Blog Archives

How to follow your passion and be successful: 7 wise words from a former Olympian

Posted on September 18, 2019 by Laurie Serafini — No Comments ↓

It was sensational to have triple Olympic Gold and multiple world swimming champion, Australia’s own Grant Hackett, join us for a Slade breakfast recently. Grant shared some of his personal journey as an Olympian and his thoughts about what creates high performance behaviours.

Here are my seven takeaways from Grant’s talk with our team:

  1. Goals: As a young teenager, aiming for the Sydney 2000 Olympics, Grant started writing down his goals on the bedroom wall, spelling out what he wanted to achieve across all his main swimming events.
    Takeaway: Think and ink your goals

  2. Purpose: A strong sense of purpose will help you find true meaning in what you do.
    Takeaway: Be really clear within yourself about why you are doing, whatever it is that you do, particularly when planning your career

  3. Benchmark: Grant recorded and gauged his performances against the then world king of the 1500 freestyle, Kieren Perkins (coincidentally his team mate). He compared Kieran’s achievements at various milestones, including age, distances, times and winning results, analysed them against his own performance and set himself targets.
    Takeaway: Compare yourself to the best in your field and set approachable goals

  4. Passion: Doing something you are passionate about involves pushing yourself beyond the ordinary boundaries, sometimes suffering, not always enjoying it and can often lead to disappointment. When you absolutely love something, you will want to be successful, no matter what.
    Takeaway: Passion is what gets you through the challenges

  5. Success: What would success (or failure) look like for you? For Grant, qualifying to wear an Olympic blazer wasn’t enough, he had to win gold, to be number one. While we can’t all be world leaders, we can certainly model others’ successful behaviours at work.
    Takeaway: With clarity over your objectives, you determine your own success

  6. Sportsmanship: Competing with the same people internationally, year-round, Grant made lasting friendships with some of his team mates, as well as his competitors.
    Takeaway: While competition is healthy, developing collegiate relationships with your coworkers, customers and competitors also helps bring out the best in you

  7. Self-talk: It’s the talk that you have with yourself, that voice inside your head, which can be more hinderance than help. Paradoxically, winners sometimes have more negative self-talk than others.
    Takeaway: Some self-doubt is normal, so take stock of yourself and the situation, then get on with it

As a specialist recruiter in Leisure & Sport, I have seen many former athletes go on to leadership roles, where these behaviours translate to business and career success. Grant is continuing to apply his learnings in his current role as CEO of Generation Development Group, where he is building a team with a high performance culture. Use our world class takeaways to get you started and go for gold!

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Posted in Consumer, Sport & Entertainment, The world @work

4 reasons to look beyond the obvious candidates

Posted on September 6, 2019 by Nadia Piscioneri — No Comments ↓

Some clients still hold fast to working with candidates within their industry, while progressive organisations understand that fresh skills and thinking can deliver high performance.

Most candidates like to move from one industry to the next, to continue learning and broadening their skill sets. This naturally lends itself to an employee who is someone that is hungry to achieve, ambitious, flexible and openminded to new challenges. It’s the perfect profile to add to your team.

It is important that both recruiters and employers can identify the transferable skills a candidate brings to the role, and for us to encourage employers to look beyond the obvious. It’s also important that any jobseeker can confidently speak about their abilities.

Here are four reasons why you should consider candidates from outside your usual network:

  1. Innovation – Candidates from other industries can bring innovations and best practices. Think of this as an insight into other businesses; other sectors often do things differently.
  2. New culture – your new staff member will affect the dynamic of the team anyway, but imagine if they are fresh, optimistic and energised by landing in a new industry. The immediate effect across the greater business and culture can be hugely positive. It can gently move a stale team to a re-invigorated way of working.
  3. Continuous improvement – a person from outside your industry will enter your organisation  without legacy or pre-conceived ways of working. They may query a process and assist in creating changes and process improvements. Think efficiency and cost savings!
  4. Build your brand – by bringing on a new hire from outside your industry, you are sending a clear message to candidates and competitors while building your EVP at the same time. You’ll be known as a progressive organisation that is flexible, operating from a contemporary approach to the market and opportunities.

When you are next looking to recruit, try to look beyond industry experience and look for transferable skills – measure them against your key criteria, and add some fresh thinking to your team.

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Posted in Business Support, The world @work

Australian manufacturing – alive, and thriving!

Posted on August 28, 2019 by Bill Haggerty — No Comments ↓

Last week on a beautiful sunny Melbourne winter morning our Technical & Operations team hosted the latest in our series of boardroom briefings. Over breakfast, David Chuter, CEO of Innovative Manufacturing CRC (IMCRC), led the discussion around challenges for leaders in the sector, Industry 4.0 and its transformation imperative.

Attendees included a diverse range of senior manufacturing executives; Ruby Heard, recently awarded the Victorian Young Professional Engineer for 2019 by Engineers Australia, was an active contributor, especially from a younger person’s perspective.

With the demise of the Australian automotive manufacturing sector, we are constantly reminded that the manufacturing sector is in decline. It was refreshing to hear David refuting the state of manufacturing in Australia, providing examples of many of the exciting innovations that are being developed locally that are at the cutting-edge internationally. David is passionate about innovative manufacturing and the role that it will play over the next decade. He firmly believes transformation will be achieved through “collaboration by inspired leadership”.

Speaking about transforming Australia’s manufacturing industry, automation and AI (Augmented Intelligence, rather than Artificial intelligence, in David’s view) the concept of Industry 4.0 is not particularly new. Such technology, including robotics, has already been in use for many years, especially in automotive production. The group observed that what has changed, is that the barrier for entry has dropped significantly, meaning manufacturing technology is no longer limited to well resourced multi-national operations.

While Industry 4.0 is not limited to a specific sector, one of the challenges in Australia is our proliferation of small businesses: 90% of manufacturers employ less than 20 people and only 15% of manufacturers turn over more than $2M per annum. With so many SMEs invested in manufacturing, collaboration between companies can be difficult too. IMCRC estimates less than 40% of manufacturers have an appropriate business strategy to meet current and future requirements.

One of the positive initiatives David has taken with IMCRC is to bring industry, educators (universities) the CSIRO and other resources together to support SMEs in manufacturing and help foster collaboration. CSIRO’s recently released Australian National Outlook showed a massive and unprecedented opportunity for the future growth and prosperity of manufacturing. It predicts manufacturing’s contribution to GDP growth will be more than two and half times that of any other sector.

When looking for transformative projects that will create commercial outcomes for local manufacturers to take Australian products and service to the world, we also need to seek out opportunities to develop the project management, technical and leadership skills that cannot be simply solved through education. Governments have a role to play in supporting manufacturing with investment – for example, here in Victoria our trains are built with 60% local content and some trade-based TAFE courses are government funded. Industry also needs to lead by providing opportunities for technical specialists and professionals to further and diversify their experience, which will upskill its workforce.

Overall, we need to be braver and bolder, if we wish to become a world leader in advanced manufacturing. We need to change the perception that we are limited by market size or geographical distance, and focus on establishing smart tech hubs with a global focus, where the emphasis is less on production, and more on invention, design and value.

I’m looking forward to seeing what the next generation of manufacturing in Australia looks like.

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Posted in Technical & Operations, The world @work

How HR won in the West

Posted on August 15, 2019 by Ayesha Kajee — No Comments ↓

Why head out west to talk about HR?

Slade Group recently facilitated our first Western Hub HR Discussion Group, hosted by Kubota at their Australian office in Truganina in Melbourne’s west. Presenting at the event were Christina Tsakiris, Senior Associate and Annabelle Uebergang, Employment Lawyer from Macpherson Kelley’s Employment, Safety and Migration team.

This forum was planned and brought to life by Slade Group’s Practice Manager – Business Support & Shared Services, Shaunagh McEvoy, who recognised the number of sizable organisations that operate in the West and who are often unable to travel into the CBD for events.

Macpherson Kelley shared important updates about recent developments in employment law, and senior HR Managers shared battle scars and victories and other professional insights based on their workplace experiences. A flurry of business card swapping was a sure sign of value at the end of the luncheon.

Significant debate focused on Casual Conversion – particularly as these changes have been applied to 85 different Modern Awards. It was also interesting to hear how different participants have managed this with their organisations, and the legal viewpoint from our experts on myriad grey areas. For example, did you know that Casual Conversions are now enforceable by law? Employers are obliged to offer it as an option to casuals who have been on regular and systematic rosters for 12 months or longer. You wouldn’t be alone if you weren’t aware of these changes, which is why it’s so important to conduct regular HR Health Checks to make sure nothing has slipped through the gaps.

Our HR Discussion Groups provide an ideal forum for like-minded HR professionals to speak freely and swap stories in a safe and confidential environment. We are proud and excited by the success of our newly established Western Hub Group and would like to extend our thanks to all who attended for sharing their experiences. Thank you to our presenters Christina and Annabelle from Macpherson Kelley, as well as Liz Cameron, Human Resources Manager Kubota Australia and NZ for opening up the Kubota boardroom to accommodate our group. A special shout out to Candice Lewis, our Temporary & Contract Talent team Manager at the Interchange Bench, for helping us out on the day.

We hope you saw the value in our vision to create an extended network for HR professionals. If you would you like to join our group and receive more information about future events, please contact me via the details below.

How do professionals in your industry network?

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Posted in Business Support, The world @work

Dipping my toes in the ocean: A celebration of my first 10 years in Australia

Posted on July 5, 2019 by Barry Hodson — No Comments ↓

In November I celebrated my 10 year anniversary as a proud Melbourne resident. My arrival here from South Africa coincided with the GFC, which has given me pause for thought around the 10 year economic cycle, and what I’ve seen in the local recruitment market during this time.

In my first year here, my beloved Tigers (yes, I have an AFL team) came second last to the Demons (substantial improvement since then). In my other passion, the Springboks had just won the World Cup (not so much improvement). I was also working from a small office in Mount Waverley recruiting Accountants in the South East (nothing wrong with that, but most would agree Collins Street is a substantial improvement).

The recruitment landscape has changed drastically in the last ten years, with some substantial players downsizing and others disappearing, while a number of newcomers quickly established themselves and continue to go from strength to strength. The market for talent continues to become ever more competitive, with the top-drawer operators demonstrating the value in building strong relationships, providing exceptional service and reducing hiring risk with a robust methodology.

Recruitment trends

Other trends have been the evolution of internal recruitment capability within medium to large organisations and conversely, the rise of the RPO (recruitment process outsourcing) model, with an increasing number of organisations ramping up this function. Whereas talent acquisition was previously limited to larger corporate organisations, increasingly SMEs and smaller businesses have added recruitment to their HR functions. This has delivered mixed levels of success. With no clear winner between the internal team and an outsourced or RPO model, a number of businesses have sought to return the function in-house. In the mix, professional recruiters like me have enjoyed the opportunity to partner with internal recruitment teams, especially on senior assignments and hard to source specialist roles where exploring the passive talent market is essential.

Sector trends

The industry landscape has seen some other big shifts, with sectors like Manufacturing and Print taking a massive hit. Technological change, including AI, robotics, automation and digitalisation is one of the factors at play, but the impact of globalisation and government policy on a whole range of issues, from tariffs and trade to employment regulations, has suited some more than others: Ecommerce, Education, Advanced Manufacturing, Engineering, and Food & Agribusiness are all growing well.

In the recruitment sector, a trend towards higher volume/lower level recruitment activity was obvious over the last decade. What is becoming increasingly clear, however, is that there will always be tremendous value for organisations in developing meaningful relationships with talent and the consultants who have access to diverse professionals across broad as well as niche industry networks.

I have been extremely fortunate to have met some outstanding people in the last ten years – clients, candidates and colleagues – and have thoroughly enjoyed watching their careers develop. In many instances they have become valued connections who continue to inspire me and others with their achievements. It has been an exciting ride!  Now working with Geoff Slade and the team at Slade Group (Geoff recently celebrated 50 years in business), I realise that the last ten years is just a drop in the ocean. Here’s looking forward to the next ten years in the world @work. Thanks to all of you for your valued support and friendship over the last decade.

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Posted in Accounting & Finance, The world @work

Take a break… and focus on your own learning and future career

Posted on July 1, 2019 by Matthew Dodd — No Comments ↓

“…as the fourth revolution of work builds, teachers are well placed to lead learning.”

All employers, by virtue of offering work opportunities and the potential to build careers, deal in the futures of their employees. For teachers and others working in the education sector, it takes great skill, time and energy to help students navigate their learning and life. It is by its very nature a generous act, to continually focus on others to build their capacity, efficacy and future.

For teachers, the term breaks are ideal to recharge and relax, to practice a little self-preservation and to prioritise personal needs.

Article image: Have fun

If you are a teacher or another professional who constantly ‘gives to others’, putting a plan in place for your own future can be overlooked; a break can be more than relaxing – it can be a time to think about where your career is going, to set goals, speak to others and to think about what else you may need to learn to progress within schools or beyond.

In various articles on the Future of Work, ‘learning’ per se is at the centre of the skills and aptitude required to navigate the fourth revolution, and to enjoy a thriving career. This places teachers at the centre of the revolution. Teachers have highly transferable skills in planning, curating, managing and assessing learning. The industry of learning has always spread well beyond the school gates, but the industry globally is growing at an unprecedented rate. More than just formal institutions for learning, ‘the industry of learning’ increasingly includes significant roles such as learning designers in work settings.

Swinburne’s Centre for the New Workforce recently published a National Survey Report, Peak Human Potential: Preparing Australia’s workforce for the digital future. The report highlighted 38% of workers prefer to learn in the work setting. Heather McGowan, future of work strategist, suggests that we now work to learn.

As the fourth revolution of work builds, teachers are well placed to lead learning, from early learning centres to corporate boardrooms.

Before you lead others in their learning or work, you need to be strategic, and clear about your own learning and career plan. Our world @work represents so much of our time and energy, and yet career progression is often left to happenstance.

So, while you’re relaxing or setting off on an adventure, remember to put aside a little time to think about your own future of work.

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Posted in Education, The world @work

The rewards of a good hire are amplified for SMEs

Posted on June 27, 2019 by Bill Haggerty — No Comments ↓

I have a hypothesis: mid-sized and smaller companies (remember, SMEs comprise the majority of Australian businesses) can benefit most from professional recruitment services. While smaller companies have less experience and fewer available internal resources to identify and attract top flight talent, a great senior level hire will generally have a measurable impact on the growth and success of a smaller company. And rather than relying on informal networks, job boards, and other indirect methods, I would argue a senior appointment in an SME is best served by an experienced Executive Search and Selection provider.  

Of course, senior level hires are made less frequently than more junior roles so naturally many companies are ill-prepared when they arise. Internal HR departments (or individuals) may be very good at handling the company’s ongoing recruitment needs, but these internal resources are usually not experienced in managing the recruitment of senior level or one-of-a-kind positions.

Unfortunately, there is a perception in the business community that the executive search process is only relevant for large companies. Most related articles involve the appointments or searches for executives for well-known ASX 200 companies, or of key government departments and authorities, where the emphasis is on the remuneration attached to the role, rather than the level of difficulty involved in placing a suitable candidate.

We know the cost of hiring the wrong person goes well beyond the time and effort involved in recruitment. Negative results, including loss in profit, reduced income, the impact on customer goodwill and company morale, can be a significant blow.

Deciding to engage a consulting firm, then finding the appropriate consultant to partner with, can be similarly overwhelming, so make sure you choose a professional who understands your needs. As an executive specialist in engineering, I am always interested in getting to know as much about the company’s culture, workflow, plans for growth and vision for the future. It’s part of my due diligence before commencing any assignment, and knowing your business before you set out to attract others to work for you is something everyone can afford — whatever your size.

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Posted in Technical & Operations, The world @work

Why good service is good business

Posted on June 5, 2019 by Catherine DeVrye — No Comments ↓

How often do you get frustrated as a customer? Working part-time in hospitality to put herself through university, Catherine DeVrye had a customer centric work ethic drilled into her. Later in her professional life working at IBM in Japan, she became totally ingrained in a culture where she lived and breathed service quality every day. Over the last 25 years in her career as a best selling author and motivational speaker, Catherine has helped organisations on five continents to become more globally competitive by embracing continual improvement.

In today’s competitive talent market, a job isn’t enough for most employees; they want to make a living and make a difference. These days Catherine says she seldom speaks just about customer service. Taking a holistic approach, providing a good service also means the service you provide to your team, your community and to yourself. In this video, she explains how to develop relationships for long-term repeat business and why you can’t take care of your customers, if you don’t take care of yourself.

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Posted in The world @work