather than pretending you&rsquo;re unaware or hoping they&rsquo;ll disappear of their own accord. I think the situation which is fast-blooming here in the UK with regards to Covid-19, and around the world for that matter, speaks enough to this cause. Myriad issues can arise in the workplace, both those which can be avoided in future and those which are entirely unprecedented, as we&rsquo;re all quickly learning; the key is, as a manager, not to bury your head in the sand and hope it&rsquo;ll all blow over. Here are some key tips on how to stay conscious in your leadership whilst trying to manage through a period of conflict. Know when to step in. There are tiers of leadership for a reason, sure &ndash; it&rsquo;s so that when an immediate manager feels unable, they too have someone to turn to. As a business leader it&rsquo;s crucial that you understand what&rsquo;s going on, when it&rsquo;s gone beyond your subordinate&rsquo;s power, and when it requires you to take the matter into your own hands. We could be talking about a clash of personalities for instance, creative differences between employees, or even staff who get on well but don&rsquo;t play benefit to one another in the workplace; rather than waiting to see if it can be handled by another, know when it&rsquo;s your turn to step in and bring about a solution. Leave discussions open. A problem arose, and you solved it &ndash; well done, pat on the back. But, that doesn&rsquo;t mean it&rsquo;ll forever be so; in the fast-changing world of business, it&rsquo;s important that your team understand that any subject is still open. One of the worst things you can do as a manager is to leave employees feeling as though they&rsquo;re unable to bring something up, for fear of &lsquo;dwelling&rsquo; or bringing negativity back into play. When it comes to new processes and systems where problems have been perceived, ongoing awareness and monitoring is needed; new insights, ideas and therefore obstacles are inevitable. As a manager, be willing to admit that your original solution may have been temporary &ndash; take the bull by the horns and focus on finding new solutions, for the now and for the long-term. The longer you bury your head in the sand, the worse things will become. Know when to get serious. As we&rsquo;re all learning &ndash; Mr Johnson the UK PM included, I&rsquo;d imagine &ndash; it&rsquo;s tough to know when a concern becomes an issue, and when an issue becomes a problem &ndash; one which requires action, and immediately. But the fact is, if you deign always to be an informed, open leader &ndash; one who&rsquo;s abreast of the inner goings-on of your business, current affairs and industry trends &ndash; it&rsquo;s less likely that you&rsquo;ll be taken unawares. When facing a problem head on, it&rsquo;s important to know when to get serious; stop putting things off, stop employing the &lsquo;wait and see&rsquo; method, and take action when it&rsquo;s most needed. Do you tend to bury your head in the sand as a manager? Whilst we can all agree that optimism is paramount and finding the bright side key, being able to admit to an issue and find solutions quickly is tantamount to success across all aspects of your business. False optimism in a time of struggle is more likely to hinder rather than help, especially if your employees feel as though you&rsquo;ve been ignoring it thus far. Transparency in business is a huge trend for 2020 and it&rsquo;s never been more important to face issues with an open, forward-thinking viewpoint. Whilst this always applies, with such divided opinion as to the UK government&rsquo;s response to the coronavirus pandemic, it&rsquo;s never been more relevant. As business leaders, it&rsquo;s our time to face the music and do as best as we can by the businesses we&rsquo;re responsible for, whether that be by implementing home working systems, offering support to our employees or simply trying our best to go on as normal in a safe manner. Whatever you&rsquo;re able to do, don&rsquo;t bury your head in the sand: this is happening, it will affect us all, and we can only tackle it as we must. Sending well wishes to our blog community and beyond under these challenging circumstances!

Ostrich Management: why it doesn’t work

​Since launching Certus Recruitment Group and becoming the MD here in Melbourne, I&rsquo;ve been on a rollercoaster. Recruitment is what I know, but there&rsquo;s so much more to being a leader than being great at the job itself; to use the age old clich&eacute;, spinning many plates at once is the least of it. My team is growing and for this reason, I&rsquo;ve started thinking about the key things I want the people who are joining our business to experience. For me, a healthy, communicative environment is one of them &ndash; I want people to know that in joining my team they&rsquo;ll be able to voice opinions and concerns, ask questions without feeling like a burden and ultimately communicate what and how they&rsquo;re feeling about how things are going, what could/should change/improve and whatever else is happening. Communication is so important to running a business &ndash; that is, the way staff interact with you, their leader, but each other as well. We&rsquo;re developing our plan to ensure ours is a positive culture of communication, and so should you. Things to think about when considering your communication strategy: How you communicate I really like to make sure my staff know that they can communicate with me in different ways. There are different methods different circumstances, and I like to think we mostly exercise common sense to work out what applies on a case-by-case basis. For instance, if it&rsquo;s regarding something important which needs to be recorded properly (i.e. annual leave, a formal request etc), the member of staff in question will send an email. This allows us to ensure there&rsquo;s some process involved, and a paper trail. But if it&rsquo;s a quick question, something less formal or even something not at all work-related, I&rsquo;ve always made it clear that they can drop me a text or ping me an instant message, any time of the day or evening. Phone calls, if I or they are out of the office, are my preferred method of communication; when you can actually hear your employee&rsquo;s voice and vice versa, there&rsquo;s no room for anything to become misconstrued or confused along the way. In this day and age, technology makes it easier than ever for us to communicate with our staff &ndash; so set the expectations and let staff know it&rsquo;s okay to use it. With all that said, technology can sometimes act as a buffer against real-life human contact &ndash; and a way for people to avoid awkward or uncomfortable conversations. Encourage your employees to face communicating with you and their colleagues head-on, without hiding behind technology &ndash; harness it as a tool, not a hindrance. When you communicate To make sure your business runs as well as it can, near-constant communication about any and all things is necessary &ndash; but, it also helps to set a schedule. How regularly do you communicate in a formal setting with your team? Creating a time for regular meetings or calls &ndash; weekly, monthly, quarterly &ndash; creates consistency in communication. If Employee A knows that their monthly meeting is coming up, they&rsquo;ll have time to prepare and think about things to bring up which might not be discussed in the office usually.
Creating a regular communication schedule, to which your workforce will become accustomed, gives them opportunity to express themselves. This doesn&rsquo;t have to be a &lsquo;review&rsquo; or progress meeting necessarily; think of it more as a &lsquo;catch up&rsquo; &ndash; open forum, whether one-on-one, with your team or across the whole company. This also provides time spent with the team to communicating as a collective &ndash; general goings on, successes within various teams and ways to collaborate or share information moving forwards. You&rsquo;ll improve working relationships across the board, and the team will feel even more like one.
Communicating openly Ensuring that your staff feel able to approach you about most anything is key to reducing anxiety in the workplace &ndash; whilst I know that for many companies a hierarchy is important, so is a workforce who are engaged, motivated and happy to be there. Having an open-door policy &ndash; I&rsquo;m available for whatever you might need, whenever you might need it &ndash; helps promote healthy communication. With a real open-door policy in place, you as a manager are much more likely to know the &lsquo;inside line&rsquo; on what&rsquo;s happening within your business. Communicating anonymously Does your workforce have a system in place to communicate things which you might not be privy to &ndash; one which doesn&rsquo;t leave them at risk in any way? Look, we don&rsquo;t need to go into specifics &ndash; sometimes, there are circumstances happening or things going on which you aren&rsquo;t involved in as the business leader, but it might be helpful to be aware of. You don&rsquo;t necessarily see what the team sees or know what they know; just because things look peachy from the outside doesn&rsquo;t mean it&rsquo;s so. Implementing an anonymous feedback system ensures your staff feel able to express themselves without fearing any comeuppance on saying aloud what others may be thinking. And no, it&rsquo;s not just about being able to complain to upper management &ndash; it&rsquo;s about sharing an idea, a question, an improvement which they think could be beneficial to the company as a whole. And at the end of it all? Listen to what your employees are telling you. Communicating regularly, openly and with honesty is useless if you&rsquo;re not taking on board what&rsquo;s being talked about! Communication is a two-way street but facilitating it in a healthy way will help your team in so many ways &ndash; least of all when it&rsquo;s ready to grow like ours currently. How do you go about fostering a culture of open communication across your business?

Communication: It’s important, and it’s down to you

Covid-19 has undoubtedly taught us a lot, about many things. Change is happening all around us, from how we shop (online, wearing a mandatory mask or via curbside pickup) to how we communicate (Zoom fatigue, anyone?) and even the way we greet one another. There&rsquo;s also been positive change in the way we see and treat each other. There&rsquo;s a feeling of community when out and about; people are coming together. Sure, some things have changed which we&rsquo;ll miss &ndash; potentially for good &ndash; but there are some things which are changing for the better. And one of them, almost certainly, is the way we work. The way we do business. As we shift towards the new normal, there are certainly some business practices, or &lsquo;maxims&rsquo;, you could call them, which we&rsquo;d be happy to leave in the past &ndash; particularly when it comes to managing sales teams. As we move into a future where employers have to be evermore considerate of the circumstances surrounding their business, here are the 3 business maxims we&rsquo;d love to see catch up with where 2020&rsquo;s focus should be moving forwards. &ldquo;Always be closing&rdquo; We&rsquo;re salespeople, yes. But shouldn&rsquo;t we be thinking more about solving our customers&rsquo; problems than we do about closing the deal? &lsquo;Doing business&rsquo; is no longer about just making sales; it&rsquo;s about consulting with clients, understanding their needs. And being willing to turn away if you know that your solution isn&rsquo;t the one which serves them best. Sales teams who value customer experience and excellence in service over targets and revenue will be the ones who thrive in the months to come. Always be closing &ndash; business maxim number one, out. &ldquo;Failure is not an option&rdquo; It might not be an option, but it&rsquo;s an absolute inevitability. Our social media feeds are littered with memes, motivational quotes and the like about getting back on the horse; relaying stats about how many shots Michael Jordan missed before he made it big; reiterating the importance of trucking on in the face of adversity. Yet, there are still sales teams being run into the ground by unrealistic targets and a lack of awareness about the fact that, yes, sometimes external circumstances do effect your ability to hit target; sometimes we have to fail to grow. Failure is a part of learning; it&rsquo;s how we learn what works, and what doesn&rsquo;t. Failure literally helps us improve what we do and how we do it; it shows us which processes need to be created, implemented or streamlined. Not only is failure an inevitability &ndash; it&rsquo;s a tool which we as managers should be harnessing to help our teams learn and improve, continuously. Business maxim number two &ndash; not this year, thank you! &ldquo;If your business isn&rsquo;t growing, it&rsquo;s dying&rdquo; I disagree &ndash; it could be changing, evolving, learning. Or, in truth, it could simply be surviving. And there&rsquo;s absolutely no shame in that. Of course, growth is a sensible, moreover practical end goal for a business to have. But long gone are the days when the notion was that growth is everything. As we transition into the post-pandemic world, many businesses and their leaders will be trying to determine the direction of their business whilst staying afloat and trying to do best by their employees; that should be the focus over the coming months, not simply money. No growth equalling a dying business is the third and final business maxim which needs to catch up with 2020. As the leader of Certus&rsquo; business here in Aus, I&rsquo;m proud to say we&rsquo;ve always conducted business with our clients in mind, rather than just focusing on the numbers &ndash; and we&rsquo;re looking forward to partnering with businesses who operate in the same way. When it comes to building cohesive, customer-focused sales teams who perform, we&rsquo;re proud to provide recruitment solutions tailored to your business. Contact our team in Melbourne today to talk about the current market conditions and what you can expect from a hiring perspective over the next few months.

3 Business Maxims Which Need to Catch Up

​Sales professionals don&rsquo;t just need to have great negotiation and closing skills; they need to have bags of enthusiasm for the job and self motivation coming out of their ears in order to be successful at what they do. Finding leads, picking up the phone to speak to total strangers and constant pressure to hit targets takes self discipline and is why so many people fail. Yes, recruiting good sales people, training and developing them and providing progression plans is all very important, but an even more vital element is the trust between a Sales Director their team. It&rsquo;s no secret that sales environments are high pressure, intense, competitive and at times very stressful, especially if you&rsquo;re falling short of targets. But is this pressure leading to behaviours that are destroying crucial employee trust? In general, a big downfall of Sales Directors is a lack of patience; trust takes time to build. You want numbers, and you want them now! But hang on a minute here, your sales professional may not be performing, but don&rsquo;t automatically assume it&rsquo;s because they are lazy or that they don&rsquo;t care enough and they are not working hard. Has your sales professional had the right training, do they need guidance on how to approach a difficult task, are they a bit lost? Nurturing and supporting is the first point of call for any manager before making any accusations. Are you being consistent? Consistency is arguably the biggest factor in building trust. Employees notice constant day-to-day flip-flopping between treatment of staff, processes and actions and they will remember it. Inconsistency creates impressions of in-authenticity and this will only led to employees claiming cases of favouritism and lack of integrity. If you&rsquo;re one for making sweeping statements and promises without much thought, then stop. Often promises made without genuine consideration of what the promise may mean in the long run or without the bigger picture in mind, have to be re-addressed and amended. Doing this, especially around bonuses or progression plans will only serve to cause serve mistrust when telling the employee about anything else similar in the future. It is also likely that it will leave a bad taste lingering and the employee will remember it for the foreseeable future and feel let down by you. Don&rsquo;t preach accountability if you don&rsquo;t fully practice it yourself. Shying away from your own mistakes or entirely pushing the blame onto someone else for a problem means that your employees will probably use the same tactic for their own shortcomings, which in turn will frustrate you. Instead, be completely transparent because after all isn&rsquo;t that what you&rsquo;re trying to achieve with them? Showing your employees that you are aware of your own errors and that you regret them and have learned from them will encourage respect from your team for your honesty. If you own up, then your employees will see that it is OK to make genuine mistakes and will be truthful about their own errors. In these instances, show support and understanding when communicating the facts about problems whilst also being sensitive to their efforts. Watch your own behaviour. Ensure that you are practicing what you preach, if you say that teamwork is important, reinforce this by working across the teams; if you say numbers are important, reinforce by getting on the phone and contributing. Your team will be impressed that you are willing to get stuck into the hard work with them and will trust that you too will understand any difficulties they face. Don&rsquo;t allow a disconnect between what you say and what you do because people will copy your behaviour good or bad rather than act on your instructions, it&rsquo;s just human nature. Don&rsquo;t make your team walk on eggshells around you. Yes, sometimes employees need a bit of reality check when it comes to performance but if a bad day translates into yelling and pessimism it isn&rsquo;t going to result in best outcome and will probably make your team feel more disheartened. Instead, when addressing low performance, explain the situation clearly but speak positively, motivate and reinforce the objectives necessary to turn it around. Listening to your employees and not just telling them what to do is an important part of working effectively together. Don&rsquo;t just steamroll ideas at them &ndash; talk solutions through and let them be part of the decision on how to achieve a goal. Trust underpins a good working employer &ndash; employee relationship. By building trust managers can achieve significant improvements in performance and engagement. Vice versa, losing that trust will led to performance and engagement problems. Team members will feel uncomfortable addressing issues because they are unsure of how you might react. If your employees trust you they will have confidence in your decisions and believe in what you are saying. Even in uncertain times, this trust will influence your leadership ability.

Does Your Sales Team Trust You?

Established in January 2001, the Certus Recruitment Group has become a leading specialist recruitment consultancy with a global presence and a client list that is envied by our competitors. Revenues have grown consistently and are continually invested back into the business to enhance growth and reward those that contribute to our success.

Established in January 2001, the Certus Recruitment Group has become a leading specialist staffing consultancy with a global presence and a client list that is envied by our competitors. Revenues have grown consistently and are continually invested back into the business to enhance growth and reward those that contribute to our success.

Established in January 2001, we are a specialist recruiter working with businesses of all sizes from global &lsquo;Superbrands&rsquo; through to innovative start-ups and everything in between. Working globally we help our clients plan, source, attract, and retain world-class talent for their business. Our people are each specialists within one of our three practice areas; sales, marketing, and technical, operating at all levels of experience up to Director &amp; Executive level.

Established in January 2001, we are a specialist recruiter working with businesses of all sizes from global ‘Superbrands’ through to innovative start-ups and everything in between. Working globally we help our clients plan, source, attract, and retain world-class talent for their business. Our people are each specialists within one of our three practice areas; sales, marketing, and technical, operating at all levels of experience up to Director &amp; Executive level.

Established in January 2001, we are a specialist staffing company working with businesses of all sizes from global ‘Superbrands’ through to innovative start-ups and everything in between. Working globally we help our clients plan, source, attract, and retain world-class talent for their business. Our people are each specialists within one of our three practice areas; sales, marketing, and technical, operating at all levels of experience up to Director &amp; Executive level.

At Certus Recruitment Group our people are our greatest asset. We believe a coherent and motivated team of passionate people will always achieve more than a collection of individuals.The ongoing success and growth of our business are determined by our behaviours as commercially focused recruitment professionals who demonstrate expertise and commitment to the provision of service excellence to clients and candidates alike. We have defined these behaviours as:​

At Certus Recruitment Group our people are our greatest asset. We believe a coherent and motivated team of passionate people will always achieve more than a collection of individuals. The ongoing success and growth of our business are determined by our behaviors as commercially focused recruitment professionals who demonstrate expertise and commitment to the provision of service excellence to clients and candidates alike. We have defined these behaviors as:​

At Certus Recruitment Group our people are our greatest asset. We believe a coherent and motivated team of passionate people will always achieve more than a collection of individuals.The ongoing success and growth of our business are determined by our behaviours as commercially focused staffing professionals who demonstrate expertise and commitment to the provision of service excellence to clients and candidates alike. We have defined these behaviours as:​

"Certus has been simply fantastic. The support along my journey to securing my dream job has been faultless. They provided clarity throughout the process and offered guidance that has undoubtedly helped me prepare for a successful interview!"

We're always keen to introduce great talent to our extensive network

View job

We're always keen to introduce great talent to our extensive network

We're always looking to introduce great talent to our extensive network

At Certus Recruitment Group we recognise that our employees are our greatest asset, which is why we have developed a rewards and benefits package that recognises the value of your contribution to the business. From protection for your family through to discounts on gifts and events, our benefits are designed to ensure everyone benefits, regardless of their individual circumstances.

At Certus Recruitment Group we recognize that our employees are our greatest asset, which is why we have developed a rewards and benefits package that recognises the value of your contribution to the business. From protection for your family through to discounts on gifts and events, our benefits are designed to ensure everyone benefits, regardless of their individual circumstances.

Established in January 2001, the Certus Recruitment Group has become a leading specialist recruitment consultancy with a global presence and a client list that is envied by our competitors. Revenues have grown consistently and are continually invested back into the business to enhance growth and reward those that contribute to our success.We have a clear vision of where the company is going and how it will get there. This vision is shared with everyone at Certus and we work hard to create a vibrant working environment that provides real opportunity to develop, progress and prosper within the Company.To achieve our objectives we need great people and are always looking for applications from both experienced recruiters or from experienced sales, marketing or technical professionals who have a strong knowledge of their sector and are looking to forge a new career within a professional recruitment environment.

We attribute our success to our core values

Global Specialist Recruiter to the Technology Sector

Great companies are built on great talent

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<h2>Our team</h2>
Our Senior Leadership Team has a combined experience of 60+ years of recruiting into the technology sector, with experience gained in sales, marketing and technical experience across the globe. They continue to be heavily involved in the business, operating at the coal face and remaining close to clients and candidates alike. Please feel free to reach out to any of our leaders to discuss any aspect of how Certus Recruitment can help you achieve your objectives. We look forward to working with you.

<h2>Our team</h2>
Our Senior Leadership Team has a combined experience of 60+ years of recruiting into the technology sector, with experience gained in sales, marketing, and technical experience across the globe. They continue to be heavily involved in the business, operating at the coal face and remaining close to clients and candidates alike. Please feel free to reach out to any of our leaders to discuss any aspect of how Certus Recruitment can help you achieve your objectives. We look forward to working with you.

Global Specialist Recruiter to the Technology Sector.

If you have any further questions or would like to find out more about how we can help your business grow, we'd love to hear from you. Just pick your preferred way of contacting us and we look forward to speaking with you soon.<ul><li>Pick up the phone and give us a call on +61 (03) 4050 7777</li><li>Click&nbsp;<a href="https://certusrecruitment.com/au/submit-job/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(234, 13, 140);">here</a>&nbsp;and you can send us details of your business and your current vacancies</li><li>Send us an email to: hello@certusrecruitment.com</li></ul>

There is no shortage of fantastic recruiters to choose from. There are those that specialize by sector or by function, there are large multi-site high street agencies, global players, and single-site niche businesses. So how do you determine which one will be best to support your business?​We believe the most important element is to choose a partner you trust. If you don't immediately feel they understand your unique situation and they don't go out of their way to really understand your purpose, speak to another. Your reasons for choosing may sometimes be difficult to articulate, however, after speaking you will quickly know which company is best to represent your brand.​And finally, whilst price is an important element in choosing a supplier, make sure you're calculating all the costs - not just the fee %. The company that delivers you a great shortlist the first time round, who organizes your stakeholders and minimizes wasted time will save you thousands over the course of the project.Ultimately, the best way to measure us is to speak to us. However, in the meantime here are a number of frequently asked questions that may just help you decide to include us on your shortlist!

If you have any further questions or would like to find out more about how we can help your business grow, we'd love to hear from you. Just pick your preferred way of contacting us and we look forward to speaking with you soon.
<ul>
<li>Pick up the phone and call your local office</li>
<li>Click&nbsp;<a style="color: #ea0d8c;" href="https://certusrecruitment.com/submit-job/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a><a href="https://certusrecruitment.com/submit-job/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;</a>and you can send us details of your business and your current vacancies</li>
<li>Send us an email to: info@certusrecruitment.com</li>
</ul>

There is no shortage of fantastic recruiters to choose from. There are those that specialize by sector or by function, there are large multi-site high street agencies, global players, and single-site niche businesses. So how do you determine which one will be best to support your business?​
We believe the most important element is to choose a partner you trust. If you don't immediately feel they understand your unique situation and they don't go out of their way to really understand your purpose, speak to another. Your reasons for choosing may sometimes be difficult to articulate, however, after speaking you will quickly know which company is best to represent your brand.​
And finally, whilst price is an important element in choosing a supplier, make sure you're calculating all the costs - not just the fee %. The company that delivers you a great shortlist the first time round, who organizes your stakeholders and minimizes wasted time will save you thousands over the course of the project.
Ultimately, the best way to measure us is to speak to us. However, in the meantime here are a number of frequently asked questions that may just help you decide to include us on your shortlist!

If you have any further questions or would like to find out more about how we can help your business grow, we'd love to hear from you. Just pick your preferred way of contacting us and we look forward to speaking with you soon.<ul><li>Pick up the phone and give us a call on +1 737 201 9992</li><li>Click&nbsp;<a href="https://certusrecruitment.com/us/submit-job/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(234, 13, 140);">her﻿e</a><a href="https://certusrecruitment.com/us/submit-job/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;</a>and you can send us details of your business and your current vacancies</li><li>Send us an email to: america@certusrecruitment.com</li></ul>

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Working with the top 10% of talent globally, we build world class Go To Market and Technical teams for high growth SaaS and Technology companies.  

Deep expertise combined with latest tech to deliver for you - fast.

We have a clear vision to be the Global Specialist Recruiter to the Technology Sector. To achieve our Vision we need amazing people who share our vision and subscribe to our values: Passion, Energy, Commitment, Integrity and Fun. If the Tech Sector excites you as much as it does us, get in touch or explore our current openings.

We are always looking for great people to join our team within either our GTM or Technical practices. If you love what you do, love accountability and align with our values: Passion, Energy, Commitment, Integrity and Fun then get in touch - we might be just what you're looking for.&nbsp;

Great companies are built on great people

We&rsquo;re always keen to introduce great talent to our extensive network.

With an extensive client network across Europe, North America and APAC, let us take you to the market.

View job details

We&rsquo;re always looking to introduce great talent to our extensive network.

Contact Certus Now

Our specialist consultants can&rsquo;t wait to hear about your business!

Find out how we deliver Top Talent for your business within a matter of days.

Looking out for fresh talent for innovate organizations

At Certus Recruitment Ltd ("we", "us" or "our" for short) we and our group companies are committed to protecting your personal information. Your personal information (also called ‘personal data’) is the information which identifies you as an individual that we get from you and others in various ways. Under the Data Protection Act 1998 (the "Act") and the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 (“GDPR”) specific obligations are placed on us in the way we handle this type of information. The aim of this privacy policy is to let you know what personal information we collect from you when you apply for a job with us or our group companies, when you use our website and when you contact us, how we store and use it, and how you can access and manage this information.​Your personal information may be stored online and therefore we take steps to ensure that our systems are well protected.​The registered office of the above company is at 1 Vincent Square, London, SW1P 2PN. Our company number is 12619774. We and our group companies, together with the products and services we sell and provide, are regulated by the Recruitment &amp; Employment Confederation (REC - https://www.rec.uk.com/)​Please note that this privacy policy only covers https://www.certusrecruitment.com/. Other websites belonging to us or accessible via links are not covered by this policy. If you access any of these sites, please check the privacy policy applicable to these sites (if any) before you submit any of your personal information to them.​So, what personal information do we collect about you?​We process the following types of personal data about you:• Contact details• Identification information• Information about past and current employment• Education and qualifications• Information about your lifestyle​We collect the personal information requested on our application forms and contact forms together with any comments or remarks that you may provide in free text fields (such as personal statements) or CVs (where applicable). We may also keep a record of references received from third parties (including those you give us, credit reference and fraud prevention agencies) and of any other correspondence or communication between you and us, whether written, e-mailed, or as a result of visits, interviews or recorded telephone calls.​We also monitor site traffic, and like most websites, we use a Unique Visitor Cookie (which is supplied and managed by a carefully selected statistics provider) to identify your PC by a random number (e.g. #12489). More details about cookies and how you can disable them can be found below.​We will (unless it's impractical) tell you if we obtain and store information from any other source and also how we intend to use it in accordance with this privacy policy.​Making sure your personal data is secure​Whilst we take steps to protect user privacy, no data transmission over the internet can be entirely secure. We therefore do not guarantee the security of personal information that you send to us, or your use of the site. Any personal information you do send is at your own risk but once we receive it we use strict procedures to safeguard it.​How do we use your personal information?​In connection with a contract between you and us or an employer… We (and any At Certus Recruitment Ltd group company may use and process your personal information where it is necessary for us to do so to in connection with or anticipation of a contract between you and us (or At Certus Recruitment Ltd group company) or an employer.• to process your job application and otherwise manage the recruitment process• help potential employers assess and process your job application;• help potential employers check and confirm the references that you provide as part of your job application;• check with any necessary regulatory, industry and/or security authorities relevant to the position that you have applied for; Our Legitimate Business Interest… We (and any At Certus Recruitment Ltd group company may use and process your personal information where it is necessary for us to pursue our legitimate interests as a business for the following purposes:• help us identify you so we know who we are talking to;• help prevent and detect fraud or loss;• to contact you with information about opportunities that you might be interested in from time to time via phone or post;• assess risk, carry out market research, statistical analysis, test systems, improve the way that we run our recruitment process and your application (including quality assurance) and analyse your application and recruitment history;• train staff and monitor our services. This may mean that we record our conversations or our correspondence with you to make sure we are providing you with a good service and to make sure we keep to our legal and regulatory obligations. Where you have provided consent… We and any At Certus Recruitment Ltd group company may use your personal information where you have consented for us to do so• to contact you by email or other electronic means about opportunities that you might be interested in from time to time;• to provide you with job alerts. This consent can be withdrawn by logging-in to your account on the website and updating your details. Unless otherwise stated, we will hold data processed through contractual and legitimate interests indefinitely. Data processed via active consent will continue to receive marketing relative to the initial opt-in until we have received a request to unsubscribe/opt-out.​Who do we disclose your personal information to?​We may make your personal information available to agencies and employers who subscribe with us or use our Website, working within the above ways in which we use your data. These clients may then use that information to contact you about specific roles via email, phone or post. Other clients or agencies should not send direct marketing messages by email or SMS to you unless you have consented (opted in) to this.​We may disclose your personal information to any member of our group, which means our subsidiary companies, our ultimate holding company and its subsidiary companies.​We may disclose your personal information to third parties:​• In the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we may disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets.• If at Certus Recruitment Ltd or substantially all of its assets are acquired by a third party, in which case personal data held by it about its customers will be one of the transferred assets.• If we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our terms and conditions to and other agreements; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of At Certus Recruitment Ltd, our customers, or others.​How can you find out what personal information we hold about you?​You are entitled to see the personal information that we hold about you at any time. (If you write to, email or phone us and ask to see this information, it is known as a ‘subject access request’ or ‘SAR’ for short) You can do so by:​• e-mailing us at dpo@certusrecruitment.com inserting the words ‘Data Request’ in the heading or• writing to us at Data Request, Certus Recruitment Ltd, 1 Vincent Square, London, SW1P 2PN​Even if you don’t want a copy of your personal information, you can still contact us to check that the personal information that we hold is accurate or to let us know of any changes to your personal information. We always try to ensure that the information we hold is accurate, up to date and relevant and, as you are applying for a job with us, it is important that we have the right information in order to be able contact you. We'll be more than happy to make changes or to correct any inaccuracies.​You have the following rights when it comes to your data:• to object to any legitimate business interests processing;• to withdraw consent (only in respect of any processing which depends on consent);• to ask for your data to be updated or corrected (where it is inaccurate);• if we have carried out any automated decision making as part of recruitment practices, contest any such decision and ask for a human intervention;• ask for the client to stop processing for any reason or exercise their right to be forgotten;• ask for a copy of their information that they have provided to you electronically (such as their CV) in a portable format;• complain to the ICO.​External links from our site​From time to time we may include hypertext links to sites which are created by individuals and companies outside of our group companies. We do this when there is a particular relevance to the topic you're reading about. Whilst we endeavour to check that the content of these sites is suitable, we unfortunately cannot take any responsibility for the practices of the companies who publish the sites that we link to, nor the integrity of the content contained within them.​What if we update our privacy policy?​We do keep our privacy policies under regular review so please do check each time you use the site. You'll be able to read about any updates on this page - as soon as they happen.​If you have any questions or if you feel that we are not complying with the terms of this privacy policy please do contact us by e-mailing us at the following address dpo@certusrecruitment.com inserting the words ‘Privacy Policy Grievance’ in the heading.​This policy was last updated on Thursday 4th June 2020.

Supporting businesses going through transformation, managing a transition or completing animplementation, our contract services team understand the challenges associated with resourcingyour project. In addition to our knowledge of the technical functions, our understanding of projectmanagement methodologies and the project life cycle means we’re best place to identify the bestcontractors for your project.Recognising the importance of continuity, we ensure our contractors are managed and supportedthroughout the duration of your project, utilising the latest technologies to ensure a seamlesscontractor experience.

Put simply, we help technology businesses scale.

We're always keen to introduce great talent to our extensive network.

We're always looking to introduce great talent to our extensive network

We provide a bespoke, specialist recruitment service that adds real value to your organisation. We believe a truly great recruitment service is not about filling a vacancy, it&rsquo;s about helping you scale your business. On every occasion it&rsquo;s our job to identify the right candidate who, due to experience and cultural alignment, goes on to significantly contribute to the attainment of your organisations goals.

We provide a tailored, specialist recruitment service that adds real value to your organization. We believe a truly great recruitment service is not about filling a vacancy, it&rsquo;s about helping you scale your business. On every occasion, it&rsquo;s our job to identify the right candidate who, due to experience and cultural alignment, goes on to significantly contribute to the attainment of your organizations' goals.

Call Certus Now

Send a brief

Our specialist consultants can't wait to hear about your business!

Although we assess each application we receive, due to the volume of responses we are unable to respond to all enquiries personally.<a href="/au/jobs/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">View all jobs</a>

Although we assess each application we receive, due to the volume of responses we are unable to respond to all enquiries personally.<a href="/jobs/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">View all jobs</a>

Although we assess each application we receive, due to the volume of responses we are unable to respond to all enquiries personally.<a href="/us/jobs/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">View all jobs</a>

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