Recruitment

There is no stopping the Australian recruitment industry’s most optimistic business owner, Ephram Stephenson. It appears he’s the face behind the just-launched executive recruitment business, Leo Jackson: Executive Search, HR & Human Capital. The leojackson.com.au domain name was registered at the beginning of this week. Clicking on “Contact Our Team” brought up the prepopulated email…

The recent passing of Denis Waxman, the co-founder of the business now known as Hays (then known in the UK as Accountancy Personnel), prompted me to retrieve my journals covering my post-university travels and time living in London. As I detailed in another blog post (from 2019) I started my recruitment career, as a 22-year-old,…

The sixth report to the creditors of Collar Talent Group has revealed the extent of the hopeless financial position the company was in at the time of liquidation and the liquidators’ assessment of the negligence and incompetence of the company’s CEO and sole director, Ephram Stephenson. Collar entered liquidation on 28 February 2025, having traded…

Episode 1 of The Ephram Stephenson podcast dropped last week promising, “In this raw, unfiltered interview, I dive deep into the how, what, and why addressing every tough question raised in media articles, LinkedIn comments, about COLLAR, my previous ventures and criticisms received from competitors. Nothing is off-limits. It’s my way of honoring (sic) your…

Photo credit: Hays plc 2006 Annual Report Denis Waxman, the legendary founder of the business that offered me my first permanent job and ultimately evolved into the sixth-largest staffing company in the world, Hays, passed away on 22 August 2025 at the age of 78, from heart disease. Hays CEO, Dirk Hahn, released a statement…

As it was at SHAPE 2022, with the creator of  You Can’t Ask That, Kirk Docker it was a television professional who took us back to the fundamentals of our job at SHAPE 2025. Closing the program on day one this year was ABC presenter and journalist, Leigh Sales, one of Australia’s most respected media…

Ephram’s back! Yes, the man whose comebacks rival those of John Farnham has returned to public life. Former Collar Group founder and CEO, Ephram Stephenson, announced his comeback via his first LinkedIn post since November 2024, late on Friday afternoon. Stephenson’s updated LinkedIn profile features a now-bearded Stephenson, looking very yacht rock with that detached,…

Last night at The Langham in Melbourne, the culmination of many months of organising and fundraising came to a brilliant conclusion with the announcement of $3.5 million as the 2025 donation from The Mother’s Day Classic Foundation to fund life-saving breast and ovarian cancer research, up $200k on the 2024 donation. Of this total amount, $2.13…

Early last year I went to a pool (not my local pool) and had my first experience of being considered an ‘older Australian’. At the entrance, the customer service officer, probably no more than 19, said, “Do you have a seniors card?” Of course, he was helping me to avail myself of discounted admission if…

Do you notice how often the phrase “million-dollar biller” is bandied about in the recruitment industry? I know I do. Whether it’s a LinkedIn post, a podcast episode, a trainer pitching their services as one (or promoting themselves on LinkedIn as one), a webinar revealing insights into building a million dollar desk or a training…