Posts by Ross Clennett

I am in shock, and the local recruitment industry is in shock. The family of Robert van Stokrom, FRCSA (Life), announced his passing on Monday, at the age of 71, via a Facebook update the following day. Rob was a hugely influential figure in the Australian recruitment industry as a business owner and former President…

Earlier this week, Nine Entertainment, owner of the Nine Network, ran a 60 Minutes report followed by a similar piece in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald about the behavior of Sydney-based hospitality giant, Merivale’s, toward its staff. The stories included alleged misconduct towards vulnerable workers, including a number of chefs who were recruited…

It’s beginning. The backlash against using AI in hiring is building momentum and gaining a higher profile. Disgruntled job seekers venting their frustration online is one thing – and I’ll get to that shortly – but a legal case in California is what every stakeholder in this field is paying attention to right now. Last…

The perils of outsourcing jobs to remote workers have gone to another level, with ongoing revelations about U.S. companies discovering that North Korean IT workers are using deepfake technology to create synthetic identities for online job interviews to secure remote work. The issue has been out in the open since the U.S. government issued a warning in May 2022…

Last month at the Rec Gala in Sydney, Laura Frazer, was announced as the 2025 winner of the RCSA Recruitment Professional award (pictured, right, with award sponsor SEEK representative, Ben Vague). Born and raised in Northern Ireland, Laura completed undergraduate studies in Criminology and Criminal Justice then started her professional life with the Halifax Bank…

The whole premise of outsourcing work to overseas workers to save on Australian wages and salaries has been thrown into doubt with a recent ruling by the Fair Work Commission (FWC). An outsourced worker in the Philippines has won her case against an Australian business in the FWC, after her former employer recently lost an appeal…

Yesterday I had reason to reach for Tony Hall’s excellent book, First Interview. Published in 2000, the book features twenty-two of the most prominent and successful recruitment agency owners and leaders of that era. Almost all of them are now retired and, sadly, a handful are no longer with us. Having quickly found what I…

Earlier this year I wrote How I didn’t deal with professional heartbreak in which I chronicled my decades-long unresolved emotions arising from the messy exit at my long-time employer. The post was given a wider audience thanks to Recruiting Brainfood curator, Hung Lee, featuring it in issue 438 Comments and private messages from others who…

The new Albanese ministry was announced earlier in the week, and there were some changes at the top of the ministries that are most relevant for the labour market and the recruitment industry. I solicited some comments from RCSA CEO, Charles Cameron, an experienced industrial relations advocate, for some recruitment industry context. Cameron prefaced his…

Australia’s Federal Labor Government retained power with 89 confirmed seats in the House of Representatives as of last night. Just under 20 per cent of the national count remains as a record number of pre-polling day votes are still being counted. Aside from the near-obliteration of the Liberal Party’s representation in the country’s capital cities…