COVID pulls families apart. Covid brings families together.
In May 2020, Avidan Itzhak returned home to Virginia where he continued to work as a corporate recruiter for a healthcare company. At that time, he had no intention to leave New York for the foreseeable future. The big city was his home.
“It was always in the back of my mind that I would one day move back here and work in the family business. But being down in the Tidewater area during COVID, I realized I can impact local companies by helping them scout great talent. The Remedy staff was swamped with orders, and no one wanted to work, so I decided to jump on board and join the team full time.”
COVID has not been kind to the recruiting industry. Itzhak believes the lingering effects will force management at companies to adapt to market shifts, leaving them no choice but to adjust to today’s employee market.
“Job hopping is an employer nightmare,” he says. “Millennials have job ADHD. The max is two to five years at one company. The problem swings both ways. Millennials want something trendy and new, and to be consistently challenged. If their current employer fails to deliver, they move on to one that does. In the New York market, where perks are standard, and where they have beer on tap and fancy gyms, people still leave. It comes down to how employers treat their employees.”
The challenge about recruitment is that the typical recruiter forgets they’re dealing with people. It’s just a name and resume to most recruiters. Cutting corners, brushing people off and ghosting them when they no longer have value to us—that’s the norm. I try to follow my mother’s lead. Shira is known for her personal touch and positivity. It’s hard sometimes, but I really try to give every single candidate some kind of honest feedback to help them down the road.”
Itzhak joined Remedy as the manager of the Executive Search division. Remedy operates under the umbrella of Remedy Intelligent Staffing, branded as Remedy Recruiting. The Hampton Roads Remedy office, owned by Shira and Shmuel Itzhak, is the local franchise office of one of the largest staffing companies in the country, EmployBridge.
“We know that the recruitment industry has a bad rap,” says Itzhak. “Remedy is different.
Remedy is a family. We are a small company that cares for our employees and cares about each person we place. We are in the business of peoples’ livelihoods, helping people find employment so they can provide for themselves and their families. During my first week at Remedy, my mother set up an interview with a client in Norfolk and went to the site and physically introduced her candidate to the interviewer. That type of candidate care is unheard of in our industry, especially in New York.
I learned from my father how to be an honest and trustworthy businessman, and how to treat everyone with respect. I admire the way he incorporates religion into his everyday life. I hope that watching and learning from them shows how much I appreciate all they have done for me and my siblings.”
Helping Remedy maintain its core brand of personalized service is as important to Itzhak as re-imagining and re-joining the local Jewish community. “There are plenty of people in New York to take care of the community and meet its needs. But this small community needs to be cared for to sustain itself and grow. I know how challenging it is to get good people to move to a smaller community to start a family or a job. Covid may have accelerated my timeline, but I always knew I would come back one day and play an active role in our Jewish community’s future.”
-Lisa Richmon