Posts by Ross Clennett

Collar Group’s administrators have submitted two reports (29 May and 24 June) to creditors and held an initial meeting with them (7 June). Earlier this week Collar’s founder, Ephram Stephenson, submitted a bid to regain control of the company, which the administrators recommend being accepted. Here are the key facts (based on the minutes of…

I have every reason to feel good right now. The past couple of months have been highly productive with a surge of new business and a range of speaking opportunities arriving in my inbox. I have still had time to play golf regularly, and my game is at its most consistent since I was a…

A lot has been posted online about Collar Group’s slide into voluntary administration. Some of it measured, some of it accusatory, some of it nasty and some of it rather hypocritical. An example of the last type of comment arrived in my LinkedIn messages recently. The recruitment agency owner who messaged me included a screenshot…

My father, who died in 2015, was a cautious and conservative man (although not politically). For 36 years, he was a tax auditor with the Australian Tax Office in Hobart (photo above, 1990), investigating companies to assess their compliance with tax law. It wasn’t a glamorous job, and my father didn’t seem to enjoy it…

One of Australia’s highest-profile large recruitment agencies, Collar Group entered voluntary administration on Monday, with the stated intention of cutting headcount by 20%, restructuring and coming out of voluntary administration within six weeks. Based on the more than 100 comments on the LinkedIn post it appears senior management found out about the decision at the…

There’s a pivotal episode in season two (“Every Second Counts”) of The Bear (on Disney + via FX) in which Richie (superbly portrayed by Ebon Moss-Bachrach) is spending a week at Ever, a three-Michelin-star Chicago restaurant, so he can understand what it takes to be maître d’ of such an establishment. Richie, naturally cynical, is…

Talent X AI panel (L – R): Natasha Saccuzzo (SEEK), Nick Gabrielidis (Chandler Macleod), Luke Howes (Six Degrees Executive), Brendan Tremble (Frazer Tremble) and Mark Pritchard SEEK),  (Photo courtesy of the RCSA) How does artificial intelligence (AI) support, and extend your competitive advantage? I came away from the Talent X AI panel with this question…

Many years ago when Andrew Banks was still a recruitment agency executive I attended an industry event where he was the guest speaker. He said something that was so obviously true I wondered why the concept he explained had not occurred to me (which tells you all you need to know about the difference in…

On 30 April 2004 in Melbourne, a new recruitment agency opened its doors for business.  Co-founders David Braham , Nick Hindhaugh and Paul Hallam (pictured left: L-R April 2024, and below in 2004) had each risen through the ranks of Michael Page’s local operation and decided it was time to see if they could combine…

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny autumn day in Mornington. My wife and I walked to our local café and ordered our coffee. Even though it was a working day the venue was packed with groups of friends, young mothers and couples enjoying their brew, both inside and outside the bustling café. While we waited for…