June 2012.pdf - RCSA

ecruitment and consulting services Association LIMITED
Australia & New Zealand | June 2012
Celebrating the
recruitment
industry
2012 RCSA Awards
and Gala Ball
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Contents
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THE RECRUITMENT AND CONSULTING
SERVICES ASSOCIATION LIMITED
The RCSA Journal is published by the
Recruitment and Consulting Services
Association Limited.
FOCUS: RECRUITMENT AT THE SPEED OF TOMORROW
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8
2012 RCSA Awards and Gala Ball Report
4 President’s report: Lincoln Crawley
6 CEO’s report: Steve Granland
8 Celebrating the recruitment industry:
RCSA Awards & Gala Ball
12 Recruitment at the Speed of Tomorrow:
Order-taker or trusted adviser
Reframing the consultant’s role, by
Conference presenter Bridget Beattie
14 Recruitment at the Speed of Tomorrow:
How to hire smart people, by Conference
presenter Mike Walsh
15 RCSA International Conference:
last chance for Early Bird registration!
16 RCSA Awards Special:
Young Recruiter of the Year winner
INTERNATIONAL COMMENT
17 Ciett Report from Steve Shepherd:
Adapting to Change – the new economic reality
19 My dad is bigger than your dad!
The UK recruitment industry
BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ISSUES
20 Imagine if … Mark Ashburn looks at the
changing workforce
22 Do you make important purchasing decisions
This one could save you! By Danial Mullin
Conference: Order-taker or trusted
adviser Reframing the consultant’s role,
12RCSA
by Conference presenter Bridget Beattie
23 Technology trends at the speed of tomorrow,
by Doug Blue
24 Flexibility, change and economic growth
27 Key job hunter trends in 2012
28 Improve your email and free up two-three
working weeks a year, by Debbie Mayo-Smith
29 The more things change ... by Andrew Wood
30 Procurement Pressure: Having the courage
to say “no”, by Robert van Stokrom
ASSOCIATION NEWS
32 Working Groups update
33 In the media
33 Meet your new Board Member
34 Adherence to best practice in service delivery
is improving, by Dianne Gibert
36 Special Interest Groups: AANRA
36 Special Interest Groups: AMRANZ
37 New Zealand: Meet the Minister
38 RCSA Partners and Premium Supporters
38 RCSA Supporter Profiles
40 Life Member Profiles
41 RCSA Board, Life Members and Fellows
42 2012 RCSA CPE & Events Calendar
© Copyright RCSA 2012
ISSN 1838-8736
The Recruitment and Consulting Services Association (RCSA) is the leading industry body for talent
management and workforce solutions in Australia and New Zealand. With approximately 4,700 members,
Corporate and Individual, the Association sets professional standards, conducts research, educates and
develops members’ skills, monitors industry developments and lobbies state and federal governments on
issues directly affecting members.
JUNE 2012 3

PRESIDENT’s REPORT
Lincoln Crawley FRCSA
A
large part of my role as President is focused
on working with stakeholders to further the
interests of our industry. And in a tough
business environment, as well as an unstable
political climate, that focus is more important
than ever.
We are proud of the progress we have made
in increasing the professionalism of the industry
and improving the relevance of the RCSA to its
members. But I’d like to take a few moments to
focus on what is becoming a serious threat to
the staffing side of our industry.
One of the biggest challenges our industry
faces right now is a concerted push, by a small
number of union interests, against what they like
to call “insecure work”. Their “inquiry” into this
issue is purported to be independent – even
though it is run by a former senior Labor figure,
Brian Howe, and even though RCSA was rejected
in our multiple attempts to engage with the
inquiry’s organisers. In fact, any engagement
with business and employer groups is glaringly
absent from the inquiry.
Nonetheless, the campaign to which this
inquiry is attached – the ACTU’s Secure Work
campaign, is concerning for a number of reasons.
The ACTU is focused, it says, on the “forty per
cent of workers [who] are engaged in insecure
work arrangements such as casual work, fixed
term work, contracting or labour hire”.
And there’s the problem: the union campaign
sweeps non-traditional work of every type into
one large bundle. It assumes highly-paid IT
contractors, for example, are in the same
position as minimum-wage casual cleaning staff.
The RCSA doesn’t deny that some insecure
jobs exist, but labeling all non-traditional work
models as “insecure”, is misleading at best. It takes
a complex workforce model, then lumps it all
under the emotive name of “insecure work”.
We, as RCSA members, know the value of the
agency work we provide, and the important role
it plays in giving both businesses and employees
flexibility. But we don’t expect policy makers to
simply take our word for it – which is why our
global body, Ciett, commissioned a landmark
report to demonstrate the economic and social
value of agency work.
If you attended the RCSA’s launch of the report
in April, you would have heard Steve Shepherd,
Australia’s Ciett Board member, share the highlights
of the report. It’s full of great content, but one of
the key findings is that private employment
agencies deliver decent work to individuals,
and help match and develop the skills needed
in labour markets. And it provides plenty of
data and modeling to prove it.
This is the kind of robust and fact-based
argument we need to arm ourselves with in the
face of criticism from either unions or governments.
And while we are engaged with government on
both sides of the Tasman, the message from them
is clear – in God we trust, all others bring facts.
So that we can bring these facts about the
Australia and NZ market to our policy makers,
I continue to ask you, our members, to make a
concerted effort to provide us with data where
we need it. Steve Granland will soon share with
you our plans for a member research project,
which will be facilitated by an independent third
party to ensure confidentiality, which I urge you
to support.
The importance of jobs in both our local
and the global economy is paramount. In fact,
the latest report from the International Labour
Organisation calls on governments to place
job creation at the top of the policy agenda.
It also calls out the importance of ensuring that
unemployed people, especially youth, receive
adequate support to find new jobs. That’s what
our industry is in the business of doing – finding
people jobs. We need to make collaboration and
consultation with policymakers a priority not just
for our own businesses but for the broader
economy as well.
We will continue to track these and other
important policy issues at RCSA Board level,
and will keep you updated on our responses
as we create them.
What I’d ask you to do, as an industry, is to
make yourself acquainted with the Ciett report,
and be prepared to act as an advocate for the
great work we do and the positive impact it has.
And, of course, fill in those surveys when we
send them to you!
Lincoln Crawley FRCSA
RCSA President, Australia and New Zealand
What I’d ask you
to do ... is to make
yourself acquainted
with the Ciett report,
and be prepared to
act as an advocate
for the great work
we do and the
positive impact it has.
4
RCSA JOURNAL

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CEO’s REPORT
Steve Granland
In this issue of the RCSA Journal we are looking
at the people aspect of our conference theme,
Recruitment at the Speed of Tomorrow. Steve
Shepherd looks at the Ciett report Adapting to
Change and there is a thought-provoking
Discussion Paper on flexible agency work.
By the time this issue of the RCSA Journal
hits the desks of RCSA members we will be
into a new financial year. The first half of 2012 has
certainly proved to be an interesting journey with
global economic challenges continuing to test us
all and the Australian political scene adding to a
general lack of business confidence which has a
flow-on effect for our industry. Over the first half
of 2012 I have had many conversations with
members who have indicated some clients have
held off on hiring decisions until such time as
they have a level of confidence around the global
economy and domestic politics. At the time of
writing, the global economic powerhouses are
meeting again to look for solutions to the Euro
crisis and the Australian political scene was
muddling through yet another challenge –
hopefully by the time this hits your desk we
have moved on both globally and domestically
as we did in 1998.
Recently I was reviewing some old RCSA Journal
publications and came across the first issue of
the Recruitment Journal from May 1998. In this
Journal there was a feature article in which RCSA
Board members at the time were asked three
questions: What do you think are the market
trends shaping the industry How do you think
the Asian Economic Crisis will hit Australia and
New Zealand and What factors will shape the
industry in 1998 It is very interesting to look
back on their responses and see that things
haven’t really changed.
Many respondents noted the increasing trend
towards contracting and agency work to create
more efficient workforces with the associated
need to increase focus on OH&S. While the Asian
Economic Crisis was seen as potentially eroding
business confidence and therefore affecting
hiring decisions, it was also noted that it may
have released skilled labour to assist in offsetting
the skills shortage in Australia. The explosion in
technology was noted by most as likely to have a
significant impact on how the business operated.
Fifteen years ago we faced circumstances
and challenges which, although different, are not
dissimilar to those we face today. Our industry
not only survived, it prospered by quickly and
efficiently adapting to business needs.
In 1997, in Australia our industry generated
approximately $5 billion in revenue; today in
Australia our industry generates approximately
$19 billion. This is not only solid growth, but
represents an important and significant part
of the economy.
Featured in this issue of the RCSA Journal are
the RCSA Awards and Gala Ball. I was very proud
to be part of the Awards night held on 10 May in
Melbourne. This event has quickly cemented itself
as the industry “night of nights” – not to be
missed. This year we had another record
attendance and everyone had a fantastic night! I
would like to publicly acknowledge the hard work
of the judges and thank all the applicants for
ensuring the judges had a very difficult task by
providing the highest quality entries.
Congratulations to the 2012 winners including
Sean Blanche MRCSA, winner of the Young
Recruitment Professional Award; Skilled Group,
winner of the McLean Award for Workplace
Safety; Beaumont Consulting, winner of the
new Corporate Social Responsibility Award;
and Robert Blanche FRCSA (Life), winner of the
Outstanding Contribution Award. I would also
like to congratulate Peter Gleeson FRCSA (Life),
Executive General Manager Recruitment at
Chandler Macleod who was inducted as a RSCA
Life Member. A warm welcome to Peter – I look
forward to his continuing contribution for many
years to come.
In closing, I would like to remind all readers that
the theme for this year’s conference is Recruitment
at the Speed of Tomorrow. The conference
will run from 29-31 August at the Sofitel in Fiji.
Last year was a great success and the line-up
of speakers for 2012 is looking very impressive.
Based on registrations we have received to date
(running ahead of last year) I urge you to book
early to avoid disappointment.
Steve Granland
RCSA CEO, Australia and New Zealand
The first half of 2012
has certainly proved
to be an interesting
journey with global
economic challenges
continuing to test us
all and the Australian
political scene adding
to a general lack of
business confidence
which has a flow-on
effect for our industry.
6
RCSA JOURNAL

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2012 RCSA GALA BALL & Awards
2012 RCSA Gala Ball
and Awards
At the industry’s “night of
nights” on 10 May at the
Plaza Ballroom in Melbourne,
more than three hundred
RCSA members applauded
the Award winners for 2012.
The Principal Event and
Awards sponsor was
RecruitmentSuper.
RCSA CEO Steve Granland said, “This was the
second year of our new Awards program which
was even bigger and better than last year with
close to fifty submissions. I’d like to congratulate
the winners and finalists for their outstanding
submissions. There is some great work being
done out there and the recruitment industry
and the RCSA are very proud of this. The ball
was a terrific night for members to catch up
with colleagues and friends”.
RCSA President Lincoln Crawley FRCSA said,
“We are proud of the progress we have made in
increasing the professionalism of the industry”.
The Award winners are:
Young Recruitment
Professional Award
The winner of the
Young Recruitment
Professional Award
was Sean Blanche
MRCSA of Bayside
Personnel in NSW.
Sean is an Executive
Director of the
Bayside Group of Companies and took
the lead over a very tight field of four other
state finalists (meet Sean on page 16).
The Young Recruitment Professional
Award was proudly sponsored by CareerOne.
McLean Award for
Workplace Safety
There was a very tight
finish for the McLean
Award for Workplace
Safety with Skilled
Group Limited named
as Award winner. The
submission focused on
breaking out of the increasing complexity
of systems to make safety clear, relevant
and simple for their 60,000 employees.
The McLean Award for Workplace Safety
was proudly sponsored by WorkPro.
Corporate Social
Responsibility Award
The new Corporate
Social Responsibility
Award was highly
contested with
Beaumont Consulting
emerging as the winner.
Their submission
showed strong business
leadership in terms of setting up a specific
non-profit recruitment division.
The Corporate Social Responsibility
Award was proudly sponsored by FastTrack.
Outstanding
Contribution Award
The Outstanding
Contribution Award
was won by Robert
Blanche FRCSA (Life).
Director of The Bayside
Group of Companies.
Robert joins a select
group of industry leaders
who have been the recipients of this
prestigious award.
The Outstanding Contribution Award
was proudly sponsored by SEEK.
8
RCSA JOURNAL

2012 RCSA GALA BALL & Awards
Nick Murray, SEEK, with Robert Blanche FRCSA (Life), the winner of the
Outstanding Contribution Award and Lincoln Crawley FRCSA, President RCSA
Dr Stephen Hollings, CareerOne, with Sean Blanche MRCSA, the winner of the
Young Recruitment Professional Award and Lincoln Crawley FRCSA, President RCSA
Tania Evans, WorkPro, with Morris Guest Skilled Group Limited, the winner of the
McLean Award for Workplace Safety, and Lincoln Crawley FRCSA, President RCSA
Lincoln Crawley FRCSA, President RCSA, with Nikki Beaumont FRCSA, Beaumont
Consulting, the winner of the Corporate Social Responsibility Award, and Phil
Collins, FastTrack
John Plummer FRCSA (Life) presents
Peter Gleeson FRCSA (Life) with his
RCSA Life Member Certificate
The RecruitmentSuper team, back from left: Mark Ashburn, Ean Newbold, Charlotte Jones, Liz Hunt, Steven Moad, David Luker,
Matthew Ball. Front from left: Gil Sebbag, Ross Fisher FRCSA (Life), Bindi Smith, Anne Cairncross and Megan Bolton (CEO)
JUNE 2012 9

2012 RCSA GALA BALL & Awards
The Workpac team, from left: Nan Carroll FRCSA (Life),
Doug Ventham, Ryan Fibbens, Rachel Finlay, Phil Smart
(standing), Elena Moran, Stephen Thomas (standing),
Alix Whelan, Amy Bowen and Jon Cremonini
The Programmed Integrated Workforce team, from left:
Cassie Chadwick and partner Brendan, Annette Niven,
Brian Styles, Tanya Oziel, Nic Fairbank, Paula Fairbank,
Tim Merrett and Lisa Merrett
The Chandler Macleod team, standing from left: Ian Basser,
Alan Bell FRCSA, Ian Stacy FRCSA, and Cameron Judson.
Sitting: Denise Loraine, Imogen Studders, Peter Gleeson FRCSA
(Life), Demelza Daniel, Owen Jones and Chantal Vallence
Ryan Leslie (RecruitAdvantage), Vanessa Cox and Jackie Rees (Simply Recruitment),
Kathryn O’Brien (JobServe), Damien Chambers and James Macdonald (RecruitAdvantage),
Matthew Hobby FRCSA (McArthur) and Evelina Samuels (Slade Group)
The ManpowerGroup team, seated from left: Nikki Grech, Conan Chiles, Nick Rudzki, Sue
Howse, Sabrina Rich and Joe Mullan. Standing: Gary Brown, Mark Pengilly, Denis Dadds
FRCSA, Mike Sacco MRCSA, Glen McPhee and Chris Riley
RCSA Life Members, back row from left: Robert Blanche FRCSA (Life), Rodney Troian FRCSA (Life), Ruth Levinsohn FRCSA (Life), Ross Fisher
FRCSA (Life), Jane Fanselow FRCSA (Life) – New Zealand, Greg Savage FRCSA (Life), Steve Shepherd FRCSA (Life), John Plummer FRCSA
(Life). Front row: Julie Sattler OAM FRCSA (Life), Sylvia Moreno FRCSA (Life), Rosemary Scott FRCSA (Life), Nan Carroll FRCSA (Life),
Dorothy Caldicott FRCSA (Life) and Kris Hope-Cross FRCSA (Life) – New Zealand.
Dr Stephen Hollings, Director CareerOne
10
RCSA JOURNAL

2012 RCSA GALA BALL & Awards
Standing from left: Jane Devereux, Jade Lawton and Stephanie Portwood (all from Devereux
Recruitment Group), Sally Mlikota APRCSA and John Mlikota (CBC Staff Selection), Debbie
Simpson (Simpson Personnel). Seated: Shannon Gardner and Stefano Masiello (CXC Global),
Vanessa Rifat APRCSA (Mosaic Recruitment) and Bryce Simpson (Simpson Personnel)
Adecco team, from left: Xavier Miller, Rick Khinda, Shaun Alexander, Delain Gunewardena,
Victoria Bethlehem FRCSA, Dean Smyth APRCSA (seated), Simon Slagter (standing), Renee
Hughes, Prashant Chandra and Susan Beling
Seated from left: Amelia Burnet, James Burnet, Leonie Hill APRCSA, Robert van Stokrom
FRCSA (DFP Recruitment), Jane Artico, Adrian Artico. Standing: Dianne Bidese, Eddy
Bidese, Kate Coath MRCSA and Glen Harrison
Seated from left: Vicky Alford, Michelle Maye, Rebecca Green, Janine Runaghan, Nikki
Beaumont FRCSA (all from Beaumont Consulting), Emma Jones (Human Jigsaw).
Standing: Bianca Guest and Christian Walkerden (Selectus), Peter Davis (Frontline
Recruitment Group), Di Pass APRCSA and John Pass (360HR)
Lincoln Crawley FRCSA President RCSA, with Steve Granland, CEO RCSA, Smit Granland,
Ros Fisher, Ross Fisher FRCSA (Life) (standing), Megan Bolton, CEO RecruitmentSuper and
Sylvia Moreno FRCSA (Life)
The Skilled team, from left: Alison Dods, Sam Wilson, Lisa Chivers, Ivan Maloney, Morris
Guest, Doug Spahn, Sue Healy FRCSA (Life), Imogen Hopper, Lauren Powell and Jo Moloney
The call for nominations for the 2013 RCSA Awards will open in November 2012.
JUNE 2012 11

focus: RECRUITMENT AT THE SPEED OF TOMORROW
Order-taker or trusted adviser
Reframing the consultant’s role
Recruiting at the
speed of tomorrow
means more than
technology – it also
means changing your
thinking! Conference
presenter Bridget
Beattie looks at
reframing the
consultant’s role.
No matter what the state of the market,
every recruiter comes up against talent
shortages at some point. Perhaps it’s a
daily occurrence, or perhaps you are one of the
lucky ones with a deep talent pool and plenty of
great candidates.
But regardless of the industry or skill set, sometimes
you simply can’t find the right candidate. If it were
easy, after all, clients could do their own recruitment!
While every recruiter will struggle with hardto-place
roles, it’s the way they respond that
differentiates the outstanding recruiters from
the middle-of-the-road ones.
One response is to look further, deeper and
wider for candidates. That is always an important
part of your job. Clients expect you to be creative
in the way you source talent, whether it’s through
traditional networking, social media or
sophisticated online searches.
However, even the most thorough search
sometimes fails to produce results. And this is
when you have another option: change the brief!
But isn’t that at odds with being a “consultant”
Doesn’t it suggest that you can’t meet the needs
of your client
Not at all: true consulting is about working with
the client to genuinely understand their needs; to
get to the bottom of what they need to get the
work done. By asking the right questions, you can
drill down into the core competencies of a role
– the “deal breakers” – as well as identify what can
be taught, what is a “nice-to-have” and what the
client can live without.
The end result is that your B or C candidate
can become an A, with the right training and
development from their employer. In a world
where specialist skills are in demand but hard
to find – what we call the “talent mismatch” –
finding a seventy per cent fit for a job is still a
good outcome.
If this is something your business already
does – then you can stop reading in a moment.
But firstly let me share some statistics from our
database of candidates who undertake our career
transition programs.
Fewer than one in five of these candidates find
a job through a recruiter, and one in three finds
their job through networking. These are quality
candidates – after participating in our programs,
they are job-ready and have a clear understanding
of their strengths. Yet recruiters are placing only
one-fifth of them.
This tells us two things:
1. recruiters are missing out on good candidates
by not pushing back on the client brief and
2. candidates are better at selling themselves
into clients than their recruiter.
Despite the realities of the candidate market, it
appears that many recruitment professionals still
struggle to sell their less-than-100% candidates
to clients – candidates who aren’t lacking in their
attitude or ability; but who simply aren’t an exact
match to the job specifications provided by the
client.
It’s a big pool of talent to rule out. If a client
is insistent on only hiring someone from their
particular industry, for example, they would
miss out on around half of our candidates – the
proportion who change industries during their
career transition process. In fact, roughly the
same proportion change functions too.
These program participants are successful
in making the leap, because they are adept at
highlighting their transferable skills to employers.
Are you doing the same thing for your candidates
Setting up for success
The challenge here is that getting a result for
a client may depend on pushing back on their
requests. It’s not something we like to do in
professional services – after all, everyone likes
making their clients happy.
So how do you manage client expectations and
move from being an order-taker to a consultant
First of all, reframe your role. You’re not simply
here to sell – you’re here to solve problems. That
means asking lots of questions, being intellectually
curious, understanding root causes and looking
for patterns.
This is also the point at which you have an
opportunity to influence the design of the role,
based on what is achievable in the market. Agree
with the client upfront what would be appropriate
as teachable fit: the core skills tend to be
interpersonal – such as communication and
problem solving – while the teachable parts
are more likely to be hard skills.
12
RCSA JOURNAL

focus: RECRUITMENT AT THE SPEED OF TOMORROW
Of course, there needs to be a baseline for
skills – but sometimes it’s actually better for
employers to develop an individual’s skills to
meet the organisation’s own practices and
standards, as it avoids them having to “unlearn”
old habits.
However, understanding which skills are
transferable for a particular role isn’t always
obvious – this is where you need to have
your antenna out, in order to get to the heart
of the role and what it requires. It’s likely that
the clients know what they need; it just may
not be apparent to them yet.
If you’re leading a team, you need to embed
this process and thinking in all of your team
members too, and make it both normal and
acceptable to spend time on the brief.
However, the common objection to this
approach is time – or a lack of it. With sales
targets and quotas to fill, how do you find
time to have long conversations with clients
The answer is that investing time at the
start of the process saves time and tears later
on. Getting the brief right, first time, avoids
the back-and-forth that happens when
candidates aren’t right, because expectations
are unclear and wires are crossed. It also
takes a lot of frustration out of the process
– for both you and the client!
Crafting and influencing the brief also means
you’ll spend less time looking for “hen’s teeth”
– that elusive perfect-fit candidate – because
you have set expectations at the outset and
have scope to present the seventy per cent fit.
This stage of the relationship is also an
opportunity to provide input on the client’s
selection process overall, and can be a real
value-add to the client. If, for instance, you
think that a four-stage interview process is
going to undermine the client’s best efforts
to woo your hard-to-find candidate, then
you need to raise it.
Work with them to ensure the onboarding
process is sound as well: the best employers
have a structured “First 90 Days” plan for
employees, because that’s when people
often make their decisions about an employer.
The candidate is the key
To make this approach work, you also need
to work with your candidates to bring them
on the journey. The individuals who
undertake our outplacement programs get
an opportunity to step back and see their
strengths and achievements. They don’t
end up with a shopping list of roles and
responsibilities, but a considered summary
of their professional profile.
We encourage candidates to design their
CV afresh for every job application, creating
a 1-2 page career summary targeted at the
opportunity. The goal is to have an employer
say, “this person looks interesting” and start a
conversation with them, rather than focusing
on where their CV differs from the job brief.
Making change stick
Changing the way we work is not always
easy. If you want to move away from the
“order-taking” mindset into “trusted adviser”
territory, you may need to revisit the
fundamentals of change management.
• Be clear on why you (or your team)
should change. What are the benefits in:
increased fill rates, more client satisfaction,
less stress
• Find someone who does it well, and
use them as a role model
• Keep the issue top of mind and on the
agenda. Are there some successes you
can celebrate at team meetings, or
obstacles you can workshop
• Survey clients specifically on this to see
if it’s working and being embedded
• Measure and reward outcomes related to it
– for example, the success of applicants in
their roles after six months, or the
longevity of client relationships.
Ultimately, everyone wants to deliver great
service to clients. If that means drilling down
to what the client genuinely needs, rather than
what they think they need, then changing the
brief may just change the game altogether.
Bridget Beattie is the Regional
General Manager for Right
Management in India, Australia
and New Zealand, providing
talent management and career
management consulting to
clients across a broad range
of sectors.
JUNE 2012 13

focus: RECRUITMENT AT THE SPEED OF TOMORROW
How to hire smart people
Being interviewed to work at McKinsey
was one of the more interesting
experiences of my earlier life. Ten
rounds of interviews, rigorous analytical tests,
bizarre psychometric probes and a final cup
of coffee with a senior partner of the firm
that felt like a scene from a John Grisham
novel – and voila, I was in. The story about
how I never actually turned up for work is
one I’ll save for another day. But I do
remember one thing from the process –
McKinsey were obsessed with finessing their
strategy of hiring and retaining “smart people”.
The concept of
work has never been
more challenging.
RCSA Conference presenter
Mike Walsh is a futurist, keynote
speaker and innovation coach.
After one of the interviews, a manager
at the firm described their ideal archetype as
a “spiky integrator”. In essence, their perfect
candidate was someone who had an
extraordinary talent spike (e.g. genius chess
skills, Olympian athletic discipline or knowing
six languages), but was also capable of
integrating that skill across a range of other
capabilities and in association with other
team mates. Or to put it another way – they
wanted freaks with social skills. The only
problem with that personality type, as many
companies discovered when they put former
high flying management consultants into
leadership teams – is that spiky integrators
need to be surrounded by other super smart
people in order to thrive. Out of the fish tank,
they don’t survive too long.
For companies today, hiring smart people
is still a critical priority. And it’s harder than
ever. The digital revolution has had two
major impacts on the war for talent. Firstly,
you are now competing with the fact that
the best candidates can earn significant
incomes as free agents. With the web
offering a global customer base and infinite
opportunities for fame, being a digital ronin
or an entrepreneur has never been more
seductive. But the second impact is just as
profound. The concept of work has never
been more challenging. Traditional industries
are being disrupted, competition more
nuanced, and the demands on managers
more pronounced. Your old school spiky
integrator might be able to draw up some
rather pretty strategy slides describing your
industry – but will they have the level headed
poise to ruthlessly execute and get things
done in an increasingly ambiguous and
uncertain operating environment
In the future, I think there will be three
capability attributes that senior managers
will need to look for in their top performers:
1. Super Synthesisers
In the old days, smart employees gathered
competitive information in traditional ways
– phone interviews, focus groups and industry
surveys. Basically – you were clever if you
knew how to pick up the phone and make
some calls. Now we have the opposite
problem – too much information. Super
synthesisers are people with the capability
of scanning and processing huge amounts
of information. They are like human meta
filters. With enough technical savvy and
familiarity with blogs, social platforms and
search algorithms – they can assess the
topography of available data, see patterns
and collate them as trends, prioritise and
then act.
2. Hyper Connectors
One of these days we will laugh about
the fact people used to get fired for using
Facebook or LinkedIn at work. Hyper
Connectors are people who know how to
swiftly build and exploit relevant networks to
get things done. They won’t necessarily have
the largest collection of contacts, but they
will know how to use digital platforms to find
and nurture just the right set of people to
reach their goals. These could be internal
networks in a huge enterprise, or external
webs of journalists, industry influencers and
taste makers. You will recognise them in
meetings because they are the first to say
in answer to a problem, I think I may know
someone who …
3. Change Optimists
The final quality of the future super smart
might sound a bit soft but in some ways it is
the most vital personal attribute – positivity.
The pace of change is accelerating and there
are people for whom that is good news, and
others who, if they are honest with themselves,
view that fact with dread. You can reassure
the change pessimists about the future all
you like but believe me – in the end, when
faced with disruptive change, pessimists fight
for the status quo not for future growth. Your
best performers may not know the future,
but they should be happy to meet it head on.
What do you think Are there other attributes
of what would make someone “super smart”
in the future
You can read more articles on Mike Walsh’s blog at
www.mike-walsh.com
14
RCSA JOURNAL

2012 RCSA INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
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The Speakers
2012 RCSA International Conference – Meet some of our Presenters
Mike Walsh
Mike Walsh, author of
Futuretainment and CEO of
innovation research agency
Tomorrow is a leading
authority on the digital future.
Ngahihi o te ra Bidois
Ngahihi o te ra Bidois is the
face of New Zealand and
an international leadership
speaker. He has many years
of speaking and leadership
experience in the business,
education and Maori sectors
and has been described as a
modern day warrior and a living piece of art and
has presented to many organisations worldwide
such as Google in New York.
Greg Savage FRCSA (Life)
Greg is the founder and driving
force behind Firebrand Talent
Search. With a career spanning
thirty years he is an icon of the
Australian recruitment industry
and is a regular keynote speaker
at staffing and recruitment
conferences around the world.
Avril Henry
Avril Henry Pty Ltd is a
management consulting
business established in 2003,
focusing on leadership, change
and talent management,
diversity, recruitment and
retention strategies.
Jeff Doyle
Jeff Doyle is the Chief Executive
Officer of the Adecco Group
Australia and New Zealand.
Jeff joined the Adecco Group in
2007 as Chief Operating Officer,
and was appointed to the CEO
role in 2009. Jeff’s strong
strategic and operational direction has resulted in
significant growth across the Group that includes
the Adecco, Judd Farris, Glotel, Icon, Hyphen,
Ajilon and Lee Hecht Harrison brands.
Rachel Botsman
Rachel Botsman is a social
innovator who writes, consults
and speaks on the power of
collaboration and sharing
through network technologies.
She wrote the influential book
What’s Mine is Yours: How
Collaborative Consumption Is Changing The Way
We Live. Her thinking on how technology will
change how we work and live has been widely
published in WIRED, The Guardian, Harvard
Business Review, New York Times,
The Economist and Fast Company.
Bridget Beattie
Bridget Beattie is the Regional
General Manager for Right
Management in India,
Australia and New Zealand.
In 1994 Bridget co-founded
the leading New Zealand
consultancy that was
purchased by Manpower
and is now Right Management.
Nicole Underwood FRCSA
Nicole Underwood has lived
and breathed recruitment
for the past 15 years. After
graduating from the University
of South Australia with her
marketing and HR degree,
Nicole was lured into the
industry after attending an interview
with a Recruiter for another role.
Paul Slezak APRCSA
Paul Slezak has seen success
in the highly competitive
recruitment and advertising
industries in Australia and
Hong Kong by applying his
professionalism, drive and
creativity to develop and
deliver solutions that exceed business
expectations, and push the boundaries to create
innovative solutions.
Aaron Dodd
As Mindset’s Talent Practice
Leader, Aaron has been
instrumental in developing
Mindset’s expertise in new
business sectors. Aaron is
rigorous in his approach to
selecting talent and this
approach has seen Mindset successfully
differentiate itself in a crowded market.
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H E R E !
Fiji

Meet the Award winners
Young Recruitment Professional
2012: Sean Blanche
Sean Blanche MRCSA, MBA,
GAICD, BEng, BA, General
Manager of Bayside Group,
started his career as an
engineer in the oil and gas
industry before moving into
engineering recruitment
where he could benefit from
his engineering background
and fulfil his “passion for
people”. Sean has worked in
several capital cities around
Australia and describes
himself as a “driven, make
things happen” recruitment
leader.
Sean Blanche MRCSA, MBA, GAICD,
BEng, BA, General Manager of
Bayside Group
Sean is responsible for the strategic direction
and leadership of multiple recruitment teams
across Australia. He is also a board member
of the Bayside Group, where he shares the
responsibility for corporate governance,
policy setting and accountability to the
stakeholders for organisational performance.
In 2011 he was profiled in the book
Different Thinking - 20 Inspirational Leaders.
An accredited trainer, he also has a passion
and skill for communicating and regularly
runs development courses. He is frequently
invited to speak at industry conferences,
universities and TAFEs.
Away from work, Sean enjoys basketball,
snow skiing, water skiing, scuba diving and
“playing with the family in the park in North
Sydney”.
The Journal asked Sean for his reaction
to winning the RCSA Young Recruitment
Professional Award:
“I was very surprised and really humbled
to have been selected as the RCSA’s Young
Recruitment Professional of the year,” Sean
said.
“My colleagues and I have always held the
RCSA in such high esteem, so to be selected
by my industry’s peak body from among
such talented competition across Australia
and New Zealand was amazing, and will
forever be truly memorable.”
What advice would you give other
young recruiters
“Working in the recruitment industry has
allowed me great opportunities to develop
professionally and focus on what I am
passionate about – partnering with and
empowering people to realise their full
potential.
“If you are starting your recruitment career
or early into it, it is important to realise that
recruitment needs your unwavering attention
in three areas:
1. wanting the best for your candidates,
2. wanting the best for your customers and
3. wanting to become your best for your
employer!
“That usually involves hard work,
assertiveness, keeping your word, good
questioning and decision-making, speed,
resilience and continued improvement on
what you know and how you think. I also
highly recommend finding a mentor!
(See my blog for further elaboration
here seangblanche.wordpress.com/)
Having won this award, what
are your goals for the future
“Looking forward, I have some very
ambitious recruitment goals around growth,
succession and development.
“Currently, I am growing the size and
capability of the recruitment teams I lead,
I also intend to continue investing significant
time on succession planning and mentoring,
and find great joy in seeing future leaders
emerge from within our teams. I also have
plans to complete some further studies this
year, and intend to explore the possibilities
of a PhD in the years to come.
“I work with great teams of consultants
who have helped me throughout my career,
and I continue to be inspired by learning
what motivates and encourages them –
all of which drives me to be a better leader.”
Sean concluded: “If I could share a great
principle passed to me by my mentor, it
would be around a critical business element
– succession: ‘Everybody should have their
current subordinate happy doing their job,
and capable of doing yours’. If you work
diligently towards this, your future will be
bright.
“I am continually amazed at how the
recruitment industry has opened up so
many opportunities and exciting chapters
of my life, however as I like to share with
my colleagues, the best is yet to come!”
16
RCSA JOURNAL

international comment
Ciett Report
Adapting to change…
the new economic reality
In the March issue I shared with you
news that I would be releasing the Boston
Consulting Report Adapting to Change
which was commissioned by Ciett, at a
series of events for RCSA Members in
Australia and New Zealand during April and
May. This report demonstrates the critical
role that private employment agencies play
in adapting to the changes that economies
around the world are experiencing, the
creation of better labour markets and the
creation of decent work.
The findings of this report are particularly
important to ensure there is a balanced
debate when the ACTU releases the findings
of its enquiry in to what it refers to as “insecure
work” at the ACTU Congress in May.
Already elements of this report are being
leaked in the media and they paint a dim
picture of our industry. However, by comparing
agency work to all forms of non-permanent
employment, the ACTU report fails to recognise
the lifestyle choices that many of our
temporary workers and contractors are
making to gain greater control and flexibility
over their lives, the role we play in helping
disadvantaged job seekers secure more
regular employment, or the impact constantly
changing economic dynamics are having on
employers.
It is clear that economic cycles are becoming
more volatile and adapting to these new
dynamics is one of the greatest challenges
Steve Shepherd FRCSA (Life) and Immediate
Past President, is the RCSA’s representative
with Ciett and a member of the Ciett Board.
businesses face today. Economies across the
world are experiencing deep structural shifts
at sectoral, geographic and demographic
levels. Consequently, organisations are
struggling with a skills mismatch as business
requirements change rapidly. The increased
incidence of structural change (globalisation,
demographic evolution, sectoral and IT shifts,
increased volatility and complexity) in recent
years has brought a new set of challenges to
the labour market. These include unpredictable
and volatile employment markets, persistent
high levels of unemployment – particularly
among youths – a mismatch between the
supply and demand of skills, the increased
importance of transitions in the labour
market to reduce segmentation, and an
increased need for the development of
contractual arrangements that are not
detrimental to decent work. These are all
issues we see in Australia and New Zealand,
and our industry is part of the solution, not
part of the problem, as we help organisations
adapt to the impact that each cycle has on
their employment levels.
The Ciett Report found that our industry
provides innovative and reliable solutions
that enable organisations, whether public
or private, to manage seasonal fluctuation
in demand and adapt their workforce needs
accordingly.
Cyclical fluctuations, while less predictable,
are increasingly a fact of life as economies
alternate between periods of positive and
negative growth and, as leading service
providers, private employment agencies are
well placed to enable adaptation to these
structural changes. With our international
reach and specialised market knowledge, our
industry facilitates adaptation to this change.
Over the coming months, it will be important
that we all continue to deliver this message
to governments and employers to ensure we
continue to play a role in Australia’s and New
Zealand’s economic futures. In order to do
this I would like to share with you the key
findings of the Ciett Report, Adapting to Change.
Our industry enabled organisations to adapt
to new labour market conditions, facilitating
transitions for economies, businesses and
individuals, and driving social and economic
progress. We reduce time lags between
recovery and job creation and help companies
and economies to adapt better and faster to
cyclical and structural changes, and we help
economies to adapt to structural shifts by
re-skilling and up-skilling workers to match
supply and demand within the labour market
The report shows that in Germany,
companies using agency workers accelerate
faster out of a downturn (revenue growth in
Germany for companies using PrES is higher
than those not using PrES)
And 76 per cent of employers cite a quick
response to business demands and absorbing
activity fluctuations as the main reasons for
making greater use of private employment
services.
Private employment services
ensure better labour markets;
providing a stepping stone,
creating jobs and increasing
participation
Our industry increases labour market
participation and reduces frictional
unemployment by ensuring a better and
faster match between supply and demand of
work and increasing labour market transparency.
A key finding of the report is that 76 per cent of
organisations who use private employment
services would not consider hiring permanent
workers as an alternative to agency workers
therefore, private employment services
reduce structural unemployment by creating
new jobs which, in many cases, would
otherwise not exist. This is borne out by the
fact that in countries where there is a high
private employment services penetration
rate there is typically a lower unemployment
rate than those with lower agency
penetration rates.
The report also shows the probability of
a worker securing more permanent work is
JUNE 2012 17

international comment
significantly increased if the worker was
engaged in agency work.
What we know is that our industry is
uniquely positioned to balance flexibility with
security for organisations and individuals.
However, we are also committed to social
dialogue and driving social innovation. We
recognise that there needs to be a balanced
approach to appropriate regulation within
the sector to encourage and promote
industry standards and facilitate economic
and social progress however, the ACTU’s
recommendations would not only add
greater levels of red tape to RCSA members
who already have a code of professional
conduct, it would reduce labour market
flexibility and disadvantage many of the
workers that the ACTU seeks to “protect” by
removing the flexibility they currently enjoy
and demand in order to meet work life and
family life balance.
Current perceptions of the industry,
including the ACTU’s, are out of date and
threaten to hinder increased labour market
stability and economic growth, and the
existence of unscrupulous and unethical
agencies is damaging the image of the
whole industry.
Now more than
ever we need
to work
together with
stakeholders
to ensure any
regulatory
framework is
relevant in order
to maximise the
benefits to the
economy,
organisations
and individuals,
while protecting
industry and
workers alike from rogue traders and
unethical practices. This is vital in order to
create an environment in which we can act
as the bridge between the evolving
requirements of business and the capabilities
of individuals. We also need to take action to
change the perception our industry has in
some sectors and demonstrate that the
industry can offer tremendous value to
government and businesses, facilitating
economic growth by providing training and
development in line with economic
requirements during a period of structural
change. With genuine dialogue between all
stakeholders we can work together towards
the common goal of increasing labour market
participation and productivity in Australia and
New Zealand.
For a full copy of the Ciett Report go to
www.rcsa.com.au>Tools & Resources>Ciett.
18
RCSA JOURNAL

international comment
My dad is bigger than your dad!
They say size doesn’t
matter, however, it
seems to me that
in the world of
recruitment a lot of
emphasis is focused
on just who is the
biggest.
David Head, publisher of
Recruitment International
magazine
Some 15 years ago Recruitment International
published the first of what has now become
an annual industry research document; it
was called the Top 100 Report. In the publication
we decided to try and make a list of all the
recruitment companies that had a turnover
in the UK in excess of £10 million per annum
(AU$15,934,794). In the end we came up with
99 companies; so with true journalistic integrity
we made up a bogus entry to get to the magical
“100” number!
The publication was an amazing success.
Those companies that hadn’t necessarily
volunteered their numbers, but were included
after some research at Companies House, ensured
they filed accurate up-to-date figures in Volume 2.
Such was the growth of the industry at this stage,
that by having figures that were technically a year
behind the competition, a company that could
have been in the Top 20 were actually listed at
number 35. The fascination with who was the
biggest flourished and some egos were certainly
bruised!
The popularity of the publication continued to
grow and, as it was also unique at the time, it was
soon being posted overseas, in particular to the
US, where the Americans were actually using the
Report more or less as a shopping list for their UK
acquisition targets.
The Report has continued to evolve and work
is now under way to update and record who has
achieved what turnover for inclusion in our 15th
issue covering the fiscal year 2011. One aspect of
the research has definitely grown and that is in
the number of recruitment companies that have
made it over the £10 million entry criteria. From its
original one hundred companies, the publication
is now called the Top 250 Report although it
actually contains more than 270 companies.
The research has also expanded by breaking
down turnover into disciplines, number of offices,
employees and contractor numbers. One of the
most fascinating aspects of the Report is ownership,
which shows that of the largest one hundred
recruiters, just over one in five is owned by a
company from outside the UK! In fact, there are
78 companies that are actually owned in the UK.
There are 12 companies with US parents, with
three each from Ireland and France. Then Italy,
the Netherlands, Switzerland and Japan each of
which have one representative. (The largest
recruiter I could place from Australia was
Ambition which ranked at number 210).
The Top 10 UK recruitment companies ranked
by UK turnover are:
1 Adecco Swiss
2 Hays UK
3 Impellam UK
4 Reed UK
5 Randstad Dutch
6 ManpowerGroup US
7 Elan IT US
8 Morson Group UK
9 Cordant UK
10 Pertemps UK
This got me into thinking that the same must
be true for other countries and would the same
logic apply to Australia Who are the biggest
recruiters in your country I thought I would try
to find out, which is not that easy at thousands of
miles away. However, with the help of the internet
I have given it a go. Here’s my Top 10, I would
dearly love to think that my research is 100%
correct but I await your feedback as to who I’ve
left out!
Skilled Group
Adecco
ManpowerGroup
Talent2/Allegis
Rubicor
Randstad
Robert Walters
Hays
Michael Page
Peoplebank
Australian
Swiss
US
Aus/US
Australian
Dutch
UK
UK
UK
Australia
Happy for you all to fill in the ranking order
– email me at david@recruitment-international.co.uk.
Oh, and my dad is 5 feet 8 inches (172.7 cm) tall.
JUNE 2012 19

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ISSUES
Imagine if...
New entrants to the workforce
didn’t stay in the same company
for most of their working life,
but instead changed employers
every few years.
There was low
unemployment and it
was hard to find the right
candidates for great jobs.
Graduates from university not
only changed jobs every few years,
but also changed careers several
times during their working life.
Employers, even the big ones like banks
and accounting firms, didn’t always offer
employees the prospect of a long career
and the opportunity to progress through
the ranks to senior positions.
Great workers wanted to have
career breaks and extended travel
breaks and didn’t worry about
being able to get a job when they
were ready to return to the
workforce.
People entered the
workforce with the
aspiration of becoming
a CEO but had no idea
how to get to the top.
Mark Ashburn, General Manager
– Sales, RecruitmentSuper
Imagine if the environment
changed (again!) and
managing careers was more
like being a player-manager
for elite footballers!
Mark Ashburn looks at the
things that have changed –
and the things that haven’t.
OF course, all of these things describe
today’s workforce, but it was only a few
decades ago that most of them would
have sounded far-fetched and fanciful. But
despite the rapid pace of change, which has
turned the way we work almost on its head, our
model for recruitment and career management
largely stay the same: recruiters recruit people
into roles, and then the candidates manage
their own career while they are working.
Sure, a lot of people working today have been
with one company for years, they have stayed
in the same career and worked their way to the
top, by planning their career in conjunction with
thoughtful employers who had a long term vision
for their organisation. But most of these people
are in the later stages of their careers, and will be
20
RCSA JOURNAL

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ISSUES
retired in ten or so years (depending on how their super
goes, but that’s a story for another day!).
Imagine if the environment changed and it was more
like being a player manager for elite footballers.
Consider how young and talented players are treated
when entering the big league for the first time. They haven’t
proved themselves but they have the right credentials.
With guidance and the right moves they may become
legends of the game.
Naturally, the club they are drafted to will invest in their
training and development. Of course they might move
or get drafted to another team one day, but the club
accepts this possibility and gets on with building their
skills.
All the while, in the background, the player manager
is staying in touch, caring for and understanding the
long term aspirations of their client. While the season is
underway and the player is concentrating on the game
each week, the manager is testing the future prospects
with other clubs, finding endorsements and personal
sponsors as well as keeping an eye on the prospects
for what their player might do after they retire.
It’s easy to draw the parallels with graduates, trainees
and apprentices entering the workforce today. But it
seems to me that once people are placed in a job they
usually spend most of their time managing their own
career.
It raises some interesting questions. Are employers
these days usually focused on the long term future of
their organisation, culture and employee development
Do employees see their annual reviews like a contract
negotiation Are some people talented enough to be
elsewhere, learning or earning more, but they don’t
know how to get there Would some people really like to
get involved in something outside of work to give them
more balance but they just don’t have the time to think
about it
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JUNE 2012 21

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ISSUES
Do you make important purchasing
decisions This one could save you!
Ever bought a house, or
even a car for that matter
Yes, well let’s think about
how you went about that
important, and costly,
purchase. You no doubt
started by thinking about
your needs, two bedrooms
or three, sedan or hatch
This is a critical step in the
buying process as it helps
you identify what is
important to you, the buyer.
It also helps narrow down
your search by removing
any of the unsuitable
options that only serve
to distract you from
your objective.
Now you narrow it down further
by thinking about the features
and benefits. A pool Yes please!
Or maybe that Bluetooth connection you
just can’t do without. Thought about price
yet Probably not, because you’re in that
blissfully ignorant stage of the process that
has you thinking more about what you want
rather than what you can afford. Human
nature shows us that while price is important,
it’s not the be all and end all.
Now you’re into the home stretch of the
buying process and you’ve got a mental
picture of what you want. If you’re like me,
that’s a shiny new Range Rover with all the
fixins’ probably retailing for $100,000 plus
but I’m not in the real world yet, so that’s OK.
Nuts and bolts time: while price is definitely
a key stage in the buying process, its weight
on your decision will very much depend on
what you are buying. A litre of milk will see
you purchase the cheapest option because
all milk is the same right If you are buying a
house or car, your buying price will be much
more flexible: $20,000 more for the right
choice is not a problem.
If you are like me, you love watching those
reality property shows, particularly the parts
of the show when Mr Smith over there
declared, “Not going to buy that for a dollar
over $800,000”. Two minutes later, old mate
Mr Smith is the proud new owner of a
$987,000 four bedroom, two bathroom
renovator in the not-so-nice part of town.
Why did he do it when the same Mr Smith
complained when the local Coles supermarket
was out of the home brand margarine Not
sure exactly, but I’m sure it has a lot to do
with human nature.
Why then do we make important buying
decisions for our business by starting at the
end, the price, and working from there
Price seems to be the key factor when
buying critical services for your business,
even though this could see you buying
something that does not fit your business
needs and potentially be completely useless
when needed most. Ever tried eating with a
plastic knife and fork Cheap to buy, looks
like a knife and fork, but completely useless.
Moving on to the title of the article, this
one could save you! I’m an insurance broker
so I can’t show you my face, but I can try
and save you from buying that plastic knife
and fork. So here it is – five questions that
could help save your business (in no
particular order):
• Identify your risks, ask yourself what it is
you are trying to insure against. Insurance
is there to help you in the worst case
scenario so that should be your starting
point. Do you have on-hired workers
If so, you will need cover that extends
to covering these workers at their host
(vicarious liability) – most policies do
not cover this as standard.
• Can’t answer the above That’s OK, that’s
what insurance brokers are there for. So
question two is, do you have the right
insurance partner for your needs There
are many to choose from but you should
be focusing on the ones who can serve
your business needs the best. Do they
understand your industry Do they have
a track record in your industry Have they
heard of the RCSA or have you seen them
at RCSA events If any of the answers are
“no”, then maybe you should look around.
• My mother used to say “If it looks too
good to be true it usually is”. Handy tip that
one, Mum. Ask yourself, if I was paying X
last year and now it’s Y this year and Y is far
cheaper than X, you should be asking why.
Now I was never a maths whizz but I know
the answer is not stick-my-head-in-thesand.
Unfortunately claims can’t be paid
against policies written on the back of a
beer coaster, those days have long gone.
• What do I want to get out of my chosen
insurance partner There are options out
there for you to consider. Some will send
you the bill when it falls due and chase
you up when you don’t pay, but don’t offer
much more. If that’s what you want, then
fine, but remember there are others that
can offer much more: personalised
service, insurer contract reviews, and
advice that goes beyond the traditional.
The choice is yours, so choose wisely.
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RCSA JOURNAL

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ISSUES
Technology trends at
the speed of tomorrow
• The most important question and the
one question that can save your business
is, Will my insurance cover be there for
me when I need it If you don’t have the
right cover in place from the start, then
unfortunately your business could be
at risk.
While buying cheap insurance seems like
a great idea to cut costs in today’s uncertain
financial climate, the true cost to your business
could be far worse than any saving made.
To find out if you are truly covered,
contact OAMPS recruitment insurance
on 1800 552 551. We don’t sell plastic
knives and forks, just recruitment insurance.
Danial Mullin, Team Leader,
Professional Schemes,
OAMPS Insurance Brokers Ltd
There are a number of technology
trends that have been bubbling for
some time, that are now beginning
to converge. The adoption of mobile
technology, the rise of personal search
and the use of web services are likely to
transform the recruiting landscape.
Mobile is white hot. In Australia, SEEK
are now seeing over twenty per cent of
our visits coming from mobile devices,
with annual growth in visits via mobiles
up 169 per cent year on year.
Many believed that the mobile user
wouldn’t apply for jobs. We are now
seeing real proof that they do. On our
recently launched SEEK Jobs app for
iPhone we’ve seen that jobseekers are
starting the application process at almost
the same rate as on the desktop site.
We expect 30-40 per cent of our usage
to come from mobile in the next 12
months. This will have a few impacts on
recruiting:
• Firstly, employers and recruiters who
have job application processes that
are not mobile-friendly are going to
miss out on relevant candidates.
SEEK recognised this issue and we‘ve
optimised our application processes
for mobile – even allowing candidates
to apply with a resume stored on our
desktop site. We’re also working hard to
help jobseekers “pick up where they left
off” across any device.
• Secondly, it is likely that the quality of
some job applications will reduce –
so for hard to fill roles you might start
to see some short cover letters and
un-tailored CVs!
The rise of personal search – enabling
jobseekers to tailor their search
experience to get exactly what they want
– is going to make it easier to find their
ideal job. When you look at brands like
Amazon and Facebook, your profile,
interests and behaviour define the
experience. We are starting an exciting
journey at SEEK working towards a more
personalised experience. Jobseekers
will be able to describe their ideal job,
upload a profile and we will deliver them
the right results, putting them in front of
the right advertisers. This will no doubt
open up a number of new targeted
advertising options.
Web services are being used in a
number of industries to help companies
collaborate across value chains and to
integrate systems between organisations
in real time. SEEK has already introduced
a couple of web services. The first is SEEK
Application Export that allows our
advertisers to use the SEEK mobile
application process and have these
applications delivered straight into their
systems. The other integrates Jobseeker
Profiles into ATS and Ad loading tools.
Over time, SEEK will roll out other
real-time services within the recruiting
ecosystem. This will make it easier for our
clients to interact with and get the most
from SEEK.
So when you put it all together, SEEK is
moving with the times and redefining the
job board category – into a more mobile,
personal, proactive and integrated service.
Doug Blue – SEEK Product Director.
JUNE 2012 23

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ISSUES
Discussion Paper
Flexibility, change and economic growth:
the role of on-hire agency work in
Australia’s labour market
Today’s economy is fastmoving,
dynamic and
subject to rapid change.
The ability of workers and
businesses to predict, and
respond to, these economic
conditions, is increasingly
limited. Therefore, both
workers and businesses
need as much help as
possible to rapidly adjust
to market conditions and
personal circumstances.
Recruitment firms play a
central role in providing
this flexibility to workers
and businesses alike.
Australian workers are adapting to
change and are increasingly able to
understand that it is not possible for
Australia to row against the tide of global
economic uncertainty. The concept of a job
for life is, to most Australians, unrealistic and,
increasingly, undesirable. These are the
people who make up the contemporary
Australian workforce, where flexibility flows
both ways.
Despite the important role of adaptive
“agency” work, this model of employment
is under fire for failing to provide “secure”
work. The Australian Council of Trade
Unions’ (ACTU) Secure Work campaign
seeks to provide protection for the “forty per
cent of workers [who] are engaged in insecure
work arrangements such as casual work,
fixed term work, contracting or labour hire”.
And therein lies the problem: the union
campaign sweeps non-traditional work of
every type into one large bundle. It assumes
highly-paid IT contractors, for example, are
in the same position as minimum-wage
casual cleaning staff.
Nobody denies that some insecure jobs
exist, and that this form of employment does
not suit all individuals involved. But labelling
all non-traditional work models as “insecure”,
in a negative sense, simplifies the issue until
it loses any meaning. It takes a complex and
multi-layered workforce model, then lumps
it all under the emotive but misleading name
of “insecure work”.
Adaptive agency work is a valid and
important part of the modern economy;
rather than pushing for its end, we should
be working collaboratively to ensure those
who need to adapt to changing personal
circumstances and lifestyle needs are able
to, and those who genuinely need protection
are afforded this.
This paper discusses the role of recruitment
firms in helping businesses and government
to adapt, and provide decent work for
individuals, while contributing to economic
growth and international competitiveness.
It also looks at the role of the recruitment
industry in supporting workers in this sector.
An adaptive workforce: key to
economic growth
The International Confederation of Private
Employment Agencies (CIETT) and Boston
Consulting Group (BCG) recently launched
a global report that shows countries with
agile work models and reasonable regulation
outperform those with heavy regulation and
little flexibility, in terms of both economic
and labour market performance.
Moreover, it shows that private employment
agencies deliver decent work to individuals,
and help match and develop the skills needed
in labour markets. For example, one of the
largest recruitment agencies in the country
is also one of the biggest employers of
apprentices.
Almost 1 in 3 Australian
employers use temporary
staff from recruitment
agencies to manage skills
shortages
Adecco Temporary Labour Report 2012
Flexible work: sorting myth from fact
The outcome of an over-regulated, inflexible
work model isn’t more secure jobs for people
– it’s fewer jobs overall.
The use of flexible or contingent workforces
is an important part of the modern business
landscape, allowing employers to respond
to a rapidly changing environment. In fact
76 per cent of employers use recruitment
agencies to respond more quickly to
business demands.
With volatility becoming a fixture of the
economic system, employers, therefore,
need to remain responsive. This doesn’t
spell doom for employees however; they
have the ability to remain agile too, building
transferable skills that allow them to move
when the market does.
Ultimately, businesses make a choice about
their growth plans, and that often involves a
flexible and scalable workforce. For the
majority of employers, it’s not a choice of
“hire permanent staff or hire temporary staff”.
It is, in fact, “hire temporary staff, or don’t
hire at all”.
RMIT University research found that
51 per cent of organisations using on-hired
employees would not necessarily employ an
equivalent number of employees directly if
they were unable to use on-hired employees.
In fact 19 per cent of organisations said they
would rarely do so.
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RCSA JOURNAL

74 per cent of employers do
not consider hiring permanent
workers as an alternative to
“agency” work
Ciett
Employers simply cannot afford to be
locked into fixed costs when they don’t
have certainty about market conditions.
Agency or on-hire work, where an
individual is engaged by a firm and on-hired
or assigned to work for a client, plays a
crucial role in supporting economic growth
and providing employment opportunities.
Union attempts to magnify an issue that
affects a small number of workers will have
unintended consequences for all employers
and the economy as a whole if it is successful.
When is work “secure”
While the use of casual labour has grown in
recent decades, so too have the protections
afforded to casual employees.
In addition to the basic casual loading
(additional pay to replace holiday and other
statutory leave entitlements) casuals receive
the Superannuation Guarantee once they
earn a minimum of $450 per month; and after
six months working for a business with over
15 staff, casuals qualify for unfair dismissal
protection. After 12 months, long-term casuals
also gain the ability to request parental leave
and flexible work arrangements.
While casual work arrangements may not
attract all the benefits of permanent roles,
these examples demonstrate that there is
indeed a safety net for many workers.
Moreover, workers who undertake temporary
“The insecure employment
campaign is part of a broader
union effort to cast commercial
decisions in an industrial
relations context”
Institute of Public Affairs
work through private employment agencies
often benefit from a strong pipeline of
assignments. RMIT University research found
that half of all on-hired casual employees
employed by RCSA members are immediately
placed in another assignment following the
completion of their initial assignment, so that
they enjoy back-to-back assignments
without having to search for new work
Against this background, the notion of
“secure” work is more complex than it might
seem at first. And in the volatile economic
climate we face today, neither employers nor
individuals can expect certainty.
Unless a business is able to improve
productivity, profitability and efficiency –
either through its workforce strategy or
business processes – then its economic
viability is under threat. Ensuring Australia’s
labour laws provide the flexibility employers
need in order to remain profitable, is a
fundamental precondition of providing
security to employees.
On the other hand, saddling employers
with red tape and onerous industrial relations
not only increases costs, but increases the
risks associated with hiring people and the
risk that business simply won’t hire at all.
Flexible and adaptive work
is decent work
There is an underlying issue about the
nature and quality of on-hire work. The
union campaign implies that work where
an individual is employed by one business,
and assigned to work for another business
or government, is bad work; and ignores
the large number of workers who:
• work flexibly in high-skilled areas
• earn above average wages
• report satisfaction with their jobs and
• gain the experience they need to access
the job market.
Moreover, it ignores the nature and
reputation of many organisations that utilise
flexible workforces: governments, hospitals
Two-thirds of temporary
workers in Australia display
high levels of job satisfaction
Adecco Temporary Labour Report 2012
What is on-hire/agency
work really like
Professor Mark Wooden from the
Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic
and Social Research, is a director of the
HILDA * survey, which tracks the economic
and subjective well-being, labour market
dynamics and family dynamics of over
7,500 households and 19,000 individuals.
He says that most people only take on
agency (on-hire) work for some of their
career; it’s certainly not a career deadend.
In fact, he says that for young people
or women returning to work, it provides a
foothold into the market.
HILDA also reveals little difference in
levels of career satisfaction for those who
identify as having a “labour-hire” job. Over
half of all labour hire workers who are still
in the workforce ten years later will be in
permanent employee jobs by that date.
*Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia
and schools are just as likely to engage
workers through a recruitment firm as
commercial, for-profit organisations.
Decent organisations, offering decent work.
After all, organisations in every industry
sector and of every size need a workforce
that can expand at need, adapt to seasonal
and economic fluctuations and provide fast
replacements for critical staff absences.
Flexibility and the capacity to adapt isn’t
a one-way demand from businesses and
government – 41 per cent of employees
wish to work flexibly for a range of lifestyle
reasons, from family through to study
commitments. In fact, in the age of over-
JUNE 2012 25

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ISSUES
working, a large number of individuals
choose on-hire work over salaried direct hire
work because they know they will be paid for
each hour they work. It allows them to tailor
their working preferences to their lifestyle
needs.
The Institute of Public Affairs points out that
the age groups with the highest proportion
of workers in so-called “insecure” work
arrangements are younger workers and
older workers, who are often entering the
workforce, or beginning their exit from it.
RMIT University research found that 67 per
cent of on-hired employees chose to work
as an on-hired employee and 34 per cent
prefer this form of work over permanent
employment.
The most important reasons for choosing
on-hired employment are diversity of work;
to screen potential employers; recognition
of contribution; and the payment of
overtime worked.
RMIT University research also found that
half of all on-hired casual employees employed
by RCSA members are immediately placed in
another assignment following the completion
of their initial assignment. That is, they enjoy
“back to back” assignments without having
to search for new work like those engaged
in direct hire casual employment.
Labour market efficiency
and regulation
The RCSA is not making a case against
industry or labour market regulation altogether.
In fact, the Ciett research shows a clear
correlation between strong, efficient labour
markets and regulation of private employment
agencies. However, this regulation needs to
be appropriate, and balance the flexibility
requirements of businesses and government
with the need for greater certainty in
employment among sections of the
Australian workforce.
A country’s labour market efficiency is based
on its employment and unemployment
rates, hours worked and participation rates.
Countries such as the UK, USA, Australia and
New Zealand have seen private employment
agencies develop rapidly, in the context of an
open regulatory environment and liberal
economy, and labour market efficiency is
significantly higher in these countries. This is
especially apparent when comparing these
countries to highly-regulated countries that
favour security over flexibility – particularly
Western and Mediterranean Europe.
The more liberal employment markets
are also more competitive globally, BCG’s
analysis reveals. The message here is that
labor market regulation needs a balance
between both flexibility and security, to
ensure that it supports economic growth,
rather than hindering it.
What is the recruitment industry’s
role
Providers of on-hire or agency work –
as represented by the RCSA’s members –
already play an important role in providing
flexibility and adaptive capacity for both its
clients and its workforce.
However, the RCSA continues to focus on
ways to improve its support of non-traditional
workers, and ensure they can, amongst
other things, work safely, have opportunities
for career advancement and access training
and development.
The RCSA is also working with members
to collect more data on the industry and its
role in the economy, to help inform policy
decisions. It needs to educate stakeholders
about the true nature of adaptive work, while
helping workers to make the most of a flexible
career, whatever their reason for undertaking
it. A constructive discussion about the role of
adaptive and flexible working arrangements
in Australia can only be had with unbiased
data taken from a genuine sample of the
entire Australian workforce.
Conclusion
There are two key questions that underlie
the Secure Work campaign: do all workers
want permanent, full-time jobs And would
businesses hire permanent, full-time
employees if on-hire workers weren’t
available The answer to both questions is
no. Our economy needs businesses and
government to be adaptable through the use
of flexible labour, and our workers need a
range of options that fit with their increasingly
versatile lifestyle needs.
Recruitment firms provide businesses and
government with fast access to talent, while
delivering a broad range of job opportunities
to individuals. This is a crucial part of a modern,
functioning and competitive economy.
References
http://securejobs.org.au/get-the-facts/
Brennan, L. Valos, M. and Hindle, K. (2003) On-hired
Workers in Australia: Motivations and Outcomes
RMIT Occasional Research Report. School of
Applied Communication, RMIT University, Design
and Social Context Portfolio Melbourne Australia
Brennan, L. Valos, M. and Hindle, K. (2003) ibid.
Adecco Temporary Labour Report 2012
Institute of Public Affairs, Insecure Employment
Occasional Paper, John Lloyd, March 2012
Make better
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Let FastTrack transport you to improved workflow and increased productivity.
Call 1800 063 555
From the start: Reliability. Performance. Success.
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sales@fasttrack.com.au
www.fasttrack.com.au
© 2011 FastTrack Pty Ltd
26
RCSA JOURNAL

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ISSUES
Key job hunter trends in 2012
CareerOne’s Hidden Hunters
Report, now in its fifth year,
identifies trends in job hunting
behaviour across industries
and key demographics. The
main trends this year are:
#1: Economic Concern
The biggest trend from the 2012 research
is the significant increase in economic concern.
The number of Australians “very concerned”
about the economy nearly doubled, from
11 per cent in 2011 to twenty per cent this
year. This concern is impacting all states,
but the worst affected are Queensland and
South Australia.
Interestingly, this concern is not driven
by personal financial circumstances with
no change in those finding it “difficult” or
“very difficult” on their income. Clearly,
more macro concerns about the Australian
economy and international events are
worrying many job hunters this year.
#2: Increase in Job Satisfaction
Job satisfaction has increased across every
aspect measured, returning to 2010 levels of
54 per cent. Workers are most satisfied with
the team, the work itself, hours worked and
flexibility with all experiencing significant
increases over the past 12 months.
#3: Decline in Active Job Hunting
The economic uncertainty and increase
in job satisfaction has led to a decline in the
number of people actively job hunting. Thirty
per cent of workers are actively looking or
scanning for new job opportunities, down
from 37 per cent in 2011.
However, 79 per cent of Australian workers
are still open to making a move with almost
half (49 per cent) taking a more passive
approach. The shift towards passive job
hunting highlights the need for companies
to be smarter in their recruitment and
engage passive job hunters through new
interactive media tools such as CareerOne’s
Power Resume Search and CareerOne Ad
Network.
Western Australia is the most active state
with 35 per cent of workers actively looking
for a new role. South Australian job hunting
has increased by seven per cent to 28 per
cent. Queensland workers have seen the
greatest decline in job hunting activity at
31 per cent, down from 47 per cent in 2011.
New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory
and Victoria are both down in job hunting
activity and reflect the national average.
#4: Uplift in Social Networking
and Mobile Usage
Another key takeaway from the research is
the uplift of Australians using social networking
tools and mobile searching to look for job
opportunities. In fact, 14 per cent of job
hunters use their mobile phone to browse
jobs or receive job related information,
up nine per cent since 2008.
Over 17 per cent of job hunters use social
networking tools to source new opportunities,
up seven per cent since 2008. CareerOne’s
free social broadcasting tool can help
advertisers expand their reach to these
candidates by automatically posting CareerOne
jobs to their company’s Facebook and
Twitter pages.
Despite the diversification of job hunting
tools, general job websites remain the number
one tool job hunters use when searching for
new opportunities (61 per cent).
For detailed information on your state and industry,
download the full report: www.careerone.com.au/
hiddenhunters.
To learn more about CareerOne’s sourcing solutions,
contact your CareerOne representative or call
1800 555 010.
Dawn Tingwell
National Sales
Director CareerOne
ARE YOU UP TO DATE WITH YOUR OBLIGATIONS AS A RECRUITER
Complete the RCSA Code for Professional Conduct today!
RCSA members
non-RCSA members
FREE
$25.00
To access these courses and more visit: learningseat.com/public/rcsa
JUNE 2012 27

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ISSUES
Improve your email and free up
two-three working weeks a year
Drowning in emails
Suffering from information
overload Productivity
authority Debbie Mayo-
Smith says we can all save
weeks of time by following
her five simple tips to
improve your productivity.
Debbie Mayo-Smith
Yes, you read the title correctly. This article
will help you free up two to three working
weeks a year if you receive a lot of email. If
you have responsibility for generating income,
these tips can help you sell more, as well as
improve communication and workflow.
Working in Outlook probably gobbles up
several hours of your day and is a major pain
point. Right Unfortunately you can’t ignore
it. It’s where you receive work requests.
Where you communicate with staff, clients,
family. Where you get news. Where you set
your appointments and meetings. If that’s
not enough, the change to the ribbon format
in 2007 and 2010 changed everything that
was familiar.
Here are five out of hundreds of tips from
my new book Conquer Your Email Overload.
They’ll help you work more effectively both
easing your pain and enhancing your gain.
Begin with these five tips
1. Forget typing details: Drag and Drop
You’ll love this tip! Used creatively, drag
and drop can replace cut and paste
and typing from scratch. Take an email or
take incoming emails and drag, then drop
into contacts, calendar, or task folders to
transform that email into a new item. An
email dropped into Contacts creates a
new contact for the sender. Take their
signature, drag and drop the information
into the respective contact fields. Even
better, you can highlight text within an
email and drag
and drop that instead of the entire email.
Where: Anywhere within Outlook.
2. Your personal inbox secretary: Rules
This function used cleverly can save you
at least 15 minutes a day – that’s two
weeks a year. It can automatically read
your incoming or outgoing emails, then
perform the tasks you set. Use Rules to
bundle CCs and BCCs. Put emails in a
folder, forward, answer, delete. Perform
routine responses, sort through irrelevant
emails, focus on important ones.
Where: 2003-7: Tools > Rules.
2010: Home Ribbon > Move> Rules.
3. Be a Sales/Customer Service Superstar:
Tasks
Instead of a simple current to-do list, use
Tasks to grow sales by reminding yourself
to follow up on outstanding proposals.
Build relationships using recurring tasks
to prompt you to telephone quarterly;
to follow up after a certain period of time
for customer service. Assign meeting
action points to individuals and prompt
them. Remind staff of items due like
expense or sales reports.
Where: Icon under your Sent items folder.
4. Be gracious and save thousands
of seconds: Reply Signature
Instead of signing off (or not!) each email
you forward or reply to, have it done
automatically. Add your normal salutation.
Set once, then forget.
Where: 2003-7: Tools > Mail Format >
Signatures > Replies and Forwards.
2010: Open a new message > Message
tab > Include group > Signature.
Then click Signatures. Click New,
and assign it to the Forward & Replies.
5. CRM Tool: People Pane
New to 2010. Microsoft has replicated
the information you would normally
find in a Contact’s Activity tab (2003-7)
and placed it in a new pane at the bottom
of an email when viewed in the Reading
Pane. You see all the activity you have
had with that person, including Emails,
Tasks, Calendar items and attachments.
Where: On the View tab, in the People
Pane group, click People Pane and then
click Bottom (you must have your Reading
Pane turned on).
Best-selling author and productivity authority Debbie
Mayo-Smith works with businesses that want more
effective management and staff. For more free tips
or to purchase Conquer Your Email Overload
www.debbiespeaks.co.nz
28
RCSA JOURNAL

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ISSUES
The more things change…
In all the regulatory and
societal changes recently,
the RCSA Code for
Professional Conduct
has remained the same.
How can that be Andrew
Wood explains how the
Code accommodates
all the changes that
have taken place and
yet remains relevant.
Andrew Wood, Hon
FRCSA (Life), Barrister
The more things change … the more some
things remain the same. At the time this
issue of the RCSA Journal is published, we
will be about 18 months out from the expiry
date of the current ACCC authorisation of
the RCSA Code. That means that it is time to
think about how the Code has performed
as a guide to the regulation of member
conduct and to think about what might
be included in its next version (version 3).
At the same time, we are beginning
to hear murmurings in support of the
reintroduction of a national system of
employment service supplier (agents)
licensing, even though most states, along
with New Zealand, dismantled their licensing
schemes many years ago as part of a move
towards a more competitive marketplace.
It is always interesting to reflect upon
what could be included in the RCSA
Code, what has been left out, and why.
The RCSA Code consists of a statement
of broad principle that requires members to
observe a high standard of ethics, probity
and professional conduct which requires
not simply compliance with the law, but
extends to honesty, equity, integrity, social
and environmental responsibility in all
dealings and holds up to disclosure and
to public scrutiny.
To that extent, it answers some of the
recent commentary that suggests that
industry codes should be about what to
do, rather than about what NOT to do.
It also contains eight more specific
points of guidance covering privacy and
confidentiality, honest dealings, respect
for work relationships, respect for laws,
respect for safety, respect for certainty
of engagement, professional knowledge,
and good order.
These points set out guidance about
what members should do as well as what
they should avoid. The Code has been
modelled along these lines since it was
first authorised in 2002.
Since that time, the industry has seen
many changes in its legal environment.
Licensing schemes have gone, discrimination
legislation has changed, privacy legislation
has been rolled out, competition and
consumer laws have undergone significant
change, Work Choices and Fair Work
reforms have radically altered the industrial
framework in which the industry operates,
workplace health and safety reforms – on
an unprecedented scale – have been and
are being rolled out, migration, tax and
superannuation reforms have come into
effect or are proposed and more is yet to
come.
In addition, the courts, Fair Fork Australia
and the Employment Relations Authority
have continued to make pronouncements
on the law that impact daily on the work
that recruiters do.
Yet the Code has remained the same.
How can that be How can the Code
operate so flexibly as to accommodate all
the changes that have taken place and yet
remain relevant
The answer, I think, lies in its design,
which emphasises levels of high principle:
social responsibility; respect for privacy,
respect for work engagements and so on;
as well as in the continued fine-tuning of
the Disciplinary & Dispute Resolution
Procedures (“D&DRP”) that underpin it.
While the Code has not changed, the
D&DRP has been fine-tuned on eight
separate occasions and continues to
undergo review and refinement by the
Board, the Professional Practice Council
and the Ethics Registrar – all based upon
direct experience gained from handling
many hundreds of matters and inquiries.
The other important element that
contributes to the flexibility of the RCSA
ethics regime is that RCSA’s Ethics
Committees, which determine serious
complaints, are made up of industry
participants who bring to bear on any
question years of experience, industry
insights and profound understanding of
what is involved in the work of recruitment.
These “champions” of the industry are able
to identify and state acceptable standards
of member conduct in the context of any
specific complaint that arises for their
consideration. No mere Code – whether
a statutory code or voluntary industry
code – can do that.
The key lies in the people – and that
is most appropriate in what is, after all,
a people business.
JUNE 2012 29

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ISSUES
Procurement pressure
Having the courage to say “no”
This last decade has seen
significant changes in
the recruitment process.
A fundamental shift has
swept across the industry,
writes Robert van Stokrom
FRCSA, RCSA Vice President
and CEO, DFP Recruitment.
In this article, he shares his
ideas for members’
consideration.
In days gone by recruitment was largely
a process involving a line manager who
dealt with the recruitment company (or
a short list panel). Input was provided when
needed by the line manager’s HR department.
As time went on and recruitment was
further outsourced, senior managers noticed
the increasing cost creeping into their P&Ls.
The expense incurred with outsourced
recruiting was being seen as a significant
cost that needed to be reduced.
Enter the procurement manager. Tasked with
centralised purchasing for an organisation,
the procurement officer/manager to a large
extent absorbed the role of recruiting. No
longer was the line manager able to freely
choose who to deal with for a steady supply
of staff.
Robert van Stokrom FRCSA,
RCSA Vice President
The inevitable result of centralised planning
has seen downward pressure on service fees.
Procurement managers will freely admit to
this. Their very existence is predicated upon
this notion. Procurement departments exist
to streamline and reduce cost.
There is nothing wrong with this, in fact
it should be a prime goal of all focused
businesses to keep one eye firmly on cost
and expenses. Procurement has a vital role
to play. Procurement by default has a primary
focus on price; secondary to the main focus
is quality.
Typically, a procurement manager will look
to keep downward pressure on price, constantly
looking to reduce and minimise. When this
occurs, the Business Development Manager
(BDM) needs to pose the question: Which
part of the service do you not want included
The BDM should look to begin dissecting the
deliverable components and ask which are to
be removed so that the desired price can be
met.
The procurement manager will of course
want all of the service components included.
This is the point where the BDM needs to
have the courage (and support from senior
management) to say “no, sorry that level of
service cannot be achieved at that price”.
This can often be a challenge for resultsorientated,
driven BDMs. However, attempting
to provide the desired level of service at the
unrealistic price ultimately is a disservice to
all parties involved.
At DFP our mission is to work with likeminded
clients who appreciate the value of
our service. This is the essence and reasoning
behind DFP supporting its BDMs in having
the courage to say no, should it be required.
Senior management need to be cognisant
of the downward pressure procurement
places on their BDMs. Competition and cost
constraint is healthy for all industry sectors;
however, it needs to be carefully balanced
with the resultant quality. This is where as an
industry we have an excellent opportunity
to educate our clients in how we can best
service their needs.
Procurement purchasing when the goods
and services in question are commoditybased
provides significant financial benefit to
the business. When it comes to recruitment,
this approach is not always desirable.
Recruitment, fundamentally, is not a
commodity business.
The many systems and processes built into
the industry help to streamline it and make
it more effective and efficient. They do not,
however, replace the relationship element.
This relationship element is perhaps the
most critical.
Recruitment is inherently a forwardlooking
process. Businesses seek to hire
new staff not for cost reduction today but
for increased profit tomorrow. Procurement
managers must ensure they make decisions
concerning the recruiting process with a
focus on today’s as well as tomorrow’s
bottom line.
Placing the right person in the right job
at a realistic price will ultimately be more
beneficial (read: cost effective and profit
producing) than simply placing any person
in the right job at the lowest cost.
Procurement without sufficient focus
on the relationship component may save a
cents today. However it may end up costing
dollars of profit tomorrow because the level
of service the cents purchased was not
ultimately the standard that was needed.
As an industry, we need to have the
courage to learn how to say “no”. When we
know we are unable to deliver the standard
of service desired at the stated price we must
be able to say no. Saying no benefits both
the recruitment company as well as the
client. Delivering substandard service (even
at a discounted price) benefits nobody.
30
RCSA JOURNAL

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Fax: +61 2 6296 7177
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10702B_RS_pressAd_125hx190w_2.indd 1
17/06/11 3:19 PM

Association news
RCSA Working Groups – working
for the benefit of all members
The RCSA Working Groups
have continued to make
significant progress in
actively campaigning
for the benefit of the
recruitment sector.
bby RCSA 210x128 29/02/12 9:44 AM Page 1
The myriad of implementation requirements
in the WHS sector has resulted in increased
policy, process and implementation
requirements for most recruitment agencies,
yet positive news out of South Australia with
strong lobbying for changes to the WorkCover
industry classifications has seen more
simplified solution that now means on-hire
employers are classified at the same industry
standard as their client.
Continuing to pressure Fair Work Australia
to consider the on-hire sector when
undertaking their review of the Fair Work
Act and the Modern Awards is a focus for
the Workplace Relations Working Group.
Ensuring Fair Work Australia Panel members
understand the contribution, flexibility and
knowledge the recruitment sector provides
to business and to on-hire workers is a focus,
as is providing key education and assisting
with ensuring laws are considerate of third
party employment arrangements.
The Independent Contracting Working
Group is also looking to make more clear
the definition of contractor versus employee,
and are currently working to develop a value
proposition in regards to the benefits
contracting provides and a checklist to
assist recruiters and clients better determine
who is a contractor and which workers are
employees.
The Working Groups are also keeping up
to date with other industry trends and
employee association pressures. Maintaining
open communication regarding the impact
external decisions have on members
keeps the working groups very busy.
Report by Wendy Jeffrey-Lonnie, FCB.
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32
RCSA JOURNAL

Association news
In the media
In the last quarter, the RCSA
achieved premium coverage
with articles in The Australian
Financial Review, The Age
and HR Monthly.
Media releases
• Workforce flexibility crucial to economic
growth, RCSA
• RCSA Award Winners announced at Gala Ball
• RCSA – jobs up for auction not the way to go
• RCSA Conference keynote says collaboration
is the new competitive advantage
• World renowned New Zealand Speaker of
the Year to present at RCSA Conference
• RCSA announces 2012 awards finalists
• RCSA welcomes FWA decision
• Workforce Participation – Recruitment Industry
Calls for National Conversation
• Collaborative Approach to Increase Workforce
Participation.
Media coverage
• Time to rethink, get workers to mines
(Australian Financial Review)
• RCSA slams candidate auction website (Shortlist)
• Get WHS compliance arrangements in writing,
recruiters told (Shortlist)
• How to respond to client discount demands
Clennett (Shortlist)
• Meeting the hiring needs of franchises
(The Australian)
• RCSA Sydney CEO Breakfast Panel (Shortlist)
• Lack of awareness from analysts damaging
listed recruitment stocks: (Humanis MD)
• LAFHA offsets Australia’s high tax rate image
(Shortlist)
• RCSA Gala Ball heads to Melbourne (Shortlist)
• No contract means no fee (HR Monthly)
• Recruiters jostle for advantage (The Australian)
• Changing labour market driving increased
on-hire use RCSA (Shortlist)
• RCSA calls for stakeholder co-operation on
mature-aged workforce participation (Shortlist)
• Are recruitment agencies worth the trouble
(The Age).
Meet your new
Board Member
Matthew
Hobby
FRCSA
Matthew
Hobby was
appointed
to the
RCSA Board at the recent
Annual General Meeting.
He is the State Manager
(South Australia) for McArthur
and this year is his thirteenth
year in the recruitment
industry, He joined McArthur
in March 2010 and joined the
RCSA Council in South
Australia in November 2010.
C
M
More than
7 in 10
online placements
are made via SEEK
Y
CM
MY
CY
CMY
K
Making SEEK the single
largest source of candidates
*Source: The GFK SEEK Job Market Update - Nov 2011 Base: Nationally representative
sample of Australians who found their last role online in the last 12 months (n=79) Q: L4:
Through which one of these online sources did you find your last role E1. When did you
start your last job
JUNE 2012 33

Association news
Adherence to best practice in
service delivery is improving
The Service Delivery Rating
has seen significant and
sustained improvement
over the past five years. This
suggests more agencies are
measuring-up better against
recruitment industry best
practice and statutory
compliance.
The Service Delivery Rating has been
measured on certified RCSA Members
since 2004. The rating is a score that can be
assessed when agencies are audited in the
RCSA Service Delivery Standard (RCSA SDS).
The rating takes into account the
performance of each agency against a range
of measures including recruitment industry
best practice and statutory compliance.
The maximum rating is 10.0, the minimum
acceptable rating is 5.0. A rating of less than
5.0 can be and sometimes is assessed, but
such results are not included here.
Current Ratings Profile
The rating of all agencies currently certified
in the RCSA SDS is shown in Table 1. Of all
agencies certified, 22 per cent have scored
between 5.0 and 5.9. These are mainly the
agencies which have been through their first
audit and have just become certified in the
RCSA SDS. Agencies usually start at this level
and progress upwards, although there is one
agency which achieved a rating of over 7.0
in their initial certification.
Thirty-two per cent of agencies have scored
between 6.0 and 6.9, and a further 32 per
cent between 7.0 and 7.9. These are mainly
agencies which have been through the initial
certification and have undertaken one or more
subsequent surveillance audits. At each audit
they are presented with a list of suggestions
for improvement, which, if implemented
effectively, assist them to improve their
service delivery and of course their rating.
Fourteen per cent of agencies have scored
between 8.0 and 8.9. In all cases these are
agencies which have been certified in the
standard for a number of years – at least
three, but more often five or more years.
While we have seen a significant increase
in the ratings since these measures have been
collected we have not yet seen an agency
assessed at more than 9.0. However we are
hoping that this will happen in the next few
years.
How does the rating work
The RCSA SDS was developed by the RCSA
in 2004 and 2005. Based on international
standards for quality management, it also set
a benchmark for recruitment excellence by
including recruitment specific items such as
checking a candidate’s right to work and
complying with candidate privacy requirements.
Over the years the assessment process has
been updated to reflect emerging best
practice around the use of social media,
workplace safety management, employee and
contractor agreements, and management of
candidate “floating” (reverse marketing).
The RCSA SDS standard consists of eight
broad areas which are then split into 47
sections such as employment screening,
placement management and feedback
collection. Each section is further detailed
in over six hundred individual items.
The rating is assessed by an independent
auditor during an onsite audit over one or
more days. Findings are captured in a report
for the agency, and the rating is recorded in
our database. Agencies that meet
requirements are certified in the standard.
Agencies that have been audited and have
received a good rating can be proud and
confident that they meet industry best
practice, comply with key legislative
commitments, and have established
strong service delivery systems.
Does size matter
One of the questions we have had is what
drives good service delivery It is easy to
assume that the bigger businesses have access
to more resources and can therefore put more
effort into meeting industry best practice. In
fact, size seems to have nothing to do with it.
Table 2 shows a wide spread of average
and maximum ratings for different sized
agencies, based on the number of staff. The
highest average rating is indeed for a larger
agency (rating 7.6 for G 66-85 staff), but the
maximum rating is for E 26-45 staff (rating
8.7), and the smallest businesses (A 1-5 staff)
often outperform the bigger businesses.
Then we have asked, (Table 3) if it is not size,
then perhaps it is the area of specialisation
that makes a difference For example, one
can assume that an agency placing medical
doctors, where the risk of a “bad” placement
could be very serious, might implement best
practice more readily than an agency placing
short term blue collar staff, where the
consequences of a bad placements may
not be so severe.
But again, specialisation seems to have
nothing to do with it. Out of the four main
34
RCSA JOURNAL

Association news
groups in the chart, the top rating is from a
medical agency, but the average rating for
medical agencies is exceeded by the average
rating for general and nursing agencies.
So what does matter
So what does drive the achievement
of a high standard of service delivery
Analysis of the database and our experience
has made it clear that, without a doubt, it is
the number of years involved in working
towards best practice that makes the difference.
It is the commitment to improving best
practice and service delivery management,
and the unwavering focus on getting things
done right the first time, that makes the
difference.
Table 4 shows a steady increase in average
ratings over the number of years that agencies
work towards best practice and are involved
in the certification program.
Interestingly, the performance of the
maximum rating does waver a little after the
Year 5 mark, but this reflects the performance
of individual agencies.
In the first year, agencies are required to
demonstrate they have a suitable framework
in place for management of service delivery,
and can show they meet “reasonable” best
practice.
By the end of Year 2, agencies should have
implemented a number of improvements
such as clear and precise procedures, risk
management, feedback and issue management.
The “quality tools” to measure and improve
performance should be established.
By the end of Year 3, the agency should
have a service delivery system which meets
industry best practice, and a quality
management system which is effective and
sustainable.
Improvement after Year 3 is driven by the
individual agency’s enthusiasm to meet
customer needs and expectations and also
for continuous improvement of internal
efficiencies.
Who are the best performers
Seven agencies have established themselves
as the current top performers with ratings of
8.0 and above. Congratulations to all these
agencies as this reflects the effort and the
attention they put into achieving industry
best practice.
Manpower and Placer Management Group
were two of the first agencies to take on the
RCSA SDS in 2005. A case study on Placer
Management Group is available at
www.fathombusiness.com.au.
Integrity Staffing, Medic Oncall and
Wavelength are larger agencies and Stenhouse
is a small business based in Brisbane.
League Table (rated 8.0 and above)
Effective People, Canberra
Integrity Staffing, Perth
Manpower Services, Australia & New Zealand
Medic Oncall, Melbourne
Placer Management Group, Perth
Stenhouse Recruitment Services, Brisbane
Wavelength International, Sydney
The top ratings by specialisation and by
size of business are listed below. Of particular
note is Nightingale Nursing, which is the top
rated nursing agency, and QPL, which scored
an outstanding result of over 7.5 in their first
audit.
Specialisation White Placer Management
Group, Perth
Size of
Business
Outstanding
General
Nursing
Medical
Up to 10 staff
Manpower Services,
Aust and NZ
Nightingale Nursing,
Sydney
Medic Oncall,
Melbourne
Placer Management
Group, Perth
11 to 50 staff Medic Oncall,
Melbourne
More than 51
staff
Best Initial
Result
Wavelength,
Manpower
QPL, Sydney
Article by Dianne Gibert, the founder of Fathom
Business Architects, who established and managed
the Service Delivery Standard on behalf of the RCSA.
She has more than twenty years’ experience as a
management consultant specialising in corporate
governance, performance improvement and risk
management. Dianne has an MBA, and is a qualified
lead auditor in quality, occupational health and
safety and environmental management.
Fathom Business Architects, through the wholly
owned subsidiary, Certex International, provide
accredited certification services to the recruitment
industry. If you have any questions about the RCSA
Service Delivery Standard, or other certification
standards relevant to the recruitment industry,
please contact Dianne on 03 9585 8241, or
email to info@fathombusiness.com.au.
JUNE 2012 35

Association news
Special Interest Groups
AANRA
AANRA Business Practice Certificate
(Quality and Standards at AANRA)
AANRA Professional
Development Series
meetings held in
February and May 2012
focused on the areas of
quality and standards.
As healthcare providers
require nursing agency
suppliers to meet the
highest standards in OHS and all aspects of
service delivery, AANRA Council has concentrated
on providing members with tools and information
to best equip themselves to meet these
expectations.
The healthcare industry and regulators have
identified adherence to standards and an
agency’s consistency in implementing these
procedures as two areas of concern in their
engagement with nursing agencies. AANRA
Council is addressing these areas through the
development of a Business Practice Certificate
that is an undertaking by AANRA members to
adhere to the RCSA Code for Professional
Conduct and further undertakings specific
to the nursing recruitment sector.
“The AANRA certification will provide members
and their clients with confidence they are dealing
with an AANRA member agency that adheres to
the highest standards and workplace practices”,
said AANRA Chair, Alan Bell.
OHS Harmonisation Working Group
As national harmonisation of OHS continues
to rollout, AANRA has established a Working
Group to provide members with insights and
updates. The Working Group is currently liaising
with the RCSA to put in place a customised
Pre-placement Procedure and Checklist that will
assist AANRA Members meet their obligations
to ensure a safe working environment for nurses.
The Working Group may be contacted via the
AANRA Secretariat: aanra@rcsa.com.au
AANRA/ANF Education
The AANRA/ANF education program
continues to go from strength to strength. More
than fifty new modules specific to aged care are
now available to AANRA members in the Aged
Care Training Room. AANRA Members can
access these new modules and other training
at: www.onwebfast.com/anf/corp/
Amranz
Shaun Hughston APRCSA, President AMRANZ, reports:
I often hear this question:
“Why would anyone want to
work in medical recruitment”
It’s a candidate-short market, with
complex bureaucratic processes,
and sometimes challenging to
candidates and clients. The medical
recruiters I know would all respond in the same way – we are making sure
that the hospitals, medical centres, and remote healthcare facilities are staffed
with highly skilled medical professionals. We are making a difference.
Our members work with clients in both the private and public sectors.
Both of these areas present challenges. In the private sector there are many
smaller GP practices which struggle to remain competitive in recruitment, or
to engage recruitment agencies to assist them. There are also large private
healthcare and government organisations that staff remote areas such as oil
rigs and island medical centres – that’s a completely different type of challenge
for us as recruiters!
By and large though, our best clients are also our greatest challenges. Public
hospitals, of course, are where medical recruitment agencies do much of their
work. They are filled with intelligent, dedicated administrators and internal
recruiters who are passionate about keeping their facilities fully staffed.
However, their job and our role are often challenged by government policy.
As an example, towards the end of 2011, Queensland Health released a new
medical recruitment policy and a recruitment agency contract along with it.
In a nutshell, these policies made it the responsibility of medical recruitment
agencies not only to recruit, but to manage the medical staff we place. While
this may be the norm in other areas of recruitment, it is certainly difficult in our
field.
AMRANZ has argued that the changes will render the sector uncompetitive
against other states. They were made without adequate consultation. They
add to the cost of supplying locum medical services and create clinical
accountability and control structures that are not demonstrated to have
any positive effects on patient outcomes.
In addition to this responsibility, the policy and contract gave rise to agencies
being responsible for workplace safety, medical indemnity, and performance
management.
The medical locum model of doctor engagement is well-known and has
been well documented. It has been studied and reviewed in other jurisdictions.
No other state in Australia has a similar policy. AMRANZ has conveyed the
concerns of our members to QLD Health and we look forward to discussing
these at the earliest possible time.
In the meantime, Queensland could be losing out on qualified medical staff,
as alternative locations around Australia are much easier to manage from an
administrative point of view. We are concerned that less doctors equals less
healthcare.
As President of AMRANZ, I am committed, along with our Council and
Members, to ensuring that the interests of our industry are represented across
Australia and NZ. This issue may be one of our greatest challenges and we are
determined to work through it to achieve the best outcome for all involved.
We also acknowledge the critical importance of member groups within RCSA.
36
RCSA JOURNAL

Association news
New Zealand Update
Meet the Minister
The Hon Paula Bennett MP
is New Zealand’s Minister
for Social Development
and Youth Affairs.
Minister, could you provide some insight
into how your personal background –
particularly in juggling family responsibilities,
work, education and training for a career –
has shaped your views of employment,
training and the skills required for success
in the New Zealand workforce
We are not one dimensional. As people,
and particularly as women, we are a product
of our life experiences along the way and we
bring that experience to the workplace. An
education is absolutely critical for our young
people but I think after that the choices are
individual. Some find that tertiary education
works for them, and for others it’s on-the job
training that fits them best. The trick is to
maintain flexibility. I am also yet to see any
course that replaces life experience and
common sense.
Prior to entering politics, your career
included time in the recruitment industry.
What attracted you to the industry, and
what can you tell us about your experiences
working in the sector
I wanted to work with people and do
something that was important to them and
also provided reward for the effort. Recruitment
fitted the bill. What we do for a living has
often been described as the third most
important thing in our lives after family and
home. It is a privilege to work with companies
and individuals and match them into the
right role. I also liked being well remunerated
for my success.
What insights or experiences from the
recruitment industry have assisted you
in politics
A lot! It’s all about people and relationships.
In both, if you stay focused on your goal, if
you have a clear plan and stick to it and if
you have a passion for people then you will
be successful.
Do you see the recruitment industry in New
Zealand having a working relationship with
government departments, such as WINZ in
getting people back into work If so, do you
have a vision of how that relationship might
work
Many recruitment companies already have
a relationship with Work and Income. Our
industry partnerships are very important to
our success in helping beneficiaries into work
and I understand that ongoing discussions
are taking place with the recruitment industry.
Should recruitment companies be able to
receive subsidies when placing people who
are currently on benefits
No, but there may be a subsidy that follows
the beneficiary and helps offset their wage
while they get up to speed.
Do you think recruitment companies in the
labour hire sector have a positive impact on
reducing the number of people on benefits
or are they just “casualising” the workforce
With Pendragon as
Hon Paula Bennett MP
I support all types of employment –
I believe there is a place for labour hire and
temping. Some individuals prefer it because
they feel more in control of the hours they
work and they like shorter contracts. Labour
hire often gives someone a foot in the door
and can give them much needed
experience.
Do you think a “work for the dole” program
would be beneficial in New Zealand to assist
the long term unemployed to retrain, gain
experience and better equip them to get
back into the work force
We currently subsidise employment for
some groups of beneficiaries. The evidence
around ‘work for the dole’ scheme is mixed.
At the end of the day you can’t beat a real
job for a real employer.
The RCSA Journal would like to thank
Kris Hope-Cross of Hope-Cross Consulting
and Wendy Hewson of Kelly Services who
facilitated this interview with the Minister.
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JUNE 2012 37

Association news
RCSA Partners and Premium Supporters
The RCSA Supporters Program, launched in November 2010, provides
a tangible and strong connection to the recruitment industry. Becoming
a RCSA Supporter sends a message of commitment to the recruitment
industry to your existing and prospective clients. You can use the
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Absolute Immigration Services
Advertiser Newspapers Pty Limited
Allianz Finance Pty Limited
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Bank of Queensland
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Kandula Pty Ltd
Lander & Rogers Lawyers
improve business opportunities with the recruitment, on-hire and
workforce consulting sector.
The RCSA is proud to welcome the organisations listed below to
the Supporters Program, led by Principal Partner RecruitmentSuper
and Business Partner OAMPS Insurance Brokers Ltd.
Lester Associates
Lexin Technologies Pty Ltd
Lifestyle Careers
LinkedIn
LinkMe Pty Ltd
Lipman James
Logicalis Australia Pty Ltd
Matheson Publishing
MECA NSW Pty Ltd
MemberBenefits Pty Ltd
Mindset Group
NewsLocal
Next Telecom Pty Ltd
NFC Global
NMIT – Preston Campus – BEC
Onetest Pty Ltd
Oxford Funding
Perry Watson Design
Profiles International
QualSearch
Quinntessential Marketing
Consulting Pty Ltd
RecruitAdvantage
Redmos
Sage MicrOpay Pty Ltd
Savage Seminars
Saxton Corporation Pty Ltd
SDP Solutions Pty Ltd
For information about joining the RCSA Supporters Program, contact Julie Morrison, RCSA Manager
Marketing & Communications, Telephone +61 3 9663 0555 or email jmorrison@rcsa.com.au
Selectus Pty Ltd
SGMC Australia Pty Ltd
Shirlaws Pty Ltd
Skillcheck Pacific Pty Ltd
Southern Cross University School
of Commerce & Management
The Canberra Times
The EI Group
The RIB Report
This Planet Pty Ltd
Trained UP!
Verify Holdings Australia Pty Ltd
Voyager Software (Australia) Pty Ltd
Workdesk Recruitment Software
NZ RCSA Supporters
EEO Trust – Equal Employment
Opportunities Trust
Employment Today
Human Resources Institute
of New Zealand – HRI
Jobs.co.nz
The Dominion Post
The Omnia Group Ltd
The Press
astutepayroll.com
RCSA Premium Supporter
astutepayroll.com automates the management
of your temps and contractors – including
compliance, induction, TFN submissions,
online timesheets, expenses, award
interpretation, invoicing and payroll. Purpose
built for the recruitment industry, our unique
workflow tools improve your cash flow,
probity, reliability, and seamlessly integrate
the front and back end of your business.
Choose one or more modules to manage
an effort free workforce, accurate payroll,
or select Outsourced Payroll service and
we will handle everything for you.
Pendragon Management
RCSA Premium Supporter
Pendragon Management is a leading
provider of people management services
with a comprehensive range of innovative
solutions aimed at overcoming many of the
obstacles and costs associated with the
traditional employment model. Whether
it is salary packaging, outsourced payroll,
contractor management or assistance with
international visas, we can tailor-make a
solution to suit all circumstances.
SEEK
RCSA Premium Supporter
As the leader in the online employment
market in Australia and New Zealand, SEEK
makes it quicker and easier for jobseekers
to find jobs that match their search criteria.
For recruiters, SEEK provides access to the
largest audience of job candidates at a
fraction of the cost of print advertising and
with greater functionality. Up to 3.2 million
(AU) and 687,000 (NZ) unique browsers
view your job ads every month.
38
RCSA JOURNAL

Contact Elise Zervos directly on 0418 514 878
or email elise@execucon.com.au - www.execucon.com.au
For those who want to be found...
CMS Website
+ SEO
Job board
Facebook
apps
Mobile
apps
adlogic in partnership
with bwired & Thomas Shaw
p: 1300 780 566
e: info@bwired.com.au
w: www.bwired.com.au
p: 1300 788 068
e: info@martianlogic.com.au
w: www.adlogic.com.au
JUNE 2012 39

Association news
Life member Profile
Peter Gleeson
FRCSA (Life)
Peter Gleeson, Executive General
Manager – Recruitment, with
Chandler Macleod Group Ltd, was
appointed a RCSA Life Member at
the recent Gala Ball and Awards
night. Peter is well known within
the recruitment
industry and, like
many other
industry leaders,
had not planned
a career in
recruitment.
Originally an
accountant, in
the early part
of his working life, Peter and his
brother established a business
supplying the healthcare sector.
He joined the recruitment industry
in 1990 and over 16 years, Peter
was instrumental in the growth of
white collar search and selection
specialists, Tanner Menzies, from
a three person boutique to an
international operation. In 2002
he guided the company through
its acquisition by Randstad and
remained as CEO until end–2005.
Joining the RCSA as a Councillor
in 1996 he served as Councillor for
ten years, working with both the
Membership and Ethics portfolios.
He was appointed Vice President,
then President, of the RCSA in
NSW, hosting the International
RCSA Conference in Sydney and
building a strong and respected
council. Peter then took a
sabbatical before returning to the
industry to head up Australasia’s
largest specialist franchise
recruitment group, Frontline
Recruitment Group as CEO.
He joined Chandler Macleod in
2008 and was involved in
restructuring the business which
resulted in the last financial year
being the most successful in the
company’s 51-year history. The
recruitment business which Peter
heads up has a turnover in excess
of $640 million of the $1.4 billion
group turnover.
Life after Recruitment
Dawne Kelleher FRCSA (Life)
Dawne Kelleher FRCSA (Life)
founded her own company
Stafffinders in New Zealand
in the 1970s and in the 80s
changed the name to Kelleher
Consulting Group which she
led until her retirement in
2004. This is Dawne’s story …
During my years in the industry, I was elected
Wellington Chairperson of the RCSA, then had
two terms as National President during the
formative years of what was first the Federation of
Personal Consultants (FPS), then the National
Association of Personal Consultants (NAPC), the
Institute of Personal Consultants (IPC), and now
the prestigious professional body it has become
today: the Recruitment & Consulting Services
Association Ltd (RCSA).
It was on my watch in New Zealand that the
Australasian professional ethics became the
standard of conduct that it is now. It was no mean
feat in those days with some members very nervous
and tentative about being given rulings on how
they operate their business. My maxim was.
“We are only as good as our worst practitioner”.
In those days, New Zealand organised our own
conferences with great passion and a desire for
each one to be better than the last. A small group
of business owners and managers spent many
hours after productive days in the office, showing
a real dedication for the exciting industry we were
a part of, working late at night, conceiving and
planning keystone events, and loving every minute.
One year, the night before the Conference, the
highly recommended American keynote speaker
had absconded with her company’s funds,
including our deposit. Should have known better
– she was famous for recommending “taking risks
in business”! What a 24 hours that was, everyone
looking for a new keynote speaker. We found a
good one, too.
Another time, the band for the gala evening
didn’t turn up so we begged and coerced a local
band to step in. Another crisis averted!
What do I do now
It’s very scary when you retire having been
an active and proactive part of the workforce for
almost fifty years. To face
the day unstructured was
a real challenge.
My first thoughts were to
find other work of some
kind, the idea of doing
nothing filled me with
terror. I helped a
colleague with training,
until one day, I thought
“If I wanted to do this,
why did I stop” So, I
finished the task and stopped for good.
The last ten years have been really busy,
learning to live without a diary, not eating and
sleeping “recruitment” 24 hours a day, and finding
out exactly who I am if I’m not Dawne Kelleher of
Kellehers. I’ve learnt many new skills and found
out that the ego is the hardest emotion to
harness, but harness it I have. I’ve learnt to be still
in my head and heart; I swam in the ocean every
day of the year at Palm Beach. I belong to two
book clubs and learnt to play Mahjong. I am
currently auditioning to sing in a New Zealand
gold medal acapella city chorus – and loving
every minute of it. I’m reading and assessing
movie scripts for my daughter who says I’m a
natural. I’ve mentored some interesting people
at their request in their ongoing pursuit of better
management skills. Travelling has always been of
interest, the countries I visited have been fascinating
and colourful. I always have my eye on “where to
go next”
My people skills have helped me greatly in my
own search of absorbing and exciting activities, as
has my ability to be strategic and motivate people.
I really enjoy entertaining and my dinner party
menus are planned with precision. I adore cooking
and I enjoy teaching my grandchildren of 10, 21 and
24, how to cook with passion by demonstrating
all the skills my mother taught me. She was
Lebanese and a renowned cook and my eldest
grandson Zac has our cooking gene and is
studying to be a chef at TAFE.
Now when people ask me what I do all day,
I laugh and say “I don’t know how I ever found
time to work”.
I have two adult children, both at the top of
their chosen professions in the world of film and
television. They fill me with pride when they say
that I am their inspiration ... one can’t do better
than that. But I’m trying!
40
RCSA JOURNAL

Association news
RCSA Board, Life Members and Fellows *
RCSA Board President
Lincoln Crawley FRCSA
Vice Presidents
Robert van Stokrom FRCSA
Helen Olivier FRCSA
Directors
Denis Dadds FRCSA
Matthew McArthur FRCSA (Life)
Jacqui Barratt FRCSA
Peter Langford FRCSA
Bruce Ranken FRCSA
Steve Heather MRCSA
Alan Bell FRCSA
Matthew Hobby FRCSA
RCSA Life Fellows
Pauline Ashleigh-Marum FRCSA (Life)
Jim Bailey FRCSA (Life)
Robert Blanche FRCSA (Life)
Dorothy Caldicott FRCSA (Life)
Mike Carroll FRCSA (Life)
Nanette Carroll FRCSA (Life)
Jane Fanselow FRCSA (Life)
Ross Fisher FRCSA (Life)
Peter Gleeson FRCSA (Life)
Larry Grima FRCSA (Life)
Michael Hall FRCSA (Life)
Sue Healy FRCSA (Life)
Kris Hope-Cross FRCSA (Life)
Malcolm Jackman FRCSA (Life)
Graham Jenkins FRCSA (Life)
Dawne Kelleher FRCSA (Life)
Barry T Knight FRCSA (Life)
Roger Lampen FRCSA (Life)
Ruth Levinsohn FRCSA (Life)
Reg Maxwell FRCSA (Life)
John McArthur FRCSA (Life)
Matthew McArthur FRCSA (Life)
Sylvia Moreno FRCSA (Life)
E. Leigh Olson FRCSA (Life)
V John Plummer FRCSA (Life)
John Plummer FRCSA (Life)
Wendy Rae FRCSA (Life)
Beryl Rowan FRCSA (Life)
Julie Sattler OAM FRCSA (Life)
Greg Savage FRCSA (Life)
Rosemary Scott FRCSA (Life)
David Shave FRCSA (Life)
Kim Shearn FRCSA (Life)
Stephen Shepherd FRCSA (Life)
Geoff Slade FRCSA (Life)
Kaye Strain FRCSA (Life)
Jean Tait FRCSA (Life)
Rodney Troian FRCSA (Life)
Janet Vallino FRCSA (Life)
Paul Veith FRCSA (Life)
Hugh Whan FRCSA (Life)
John K Williams FRCSA (Life)
George Zammit FRCSA (Life)
RCSA Fellows
Julian Azzopardi FRCSA
Jacqui Barratt FRCSA
Nicholas Beames FRCSA
Jane Beaumont FRCSA
Alan Bell FRCSA
Victoria Bethlehem FRCSA
Kevin Blogg FRCSA
Lisa Bousfield FRCSA
Nicky Brunning FRCSA
Sandra Chiles FRCSA
Ross Clennett FRCSA
Michael Close FRCSA
Ron Crause FRCSA
Lincoln Crawley FRCSA
Christine Crowe FRCSA
Denis Dadds FRCSA
Bill Dalby FRCSA
James T de Berg FRCSA
Pam Dew FRCSA
Charlie Duncan FRCSA
Jason Elias FRCSA
Chelsea Forster FRCSA
Ken Fowler FRCSA
Norm Geist FRCSA
Angela Giacoumis FRCSA
Tony Greaves FRCSA
Allison Guy-Ritchie FRCSA
Ian Hamilton FRCSA
Michael Hannaford FRCSA
Nick Hays FRCSA
Jennifer Hobbs FRCSA
Matthew Hobby FRCSA
Steve Hoggett FRCSA
Alison Hucks FRCSA
Phil Isard FRCSA
Tim James FRCSA
Linda Kemp FRCSA
Maria Kourtesis FRCSA
Peter Langford FRCSA
Colin Levander FRCSA
Des Linehan FRCSA
Gaynor Lowndes FRCSA
Laura Mabikafola FRCSA
Ian McPherson FRCSA
Annie Milne FRCSA
Tracy Morgan FRCSA
Stephen Noble FRCSA
Helen Olivier FRCSA
Kathie O’Malley FRCSA
Penny Perkins FRCSA
Stephen Porter FRCSA
Bruce Ranken FRCSA
Tony Ricketts FRCSA
Scott Roberts FRCSA
Sophie Robertson FRCSA
Deborah Ross FRCSA
Courtney Rowe FRCSA
Lee-Martin Seymour FRCSA
Ian R Stacy FRCSA
David Styles FRCSA
Lyn Tanner FRCSA
Corrine Taylor FRCSA
Scott Thomas FRCSA
Gayleen Toll FRCSA
Nicole Underwood FRCSA
Rosemary Urbon FRCSA
Scott Van Heurck FRCSA
Robert van Stokrom FRCSA
Craig Watson FRCSA
Paula Watts FRCSA
John Wilson FRCSA
RCSA Honorary Fellows
Hillard McMullen Hon FRCSA
Julie Mills Hon FRCSA (Life)
Joan Page Hon FRCSA (Life)
Malcolm Riddell Hon FRCSA (Life)
Reg Shields Hon FRCSA
Jill Skafer Hon FRCSA
Andrew Wood Hon FRCSA (Life)
* Correct at time of printing.
Rcsa Premium Supporter
& Principal Partner
Rcsa Premium Supporter
& Business Partner
Not a RCSA Member
To find out more about
Individual or Corporate
membership or becoming a Supporter,
call +61 3 9663 0555
rcsa Australia and New Zealand
PO Box 18028, Collins Street East, VIC 8003 Australia
Tel: 1300 727 504 Toll Free NZ: 0800 448 299
Fax: 61 3 9663 5099
Email: info@rcsa.com.au Website: www.rcsa.com.au
JUNE 2012 41

Association news
2012 RCSA CPE & Events Calendar
Date City Type Event Name
Date City Type Event Name
All Year Online Certificate Certificate in Recruitment & Selection
All Year Online Certificate
Certificate in Work Health and Safety
(On-hired Worker Services)
4 Jul Melbourne Workshop Melbourne Temp Desk Masterclass
5 Jul Adelaide Workshop Adelaide Temp Desk Masterclass
11 Jul Online Webinar
13 Jul Brisbane Workshop
13 Jul Melbourne Workshop
13 Jul Sydney Certificate
13 Jul Melbourne Certificate
13 Jul Brisbane Certificate
13 Jul Sydney Workshop
17 Jul Wellington Certificate
17 Jul Wellington Workshop
CPE Webinar, Telephone Techniques –
Making Cold Calls Warmer
Brisbane Workshop, Introduction to
Recruitment Consulting
Melbourne Workshop, Introduction to
Recruitment Consulting
RCSA Recruitment Consulting Certificate
(PEARL)
RCSA Recruitment Consulting Certificate
(PEARL)
RCSA Recruitment Consulting Certificate
(PEARL)
Sydney Workshop, Introduction to
Recruitment Consulting
New Zealand RCSA Recruitment Consulting
Certificate
Wellington Workshop, Introduction to
Recruitment Consulting
18 Jul Wellington Workshop Wellington Workshop, Interviewing Essentials
19 Jul Wellington Workshop
Wellington Workshop, Sales & Marketing
from the Desk
20 Jul Brisbane Workshop Brisbane Workshop, Interviewing Essentials
20 Jul Melbourne Workshop Melbourne Workshop, Interviewing Essentials
20 Jul Sydney Workshop Sydney Workshop, Interviewing Essentials
24 Jul Online Webinar
Only a few
spaces remaining!
Fiji
Business Solutions Webinar, Risk Management
– what it is and why it is important
27 Jul Brisbane Workshop
27 Jul Melbourne Workshop
27 Jul Sydney Workshop
31 Jul Christchurch Workshop
31 Jul Christchurch Certificate
1 Aug Christchurch Workshop
2 Aug Christchurch Workshop
Brisbane Workshop, Sales & Marketing from
the Desk
Melbourne Workshop, Sales & Marketing
from the Desk
Sydney Workshop, Sales & Marketing from
the Desk
Christchurch Workshop, Introduction to
Recruitment Consulting
New Zealand RCSA Recruitment Consulting
Certificate (PEARL)
Christchurch Workshop, Interviewing
Essentials
Christchurch Workshop, Sales & Marketing
from the Desk
7 Aug Sydney Workshop Sydney Leadership Masterclass
21 Aug Auckland Workshop
21 Aug Auckland Certificate
Auckland Workshop, Introduction to
Recruitment Consulting
New Zealand RCSA Recruitment Consulting
Certificate (PEARL)
22 Aug Auckland Workshop Auckland Workshop, Interviewing Essentials
23 Aug Auckland Workshop
4 Sep Online Webinar
13 Sep Online Webinar
23 Oct Online Webinar
Auckland Workshop, Sales & Marketing from
the Desk
Business Solutions Webinar, Document
Control – some clever ways to make this
simple and effective
CPE Webinar, Preventing the road blocks
throughout the recruitment process
Business Solutions Webinar, Drafting Policies
and Procedures – avoid the proverbial rabbit
hole
30 Oct Sydney Workshop Sydney Leadership Masterclass
13 Nov Online Webinar CPE Webinar, Becoming a Trusted Advisor
AT
THE
2012 RCSA INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
EXHIBITION OPPORTUNITY (15 maximum)
Pre Conference
» 2012 » Sponsor RCSA acknowledgement INTERNATIONAL and CONFERENCE logo inclusion
in registration brochure
»»
Organisation name, logo and link on Conference
sponsorship page of Conference website
Conference
» 29-31 » One (1) AUGUST trestle table 2012 for exhibition, | SOFITEL to be situated FIJI
outside of main plenary area
»»
One (1) business card size black and white
advertisement (including organisation name,
AT
THE
29-31 AUGUST 2012 | SOFITEL FIJI
Showcase your product or service at the RCSA Conference
logo and contact details) in Conference program
in exhibitor section
»»
One (1) complimentary exhibitor registration
to Conference (includes Welcome Reception,
Conference Dinner, Closing Cocktail Party)
»»
Option of purchasing additional exhibitor
registrations at a reduced price, including
catering and social functions only (does
not include attendance at sessions)
Contact Claudia Gray, RCSA, email cgray@rcsa.com.au or call +61 2 9922 3477
Book now! www.rcsa.com.au/conference2012/
42
RCSA JOURNAL

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