2023: A year of great expectations, unexpected professional and personal challenges, and many (many!) moments of happiness and delight.
It was a tumultuous year for the global economy, rocked by inflation, geopolitical conflicts, and instability. Our world on the little red dot and Cultivate's community of start-up and growth-stage tech companies were not immune.
January 2023
I had a 4-year-old, a 4-month-old, and an amazing and supportive husband.
Cultivate entered its 3rd year of operations, having grown year-on-year and finding its identity in the saturated world of Singapore recruitment and HR service providers.
I had a team of 4, and we were optimistic and ready for a year of growth.
January 2024
I now have a 5-year-old, a 16-month-old, and an amazing and supportive husband.
Cultivate is entering its 4th year of operations. We continued our trend of growing year-on-year, and we found our identity. We have cemented ourselves as a leading provider to the start-up and growth-stage ecosystem for recruitment and HR services.
I have a team of 2; we are battle-weary yet cautiously optimistic.
- 90% of our recruitment business is referred, which tells us our clients are happy with what we deliver.
- We have a 100% success rate for our Work Pass Processing services.
- Cultivate helped countless clients navigate the COMPASS-related changes in Singapore. Spearheaded by
Huixian Foo
, we ensured that our clients were not negatively affected and could continue to focus on business growth while we handled the A to Z of Work Pass processing needs.
- We were kept busy with HR Services & Advisory. We delivered HR Projects for 11 new clients and had multiple follow-on projects for our existing clients. Work scopes ranged from:
- HR Due Diligence for a buy-side client ultimately resulting in providing insightful recommendations to consider before deal closure. The design and implementation of multiple Employee Handbooks, including research and recommendations of the best employee benefits and policies to attract and retain top talent. We had to adapt to suit our client's ecosystem and used tools ranging from Notion, Slack, Sharepoint, Teams, Dropbox, and Google Workspace. The localisation of multiple Employment Agreements, designing remote onboarding processes, and ensuring employees were set up for success.
- Our retained clients for our HR Operations services stuck with us, with almost all contracts being extended. Our Fractional Head of People services started to gain traction, particularly as global economic conditions impacted us.
Some hard lessons learned
- For us, Q1 kicked off with a strong start, and Q2 followed similarly. However, as Q3 hit hard, we focused on navigating a declining recruitment market primarily driven by the global economy and the seemingly never-ending layoffs.
- HR Services and Advisory continued to remain stable. After all, we advise on attraction and retention and scenario planning for layoffs and reduced workforces. Unfortunately, H2 saw more of the latter.
- In H2, we downsized and are approaching 2024 with both a leaner team and renewed focus.
- Protect our team culture and promote balance by offering flexible and remote work, time, and opportunities to balance personal and professional priorities so we can all continue to grow.
- Focus on cautious growth. Leaning on our partner ecosystem when needed and growing the team when the time is right.
- Give our clients the same high-level of service and speed they have become accustomed to since Cultivate's inception.
- Maintain a 100% success rate on our Work Pass Processing.
- A new brand! We will launch our new brand tomorrow. It is a soft launch, and we will refine it over time. We look forward to hearing your feedback.
Yes, 2023 was tough. However, 2024 is here. We have an amazing ecosystem of clients, candidates, and partners and I am excited by what is to come. Bring it!
