Today we are hearing from an awesome Wellington IT recruiter, Alecia Thompson. I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Alecia a bit this year and read some of her insightful and interesting LinkedIn posts. She loves technology and is inspired by people who challenge the norm and stretch themselves out of their comfort zones. You will find her on Twitter @AleciaThompson.

All I want for Christmas is…

Well what a year its been, its hard to believe some of the milestones that have happened in the last 12 months. Flag referendums, Uncle Charles and Auntie Camilla came to visit, history making RWC victory, corporate restructures, transformation projects not to mention NZ losing two kiwi legends #jerry #jonah.

I managed to sneak away for 5 weeks to visit 5 countries in Europe. #highlight South of France, Rose’ at 10am, dinner at 10pm. This trip gave me some perspective on more important things in life and how we can get so bogged down in everyday irritations, when we allow ourselves to do this we miss all of the wonderfully small achievements around us. My daughter has taken a leap of independence in her life with ordering lunch at the school canteen on her own! #smallsteps

There is likely to be a theme for anyone taking the time to put fingers to keyboards over Christmas and that is “reflection”. For me its hard to bundle up a whole year of success and loss into a couple of paragraphs so I decided I would write a list of all the things I am deeply grateful for. These are both personal and professional. Its kind of like a Santa’s list but things I have already been gifted.

1. Family – This year my partner celebrated 1 year of living after we experienced a life changing event last August. I am thankful that his health is well and he is able to see our two beautiful girls grow up.

2. Teamwork – I am fortunate to be surrounded by a team of people that are just as passionate about seeing others succeed as much as I am. When you work in an environment that people have a common focus the behaviour is infectious.

3. Candidates – The biggest success I have had this year has come from the strong relationships I have with my candidates. We all know that in IT it is a candidate driven market. I am very proud to be a #trusted #advisor to the people I talk to every day about new opportunities.

4. Time – This year I promised my family and myself I would take more time to be there. School prizegivings, sports days, swimming lessons. I am lucky to work for an organisations that understands the importance of that balance and how my overall productivity is better for it.

5. Netflix – So this was life changing. Streaming TV series and movies! #suits #tyrants #narcos #truedetective

As 2015 comes to a close and we all start to plan weekend BBQ’s, cold beers and backyard cricket with the important people in our lives I hope you all get the time to reflect on some of your own achievements and how what you do everyday affects people.

One of the biggest motivators that gets me out of bed in the morning is the fact that I truly impact peoples lives. As humans I believe we experience four big things in our lives – marriage, children, purchasing a home and changing jobs #generalisation. I am immensely proud that I help people with one of those big four.

Have a safe and very Merry Christmas. I will leave you with a quote that I published a few weeks ago that captures my mantra in life, professionally and personally – “be somebody who makes everybody feel like somebody”