First impressions from APSCo Membership Account Executive, Danielle Watterson

Written by: Danielle Watterson APSCo Membership Account Executive

Speaking to many of our members over recent weeks, it’s incredibly apparent how complex the current landscape is for recruitment companies, with some saying this is the toughest market they recall working in.

Between challenges such as seemingly constant legislation changes, margins under scrutiny, unpacking what AI and automation mean for both people and processes, along with redundancies in some industries and ongoing skills shortages in others, most are feeling it in one way or another. Reflecting on my first couple of months with APSCo, I’m proud to be working for an organisation which genuinely cares about the members and industry it represents; on my first day in-role, I recall Lesley saying ‘we are our members’ at APSCo, which is clear in the actions of the whole team and something I continue to reflect on.

We’re committed to supporting members however we can, whether that’s political lobbying on behalf of the industry, advice on a particular issue, locating a resource, connecting you with one of our partners – or anything in-between!

Times are clearly tough overall, but there’s still so much to be positive about within our membership, in the last couple of weeks alone I’ve spoken to members who are looking to grow their teams to meet client demand, expand into new sectors, and those looking to invest in their teams through additional training despite a tricky market.

Something else which has struck me during early conversations is the loyalty of our members, many who’ve been with APSCo from the beginning. There’ll be more to come on that later this year, as we’d like to give more thanks and recognition to our members who continue to raise the bar and lead by example, who’ve demonstrated their continued commitment to best practice in the industry.

We’ve so much more to come this year too, with a host of projects and plans in the pipeline. Emerge is just around the corner in May, with a fantastic speaker line-up tackling lots of the key topics I hear our members talking about regularly; I’m look forward to spending the day listening, learning, and catching up with many of you there.