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.

Email | Linkedin

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.

A Roadmap out of lockdown!

A one-way strategy of positive milestones from the Government was announced by the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson this afternoon.

The basic points are set out below. It is important to remember that these will be conditional on the continued success of the vaccine rollout and maintaining declining figures of hospitalisations and infections.

Nonetheless, some very welcome news!

Summary of key points: –

Boris Johnson sets out his four-step plan to release England from lockdown
Step one, on 8 March, will see schools reopening and two people allowed to meet outdoors for a chat
From 29 March, outdoor gatherings of either six people or two households will be allowed
Outdoor sports, including football, golf, and tennis, will be allowed to resume from 29 March as well
Step two would see shops, hairdressers and gyms reopen from 12 April in England
Also from 12 April, outdoor hospitality will resume, as well as zoos and theme parks
Step three would start on 17 May with most social contact rules lifted, as well as limited mixing indoors
The prime minister hopes that step four, from 21 June, would see the end of all legal limits on social contact
The UK PM will also hold a televised press conference at 19:00 GMT
Scotland, Wales, and NI will set out their own approaches
Covid vaccines have a significant impact on the risk of serious illness Public Health analysis shows
In the fourth week after the first dose, hospitalisations were reduced by 85% and 94% for the Pfizer and AstraZeneca jabs

Let’s hope that the 8^th March Budget will also provide some fiscal good news and continued support for businesses, employers, and staff.

An article by

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

Miles 4 Meals – Our walk from John’Groats to Lands End to raise money for Derby City Mission

All of us at Astute Recruitment Ltd are delighted to announce that today, 1st February 2021, we are launching our Miles 4 Meals charity campaign!

Our team will be ‘virtually’ walking the 911 miles from John O’Groats to Lands End, and if we can walk back again!

We find ourselves in unusual times. Many more people, families and children are struggling with financial problems. We also have a climate of increasing mental health and anxiety issues due to the latest Lockdown restrictions and hardships caused by COVID.

All of us at Astute, wanted to help, so we’re launching our #Miles4Meals campaign. From Monday 1^st February until Good Friday on the 2^nd April, our team will be using our lunchtimes or spare time to walk, run and cycle the 911 miles from John O’Groats to Lands End, and hopefully back again! If you can, please help us with our goal.

*The Government’s current advice is people can exercise for up to one hour a day and observe all COVID social distancing guidance. We can still all clock up a few steps in an hour though!

On virtual arrival to Lands End, Astute Recruitment will donate £500 to Derby City Mission & this amazing cause.

If we can get back to John O’Groats, a roundtrip of 1822 miles, Astute will double their donation to £1,000 for Derby City Mission, our chosen charity.

Every mile covered will raise funds for Derby City Mission who will be using the money to make up much-needed food parcels for the vulnerable.

We’ll be highlighting a series of tips and advice around Mental Health, how important the link between good Mental Health and physical wellbeing is across our social media channels.

We’ll share photos and updates on our progress along the way. Follow our story too and add your own photos and posts if you are taking part!

If you and those in your team would like to join us or just sponsor us for our journey, please email Mary Maguire or Tom Norton, confirming your name, job title, and which company you are from and we will send you more information.

Join us on our charity walk and help raise funds at the same time too!

Astute Recruitment Ltd share our top 10 tips for managing stress and anxiety

As England heads into a second national lockdown, we provide some tips for working from home during this stressful time, and hope this helps those feeling anxious, worried or struggling generally.

Stress Awareness Day, falls today, 4th November 2020. It was created by the Founder of International Stress Management Association (ISMA) Carole Spiers in 1998.

Carole is speaking at an online Stress and Wellbeing Summit, covering stress management, workplace wellbeing and how to develop resilience during unprecedented times, as a result of the pandemic.

In this ‘new normal’, companies, and their staff face massive challenges with millions of people once again asked to work from home – some for the first time in their lives.

Carole Spiers said, “With over half of adults reporting that their mental health worsened during the first lockdown (MIND Survey, June 2020), it’s more important than ever to get wellbeing working for home-workers.”

We are sharing ISMA’s 10 tips on working from home productively with a few extra pointers we all learned at Astute Recruitment in the last lockdown: –

1/ Dress as though you are going to work.

Finding a daily routine is proven to help anxiety and stress. Find a place that is exclusively yours during working hours. Get dressed every morning, at the same time. Don’t stay in pyjamas and slippers every day. If you need to make or attend video calls, you need to be dressed for the camera.

2/ Be open to adapting to change

People are creatures of habit and often do not like changes to our daily routines. Now we find ourselves in the current changing situation, we must be able to adapt, be open to adapt and get used to change quickly. Try and think positively about ways you can use your time in isolation most productively.

3/ Try exercising and eating healthily

Every day build some time for exercise. This can just be a short stroll or an online fitness class. Diarise this. Make this something to break up your day and change your focus away from ‘work’. Be aware of what you are eating and try and eat more healthily. You can pre-plan your meals and get creative with your cooking if some food items aren’t easily available.

Stock up on some staples that you can mix and match to knock something together easily. Don’t forget that frozen vegetables retain their goodness and vitamins much longer than freshly bought items.

4/ Using IT to keep in touch

When you are used to working with others, it is not easy being by yourself. Make full use of video/ online meetings, video calls and phone apps to stay in touch with colleagues and others in your circle. At Astute in the last lockdown, our team whether furloughed or not, said that their highlight of the day during lockdown was our daily zoom meeting. It wasn’t about work, it was about talking and seeing each other and really helped everyone. Whether working from home or not, to have a daily time to look forward to catching up with friends at work, (albeit in their homes!) can provide a real highlight to your day and ‘lift’ your spirits.

5/ Make it easier to work with family at home

Having to work with small children, older kids, and partners/ husbands/ extended family at home doesn’t help you to concentrate. But what can you do? If you have a partner, share the load. If you live alone with children, get them occupied with an activity before you start to work. Build a routine, a day plan that the kids can get used to, and share this in the kitchen on a wallchart or whiteboard. If everyone understands when ‘Mummy or Daddy’ needs to be working – it is easier to have that time alone.

6/ Plan work in blocks of time

Normal office hours between – 9 – 5 might not work in Lockdown and working from home. If you have children, you may choose to work in the evening as well, or very first thing before the kids get up and get a couple of hours admin out of the way. There is nothing wrong with this and this helped a number of our team with kids or partners, to manage their day, give them structure and help them be really productive.

It is essential to build in breaks where you can step away from your bedroom/ kitchen table or if you are very lucky – your home office 😊 Set your alarm on your mobile so that you have regular meal times and just even 5-minute breaks to go and make a cuppa. With no usual office banter or typical office distractions, it can be all too easy to zone out and suddenly realise hours have gone by and you haven’t eaten anything!

Make sure you take regular breaks and set yourself goals during the day.

7/ Keep in touch with friends!

It can be really lonely working from home. With no distractions from your friends in the office as usual, think of someone you can ‘buddy’ up with. We are all social creatures and thrive with social interactions. Having a ‘buddy’ to share experiences with and give each other support/ advice – is a brilliant idea and so good for your wellbeing (and sanity!). It can often give you a real lift. Get imaginative and have a ‘Friday drink’ at 4pm/ 5pm – or later in the evening – share a glass of wine, online!

8/ Get the balance right

There is no ‘one size fits all’ and recognising this is absolutely key.

What works for you does not necessarily work for someone else! Use trial and error until you find the right balance and don’t feel bad about getting it wrong a few times! Kids/ pets/ partners and life in general will still throw some curve balls.

If you do find certain things work – share your successes with friends and co-workers. You may just have the key to unlock some of their problems!

Talk to people used to working alone from the last lockdown. There may also be people you know who are used to working from home anyway. Contact them and ask what tips and ideas they can share. They will be glad to share if they know it will help you/ someone else!

9/ Have clear boundaries between ‘home/ family life’ and ‘work-life’

Every day, At the end of your ‘work’ day, switch off your computer. Tidy your desk and close the door.

This routine will become a daily habit and help with balancing your work time and home life.

Just as you would in a normal working week- you need to have clear boundaries between work time and home time.

10/ Get a good night’s sleep!

Worry and anxiety can often be a barrier to getting to sleep and having quality sleep.

The answer? Plan your bedtime. Make sure you have some downtime from work before you go to bed. Our brains are wired so that if they have been crunching numbers, solving problems and generally very active – they need some time to calm down.

Don’t eat rich foods or drink too much coffee after 8pm. And put down the Playstation/ social media feeds an hour before bedtime.

Have a regular time for bed! Whether you are a night-owl or rise with the lark, make sure you stick to a bedtime routine and go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. Regular 7-hour sleep times will improve your mental health, make you more alert and more productive at work and at home!

Useful links:

https://isma.org.uk/

https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/about.html

https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/stress/

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/

Temporary contact numbers for Astute Recruitment Ltd

Due to a temporary, technical hitch since moving offices, if you need to call us, please call one of our MDs and they will be pleased to assist you.

Mary Maguire: 07717 412 911

Sarah Stevenson: 07966 258 509

As soon as our landline communications are restored, we will let you know!

All of us at Astute Recruitment Ltd are delighted to have been formally included as one of Derby’s top three recruitment agencies on the prestigious search website Three Best Rated!

With over 15 business awards and successful recruitment across the Derbyshire region, its great to be in our 10th year and receive this recognition.

Astute Recruitment was set up by our two founders – Sarah Stevenson and Mary Maguire, back in 2009.

Sarah had this to say, “Mary and I are thrilled to be ranked in the top three recruitment firms in Derby by Three Best Rated. To have our business featured as one of the top 3 firms cements our status as the ‘go-to’ recruitment agency specialising in jobs across finance and back office. This is brilliant news!”

Mary went onto say, “We have grown a lot – our team is expanding and we have an exciting new office move planned to further allow our team of experienced recruiters to grow. As Sarah said, to be included by leading search website Three Best Rated is amazing news and both of us and our team are delighted!”

You can view our listing on the link below: –

Three Best Rated – Astute Recrhttps://threebestrated.co.uk/recruitment-agencies-in-derbyuitment Ltd

A heartfelt message from one of our candidates during the lockdown!

“Thanks Mary for your words of support and inspiration over the past two months whilst I have been searching for a new role. Our phone conversations and your posts on LinkedIn have helped me remain positive, inspired me to reach out to others and post more on LinkedIn, they have also helped me identify my strengths and also my weaknesses.

Your fantastic webinar by Richard McCann also inspired me to build my resilience, believe in myself and also show a more caring attitude towards others. Times are tough for all of us, we need to support each other and I wish you and all at Astute all the best for the future.”

Thank you Nick, this is why our team tries so hard to offer the personal touch and genuinely tries to help people by offering support and constructive advice to help them in their job search.

A great way to end a great week!

225+

5 reviews

View our Google page

Leave a positive review

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.