Recruitment

Australia’s most infamous recruitment entrepreneur, Ephram Stephenson, has quietly exited his latest venture, Leo Jackson, after eight months of operations. Stephenson’s LinkedIn profile has disappeared, along with the Leo Jackson company page and the company page of his consulting business Ephrams. His tell-all podcast has remained dormant since the fourth episode three months ago. I understand…

The more that comes to light about the Hudson Australia voluntary administration, the gloomier the picture becomes. Here’s a brief timeline of significant events in the life of Hudson Global Resources (Aust) Pty Limited. 1999: Morgan and Banks shareholders agree to a merger with TMP Worldwide 2003: TMP Worldwide is split into the monster.com job board…

The role of managing director for specialist recruitment in Australia has been made redundant as part of a major restructure of the Hays ANZ business, which was announced yesterday in an email to all Hays ANZ employees by Asia Pacific CEO Matthew Dickason (pictured, right). As a result, Jane McNeill, the incumbent and long-time Hays…

Clickbait headline, right? For sure. But you’re here now, so you may as well keep reading. The problem with working for Greg Savage is that you think it’s normal to have a boss who wants you to be better, drives you to be better, and will help you be better….if you are prepared to put…

Recruitment is a challenging job. Leading a team of recruiters is a hugely challenging job. Leading a team of recruiters successfully over the long term takes perseverance, skill, and a very thick skin. As a leader of other recruiters, I had many more failures than successes in my early days. These are the six most…

It is difficult to recall what was more terrifying in the 1990s when I lived in Sydney – attempting to drive to an unfamiliar location without my Gregory’s (street atlas) or turning up unprepared to a one-to-one weekly meeting with Greg Savage. Having been a mediocre recruiter and mediocre leader before eventually becoming better at…

(Top photo, January 1987, Salamanca Place, Hobart, bottom photo, November 2025, Delamere Vineyard, Tasmania)   Simon James Hugill Hirst was an influencer decades before it became an occupation or a label attached to anyone with more than 10,000 followers on Instagram. But Simon didn’t influence for money or status. Simon’s 80 years and 109 days…

There’s a simple reason that business owners who are central to multiple unsuccessful companies continue their pattern – they don’t accept responsibility. As I outlined last year when I dissected Ephram Stephenson’s attempt to explain the collapse of the Collar Group, Stephenson attempted, in a podcast interview, to accept responsibility for Collar’s cashflow crisis and…

When I started my Higher School Certificate (HSC) in Hobart more than four decades ago, my sole goal was attaining the minimum requirement for university entrance. Although I didn’t know what degree I would enrol in or what career that degree might lead to, I knew one thing very clearly – a university degree provided…

Excuse me if you don’t find me sympathetic to employers moaning about ‘talent shortages’. A succession of surveys and research released in the past couple of months paints an alarming and depressing picture of how a not-insignificant minority of Australian employers are the primary cause of their own problems in recruiting and retaining workers. This…