Farewell and thank you, Claudia Gray
Last week the RCSA announced that long time staff member, Claudia Gray, currently the Learning Centre and Major Events Manager, would be retiring from her job with the RCSA, her last day at work being 18 November 2016.
Claudia started her employment with the RCSA in 2002 when there was only a handful of RCSA staff in the Melbourne head office and none in Sydney. Claudia became the RCSA’s first permanent staff member based in New South Wales, responsible for the administration of L&D, sponsorship and membership across NSW.
In 2004 Claudia was promoted to NSW Executive Manager and three years later was promoted into the role she now retires from; Learning Centre and Major Events Manager.
Claudia’s contribution across her fourteen years with the RCSA has been immense however she will be especially remembered for her leadership and organisational skills, driving the success of fourteen RCSA International Conferences. Claudia’s first conference involvement was the 2004 conference in Melbourne and has concluded with the 2017 conference in Fiji (yes, I know it hasn’t happened yet but the core foundation work of any RCSA conference is undertaken in the previous calendar year).
I first met Claudia in 2005 when the (then) RCSA NSW staff, Claudia and Jeni Smith, were based in the old North Sydney premises, prior to the move to the current Castlereagh street office. I had recently started my training business and having run a couple of successful workshops in Melbourne for the RCSA Victoria, I was keen to run the same workshops in Sydney (in those days there was no centralised professional development; it was the responsibility of each state Council to run their own events).
Claudia gave me a hearing, decided to book me, and I was off and running with my first two RCSA (NSW & ACT) workshops held on 19 May 2005; Interviewing Skills for Consultants and Candidate Management.
In the eleven years since, I have had much to do with Claudia as my major point of contact for, firstly, the many different (223 at last count) professional development events I have spoken at or facilitated on behalf of the RCSA and secondly in the establishment of the RCSA PEARL program.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of Claudia’s skill and commitment to the progress that’s been made by the RCSA in the area of professional development for our industry.
The RCSA International Conference has continued to grow in status and popularity as the RCSA’s flagship event and the more recent establishment and rapid rise of the annual Gala Dinner, incorporating various awards including the PEARL Professional Recruiter Award, has been another wonderful addition to the annual calendar for the Australian recruitment industry. This year saw the New Zealand RCSA Gala Dinner held for the first time.
The RCSA mentoring program, PEARL, has also grown in status in a few short years, which is again testament to Claudia’s skill and commitment to launch this program and have it succeed.
On top of these many accomplishments that stand as Claudia’s professional legacy at the RCSA what I, and every person who has dealt with Claudia over her fourteen years at the RCSA, will most fondly remember is her personal legacy: the truly wonderful person she is; warm, friendly, positive, reliable, hardworking, genuine, and always smiling.
Nobody is irreplaceable and I am sure that Jodie and John, and whoever else joins the Learning Centre and Events team will be just as committed to ensuring that Claudia’s accomplishments are a benchmark for all future events and programs.
Thank you and all the best, Claudia. We are very lucky and grateful to have had the benefit of your commitment to the recruitment industry.
Note: You can read the RCSA’s announcement of Claudia’s retirement here. This page also contains ways to send Claudia a message, should you wish to do so.
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Thanks Esther