As we approach the end of the year it is of course generally a time for reflection on the year passed and to look ahead to what the New Year may bring. I got the shock of my life when my wife told me the yesterday that Christmas Day was next Friday – I mean where the hell did that come from??!!

And that kinda sums up the end of the year for us. I think it’s fair to say that I have never worked as hard as I have over the past quarter in my life. Of course I’m not complaining, hell, if setting up a business was easy then everyone would do it and we’d all be driving around in nice cars etc etc. But it only seems that I’ve blinked and we’ve gone warp factor from September to December. WeightWatchers, Heinz, Environment Agency, Lebara, The Highways Agency & Comic Relief, amongst others, now grace our portfolio and the pace doesn’t look like letting up in (or indeed over) the New Year. But we appreciate that this is a formative period for a young business such as ours, so as such we’re ensuring we grab every opportunity that comes our way (as well as ones we drag kicking and screaming our way too) with both hands and not only evolving our core product (HARBOUR® ATS), but also ensuring we set a new standard for service within the ATS SaaS market.

However as it is in the gym, so it is business – and with every gain there comes a bit of pain – so whilst this week has seen a new recruit joining our development team (more on that again), it’s with a sad heart we’re saying “see you round” to Adam Gretton.

Adam joined us as Commercial Director in September, us having known each other for a number of years. After the FT closed the Bath office of Exec Appointments it seemed like the best timing in the world, but the reality is that as our product evolved at a breakneck speed with the focus from the founding team wholeheartedly on delivery, then clearly something had to give and it’s with regret that I’ll freely admit Adam didn’t receive the support he deserved.

For those of you who know Adam you know that it won’t be long until you see him around again as I’m certain he’ll bounce up somewhere soon as he remains one of the top Media Relationship Managers (and down right industry good guys) that I’ve had the pleasure to work with over 14 odd years in Rec Ad. So all that’s left to be said is: thanks for everything you’ve input Adam – we’ll miss your tree planting ways

One of the things that Alex and Tony told me about 3D MarComms and HARBOUR was the speed at which they could deploy a facility. And not just an off-the-shelf system, but a bespoke system designed to fit a client’s particular recruitment requirement like a glove. AND not just a great back-end , but a front-end that looks just like the rest of the clients’ site, meaning seamless integration, improving the candidate experience. AND I’ve just witnessed first hand what they mean.

So let me introduce you to our www.heinzgraduates.co.uk

Heinz Graduate Recruitment site 2009/10 (c/o ThirtyThree & 3D MarComms)

ThirtyThree created the quirky but very on brand design and our job was to create an application facility to seamlessly underpin this – and so only those of you with the keenest of eyes (fixed on the URL bar) will spot the transition to www.heinzgraduates-apply.co.uk for the application section.

Happy client and happy Ad Agency – what a nice combination.

So it seems that 3D MarComms do indeed ‘walk the walk’ as well as ‘talk the talk’, but hey – if I had doubted that I really shouldn’t be here anyway. However, it’s still good to see first hand how the 3 pillars of the 3D MarComms Ethos (Dynamic solutions; Delivery focussed; Digitally-centric) translates to delighted clients – maybe that’s the 4th D?.

OK – week 2 and I’m like Johnny 5 in Short Circuit – input, input and more input!  (furrowed brow? click here).  In any case, what I mean is that I’m immersing myself in 3D MarComms, HARBOUR® and the whole ATS market, so that I can add value to our client base as quickly as possible (and add a few clients too, of course).

In the meantime, Alex took part in the first ever Recruiter Cast (61 mins) as put on by CareerSiteAdvisor last week.  I thought it might be useful to link to this, to demonstrate the angle that we are coming from.

An abridged version of just Alex’s input (10 mins – quite succinct for him! ) can be seen below, covering where 3D MarComms and HARBOUR® ATS came from, to the state of the economy and the future for job boards: