This is the second year all of us at Astute Recruitment Ltd wanted to support #Movember.

Aiming to highlight awareness of men’s mental health but also raise much needed funds for a terrific cause.

All of us may not be lucky enough to have all our brothers, fathers, uncles and nephews around, but most of us will – thankfully!

Sadly, too many of us will know the heartbreak of losing loved ones – whether through mental or physical illness.

It hurts – a lot.

Movember, while a fun, annual event, aims to raise the profile of mental health harms on men. Whatever their age, status, career or salary, men – young and old – can suffer from mental health at any point in their life.

So this year, Harry Langridge, Tom Norton, Josh Dunn and Matt Morgan are all taking part in a very special #movember2021! So far the running total raised is a brilliant £605! With only a few days left, we are all hoping we can raise a bit more for such a brilliant cause!

To honour the 60 men who are lost every single hour of every single day across the world through suicide, they are undertaking to ‘travel’ all the way from Calais to our Head Office in Derby, via the English Channel, Dover and Nottingham!

Throughout November, they are each aiming to swim , run and cycle every day- come rain, hail or probably ice (its getting colder out there!).

Globally, one man takes his own life every minute, of every day. This Movember, Harry, Josh, Matt and Tom are moving for them.

They are each aiming to [walk/run, Cycle and Swim] 60 kms over the course of Movember.

The men who should still be here today.

Going the distance and Moving every day has been very tough. All those dark winter mornings in the pool or on the bike/ road, but your donations will help keep them going.

Not only that, but you will be helping to fund ground-breaking projects in mental health and suicide prevention. Like Making Connections – a Movember-funded initiative that puts mental health help into the hands of at-risk groups – such as men of colour, military members, veterans, and their families.

It’s projects like these that can help them reduce the 3 out of 4 suicides that are men.

Donating is easy! Just click on the link below to take you to our team’s Mo Space!

https://bit.ly/3FGNjlY

Once you’re there, you’ll also be able to track their progress as they swim/ run and cycle towards their distance goal!

We’ve been sharing updates on our team page too!

Did you know?

Suicide is largely preventable, however, shockingly, around the world we lose 60 men to suicide every hour of every day. These are our fathers, brothers, sons, uncles and friends.

Some heart-breaking statistics & links are below: –

How movember makes a difference…..

Mental health and suicide preventionSuicide is largely preventable. Here’s how we’re making a
difference

Prostate cancerGlobally, ~10.8M men are living with or beyond prostate cancer. Here’s what we’re doing about it

Testicular cancerOur approach to the world’s most common cancer among men aged 15-39

Extra ways YOU can support #movember2021!

GROW A MO

Patchy, lopsided, itchy or epic – whatever Mo you grow this Movember, your face will raise funds and awareness for men’s health.

MOVE FOR MOVEMBER

Commit to running or walking 60km over the month, at your own pace. That’s 60km for the 60 men we lose to suicide each hour, every hour across the world.

HOST A MO-MENT

Rally a crew and do something fun and easy. Hosting is all about having a good time for a good cause.

MO YOUR OWN WAY

Create your own challenge – it can be anything. A gruelling test of physical endurance or a not-so-sweaty pledge to kick a bad habit. Your epic efforts will help change the face of men’s health.

Recruitment is a funny old game.

No two days are ever the same!

From arranging interviews, and sourcing jobs,

To building confidence, coaxing pre-interview nerves to stop!

Earlier today, a young chap called back

Relaying his interview feedback

He’s really keen and thanked me for the interview prep

He really wants our job and hopes he gets to the next step!

Then a qualified temp role to recruit, we needed CVs!

Onto the phones to drum up great interviewees 😊

A few calls later, we have a stellar candidate

Our client loved the profile, ‘Can they start on Monday around 8?

Then its onto reference checks,

Its important to ensure our candidate’s skills meet our client’s specs

Now to cover for a dear colleague whose very ill,

Ensuring continuity for their clients with their jobs we’re trying to fill.

Everyone is lovely and wishes our colleague all the best

So they can return soon, after having lots of rest (heart emoji)

Now its near home time for us in the office, the rest are WFH

Some are on annual leave, having a well deserved break from the phone!

Whether you’re a trainee recruiter, or a managing consultant

Recruitment is a helter-skelter, helping those needing a new move to those made redundant.

The ability to help guide those starting their finance careers

As well as to help FD’s and CFOs recruit amongst their peers

So if you’re looking for a brilliant new accountancy recruiter

Call our amazing, happy team – we really are ‘astuter’ 😊

With flexible working, and happy team vibe,

Your career in our family will really develop and thrive!

We are a multi-award winning and rapidly growing accountancy recruitment consultancy. We are recruiting for several opportunities, from Trainee Consultants to experienced Senior Consultants and Managers.

If you are looking for a genuinely original, caring, and fun team, who value integrity and honesty above all else, pop an email to Mary Maguire or Sarah Stevenson.

They will be delighted to arrange a confidential time to talk to you about what we can offer.

Remember: –

If you need to recruit

Call our team at Astute!

Sustainability, and the environment are really important to all of us at Astute Recruitment Ltd. We already have a sustainable environmental policy.

We already encourage a number of environmentally positive initiatives, but will be announcing a new one that our clients, candidates and team can all take part in soon!

With Glasgow’s current global climate conference, ‘COP 26’, underway, here’s a simple wish from all of us in the meantime: –

Now is our final warning
To avoid 6 degrees of warming
For those in power
Now is our critical hour

Not COP 27 OR 28,
Or it will simply be too late.

Right now we have to act –
Nations must agree, form a proper pact.
Not just empty words, but actions.
Clear plans, timelines ‐ no more distractions!

20 years ago, glaciers in the Himalayas,
Stood proud, 100’s of feet higher.
Coral in the Great Barrier Reef,
Weren’t bleached beyond belief.

From Attenborough to the Pope,
Their call to action really is humanity’s final hope

For our children and all of us living now,
How can we possibly allow,
The destruction of our beautiful blue pearl?
Allow uncontrolled distress to unfurl!

From heatwave to fire,
1000 year flooding and tides getting higher,

Let’s agree to make this November
A real turning point our ancestors will remember
For scientists and folk all-over the globe
This really is our final hope.

But, let’s not succumb to morbid doom,
Instead lets strive for ingenuity to bloom!
From Tim Berners-Lee to Archimedes –

We can be a brilliant species!

Lets innovate and work together,

To make our planet healthy again, and make all our lives better!

You can watch the inspirational David Attenborough giving his electrifying speech at Cop 26 by clicking on the video link below. His powerful words and message of hope are possibly the most important words uttered. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzF1LLbSepk

We can all make a difference to help our environment.

We will be announcing some great ways our clients, candidates and friends of

Astute Recruitment Ltd can all help the planet.

Whether at work, in the home or socially, we can all

do our bit to help.

A change in your career is always a critical decision to make. Especially within the world of recruitment. If you are a successful consultant, why would you want to move from your existing employer and team?

It could be that due to a change in circumstance you are looking for more of a work/ life balance, and an employer who knows that if you need to leave early you will make up the time on another occasion.

It may be that post-pandemic and lockdowns, your leadership team are placing unrealistic targets and pressures on you to harass your clients and candidates to ‘force’ a win, rather than allowing the natural flow of a recruitment process preferred by hiring managers and job applicants.

Perhaps you are feeling dissatisfied with the culture and team where you are working. The ‘fun’, ‘banter’ and ‘excitement’ of working in a passionate team seems to have gone missing?

Astute Recruitment Ltd was set up by two friends, and former colleagues, Sarah Stevenson and Mary Maguire, who happened to share a passionate belief that candidates and clients should be treated equally and fairly, but so should the recruitment consultants and teams representing those candidates and clients.

They wanted to demonstrate to a wider audience that there are professional recruitment specialists in the world of accountancy recruitment who value people and integrity more than just a ‘quick fee’. Their passion for recruitment saw Astute Recruitment Ltd progress from a small, unknown agency to become one of the top ‘go to’ financial recruitment specialists in the East Midlands. Unrivalled with over 15 business awards, and currently finalists in the East Midlands Chamber ‘Enterprising Women’s Awards’ Team of the Year category – they could have another award win under their belts in October!

Established nearly 12 years ago, Astute has enabled numerous consultants to train from entry level roles in the business and to go onto secure several promotions. None more so than Sarah-Louise Wykes. Sarah-Louise started at Astute following a successful career in accountancy and began her career at Astute as a Trainee Recruitment Consultant. In 4 short years she was promoted 3 times to become Associate Director. Earlier in 2021, Sarah and Mary were delighted to reward all Sarah-Louise’s hard work officially making Sarah-Louise a Director!

Your future career options at Astute are neatly displayed below in an infographic.

The pandemic has taught many of us that in life you cannot take anything for granted. It has changed the working lives and work/life balance between the office and home, perhaps forever. Never has there been a more exciting time for a recruitment company to really harness true partnerships within the business communities through trust and integrity. Those are the values that set Astute above and beyond more national, impersonal agencies. They take the time to provide the ‘human touch’.

Through established recruitment relationships spanning two decades – Astute Recruitment’s owners have been able to maintain these friendships and increase their market share considerably in the last 2 years.

Now, as businesses have learned to navigate remote and agile working practices, Astute are in a position to grow their teams further and expand at what is a really exciting moment for the company.

Sarah had this to say, “Mary and I are really excited to resume our plans for growth after having to put our strategy on hold during 2020. We are looking for like-minded recruitment professionals or for trainees who are keen to get involved, learn and develop in the recruitment sector. Maybe like Sarah-Louise they can also aspire to promotions and future growth too!”

So if you value working as part of a collaborative, winning team who want to have fun but also work hard – why not contact Sarah Stevenson or Mary Maguire and they will be delighted to have confidential meeting or conversation with you.

As the weather heats up, will it be a bumper summer for business? The forecast looks good! 🌞

In 1976, like now, some boys hair was as long as girls, if not longer. 🤣🤣👭 Fashions were tank tops, and of course, flares! On the airwaves, Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, Bay City Rollers, Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, the Bee Gees, and more. 🎶

But, it wasn’t the clothes we wore, or the music we listened to that made 1976 stand out. It was the incredible heatwave!

Like this year, April 2020 was one of the sunniest Aprils on record, and 2020 ended up being one of the driest springs on record too. Thats what happened in 1975, the year before we enjoyed one of the greatest, long, hot summers in the UK.

Our economy seems to be heating up too! Below we share the latest key statistics from respected organisations on staffing trends, employment and business confidence.

After the turmoil of 2020, 38% of firms surveyed by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said their outlook on the business situation had improved in the past three months.

This is the first positive reading since January 2020, before the pandemic shut down much of the UK economy and the highest since April 1973.

Factories are also stepping up hiring, with the measure of firms looking to grow their workforce over coming months at the highest since 1974.

The survey’s results also found that while manufacturing output was broadly flat in the past three months, orders for new work are picking up and investment plans are being accelerated to take advantage of a “super-deduction” tax break announced in Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s budget.

The release of the IHS/Markit purchasing managers’ index came after official data showed strong growth in retail sales in March when most of the lockdown restrictions imposed to halt the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic were still in force.

Overall PMI rose from 56.4 in March to 60.0 in April, well above the 50 cut-off level that shows whether the economy is growing or contracting. Service sector business activity rose from 56.3 to 60.1, while manufacturing output was up from 56.6 to 59.1.

Markit’s chief business economist, Chris Williamson, said it was the strongest showing in the 23-year history of the PMI other than a four-month period between August and November 2013.

Companies are reporting a surge in demand for both goods and services as the economy ‘unlocks’ and the encouraging vaccine rollout adds to a brighter outlook,” Williamson said.

“Business activity should continue to grow strongly in May and June as virus restrictions are eased further, setting the scene for a bumper second quarter for the economy.”

In more good news for business, The Office for National Statistics said that in March 2021 – a month in which there was only a modest relaxation of the curbs imposed across the UK to stop the spread of Covid-19 – retail sales rose by 5.4% – well above the 1.5% predicted by City economists, with sales in March 1.6% higher than they were before the pandemic began to have an impact on the economy in February 2020.

In good news for the high street and businesses with fixed premises, rather than just online revenue streams, the ONS said the proportion spent online decreased to 34.7% in March 2021, down from 36.2% in February 2021, still above the 23.1% reported in March 2020, the month when lockdown restrictions were imposed for the first time.

And what of jobs and employment trends?

New data from the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC), stated that business confidence in their ability to hire new staff continued to improve in the three months to February 2021.

Employer confidence in hiring rose to a net level of +16 in December-February 2021, six percentage points higher than in the three months to January. In February alone, this surged to net: +29, as the government’s roadmap for easing lockdown was announced and firms could start putting their re-opening plans into gear.

Neil Carberry, Chief Executive of the REC, had this to say:

“Recruiters report that this latest lockdown has been much less damaging than many feared back in January. The relative health of the economy and the jobs market is now being reported by business surveys, official figures and our own data. Our figures show that hiring companies are confident about bringing people into their businesses now, and that has to be good news for all of us.”

Employers are still being cautious, reflected in employers leaning more on interim and temporary staff.

Interim workers remain a great way for people to find work quickly and for firms to hire when the outlook is not certain.

Key statistics: –

Hiring intentions for temporary agency workers rose by eight points to net: +14.

Employers’ intentions to hire permanent staff in the short term fell by five points, but remained high at net: +19.

Employers’ intentions to hire staff in the medium term (over the coming 4-12 months) increased in December-February 2021, rising to net: +30 for permanent staff and net: +15 for agency workers.

So, the weather for business looks set fair, and the forecast for Summer 2021 and the rest of this year, looks very encouraging!

Could it be a record-breaker? We’ll just have to wait and see.

A bit of fun for those too young to remember the summer of 1976, here are some reminders.

1976 was the hottest, sunniest and driest summer people had seen up to that date. The government panicked about low water levels in April and May, and hosepipe bans combined with water restrictions were introduced. People were told to water their gardens with used bath water. I remember families including mine, collecting water from standpipes in their streets.

A minister for drought (Denis Howell) was appointed, promptly telling all to cut water consumption by half, or face water rationing until December! He also told people to pour washing up water into toilets instead of flushing.

Water companies issued a total of 139 drought orders.

Hospital admissions soared with many people suffering from sunstroke, heart attacks and a higher incidence of asthma.

The M1 and other motorways had problems with tarmac melting.

Large areas of woodlands and heath turned brown, and were sadly devastated by fires which in some cases had to be left to burn because of the water shortage.

The high temperatures continued through August with many parts of England exceeding 330 hours of sunshine and highs of 25-30c on many days. 🌞😎

Then the heatwave finally ended.

The last week in August saw the beginning of the end of the heatwave, with spectacular thunderstorms.

That historic heatwave was followed by an exceptionally wet autumn, with some places recording over 200% of their normal rainfall. Heavy storms and torrential rain continued on many days through to October, ending one of the worst droughts on record.

Mary Maguire

Managing Director
Astute | Accountancy & Finance | HR | Office Support

Suite One, Ground Floor West, Cardinal Square, 10 Nottingham Road, Derby, DE1 3QT

T: 01332 346100
M: 07717 412911

E: [email protected]

W: www.astuterecruitment.com

LI: https://uk.linkedin.com/pub/mary-maguire/18/73/553

LI: www.linkedin.com/company/astute-recruitment/

Happy #NationalUnicornDay – in honour of all finance recruiters who find that magical one-of-a-kind candidate!

Here at Astute, we have adopted our very own unicorn as our cuddly mascot! We felt it appropriate to celebrate these mythical creatures as we are always finding ‘unicorns’ for our clients! 😊

celebrating recruiters everywhere who find that one of a kind candidate — One of our MD’s Mary Maguire, having a socially distanced cuddle with our resident unicorn mascot!

ABOUT NATIONAL UNICORN DAY

National Unicorn Day on April 9th each year celebrates the mythical horse-like creature with a single, pointed horn growing from the centre of its forehead.

Unicorns have been a popular mythical creature since Ancient Greek times when people believed they lived in exotic India. While they were once considered to be fierce, powerful animals, many now see them as a symbol of love, purity, enchantment, and magic. They also appear in many movies and cartoons as magical creatures. Both adults and children find a fascination with unicorns. They also continue to find their way into fantasy novels alongside other mythical creatures.

WHAT TO DO ON #NationalUnicornDay

There are several ways to celebrate this fun day.

Try these fun ideas with some younger fans of unicorns: –

Make some brightly coloured unicorn-shaped pancakes or cupcakes. Decorate them with multi-coloured sprinkles or glitter.
Bake chocolate cookies in the shape of unicorns.
Watch a favorite movie including unicorns.
Draw a picture of a unicorn or write a story about one.
Read your favourite fantasy novel featuring unicorns.

Thanks to National Calendar who have also created a colouring page and a picture puzzle.

Can you spot the differences?

Use the key to see if you find them all!

It is with huge pleasure that we can announce our long-serving employee, Sarah-Louise Wykes, has just been awarded a well-deserved promotion to Director! As part of the ongoing development of our recruitment team, it is crucially important to reward success and see the careers of good people in our team flourish. We have a clearly defined career structure of promotion and career development for our staff, and it is wonderful to see someone achieve so much in our team.

Sarah-Louise originally joined Astute in 2012 after a successful career as an Assistant Accountant. With her hands-on experience in accountancy, she has been able to develop excellent, long-standing relationships with clients and candidates in the local East Midlands market.

From starting as a Trainee Consultant, Sarah-Louise achieved 4 promotions. After a break to follow an opportunity to recruit finance professionals internationally, we are delighted to announce that Sarah-Louise has just been promoted to Director after resuming her career with us in 2020!

A well-deserved promotion!

Our MD Sarah Stevenson said of Sarah-Louise’s promotion: – “I recruited Sarah-Louise into my team at Astute with no prior recruitment experience, but a great grounding in accountancy and finance and lots of ambition. She has always been quick to learn, and equally keen to develop. Sarah-Louise has been and remains one of the hardest working members of my team. To be able to help her career along, and watch her thrive and become the successful business person she is today is one of the proudest moments in my career.”

Mary Maguire, MD also had this to say: – “I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Sarah-Louise for many years now. Recruitment is a people business and you need colleagues in your team who are great listeners, communicators, and team players. Sarah-Louise has each of these attributes in abundance. I’m thrilled and delighted to welcome Sarah-Louise onto our Board of Directors, and look forward to many more successful years working with her.”

Expertise
All non-qualified, transactional finance staff, from ledger clerks to supervisors and managers, bookkeepers, assistant accountants, and aspiring part qualified accountants on a temporary, permanent, and contract basis within the East Midlands.

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Following the remarkable support from the local business communities in the East Midlands, our band of candidates, clients and colleagues have successfully completed a round trip from John O’Groats to Land’s End and back again in just a few weeks!

We still have a month of our challenge left and are keen to raise as much money as possible for Derby City Mission to put together as many food parcels as possible. So, we have decided to be bold and stretch our original journey to travel the beautiful countryside from Nordkapp in Norway down to Scapoli in Italy! A total of some 4,960 miles to cover in 4 weeks.

Along the way, we will pass through some beautiful places and look forward to sharing our virtual journey with you.

For now, HUGE thanks to everyone who has been part of our round trip from John O’Groats to Land’s End, and back again!

We look forward to posting our continued progress through Europe.

If you or your team would like to join us on our virtual journey, all you have to do is email either Mary Maguire or Tom Norton at Astute and they will explain how you can help.

Alternatively, if you would like to make a donation, visit our dedicated fundraising page on Derby City Mission’s website by clicking on this link https://www.derbycitymission.org.uk/donate/miles4meals/10/credit-card

So, will you #walkwithus on our extended journey through Europe and help our #miles4meals raise even more money for a fantastic charity? Help your team’s mental and physical health at the same time!

To discover why we are doing this and the benefits of Mental AND physical health, check out our article below: –

Why exercise can save more than your sanity when WFH

More information about our route: –

We have chosen to follow the E1 European long-distance path, or just E1 path. It’s one of the European long-distance paths designated by the European Ramblers’ Association. With a total length of some 4,960 miles (7,980 km), begining in Norway at Nordkapp, crossing the Kattegat between Sweden and Denmark by ferry.

Then the path winds through Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland to finish at Scapoli, Italy. (The EI path was extended southwards to Sicily, in Italy in 2018, but we’ll be ecstatic to reach Scapoli – the original finish line.

Specific E1 waymarks are only seen in some locations such as at border crossings or at intersections with other paths, instead, the signs and markings of the local routes which make up the E1 are used.

Some numbers we’re really proud of!

911 Miles
21 Days
Over 30 companies and their teams
Over £500 raised
Four and a half weeks left!

Today, Monday 1st March, we have achieved our initial goal of walking, running, and cycling from John O’Groats to Lands End.

What an achievement!

When we launched our charity adventure for Derby City Mission to raise money for food parcels, we never in a million years thought that we would be able to get to Lands End so quickly!

A massive thank you to those who have joined us on our journey and welcome to those of you just joining us!

We look forward to finding out where we have got to next AND to discovering just how many #miles4meals we can cover from now until Easter!

Our growing band of walkers, cyclists, joggers, and runners have excelled themselves!

In week 3, we have covered over 500 miles! Taking us down past Derby, through Worcester, Bristol, and finally past Exeter!

When we started planning this event, we were unsure we would make it to Land’s End, now we are just wondering when we will get there as we haven’t got far to go.

We are wondering if we will get to Land’s End this week!

Huge thanks to all of our clients, candidates, and of course our team for helping us make this a brilliant adventure already.

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Mike

16:04 13 Mar 23

Highly recommended! Josh and Sarah have been fantastic at Astute. They've found and placed me in 2 jobs now between them, both really responsive and excellent at keeping you up to speed with things. Very knowledgable about the roles and happy to talk to companies with any queries you have.

C R.

10:45 27 Jan 23

Great agency one of the best ones I've worked with! Liz has been a great help and support in helping me towards a new direction in my career life. She is very attentive and keeps me in the loop at all times! She makes the extra effort to work with my preferred requirements for work and even if it isn't completely attainable she meets me in the middle and does as much as she can to help! Also Liz is very funny might I add 😂 and I'm happy that I can now put a face to the name after all these years! Thank you again Liz for all your help and support! 😊

Christine

10:32 20 Dec 22

Josh and the Astute team was very swift to help me to find roles that matched my profile. They are really reliable and will help through every step of the recruitment process going out of their way to assist and follow up when needed. Could not find a better recruitment agency!

Helen Pinegar

16:19 18 Dec 22

Fantastic recruitment agency.. Josh was extremely enthusiastic, encouraging and clearly knowledgeable about what was needed from both the employee and the employers point of view. Extremely supportive especially in regards to interview preparation and endeavoured to procure feedback promptly. Wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Astute in the future to both candidates and recruiting businesses particularly for the right fit for the role!!!

Lisa Leigh

11:56 30 Nov 22

I have worked as a candidate for Astute and they have been excellent. Super friendly service and professional agents keen to fit the right person to the right job. It has been a pleasure dealing with them and I would happily work for them again in the future. Highly recommend this agency.