Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Just when you think the well of blogging topics has run dry, SEEK go and announce the finalists for this year’s SARAs. What has fast become a tradition, and even by request of SEEKs very own Dave Swift, here’s my chance to upset everyone with my predictions for this year’s winners. Contrary to some vicious rumours circulated, last year I actually predicted 3 and not 2 correctly, so let’s see how I fare this time round.
Small Recruitment Agency of the Year:
- Automotive Employment (NZ) Ltd
- Sourced Ltd
- Artemis Executive Recruitment
- Recruitment Studio
- Greenlight Recruitment
We’re starting with a tough one. This category often has been scratching my head and judging companies I don’t know purely on their website. If I apply this logic alone, I’d probably go with Artemis. However, I wouldn’t be New Zealand’s third best recruitment blogger if I were to be so flippant. Sourced are now part of Expert360, who always prove themselves to be far from it, so I’m ruling them out. Automotive Employment seems more concerned about getting visas than making placements, so they’re out also. Greenlight seem to “specialise” in f*cking everything, but they’re in Christchurch, so that gives them a chance. Recruitment Studio have won before and been finalists in this category, so they know how to write a submission. Hmmmm….
My prediction: Greenlight Recruitment
Medium Recruitment Agency of the Year
- Frog Recruitment
- Cultivate
- Medrecruit
- Younity Limited
- edenfx HSE Recruitment ltd
At least there’s a few here I don’t need to bosh into AltaVista. Frog always seem to do well at the SARAs, but they have an unhealthy obsession to the point of distraction around candidate care and donating money to tree frogs, so not them. Cultivate and Younity are good firms, so maybe them (if these things were based on actual merit of course). Medrecruit are a “no” from me. My daughter was born a day before Geordie Dave’s in the same hospital, so my allegiance always sits with Global Medics. I didn’t claim this would be scientific. edenfx recruit in such a mind-numbingly boring industry that I’d hand it to them out of sympathy if nothing else.
My prediction: edenfx HSE Recruitment ltd
Large Recruitment Agency of the Year
- Hunter Campbell
- Potentia
- Robert Walters NZ
- Talent
- Stellar Recruitment
Now this is a toughy. If I could park my blinkered views on Robert Walters’ ridiculous team commission scheme, I’d say these are all top firms. Of course, I’m famously blinkered, so Robert Walters are out. As for the rest of ’em, they’re all clients, and I’d let a mate work for any of them. This is Hunter Campbell’s only entry and it’s unheard of for the slimline Lee Marshall to go home empty handed, so they’re a betting favourite. Potentia are consistently excellent, and Stellar always do great work and are loved by clients. However, this time round, I’m picking our neighbours Talent. Not only do people love working there, not only are they offering increasingly interesting service lines, not only do they have a very strong leader in Kara Smith, but we also got to invoice them a few times this year. Bonus.
My prediction: Talent
Innovation in Recruitment
- Rice & Co
- Frog Recruitment
- 1st Call Recruitment
- Robert Walters NZ
- UP Talent
Let’s be clear. Rice will never win a SARA. The best we get is a “finalist” banner to put under our email signatures each year. This is an official policy from SEEK, and I’m fine with it, providing the booze is free. Frog might have been up to something behind the scenes, but have they really? Robert Walters are a global, and maybe they’ve re-invented recruitment whilst we were all spending our individual commission, but I doubt it. UP Talent are certainly innovative, in that they have a grand total of 2 vacancies on their website. I’m not convinced this pays bills or wins prizes however.
My prediction: 1st Call Recruitment
Outstanding Progress in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
- Randstad New Zealand
- Mana Recruitment
- Talent
- Lynx Recruitment
Unless Pete Stewart has got his whole team wearing burkas, I can’t see Lynx taking this one. Not in the industries they serve. Talent would be worthy winners, but my gut tells me that this is a category where worthy winners don’t win. Randstand, nah. I’m not having that. Instead, I’m playing it safe and going with the obvious for fear of getting cancelled. Again.
My prediction: Mana
Excellence in Candidate Experience
- Robert Walters NZ
- Lynx Recruitment
- Frog Recruitment
- 1st Call Recruitment Talent
I f*cking hate this award. Basically, send every candidate a hand-penned haiku and get an award. Here’s an idea for you. Placing one candidate in a great job beats 100 beautifully crafted rejection letters. “Oh but Sean, we should be doing both”. Yeah, yeah, I know. Except no one can tell me how spending 20 minutes rejecting arborists from Ōpōtiki won’t affect the number of actual placements I make. Anyway, this isn’t about my mean-spirited recruitment views. In my opinion, when it comes to candidate care and protecting endangered amphibians, it’s very hard to beat one of these firms.
My prediction: Frog
Recruitment Leader of the Year
- Kara Smith, Talent
- Tom Sweeney, Crew Technology Recruitment
- Matthew Greenwood, Archway Recruitment
- Roald Badenhorst, Stellar Recruitment
- Dylan Rigby, AWF Limited
Hmmm…some goodies in the mix, and with no Lisa Cooley or Lee Marshall playing the game this year, it could go anywhere. Kara, I’ve mentioned previously. Tom Sweeney, I don’t know, but he would have had to navigate the merger with Potentia. Matthew Greenwood is a famously good operator, although Jonny Greening is New Zealand’s largest RCSA campaign donor, so maybe their interests lie elsewhere. Roald Badenhorst runs an incredibly successful business unit, but how does he stack up to leaders with bigger teams? Dylan, I know don’t know, but he’s young and appears to be a volunteer firefighter in his LinkedIn photo. Now that’s leadership.
My prediction: Dylan Rigby
Recruitment Consultant of the Year
- Peita Ransom, Robert Walters
- Georgia Hinton, Retailworld Resourcing
- Jason Boot, Lynx Recruitment
- Jeanette Rendle, RWR Health
- Elyse Ryan, Stellar Recruitment
If Peita Ransom wins this, surely it’ll only p*ss her off that she doesn’t get paid commission for the great work she does. And we don’t want that. Georgia Hinton, I only know by name, so I can’t comment. Jason Boot is a very big biller in a very tough market, however, this isn’t a billing competition. Jeanette Rendle works for the sister company as Georgia, so that stacks the odds in the group’s favour, but may cause a punch-up at the Christmas party. Elsye Ryan is at Stellar, and Stellar are masters at creating recruiters.
My prediction: Elyse Ryan
Anyway, hopefully I’ve upset everyone indiscriminately. Good luck to all the finalists and be sure to say “hi/go f*ck yourself” if you see me there.
^SW
