You have just returned to Australia from the UK where you were working in recruitment. What have you found to be the main differences between the Australian/Sydney markets and the UK/London market?
One of my jobs was as a trainee headhunter in financial markets purely on sales roles for equity, derivative and portfolio trading. They’re quite similar and in a number of investment banks they sit under the same title. I opened up a number of large clients – Bear Stearns, HSBC, BNP Paribas, UBS and then got headhunted myself to my competitor after year one. It was a global firm with offices in New York and London. It was also portfolio trading and I also picked up long-short and proprietary traders. I helped set up a number of hedge funds.
The main difference I found between Australia/Sydney is obviously the size. Obviously because it is so large [in the UK and United States] you can be a lot more specialised. Australia will move that way because of the traction and money in the market and the only way a recruiter can add value to clients is to become more specialised and add value in that field.
What are the attractions for people to stay in Australia or to go overseas?
Firstly, same job more money to go overseas, and with the size of the market overseas you pick up a lot more skills and you understand how the larger markets work and how it all fits together where you work in a highly dynamic market. And experience overseas doesn’t go astray when you come back to Australia. People who go overseas will probably live out their careers overseas and then not necessarily be looking at getting back into that space.
There is definitely a tall poppy syndrome that is prevalent but at the moment because it’s so candidate short, finding people [overseas] and bringing them back is often a good way to find candidates for our clients. The main attraction for staying is that a lot of companies are catching onto the fact that most people will want to go overseas if they are ambitious. Companies will now pay HECS debts and say to people, “if you want to work for us for a couple of years we will send you overseas to our New York office for 18 months”.
Is now a particularly good time to be in recruitment?
Recruitment is a funny business. It’s always a good time to be in recruitment. Others may say it’s quite hard at the moment, but if you’ve got good clients it never changes. You need to embrace the market cycle. You have to be strategic about it and know which clients you want to work with. You can’t work with everyone. Everyone is looking to boost up with staff and it only works if you know your client and what they like.
What work experience have you had that has equipped you, at a young age, to be working with such high flyers?
My first ever role was with London’s premier real estate agency, which has corporate lets with all the investment banks and handles relocation of all the family. You learn very quickly how you need to act with very senior people and how to develop good business skills, with everyone including celebrities, senior bankers, politicians and senior media people.
It was a really vast array of high net worths, including the kings of Saudi Arabia. You learn very quickly what needs to be done and how to react and negotiate business with senior individuals much more experienced than me. Rents were #1000 a week. The biggest house I sold was #17,000 a week, most were around #4000. It’s a combination of understanding what people are looking for and how much they can afford. It’s a similar skills set to recruitment. You have to be a straight shooter. I also did a lot of referral business, which is also the same as with recruitment.
What are the biggest mistakes employers make when trying to hire new staff?
Thinking that they can do it themselves. They don’t have the time or the patience. They don’t have the knowledge on the immediate market at that time. They think back on the last hire they did and if it was a smooth transaction then they think it will be like that. They need to look at the long-term solution not thinking that any recruiter can do that. If they can’t find someone straight away, it can send the wrong message to the market. They need to find someone who does it for a living. Many of the roles we pick up have been clients trying to recruit and haven’t had any luck. They could have saved time and money just researching recruiters to find who knows candidates of a certain calibre.
What are some of the best tips you have been given as a job candidate and what tips can you pass to others to help them?
Work out which recruiter covers the space you are in and then decide which one you want to use and send your CV to only one. By doing research, recruiters should understand where you want to work. Get secondary references for employers, recruiters and the job that is available.
Who is the ideal candidate in the current market?
Anyone who has six years’ experience in related fields and who has worked for up to two companies, has excellent academic skills and an idea of whether he or she wants to work in a boutique or big company. Good results at university are important but an MBA is not essential but good to have.
Someone driven and motivated, knows what they’re looking for but are also open to suggestions from myself to think laterally. I would look at less experience from someone who is bright and capable and who has shown they can deliver a result and can see a project through and are dedicated. If I were in the UK, I’d say a language would be important, even here maybe Mandarin, if I was thinking ahead.
