Teddy R – Great Quote!

 

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. 

Capital2 Solutions and BeMore to Participate in Movember http://fr.movember.com/en/team/1021877

Yeah well file this under “seemed like a good idea at the time!”

This year the BeMore Group and Capital2 Solutions will be raising money to promote men’s health via the Movember movement. 

For those of you unfamiliar with this, it entails us growing moustaches for the whole of November in order to raise awareness of and money for various charities. More info at http://www.movember.com 

So please visit our page http://fr.movember.com/en/team/1021877 and donate…. in return we will provide weekly photo updates of our progress in order for you all to ridicule us. 

Watch this space!!! 

 

(Nearly) Half Year Update

Hi – we really need to update this more regularly, but given that we have been saying that for the best part of 3 years don’t expect a flurry of blogs anytime soon 🙂
How has the first half of 2013 gone for Capital2? we hear you, the faceless multitudes ask……… well it has gone pretty well all things considered. NFI is up, the integration with BeMore is going well, we have spangly new offices on boulevard Haussmann.. all in all can’t complain.
In terms of the second half of the year, our focus is on growth, how can we maintain the positive momentum gained from the first half of the year. We need 1 maybe 2 more recruters for our Paris office to freshen things up so will aim to be hiring for September….. standing still is going backwards! We also need to not lose focus on what has made the first half of the year successful, namely a focus on the quality of what we do – retained work, exclusive contingent work and a commitment to make the hire for both our candidates and clients.
In wider terms, the recruitment market will probably remain quite flat for the rest of the year in EMEA, there are jobs out there but no real economic growth to give firms confidence to hire in volume….. there is a German election in November which could be critical in maintaining confidence in the Eurozone and then maybe after that with a proposed free trade agreement with the US, things will kick off again. We’ll see.
Anyway, in the meantime we’ll leave you with a quote of the day:

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.” – Steve Jobs

Twenty years fr…

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

Mark Twain.

2013

Hello and a very Happy New Year from all at Capital2 Solutions!!
We have made it through a difficult 2012 and have come out the other side stronger due to some internal changes!!
As of October 2012 we have become part of the BeMore Group, a Swiss recruitment and HR company with a multimillion turnover and over 500 employees. Capital2 Solutions remains autonomous, but obviously has much more finacial solidity and stability moving forward. Through the acquisition BeMore acquire an international headhunting firm to complement their existing business and Capital2 becomes part of a much larger organisation, with all the benefits that come with it. Our clients can expect the same level of service and delivery, nothing will change in the way we do business, it simply takes away a lot of financial pressure from the company, enabling us to do what we do best – international recruitment for our clients!
Our HQ is now based in Paris, and over 2013 we will be actively looking to expand in 2 key areas, 1) increase our UK presence and 2) move further into the RPO market. We have a new starter in mind to help us really kick on and achieve these objectives, so watch this space for an exciting addition to our team.
Other than that how is the market shaping up for 2013?? although we have a decent pipeline of work, it has to be said that we are forecasting a difficult first 6 months of the year, as concerns continue about the global economy. This means that we will have to work a lot more efficiently, bringing down our KPIs / ratios to hire to fantastic levels. From a candidate perspectiven you can expect more of the same as in 2012, roles will be mainly opened to replace leavers, with few companies really looking to expand massively in EMEA. Global growth areas remain the far east and south america it seems.
So a mixed bag of news really, extremely positive news re the takeover, but continued pessimism re the hiring markets for the first 6 months of the year…. hang in there people, it is still a bumpy ride!

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 22,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 5 Film Festivals

Click here to see the complete report.

Singing in the Rain!!!!!

well well, some changes to report from Capital2 Land. After a lovely 4 years being headquartered in the South of France we are taking the plunge (and throwing away our beach towels) to move the business up to Paris.
Why the hell would we do that I hear you cry, well let me tell you.
1) All our French clients are based in Paris, we do next to nothing in the south.
2) With the above being true, we need to aim to offer a better service to our clients, the best way to do this is to be near them.
3) Similarly our candidates will now have a chance to meet us face to face much more easily.
4) We’ll be closer to our UK office and clients.
5) Who needs the sun and the sea and the mountains anyway!
All in all this represents a very exciting step forward for our business, and importantly, will enable us to increase our service levels to both clients and candidates.

Q1 2012

Hi,
So once again we’re running very late with this blog…… sorry to our faithful reader (hi Mum!).
Q1 2012 has not been the greatest to be fair, we have noticed a lot of volume from our clients (so there are companies recruiting, which is good right?), but actually getting things over the line has been tough… candidates seem a little reticent to make a move (especially in France, our core market, where the elections are making peple a little uneasy) and clients are definitely taking their time to ensure they have the best people. In the background the eurozone crisis is bubbling under, threatening to make things a little bit unsteady, but hopefully we can soldier on!!
Q1 also saw another hire, this time for our Paris office, and our new consultant will be targetting the banking market, specifically regarding IT profiles.
Q2 has begun a bit better, and as a company we should be looking to really kick on and start performing… lets hope we can do so and turn around a tough start to the year!!

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 15,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 6 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Late late late update!

Wow time goes fast!

Apologies for anyone out there who reads this (can’t be many given our appalling record of updating) – our last post was April, 8 months ago!

So how has the year panned out, since our last post we’ve added another senior recruiter to the team and have another who will start in Jan 2012. So over the course of the year we have really grown!

In terms of NFI, we will fall short of our target, but will make profit, and turnover will be up over 100%, so we’re headed in the right direction. Growing the business organically through hiring good people is an expensive process…. but the fact we’ve hired the best, means that with a period of consolidation in the first half of 2012, we should be in a position to make better profits and continue our growth.

Next year our aim is to double turnover and increase profit exponentially…. the markets have been uncertain all year, and that uncertainty looks like it will continue in the short term, but we started the business right in the middle of a recession and have grown nevertheless… hopefuly we’ll be very well placed for the upturn!