Inclusive recruitment is something most organisations want to get right. In my experience, the barrier isn’t resistance or lack of care. It’s hesitation. In conversations with hiring managers and HR teams, I often hear the same thing: “We want to be inclusive…we’re just not sure where to start.” There’s a fear of saying the wrong thing, getting it wrong, or

If you don’t have a recruitment process yet, you’re not alone. This usually happens for one of two reasons: Your business is growing quickly and hiring has become urgent You’ve always relied on word of mouth, agencies, or “we’ll figure it out” and it’s worked…until it suddenly hasn’t Either way, if you’re thinking “we need to get this right from

This week, we held the first HR Manager Community session and I left feeling really proud of what we’re building. The best part was how open everyone was. People shared what’s working, what’s been hard, and what they’d do differently next time. That mix of honesty and practical ideas is exactly the point of the group. Here are the seven

If you’ve spent 2025 feeling like recruitment has become harder, slower and more unpredictable, you’re not imagining it. The UK hiring market has had an unusual year. We’ve seen fewer permanent vacancies, lower hiring intentions and a lot of nervousness from employers driven by rising employment costs, policy shifts and the ongoing question of what AI will actually mean for

When it comes to hiring, technical skills still matter – but they’re no longer the whole story. In a fast-evolving workplace, the most effective teams aren’t made up of people who simply check every box on a job spec. They’re built from something deeper: trust, adaptability, and the ability to elevate the people around them. So yes, qualifications and experience

Hiring the right people has never been more important — or more complex. For years, one question has been central to hiring conversations: “Do they fit the culture?” After all, team chemistry matters. But increasingly, there’s a shift in how we view what makes a truly great hire – and it starts with reframing that question. Instead of asking, “Do

A collaborative workshop hosted by Sarah McKenna HR Recruitment and KOZO Design Solutions. When you hear “Organisation Design,” what comes to mind? A restructure? Job losses? Endless org charts? At our recent workshop—co-hosted by Sarah McKenna HR Recruitment and expertly delivered by KOZO Design—we set out to shift that thinking entirely. Organisation Design isn’t about making things look tidy on

AI in recruitment with a human touch. Let’s be honest, recruitment can be time-consuming. Reviewing CVs, coordinating diaries, giving feedback—it all adds up. It’s no surprise that many businesses are exploring AI to make the process more efficient.Used well, AI can take care of the heavy lifting. But it’s not a shortcut for hiring success. When over-relied on, it risks

Navigating Key HR Challenges: Insights from Our HR Leadership Sessions Over the past month, our HR Leadership sessions have brought together senior HR professionals to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing businesses today. From pay reviews and benefits to hybrid working and strategic workforce planning, HR leaders are navigating a complex landscape—balancing financial pressures, evolving employee expectations, and long-term

  Creating a Workplace Culture Where People Thrive At the recent Thrive Forum: Building Thriving Cultures, the energy in the room was something else—buzzing with real talk, no fluff. This wasn’t just another corporate event filled with the usual culture chat that sounds good but means nothing—it was a raw, honest conversation about what really makes a workplace thrive. Thrive

Strategies to Attract, Recruit & Retain Diverse Talent Diversity in the workplace isn’t just a tick-box exercise—it’s a business advantage. Companies with diverse teams are more innovative, perform better, and are more attractive to top talent. But despite best intentions, many hiring managers still struggle to embed true inclusivity into their recruitment processes. So, how can you ensure your hiring

As we step into 2025, companies that refine their hiring strategies, prioritise candidate engagement, and build strong employer brands will have the edge. In this blog, we’ll explore the key recruitment challenges of the past year, the impact of inefficient hiring, and the steps you can take to secure the best talent in 2025. The Reality of Hiring in 2024

As we step into 2025, senior HR leaders have the opportunity to build on past successes, address new challenges, and shape the future of their organisations. With the digital landscape evolving rapidly, balancing innovation with a people-first approach will be key to driving business success. Here are five focus areas to help you lead the way: Adopt Technology with Purpose HR teams

November was a standout month for us as we brought together our HR Leadership Community in the North East and Yorkshire to reflect on HR in 2024 and to celebrate the incredible progress that’s taken place. We were thrilled to welcome so many familiar faces to our latest HR Leadership Community event on Thursday 28th November at The Sheepfolds, Sunderland.

The debate over hybrid vs. office work isn’t just back—it’s evolving. Amazon’s recent decision to enforce five-day office attendance signals a broader shift, but should we see this as the future for everyone? Or are companies missing the chance to innovate their workspaces in ways that truly reflect the changing landscape of employee needs and organisational success? Let’s delve deeper

Insights from our HR Leadership Roundtable At our recent HR Leadership Community roundtable, we had a lively discussion about a topic that’s more important than ever: employee benefits. As we explored this landscape, it became clear that employee benefits are no longer just about free snacks and gym memberships—they’re a fundamental part of a thriving workplace culture that can truly

Human Insight Remains Essential. . . 📢 “AI will reduce the need for recruiters.” 📢 It’s a statement often echoed in HR circles. Yet, in recent conversations with senior HR professionals, a different reality emerges: recruiters are busier than ever despite AI advancements. AI’s Influence on Recruitment: Emerging Challenges Instead of reducing the need for recruiters, AI is emphasising their

Hybrid Work: Key Takeaways from Leading HR Experts As we continue navigating the evolving landscape of work, the concept of hybrid working has become a cornerstone of modern business practices. Recently, we had the opportunity to discuss hybrid work trends with 15 HR Directors from various industries. Their insights shed light on the critical aspects of successfully implementing a hybrid

When we think of diversity in the workplace, we often focus on factors like race, gender, and age. But what about neurodiversity? What is neurodiversity? Neurodiversity refers to the natural variations in how our brains function, including conditions like autism, ADHD, and dyslexia. As more and more people are diagnosed with these conditions, it’s becoming increasingly important for workplaces to

Nine onboarding best practices to maximise success in your workplace. Onboarding is the process of integrating new talent into an organisation. Smooth and seamless onboarding is a foolproof way of increasing retention rates and job satisfaction within the workplace. Companies aspiring to attract new hires and hold onto them shouldn’t underestimate the power of a stellar onboarding. It’s no secret

A Guide to Handling Menopause at Work Do you know someone silently struggling with menopause at work? Perhaps it’s your mother, a close friend, an aunty, or even yourself. The reality is that ‘around 4.4 million women aged 50-64’ are going through the menopause transition and simultaneously trying to juggle their career. What’s startling about this statistic is that while

In this feature Sarah McKenna HR Recruitment looks at how to maintain a successful hybrid working approach and what makes it such a popular choice in 2022 and beyond… In 2020 Covid-19 thrust the world into chaos, bringing about unprecedented challenges for people and society. Businesses were especially hit hard by the pandemic, from supply chain issues, colossal financial worries,

Earlier this month Sarah McKenna HR Recruitment and Michaela Reaney, of The Opportunity Group, welcomed HR professionals from across the region to participate in an event titled – How To Maximise The Apprenticeship Opportunity. Headquartered in the north east, The Opportunity Group is an apprenticeship provider run by Michaela and co-founder Kate Temple-Brown. Having found themselves frustrated at the lack

Are you struggling to attract top talent to your company? Maybe you feel like the best candidates are comfortable in their job or have already landed their dream role? Don’t be fooled into thinking that this is true. According to Linked In ‘80% of professionals are open to hearing from recruiters, even when not actively looking for a new role’

As a specialist HR recruiter, I know that it’s people like YOU that make businesses work. This is why I created these 5 Ultimate Job Searching Tips to help you find the valuable, inspiring, fulfilling role you deserve. Packed with honest advice and encouragement, this blog will help to simplify the job hunting process so that you can shine in

Hello, September! This month marks the official start of autumn and while I can’t wait for snug evenings relaxing in the house, I do have one fairly large hurdle to overcome before I can properly get a taste for all those seasonal delights. In a matter of days I will be taking part in the Great North Run, aaaah. As

Bathed in warm light and abuzz with positivity, Hope Street Xchange’s state-of-the-art enterprise suite played home to some of the region’s best HR professionals one summery day in June. Industry specialists gathered for Sarah McKenna and 50:50 Future’s Equality, Diversity & Inclusion event – a 90 minute session providing an overview on how to avoid tick-box narrative and embed inclusion

Sarah worked closely with Louise Robinson to help her secure her new role as an HR Assistant. Here’s what she had to say about her experience. Can you tell us a bit about your background? I spent a good 7 years in the third sector supporting financial initiatives from the DWP New Enterprise Allowance for new start-up businesses, to Welfare

Amanda Simmons worked with Sarah to secure her new role as a HR Manager. Here’s what she had to say about the experience. Hi Amanda, thanks for agreeing to share your story – can you tell us a bit about your background? I’m a generalist HR Manager with over 18 years’ experience in HR. I started out at officer level and

Emma Winter worked with Sarah to secure her new role as an HR Project Director. She kindly took the time to answer a couple of questions about her experience. Hi Emma, first question, how did you come across Sarah McKenna HR Recruitment? I’ve worked in HR for a long time so heard about Sarah through the industry grapevine as she

Smart Works Newcastle helps some of the most vulnerable women from across the region regain their self-belief to succeed at job interview and move on with their lives. They help at a critical point in their lives, when they have a job interview, often after a long period of unemployment, when confidence and morale are very low. The volunteer run

Maxine and Sally from Beyond Partners are joining me for my next online event on 1st December around people, purpose, and culture. I asked them to tell us a bit more about them and their own business so that you can get to know them before the webinar. Thanks, Maxine and Sally for taking the time! Tell us a bit

I read a lot of HR-related emails and articles, and sometimes I strike gold. Here are the top five articles of the many I’ve read over the past couple of months or so. Please do let me know if any of these spark inspiration, make you think twice, or teach you something new. Experts reveal HR’s role for ‘Lockdown 2.0’

2020 has witnessed a new dawn in employment where HR and internal communications have taken centre stage. Everyone, whether a CEO or an apprentice, has adapted to home working and a whole new approach to the workplace. So the functions of HR have never been so important. During the first Covid-19 lockdown, employees had to multitask working at home productively,

I’m feeling enlightened after my latest event with Helen and Lindsay from Parent Scheme last week. We chatted about how Managers and HR teams can support parents in their return to work as schools reopen for the first time since the start of lockdown way back in March!  Parent Scheme supports working parents, so as you can imagine, the business

I’ve seen so many fantastic stories of HR teams stepping up and leading with positivity throughout the pandemic that I thought I’d explore how this is going to continue. People Management found that a fifth of employers are reopening workplaces from September and a third will ask employees to come in for a certain number of days a week unless

Here’s my latest round-up of HR-related articles that I thought I’d share with you. I hope you find them as useful as I did! UK job applications rose 32% in June As is to be expected, competition for jobs is huge at the moment. In fact, in June it was reported that there were 106% more applicants battling for jobs

What a fantastic session we had with Donna and Cheryl from Now Is Your Time! It was all about what’s keeping women out of the boardroom. If you’d like to watch, click here for the full recording – it really was such an uplifting session. Donna and Cheryl have been described as motivating and down to earth, and this is

Here’s my weekly round-up of HR-related articles that have inspired and educated me over the past 7 days. I hope you’ll get some useful tips from them just as I did. Diversity in the workplace In this article, Vijay Eswaran, Executive Chairman at QI Group of Companies, talks about the importance of diversity in the workplace. “Business has the transformative

Today Jen Tait from Rise Learning Group joined me to deliver a webinar about onboarding during the pandemic. It was a great session and we all got a lot from it, so for those that couldn’t make it, here’s an overview. Although there’s been a huge shift in the way the majority of businesses are working, many do still need

People seemed to enjoy my round-up of articles from last week so here I am again. This is going to be a regular feature on my blog from now on, so if you’re like me and subscribe to far too many HR newsletters, use this as your weekly shortcut! Here’s a quick overview of some of the articles I enjoyed

It was International HR Day last week which put me in a bit of a reflective mood, thinking about why people choose to work in the industry. HR is so important to businesses, and I think that’s why I love working in the field so much. By definition, HR puts people first, but that can often be taken for granted.

I’ve recently been invited for a chat on a couple of great webinars and podcasts about all sorts of things! I thought I’d share them if you fancy a listen. The common theme running through both of these discussions is that everybody’s human and we all have our ups and downs but that’s perfectly ok. I hope you enjoy watching/listening!

After the government announcement on Monday, I spoke to HR Consultant Maxine Henry from The People Place HR to get her thoughts on getting staff back to work post-lockdown. Things are very much still ‘up in the air’ for a lot of us at the moment but I hope you’ll agree that Maxine’s insights in this guest blog really are

I’m still feeling very inspired after my last event with 50:50 Future on ‘Demystifying Diversity’. Co-founders Lyndsey and Lynsey delivered an amazing session with tons of takeaways for the room. They covered so much, but I’m going to try and condense it down and highlight the best bits for those that missed it! One thing that was obvious from the

It was my first event of 2020 this week and we couldn’t have asked for a better speaker! Director of Rise Learning Group, Jen Tait, came along to share her knowledge on onboarding and improving employee retention. There were some absolute gems of information in her session that spurred on some great discussions, so I thought I’d share some of

If you work in HR you’ll know that there are constant changes in the industry that you need to keep up with! When it comes to things like employment trends, legislation wellbeing initiatives, and everything else that comes with it, we’re expected to know it all. 2020 will be no different, so I’ve decided to share some of the things

Natalie Henson is a Senior HR Practitioner with experience in people and project management, generalist HR workstreams, and delivering key business transformation projects in both the public and private sectors. And she’s also now a guest blogger for Sarah McKenna HR Recruitment! With the new year prompting many businesses to plan their year ahead, Natalie has shared her knowledge on

Hi, everyone, it’s Sarah here, I can’t believe it’s almost Christmas already, but here we are! As we’ve just celebrated the business’s 3rd birthday and everyone’s getting into the festive spirit, I wanted to say thanks to everyone that’s supported Sarah McKenna HR Recruitment this year and do a quick recap of some of my favourite bits from 2019. Thanks

Rise Learning Group is a learning and development consultancy run by founder, Jen Tait. Jen and her team deliver engaging, current learning programmes to support continuous professional development. Jen came to Sarah McKenna HR Recruitment looking for help to hire an experienced Learning Specialist. She kindly agreed to share her experience of working with Sarah to find her new recruit,

What a fantastic morning we had at Hope St Xchange in Sunderland talking all things employee engagement! Yes, there’s that buzzword again… But in today’s breakfast seminar Ryan from Hive brought a new dynamic to the conversation as we delved into the science, and ever-growing amounts of data, behind engagement in the workplace. Ryan took us through his thoughts on