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WHAT DOES YOUR JOB AS A SENIOR RECRUITMENT CONSULTANT INVOLVE? I work with an agency in Naas called Leinster Appointments. It's quite a small agency, with nine of us working there, but I am working there four years now. With agency recruitment you are recruiting on behalf of a number of clients at one time. You could be dealing with different companies from all across Ireland. You see a job advertised with a company and then you have to ring them up, trying to convince them to give you the contract. It is a tough job, but it's very beneficial too. You are helping people, and that's great – particularly in the last few months too. You are meeting people constantly, getting to know your clients and what type of person a company is looking for. It's up to you to find the perfect match. Initially I started working in finance and accounting recruitment. Then after a year and a half my bosses gave me the opportunity to progress into recruiting for HR positions. It was a new move for us, something I started up myself, but it has been brilliant. HOW DO YOU BECOME A RECRUITMENT CONSULTANT? I went to college in IT Carlow, where I studied the Sports and Exercise GAA course. All along I thought I would go down a coaching or games development officer route and I really enjoyed that aspect of the course. In the final year you have the option to do either Sports Management for your Level 8 degree, or Business Management & Practice. I decided it would be ideal to add the business degree to my Level 7 sports qualification. It gave me two varying degrees. During that final year I also did my ACL and had surgery. I knew that applying for a sports job wouldn't work well if I was on crutches, so I applied for a few jobs locally and thankfully I was able to come on board with Leinster Appointments. It has been a great move for me. Honestly, I didn't really know what working in the recruitment industry would be like. I had a good exposure to HR in my business degree, but working for an agency was all new to me. The ins and outs of recruitment were all strange to me, but I'm delighted with the decision now. 40 | WINTER 2020 | www.ladiesgaelic.ie GUESS WHAT I DO GRACE CLIFFORD WORKING WITH COVID? My job has changed so dramatically in the last few months. Obviously I would have been in the office five days a week before March, it was 9am to 5.30pm for the last four years. Since March we have all had to work from home. I am a very interactive person, I love meeting people and I missed that interaction in the office. But I soon adapted to working from home and I found the dynamic and the culture has changed. Before, you'd be ringing candidates and everyone would be so busy, you'd be chatting about a job and they'd be very quick to say yes or no. Now I have noticed a big shift, everyone seems to have more time to talk. You are having all sorts of conversations with people, which can only help our relationships. There is such a warmer conversation there now because people have a few minutes to talk. HOW HAVE YOU MANAGED TO BLEND WORK AND FOOTBALL? I am definitely winding down a bit as Christmas approaches – not having training means there is a different intensity, but I still do my run every day. It's more of a mindfulness thing, I have a nice route that I take and I have a listen to a podcast of something. Beacuse I'm working at home, it gets me out. I used to find that I got caught on the laptop for hours on end. When I was based in the office in Naas town you'd pop out for a coffee and get up and about. Now, I have had to work on my routine working from home. My morning run is important, I'm not worried about my time – it's all about keeping moving. I work Monday to Friday so there is no crossover between games and work. Sometimes I might have to leave a little bit early if I had a challenge game, but my directors are just amazing. They are so understanding and completely support my sporting career. The only thing is if there is a game on a Sunday and there is a bit of travel involved, sometimes you can be a bit tired on a Monday morning. But I think everybody can have that after the weekend! Football has become very demanding, and I love that professional element of it, but working from home benefited me this year for sure. I think my work has benefited as a result of that happy, relaxed balance that I've struck. Going forward, my directors are looking at that for us, which is a real positive. The last few months have been a real learning experience, and I think we can all bring positives from the time. ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK WITH KILDARE IN 2021? It's December now and most years we'd be back doing pre-season training. This year has to be a bit different, but I'm sure when we find out the fixtures and the new year comes we'll be back into it. I don't want to fall too far behind though too by taking it too easy. Obviously it was very disappointing the way the season ended. After a season of winning every competitive game, to go out was absolutely devastating. It was more gut wrenching than when we lost the 2015 All- Ireland Final. That was horrendous as well, but there was something about this loss to Laois that left us in a real depression. This was my tenth season playing with Kildare and I look back and remember winning an All-Ireland in 2016 and Leinster titles too, they stand out as big moments, but it's the losses that are so difficult to forget. This was a brilliant year as a group and I think that showed on the pitch and it will stand to us again next year. The way I see 2021 is that it's the year to deal with unfinished business. Grace Clifford of Kildare in action against Niamh Kelly of Mayo during the TG4 All Ireland Senior Championship