When the end is just the beginning.

It’s a difficult time at the moment, for all of us. There isn't a person that I know that doesn't feel a sense of anxiety. Thoughts on work, health, debt, family and what the future holds, both immediately and for months and possibly years to come, have us all feeling pretty uncomfortable.

On a personal level, as someone that runs an in-house talent acquisition business, I've immediately felt the financial impact. 50% of my clients have cancelled their working contracts and I've had to furlough most of my team. Alongside my own financial concerns, I also feel an overwhelming sense of responsibility for the people that I employ, their financial wellbeing and the stress that job uncertainty puts on both them individually and on their families.

Through my work, dozens of people have reached out to me with stories of people being made redundant, job offers being rescinded and companies quickly going into liquidation.

What can I do to help?

At the same time, my struggles pale into relative insignificance, when I see our key workers risking their lives daily to bring the virus under control, support those that are sick, delivery food to our stores, staff our stores, collect our bins, deliver our parcels and try and keep the country running. I feel a huge sense of gratitude, even to politicians (not a group I would ordinarily feel overly gracious towards). It was this sense of gratitude, that left me wondering, what can I do to help? How can I use my skills to support somehow?

So, my team and I decided to launch CHPTR and to support it with our downtime. It's a community for the communications industry, where we aim to connect job seekers with those still looking to hire - for free.

The communications industry plays a huge role in connecting the country and right now the industry itself needs support. Through the gloom, however, there will be companies still hiring, projects still getting launched and expertise to find. But when the world is in chaos, finding the opportunity and expertise quickly can be hard, I'm hoping CHPTR might make things just that little bit easier.

Together we will come through this.

“Life is like a book that never ends. Chapters close, but not the book itself.”

Marianne Williamson

Just go to https://chptr.co.uk/ to sign up to the Slack channel and we'll facilitate connections as much as we can.