Smyle plans for pandemic recovery with 40 hires

Smyle, which was named Creative Experience Agency of the Year at the Campaign Experience Awards 2021, is hiring up to 40 people in new roles, which will increase its headcount by half. 

The permanent positions are spread across the business, including production, project management, strategy, creative, digital lead, digital solutions architect and digital project co-ordinator.

This comes despite the company, along with the rest of the sector, being severely affected by the pandemic and the suspension of physical events. Smyle went through a restructure and reduced its headcount in some areas, it currently has 80 staff.

Now, bringing in more strategic, creative and digital skills into the agency, it is predicting growth across the business.

Dominic Thomas-Smith, managing director of Smyle, said: "IRL experiences are coming back, we're certain of that, but make no mistake, we are still in a recovery phase. To fuel that recovery, and to meet what we believe is a new era of tomorrow's client needs, we need to resource up today, so that we are able to continue to create and deliver the highest-quality output."

Smyle is not expecting the recruitment process to be easy, because of skills shortages in some areas and Brexit restricting access to talent from overseas. It hopes to fill the positions over the next four months.

Charlotte Key, head of people experience, Smyle, said: "Some candidates are sitting out furlough periods while others prefer the security of their current roles and are reluctant to swap jobs in what are still uncertain times."

In addition to seeking out external talent, Smyle is also encouraging internal candidates to apply for these new roles, with developing diverse talent a major focus.

New staff will be working across its Hertford and London offices as well as from home.