Sean Walters

Recruitment Management, Burnt Garlic, and the Problem with KPIs

I want you to take a moment. Look around your office and find the best performer. If it’s you, either look at the second best, or feel uncomfortable as your colleagues stare at you right now. Now ask yourself: does the office’s highest biller recruit exactly like you do? Actually,…

Sean WaltersJanuary 23, 2026

Employment Recruitment Sourcing

Backstreet’s Back (and so is saying “No” in 2026)

"Oh my God, we're back again!" sing the Backstreet Boys in their 1997 classic. And unless you're incredibly lucky, unlucky, or rich, so should you be. The rest of the song has no relevance to the first post of the year sadly. Before you ask, my break was lovely thank…

Sean WaltersJanuary 16, 2026

Human Resources Recruitment Work

Christmas is a confidence game (and I’m all in)

Regular readers may assume that I hate this time of year. The commercialism. The inability to get a seat or pie at Vultures unless you queue. The d*ckheads in Santa hats and Hawaiian shirts. The obligation to talk to (and even spend time with) distant relatives, neighbours you hate, and…

Sean WaltersDecember 19, 2025

Employment Human Resources Recruitment Technology

What SHOULD get you banned from LinkedIn

Getting banned from LinkedIn is easy enough. Trust me. All you have to do is write a few sharp blogs, tag a few people, and “enjoy” the cut’n’thrust of a comments section. Mostly, you’ll get banned for (as far as I’m concerned) no biggie. Such is life. In my strange…

Sean WaltersDecember 12, 2025

Employment Politics Recruitment Uncategorized

Regulated recruiters or a regular waste of time?

Following a biblical flood, I'm currently having my bathroom renovated. I'm actually having three bathrooms renovated simultaneously, but this adds nothing to the analogy, and only more debt to me. Due to the scale of the renovation required, I need the work of an architect and consent from our beloved…

Sean WaltersDecember 5, 2025

Employment Human Resources Recruitment

The new face of recruitment leadership

A lot is written about leadership. And those who write good stuff about it clearly know more than me. At its highest level, leadership is a science. Studied at Harvard with countless books written on the subject. These books are then devoured and understood by some, and misinterpreted my many.…

Sean WaltersNovember 28, 2025

Human Resources Job Boards Recruitment Work

BORING!

I've worked many boring jobs. I've sorted mail, built beer cooling machines, mixed spices, sat on the end of conveyer belts, worked in two(!) different garlic factories, calibrated fruit machines, bottled water, and even cleaned out sanitary bins (not a job for a young man trying to maintain a positive…

Sean WaltersNovember 21, 2025

Job Boards Work

2025 SARAs: And the winners are…

Last night was the SARAs. Say what you will about SEEK, but they are NZs best job board, and know how to host an event. Credit and thanks to all those who were involved. Unfortunately, this also means that I'm writing a blog with a hangover once again. For that…

Sean WaltersNovember 14, 2025

Employment Politics Recruitment Work

NZ and Me: The Story of a Droopy Pecker

"Keep ya pecker up" 'tis what they say. And having gone through a run of personal bad luck recently, I couldn't agree more. Without dwelling on it, I've had a motorbike stolen, a bathroom and bedroom destroyed by flood, shingles, two weird growths cut out of my body, and a…

Sean WaltersNovember 7, 2025

Recruitment Technology Uncategorized

Recruiters, we all know it’s ChatGPT

I’ve been banging on a lot about AI recently. Once a sceptic, I am now firmly convinced that AI will change our (and every other) industry more than anything else has in the past 30 years. Hell, this could be as big as the industrial revolution. I kid you not.…

Sean WaltersOctober 31, 2025