Der derrrrr…der derrrrr…der der da da da da da da da daaaaaaaaa. Yes it’s the last post. The Last Post. The last Whiteboard blog post of 2017 and also the last time you’ll be hearing from me on a regular weekly basis on this here blogging forum.
The Whiteboard will continue in 2018 but it’s time for some new voices in the recruitment industry to have their say. As I mentioned last week I’m fortunate to have a talented team around me nowadays and, to be honest, they have some fresh perspectives that I’m looking forward to hearing about, and hope you will too.
When I started Rice Consulting 8 years (minus 2 days) ago I already had a taste for the rec-to-rec market from spending a couple of years growing the now defunct Hughes Recruitment brand here, plus educational stints at Hays and Beyond too. My mission, as I saw it, was to work tirelessly at providing top recruitment firms top recruitment talent and, in doing so, start to shape the broadly negative opinions many kiwi businesses had about our recruitment industry.
We had a tagline back then: “moving recruitment” which I thought was a pretty good quip. But moving recruiters, as it turned out, was nothing new in an industry with alarming turnover…something that has gotten even worse 8 years on than it was even back then. Providing a moving experience was my real mission and, in the thankless world of rec-to-rec, I saw the emerging mediums of social media, and my love of the written word, as an ideal way to achieve that.
So on 22nd April 2010 I sent out my first digital missive. Now, over 7 years and 376 blog posts on, this is my last. My last regular one anyway. I’m not really sure I have achieved my original mission but I’ve certainly enjoyed being an active bystander as the recruitment industry has moved itself. I know that this blog has generated many offline debates and conversations which is awesome, if not the online debates I initially hoped for (it turns out kiwi recruiters are really conservative and like to keep their powder dry…who knew?)
I don’t have the time or inclination to trawl through 7 years worth of posts to find highlights but some things spring to mind that leave me with a good degree of satisfaction. Over the years I’ve riffed repeatedly on the insipid irrelevance of our industry body the RCSA but I can see now it is an organisation finding its place in our fast-evolving industry with some quality leadership committed to seeing through genuine change.
It’s possible I was quite rude to SEEK on a few occasions, particularly about their specious recruitment awards structure, but to their credit they listened and adapted.
The viral nature of blogging led to invitations to attend the RHUB conference in Australia which in turn led to Phil Tusing bringing the event to New Zealand in 2012, something that has turned into a regular and welcome part of the New Zealand recruitment calendar.
This blog provided close coverage of the initial All-of-Government tender process that forever changed the shape and direction of the Wellington agency space, generating plenty of debate and conflicting viewpoints. As it turned out it also provided MBIE’s procurement team an insight into the good and bad of their 2012 tender process which, I was informed, helped steer their approach to the next tender 5 years later.
The best part of it though is the community this blog has helped create. The inspiring industry leaders, movers and shakers that I’ve been able to connect with as a result of publicly venting my recruiting spleen each week. We do have a great recruitment community here in New Zealand, even between the globally warring factions of agency and in-house, and in that regard some of my initial mission has been achieved.
Go #nzrec.
Have a happy Friday, a happy Christmas, and I wish you all the best for 2018. It’s going to be a ride.
Thanks for listening.
