Strivin & Thrivin

When life chucks over a chance, you grab it (with both hands, ideally). Failure is always an option, yes, but what’s the alternative? Anything, really. But growing stale in a role, organisation or industry is a distinct possibility Anita Thompson, Head of Business Operations at legal services firm LOD, is the complete antithesis of that (slightly scary) scenario. She’s jumped at every opportunity, crossed into other industries and markets - and learned a whole lot along the way. Anita spent 4 years at Deloitte during the heyday of big budgets and grad-grabbing (FUN), then leaped into legal land. While she first worked in a graduate recruitment role at Deacons, she soon ended up in HR. Throw in some time overseas with Ashurst in London, yet more experience and a baby…and before long, Anita was back in Sydney doing HR (including people & culture) for  start-up AdventBalance Lawyers. When that company merged with LOD, she put her hand up for a marketing & comms role. Not yet as exhausted as those reading this (😅), Anita made the move to her current role in business operations in May 2022. So you certainly won’t wonder why we brought her along for our Moving from Talent Acquisition to People & Culture podcast. Clearly, she knows how to keep a career varied, interesting and invigorating! Anita gave us her POV on embracing opportunities, changing careers and why a background in TA is a huge plus.  Check out her episode now. 

Some people cause problems. Others sit back watching those problems get worse. And then there’s Lianne Vineberg. She’s been solving sticky situations since she began her career in marketing a few years back. Soon enough, she realised recruiting would suit her proactive nature a bit better. 6 years later (and with a plethora of P&C experiences under her belt), Lianne went in-house. And what do you know? Yet more problems to solve! (Let’s just say, expensive, underpar support for teams did not sit well with this go-getter). This prompted Lianne and her partner to launch T6 Talent Partners, a Toronto-based firm offering recruitment, HR advisory and training. She’s done a lot. So we talked a lot. About why listening is everything in HR, how to advise (not baby) managers and where to start if you want to pitch into P&C. This episode is chock-full of tips, tricks and advice from talented people just like Lianne - check it out now!

There’s nothing new about neurodivergence. And the world would indeed be a duller place without the likes (and legacies) of famously-neurodivergent thinkers like Tim Burton, Lewis Carroll and Steve Jobs. But what’s oh-so-refreshing about today’s landscape is our changing attitude towards those individuals who…simply see things a little differently. Workplaces (and the world in general) are waking up to the wonders of neurodivergence. And, may we say, not a moment too soon. Samantha Nuttal, founder of The Neurodivergent Coach and a 20 year veteran of graduate recruitment, knows this topic inside out. She lives with dyscalculia (the numerical version of dyslexia), coaches neurodiverse people to thrive in their careers and educates organisations on workplace inclusion. Oh, and she also keeps her foot in the early careers door with a part time gig at Sydney University. In other words, the perfect candidate for our final Emerging Trends in the World of Emerging Talent podcast. In fact, Samantha gave us the jolt we probably all needed when it comes to inclusive practices. She gave her unique insights into why organisations are crazy not to consider neurodiverse candidates, how to discover those people in the first place and what we can all do to be truly inclusive. Check out her episode now! 

Elyssa Goodman, Atlassian’s Campus Recruitment Manager, is all about changing it up. Throughout her career, she’s covered most industries: legal, finance, consulting and government - and, of course, tech. And, even though she began her days as a lawyer and policy analyst, she’s spent more than 17 years in early talent. So as if we weren’t going to pull her in for our latest podcast series, Emerging Trends in the World of Emerging Talent. As always, we had a good ol’ yarn. Elyssa told us what she’s seeing in new grads, how organisations can support them post-pandemic and why connection matters more than ever. Check out her episode now! 

You probably know why you need relationships with universities (a smorgasbord of savvy students, for starters!). And if that’s already a big push in your graduate recruitment strategy, you’ll know all about the benefits. But many organisations don’t actually know what industry engagement is. And we get it. Because even if you’re across the whole idea, where do you actually start? So many departments, courses, campuses and students. That’s why Elena Holland from UNSW is here to help. As part of the Career Accelerator team at UNSW’s Business School (AGSM), she’s been happily engaging with industry for 5 years. Before that, Elena spent many years in agency recruitment, where she found her passion for employability and getting people into jobs. Elena laid it all out for us: how organisations can engage with universities, why going with the flow helps and what you can do to grab students’ attention.

Let’s face it: it’s a candidate’s market out there today. So getting high-quality grads over the line takes a bit (just who are we kidding here? A lot) of time, effort and investment. Enter one of GradAustralia’s Graduate Attraction Consultants, Elliot Cirkovic. He’s been at the organisation since 2020, supporting companies to attract top-notch grads from universities across Australia. Before that, he held roles in both agency and internal recruitment, including 4 years in the graduate space. And, having previously been a State / National soccer referee, he knows how to tell it how it is! That’s why we brought Elliott in for this episode of Emerging Trends in the World of Emerging Talent podcast. He told us why organisations need to know (and communicate) their offering, how clever job ads can get you noticed and why authenticity matters.

When you spend more than 25 years in the early career space, you learn a lot about grad recruitment, training and development programs. A grad guru, some would say (we do. We say it). That’s exactly why we teed up a chat with Suncorp’s Kelly Pfeffer for our latest podcast series, Emerging Trends in the World of Emerging Talent. Kelly is currently doing her second stint at Suncorp (she previously spent 6 years looking after the organisation’s grad program), in an Early Careers Specialist role. Before that, Kelly spent 20 years working in HR generalist and grad management positions in various Queensland government departments, as well as in the IT/engineering industry. Oh, and along the way she created Grad Hero Hub - an online community for graduate recruitment and development professionals. Thankfully, Kelly still found time to sit down with us! We loved picking her brain about managing this generation of grads, how Covid has changed the landscape and why it’s up to every organisation to do their bit for upskilling up the workforce.

Organisations are finalising realising graduate recruitment and training programmes are more than simply a way to get top talent through the door. Who better, then, to talk us through this HR hot spot than Brightworks founder, Lou Zoanetti? Despite calling herself a ‘geriatric millennial’, Lou’s insights are as fresh, interesting and unique as the grads she supports every day. Lou started her career in PR and marketing at NAB, but was quickly pulled into the bank’s newly-formed grad program. Before long, she was heading up that program and, with some serious experience under her belt, then moved to Monash University. She spent several years setting up and running the university’s internship function before establishing Brightworks in 2021. And Lou’s passion and knowledge was exactly what we needed for our latest podcast series, Emerging Trends in the World of Emerging Talent.

Rebecca Powell was made redundant from her TA role early on in the pandemic. But, before you could say ‘toilet paper shortage’, she’d donned a mask and jumped into the people & culture world. After getting a taste for P&C at Payright, she then moved to IntelligenceBank, where she now heads up People & Culture. Rebecca agreed to chat with us for our Moving from Talent Acquisition to People & Culture podcast (she’s generous; we’re persistent) and we’re so glad she did. She gave us all the juice: what it’s like moving from TA to P&C, why you can never ask too many questions and how making a career change in your 40s can be just what you need. Check out her episode now! 

What happens when you graduate with a comms degree, have visions of being an investigative journalist  - but aren’t sure what’s next? You go backpacking across Europe…and start working in recruitment. That was Natalie Firth’s experience, anyway. Since finding herself in a northern English recruitment agency more than 15 years ago, she’s held various talent acquisition roles, batted her way into Cricket Australia and run her own recruitment agency. These days, she’s Global Head of Talent at Aussie tech company, Envato. As part of our Moving from Talent Acquisition to People & Culture podcast series, we sat down with Natalie to get the juice on her journey from TA to P&C, what her career advice is and how you can prime yourself for a P&C role, too. Check her episode out now. 

How do you transition into P&C? Can anyone do it? Is liking people enough? We wondered, too. Then we stopped wondering and rounded up 6 gurus who’ve actually made the move from TA into P&C and are positively crammed with career advice (which they’re happy to share). First in the podcast chair was Emer McCann. She boldly bounced from TA into P&C a few years back and, after honing her craft at software startup, Deputy, now manages the people and talent function at Simply Wall St. She talked us through her transition, what she’s learnt along the way and how you can pivot into P&C, too.

Talent, is the first step in creating a high performing team. As leadership coach, Jon Osborne reminds us, people aren’t building blocks to be stacked up neatly into a well-adjusted, working wall. “Many people assume that if they bring high performing individuals together…then they will naturally have a high performing team,” Jon says. “But that’s quite a mechanistic model…and of course, it doesn’t work like that with people.” So, how does it work? Can you actually hone a high performing team? And, as a new leader, what’s your role in all of this? In our 5th and final  New Leader podcast, we delve into all the detail you need to take your talented team from working to wow.

Most of us are pretty decent conversationalists. We’ve had plenty of great (and not so great 🥱) chats in our time, so we generally know how it all works. As a new leader, though, conversations take on more meaning. They have more riding on them, a wider circle hears you and your speaking skills (or lack thereof) really start to matter. It’s the currency you’re dealing with - and it’s worth a lot. Thankfully, leadership whizz, Jon Osborne, knows what a good yarn sounds like and why leadership is actually a conversational activity. In our 4th podcast chat with Jon, he gave us the lowdown on conversation as a currency, how to trade in it and why practicing (and mastering) it will make you a better leader. Listen up, new leadership league: it’s time to talk…talk tactics.

It’s harsh. It’s humbling. Oh, and btw - it’s true. Becoming a leader really isn’t about you. The truth is, leadership is about your team and taking them somewhere they want to go. If you’re a leader who’s all about numero uno, you could be in for a lonely old time. Jon Osborne, our go-to people and leadership expert, gave us his take on storytelling (without the ego) in this episode. His interesting insights will give you everything you need to create your own engaging story that’s uniquely yours - but still keeps your team centrestage.

You’ve worked your tail off to earn a leadership role and now your expertise is irrelevant? Look. Knowing your stuff matters. Of course it does. But, as a new leader, you DO need to shift your thinking somewhat. Look at things from a lens and be, well, a leader. It’s not always an easy or natural step for us to take, which is why – as part of our 5-part podcast series – we devoted an entire chat to it. Continuing our New Leaders series, we picked the brains of leadership expert, Jon Osborne. And, as ever, he’s given us some meaty bites of helpful info to guide you through this part of leading. You can listen to the entire podcast episode now. It’ll get you on the right road for leadership, so you can be the driving force your team needs.

For any new leader navigating the choppy waters of people and project management, times can get a little turbulent. That’s why we’re kicking on with our new New leaders series - 5 things you should know as a new leader - with this episode taking a deep dive into leadership & management - how it works, and why your ability to listen, learn and love yourself matters!

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This week on Strivin & Thrivin, we speak with Mitch King, Head of Talent Acquisition at Linktree. After leaving school, Mitch had no idea what he wanted to do, and went from dishwashing to admin. From there, he found recruitment and ended up recruiting in the marketing and advertising space. After 12 years though, it was time to move on. “12 years was too long. I started there as a Junior Admin Consultant and left as essentially, the Managing Director for the last three months, which I didn't enjoy. I made the decision to do what I really wanted to do - I really liked the tech space. I really liked more of the hands-on recruitment side.” Now, Mitch is at Linktree and has been for just over two years. But after a solid 14 years in the recruitment space we had to know what it was like working his way up from the bottom of the ladder. “I would say I was a really typical junior consultant. It was just scraps thrown at me, I was trying to learn the ropes…I think one thing I learned from it was not to chase the greener pastures.” After working his way up, being put in charge of the freelance desk to managing a couple of people, Mitch put his hand up to run his own office around the 8-9 year mark. But by year 12, there was no enjoyment left in the job. “It affected my mental health quite badly towards the end and I made a decision that this has to change. This is the thing that's ruining my mental health, so I'm going to change this thing and then figure it out. It took a while to make the decision - we've got two kids, a mortgage, that sort of stuff, leaving a job without a job. But it’s probably the best decision that I've made career wise.” Obviously, going from agency to an internal TA role is a bit of a step, so why did it interest Mitch? “There's so much more diversity of thought, you get to speak to someone and go, "Hey, what do you think about this from a non-TA and non-recruitment perspective?," that in a recruitment agency you’re all just sitting around talking about the perspective of recruiters. So there were a few of those things that I was chasing - a combination of tech being inside the company and not being transactional.” Now, if you can relate to imposter syndrome when it comes to your career, so can Mitch. “Every day, my internal voice continually tells me how shit I am. And it's only at an older age that I've sort of learned to balance that with the facts…I spoke to some graduates at the start of the year or end of last year. And the piece of advice I gave them was, 99% of people are trying to figure it out on the fly.”

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This week on Strivin & Thrivin, we speak with Mitchell Parkins, founder and MD of Build Brand Equity. Mitch has worked in wagering for pretty much his whole career, starting out at Centrebet, then hopping over to Sportsbet, then to GVC Group and is now the founder of Build Brand Equity. As for his first role, Mitch says it found him. “I was the type of kid that didn't want to go to uni. I deliberately chose to go to College because I was very independent, and I didn't feel like I had it in me at the time to do three or four years of study to work out what I wanted to do. I was like, "Mate, I love sport. I know that. Macleay are doing an advanced diploma in sports management and marketing." I was like, "That's me. I'll figure out the rest later.” Like many of us, Mitch decided to do his own thing during the pandemic, and why not?! “It is a gamble…it is addictive. Backing yourself in, taking risks. I don't think that's ever not going to be a part of my DNA. Sitting there at the start of that lockdown, just going, "What I'm doing now. I like it. It's good, but it's not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life." We wanted to hear what lights Mitch up, and he told us about recently connecting with his Indigenous heritage. “Obviously the Build Brand Equity piece. I am serving as drop-in GM and marketing roles. And helping essentially fill gaps in the market at the moment because there's literally a lot of them. That's keeping me busy with the intention that in roughly 15 months' time... my wife and my son and myself will hit the road for a full year to connect with the Indigenous culture of Australia. Without giving you an entire life story, because they're boring, I discovered my Indigenous heritage about three years ago.... I want to spend, I'm saying a year, because I think my wife needs an end date. An indefinite period of time travelling, eating, learning, listening, just immersing myself in the culture. And hopefully, just providing a bit of an insight into essentially what Australia at a macro level is missing. And how and why we need to start championing indigenous agriculture.” As for mentoring, Mitch sees it as helping to get out of your bubble. For him, having spent a really long time in one category meant he felt he needed mentoring from outside the category to become a bit more rounded. “You can get mentored from anyone if you're open to it.”

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This week on Strivin & Thrivin, we speak with Joel Broughton, Talent Solutions Manager at Paxus. Joel whole career has been in the people space so we wanted to know what it is about recruitment & TA that Joel loves so much! And he had the perfect answer for us. “I think the best part about my job and the best part about any recruiter's job in my view is the opportunity to impact someone's life. So you're either impacting their life by providing them with the opportunity to be promoted, to earn more money, put more food on a table, buy a nicer car, buy a better house, move to a better suburb, basically impact their life that way.” Joel also shared what skills are needed to be a good recruiter, and one of them is active listening. “Active listening is really important and being able to interpret what's being said and to reflect that back in a way that is doable and workable. Every hiring manager, every client has their wishlist.” Now, when it comes to what we can do better collectively to make sure people stick around in recruitment and HR roles, Joel says it’s all about networking and learning development. “I think if organisations had those established career paths with some learning development milestones along the way, like invest back in that learning and development piece in their own people. They'll not only hang on to people a lot longer, but the people that are there are going to be better and the whole industry will be better as a result. We'll have better recruiters. The industry will have a much, much better reputation and it's just going to be better all around because again, you get back to that impacting lives space.” For anyone in the TA and HR space, we found out how Joel stays up-to-date on what’s happening in the industry. “For me, it's all about networking. It really is. Well, there's a couple of things. So it's not just all. So when I say it's all about networking, it's not all about networking, but that's really important. So I'm a huge proponent of lifelong learning. So I was looking at my formal education. Kind of every 10 years or so I've gone back and upgraded and upgraded and upgraded. So that's been really important to me and that's something that I'm really, really proud of.”

This week on Strivin & Thrivin, we speak with Matt Woodard, TA Leader.  Matt’s has been with Slalom Build for two years when we recorded the podcast and has been in recruitment for 15, starting his career in a small boutique agency in Wellington, New Zealand after immigrating from the UK. In his own words, Matt revealed he’s always been someone who really likes people and has seen it as one of his biggest strengths since his first job at 18-years-old. He’s also admitted that the ability to relate and engage people is half the battle with recruitment. At Slalom, he’s identified other key areas that are imperative when introducing yourself to a market who doesn’t know you. “I think resilience and hard work are the other key things. And as much as I love dealing with people, sometimes that adds huge levels of complexity and challenge. So, I think the ability to sort of grin and bear things sometimes is a pretty important element as well.” Matt’s had some experience at some large companies getting in on a ground level and building them up. So, we wanted to know what it is about that build piece that he loves so much. “I can find myself getting bored easily in roles, so I think the fact that I can get challenges that are longer-term, the fact there is a chance to actually help build and create and influence, and positively direct the future home for a company, I think is a big risk responsibility, but it's also a fantastic challenge.” Now, if you’re looking at moving from agency to in-house, Matt shared some advice for you. “I would say if there's a desire to do it, I think it's a great career move, but I think it's just understanding what it is, why it is you're wanting to do that…it's really important that you continue to bring your best, then that you are delivering the best kind of quality candidates.” Finally, we asked how Matt switches off and unplugs from a job where there’s a huge amount of growth going on. “I think it's making sure that you sort of draw a line under it at the end of the day, that you switch off. When my kids get home, right about six o'clock, now, that's it. Work's done for the day, and whatever's left, depending how urgent it is, can get done later or can get done tomorrow. There's a line you have to draw. And I think making sure that you are disciplined, and you set time for yourself, for breaks, for your mental health, that you keep yourself balanced, you keep yourself healthy, I think are the key things. It's easy to fall into a trap of just continuing to work because it's there and because it's right next to you at home.”

This week on Strivin & Thrivin, we speak with John Dawson, Global Director of Talent Intelligence at Ceredian. John has worked in recruitment agencies, corporate recruitment and he's led talent acquisition teams. He says his first role in recruitment was the same story as everybody: falling into it backwards. “Nobody grows up and says, ''I really want to be a recruiter”, but it’s an awesome industry. It’s an awesome space and you get to impact people every single day and hear amazing stories. So it is an amazing opportunity.” A friend of John’s was doing exceptionally well working at one of the big agencies, and he dove into it! After that, he went to a boutique agency in hope to have an impact in intimate relationships with customers. But decided it wasn’t for him after a while. “It doesn’t work in today's market anymore. And so I think I felt the ripples of that early on and saw that if I really wanted to be successful in recruiting and actually build a profile in talent acquisition, I was going to need to understand the mechanics, not only behind how to find candidates, but how do organisations actually decide when to hire who to hire and what process to put them through? And so when I was given the opportunity to leave agency and go lead talent acquisition at a mid-size company, I jumped at it because I didn't know what was behind the scenes.” John oozes confidence, and it’s something we wanted to know more about - where does it come from and is it something we can try to adopt ourselves? “I always like to fail forward. So, you know, I'm not falling back on something. I'm failing, I'm tripping. I've fallen on my face a million times and made more mistakes than I would ever admit to. But through each of those comes a learning, right? And so from that learning, I just learned not to do it again.” With someone so deep in the recruiting game, how does he switch off?! “I definitely set time apart or aside for things like friends, family, socialisation. I love spending time trying new foods, restaurants, you know, part of being in this social world that we live in, especially from a startup space and having travelled the globe, is the experiences I gain, right? And so I love going and trying new foods or reminding me of times I was in different countries because it grounds me, right? I think we work in a global workforce, and then too many people are too siloed.”

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This week on Strivin & Thrivin, we speak with Lucy Wilson, HR leader and founder of That People and Culture Company. Lucy started her own business That People and Culture Co after 16+ years working in HR, she decided it was time to throw everything she knows together and create a company, which creates incredible people and culture experiences. We chatted to Lucy about what her first role was and how she got to where she is now. “I was probably about 19, maybe 20. I had just lost my mum and I was at the Gold Coast driving around in this little red car, and a guy ran a red light and it ended up wrapping my car around the pole..... so I ended up smashing the car and crashing and going to hospital”. Lucy was unable to walk too well after the accident and she couldn't continue to work in her current role. A friend then managed to put her in touch with someone who had a role in HR going and as they say the rest is history. With a range of jobs in Sydney following that, Lucy has recently made her way back to Brisbane. “I transferred back to Brisbane and took a Chief People Officer role with another scale-up, which was fun for the time that it lasted. But I think there was a bit of a values mismatch for me, probably for the first time in my career in a long time. So, I was faced with this decision personally, where like, "Is this something I can stay in? Or is it something I need to walk away from?" So, I walked away and did my time, finished up end of last year. And here I am.” Lucy has had such a full career, and it keeps on going! We had to know what advice she’d give someone looking to follow in her footsteps, as well as the best advice she’s received. “I think the best career advice I've ever had is to genuinely be yourself and be very clear on what your purposes and what your values are. And if it is not a match, do not go. If you have the option in your life and you get to choose, choose. Take the choice.”

This week on Strivin & Thrivin, we spoke with Alex Conomos, Senior Manager for Content Marketing and Social Media at Audible. Alex spent a lot of time in the media and entertainment industries, with a focus on food. It all started in food magazines, which then saw her move from editorial to advertising, before realising that the place for her was in marketing. Next up was food and lifestyle TV at Foxtel, then Alex launched Australia’s first food channel, SBS Food. But if there’s one thing that was consistent with every one of those marketing roles, it was working with storytellers. “Working with my internal content teams, executive producers, writers and chefs, I would help mould their ideas and their content into something really fantastic that audiences would love. And work out the right way to shape it, brand it and package it all up so that audiences would really, really engage with it.” That leads us to Alex’s current role at Audible (which surprisingly, isn’t food related!), with a focus on their Audible Originals - audio storytelling that’s created to be listened to. Alex already has an impressive resume, and has only added to it by working on projects with Eric Bana (yes, THE Eric Bana), Sarah Wilson (author of I Quit Sugar) and, Audible has recently announced a collaboration with another iconic Aussie, Cate Blanchett! With big names signing on to create original audio projects tells us one thing, audio is here to stay. “So now is the time to be working in audio. It's having a resurgence, there's so much flex in the medium and because we're quite a small and nimble team, I'm able to work really closely with our content creators. Whether it's the writers, the hosts, the narrators - many who are coming in from film and screen and stage - and work with them on packaging up these Audible Originals into something fantastic that we can take to our members and to our prospects as well. And it's becoming a much bigger focus of the business globally. So a really exciting time to be working at Audible.” While there are so many exciting things happening on the work front, a question we often ask our guests is how they carve out a work-life balance. For Alex, she’s seen the benefits in running as a mood changer (we wish we could relate!). “I might try and pop in a run at lunchtime, or in winter when it would get dark early, I might run at four o’clock, come back and then continue on with my workday. But making time for me would just pay off in spades afterwards.”

This week on Strivin & Thrivin, we spoke with Lorna Hegarty, Brand and Communications Manager at Squiz. Lorna has listened to the podcast quite a bit and told us that she’s recognised that a lot of people talk about falling into her career. “I definitely didn’t”, she said when referencing studying public relations. “But I think obviously my career has taken a different path as I’ve gone along and it’s evolved. But then I was thinking back even further, and it was quite a semi-conscious effort when I even studied PR.” Lorna started out in PR and spent a number of years in agency, and did a stint in a Deloitte press office in London before moving to Australia where she continued in agency PR. She then moved to New Zealand and took an in-house role with Xref, and is now working for Squiz. With a role that has a broader comms focus, Lorna has seen PR agencies take this approach as well. It was the move to Xref that gave her her first look into a broader comms and brand aspect…but she admits she didn’t really know what she was doing. “Last year, I did the Marketing Week Mini MBA in brand management and that was a real turning point for me. I knew I wanted to understand it better, and so doing that course was like this kind of make or break, and it was absolutely make. It just ignited something in me from a brand perspective and I realised I absolutely loved it.” There’s no doubt the PR landscape has dramatically changed in the last 10 years, and anyone who has been in the game for a while will agree with that. Lorna remembers it being all about having a little black book when she first started, and now it’s even harder with the introduction of content creators and influencers over the years. “I think the pure PR agency model has changed so much, and PR agencies now have to think a lot more broadly about how they position their clients and how they really get that traction with the audiences that they need to…you can’t rely on having a good list of emails anymore.” With all the experience Lorna has had in her career, we loved what her response was to, “what’s one thing you wish you knew at the start of your career that you know now?” Lorna said, “You really don’t need to sweat the small stuff. And actually, the stuff that you’re worrying about now, you’ll look back on in a few years and be like, ‘why was I worried about that now that I’ve got to think about this?’”

This week on Strivin & Thrivin, we speak with Laura Scholey, freelance marketing consultant. Laura accidentally fell into marketing when she finished uni, when she was thankfully offered a market research job in the middle of a recession. Then, a move to Australia saw her end up in sales, where she spent a couple of years before moving back to marketing. “I started to get involved in digital marketing and I started to champion within the team the marketing automation side of things for the sales guys and that's what then ended up drawing me back into marketing.” Sales just wasn’t for her, and thinks it takes a certain type of person that loves sales and resetting. But ending a month and going back to zero? Laura couldn’t stand it. It was getting back to that familiar place with marketing and speaking in a common language that made her feel comfortable. Laura actually credits sales for her understanding of communication and sales psychology. It wasn’t all bad! Laura then went down the path of digital marketing, demand gen, lead generation, marketing automation and pretty much anything digital. Now, she’s going out on her own and doing contract work with the plan to balance it with consulting. While some people focus on specialising, moving into different parts of marketing was great for Laura. “I recommend to anybody, if you've got the opportunity to work with really smart people, then go out and do it. I think that really helped set a foundation of knowledge and probably critical thinking as well in some things I was doing in marketing.” As for the worst piece of advice she’s received? It’s a quote you might be familiar with. “Dress for the job you want, not the job you have”. To be frank, Laura calls BS on that! On the back of that, we loved what Laura had to say about authenticity and the importance of a personal brand. “I think your personal brand is important. But even as we talk about branding in businesses, your brand has to be genuine. You can't create a brand that you're not living and breathing. So, it's like this idea of personal brand, I think people think that they have to create something.”

This week on Strivin & Thrivin, we speak with Rebecca Zeitunian, Head of Brand and Growth at ResDiary. Coming from a working class family who expected her to get married and have kids, Rebecca’s life couldn’t have been any different. Starting out in tele-sales and working her way through operations and account management, Rebecca later joined Woolworths for a role in buying and marketing, which saw her work in the meat industry. Let’s just say, she can pick a good steak! But thankfully, picking a good steak isn’t all Rebecca can do well (although much appreciated). With a thirst for some education, she fell into an opportunity to do an Advanced Diploma in Business Marketing at TAFE. From here, Rebecca fell into a marketing role and stayed there for a few years before jumping ship to Optus, and being the first content person that they ever appointed. When it comes to what’s shifted for her in her career, she says getting out of a specialist skill and wanting to go more general has been at the top of her list. “As I look at my career, I'd love to stay at this more general but broader role as I progress. And specialising in those disciplines, I could almost predict there would be a ceiling and I don't like being restricted. And so really looking for those other avenues to go, okay, well how do I continue to progress my career?” Rebecca has quite the resume, it’s really shown the power non-traditional career advancement has had and it’s given her the tools to mentor up-and-comers. “I look at how I’m going to take more of that leadership role and really mentor up and coming marketers in probably a non-traditional way without that full certification of tertiary education, and using more hands-on real life experience. I think there's different ways to look at it, and if you're hungry for something, there's always a way to find opportunities to develop and get that experience.” So what is the best advice Rebecca has received in her 15-plus years in the biz? “Control your controllables”

This week on Strivin & Thrivin, we speak to Siobhan Carlson, B2B marketing enthusiast and Marketing Manager at MYOB. Siobhan initially went to uni for a science degree, she wanted to be a pharmacist but realised it wasn’t for her within 12 months, and ended up realising her true passion was in graphic design. Not sure that her parent would approve of a pure Graphic Design degree Siobhan ended up adding marketing to her degree, which turned out pretty well because she fell in love with it! After a three-day holiday in Melbourne, Siobhan and her partner decided to move down from Queensland, where she landed in recruitment which then led her into Sales and Marketing and finally to where she is now, at MYOB, where she was recently promoted to lead the marketing acquisition team! With Siobhan, her career trajectory was more of a side-stepping journey, which isn’t something to be ashamed of. “It hasn't been deliberate at all. I feel like a lot of it has been quite accidental and a case of, "Oh my goodness, I've landed on my feet again." That's half of life, right? It’s just chance. Siobhan credits a really smart GM as some of the best advice she’s received, which was about telling your own narrative and story. It then evolved to creating your own luck. “You’re the person who puts it out into the world and says, “This is what I want. This is what I’m driving for”. That’s how you’re able to control those side steps a little bit more, instead of being on a roller coaster and just chasing dollars all the time. But being able to hone in on what you’re interested in, what sparks your interests, what gets you up in the morning definitely helps you create that story as well.” As for what Siobhan thinks has been the key to her success along the way…well, she put it quite frankly. “I think the one thing is probably the sense of getting stuck in and getting shit done.” - We have to love her for it.

This week on Strivin & Thrivin, we speak with Lynne Johnston, CEO of MAYDAY Recruitment Group. Lynne has been in the recruitment industry for 14 years and is originally from Northern Ireland, and started her career there before she travelled around Australia, building up her little black book of industry contacts. Lynne was then sponsored by a recruitment agency in Sydney, progressing through the business and ended up being with them for five years. She then jumped ship after being offered a role at American Express managing corporate clients. “I just learned loads in that job. It was so different from what I'd done before.” With no experience in finance, there was a lot to learn. Luckily, Lynne’s transferable skills - such as relationship building, problem solving, holding a conversation, relating to them, understanding their business problem and coming up with solutions - really helped Lynne level-up and take on a new role within the company in business development. After her stint at AMEX, Lynne joined MAYDAY, a recruitment company three of her best friends started, and that saw her move back into recruitment. But due to two of her friends going on maternity leave, Lynne had to step up and knew she had to work hard, as there was a real boom coming after making good traction with a lot of companies. Now, Lynne is the CEO of MAYDAY, working on the overall development of the team, as well as being the key account manager. Lynne is also the director of the Wellness Committee, making sure people are healthy and happy at work and love what they do. “If I can do that, then I’m doing a good job.” When Covid hit in March 2020, there was a huge shift and change in the business, which saw their usual 50% temporary revenue and 50% permanent revenue wiped out. Permanent fell off the planet, everything went on hold, everything was paused, jobs were cancelled and even start dates were cancelled for people who had already placed in roles. Thankfully, they won some business off the back of businesses who were busy because of Covid, so their temporary numbers remained steady and actually grew throughout the pandemic. So, what has Lynne learned about herself over the years? She credits one of her biggest lessons as realising you don’t have to be the strict boss. “You don’t have to try and emulate some other manager that you had because you think that’s how you need to manage. You need to be relatable. You need to show that level of vulnerability I think as a leader so that your people know that it's okay to come to you and that it's okay to tell when they're not okay. Or when they are struggling with something they know that you're approachable.” When it comes to balancing work and life, Lynne is all about looking after her mental health as well as physical health. “I think that's really key, and that's something I bring to the business here. I love that I can bring my philosophy and all of that to people, and our team now love it.” To hear more from Lynne, including what she wished she knew back then as a rookie, listen to the latest episode of Strivin and Thrivin now!

This week on Strivin & Thrivin, we speak with Jennifer Hankin, Head of Marketing at RecordPoint. For some people, they might say their career started by stumbling upon something or seeing it in a movie and loving the idea of having a job like that. But for Jen, it started with a vodka bottle. Absolut Vodka to be precise. Jen found herself sprawling through magazines at a young age and being really drawn to the Absolut ads. This then led her to getting her degree in marketing and advertising, and her first job as a product marketing manager in a publishing company. Jen then made the decision to go to business school to get her MBA. “For me, going back to business school was about rounding out my management and leadership experience. I was very focused on marketing, but I wanted to understand the other facets of business that I felt would help me as I moved through the leadership journey as a marketer.” When it comes to marketing, Jen relates to being a marketing generalist rather than a specialist and reassures us it’s not a dirty word! Point being, you really CAN accelerate your career by being a generalist. Being a  ‘jack of all trades’ might just be essential to your success, so don’t cancel it out just yet! Recommended reading: Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialised World - David Esptein. “I guess what I feel like I bring in is that I bring that like the overarching strategy. I can see how all the bits of pieces pull together and then how marketing influences the rest of the business, and work really closely with those cross-functional stakeholders….I really own the marketing generalist.” Jen clearly has the experience and drive to start her own business, but is it something she’s keen on doing herself? Not really. But the ideas are there! She jokes her Mum used to tell her that she always got up on her ‘soapbox’ due to her opinionated nature. But Jen credits that to her success - challenging the status quo. Not the worst trait to have as a ‘marketing generalist’ now, is it?! So, what advice does Jen have for the next keen marketer? Well, it all starts with a mentor - something Jen wishes she had done early on in her career. “The advice that I've gotten is the advice that I've sought out myself and that I've read. And that's something that I wish I could go back and say to myself, ‘Go get a mentor earlier, go seek those relationships.’ Don't ever stop learning.” To hear more from Jennifer, including what advice she would say to her younger self , listen to the latest episode of Strivin and Thrivin now!

Prospa’s Maria Kojevnikova talks to Laura Johnson from Strivin and Neil Gunning from Tech Life Sydney about her career story and lessons learned along the way in this episode of Strivin & Thrivin. “If I could give my younger self advice, I would tell her not to force herself to continue to operate in an environment that she knows is what she’s naturally excited about or drawn to…” She started her career in recruitment in fashion and retail on the agency side and transitioned into in-house resourcing roles from there. What attracted Maria to shift inhouse was a combination of two things: Her desire to build longer-standing relationships with candidates once she’s placed them - enjoying the opportunity to, for example, catch up with them during random watercooler chats or celebrating their internal promotions. Her instinct to solve strategic business problems using her people-focused lens. Off the back of this shift, Maria gained more in-depth experience in collaborating with hiring managers and guiding them to help design and deliver a great candidate experience. This is a real opportunity for partnership, explains Maria… As internal talent acquisition, you can perform a much deeper analysis of your hiring manager’s needs. It’s an opportunity to identify what skills gaps exist in the larger team, for example.  Partnering with your hiring manager(s) enables talent acquisition to become a trusted partner that can help drive the business objectives - focusing on adding value, rather than just getting a bum on a seat. A key theme that stands out in this episode with Maria is the value of having a strong network.  Maria reminisces, for example, about how she got into the tech industry through a loose connection she had with the husband of a client she was recruiting for. This contact was someone influential in the tech industry, helping her become more familiar with the landscape. Another example of this is the exposure Maria got to HR through her mother, who was studying HR when Maria was young. She also reflects on the best advice she’s ever received: “...people don't remember what you say or what you do, and I think it's a Maya Angelou quote, but it's really how you make them feel…”

Today, Laura and Neil are joined by Jessica Morris, Head of People and Culture at Reckon. Jessica is a driven HR professional and genuine people person who has thrived by throwing herself headfirst into every opportunity. Jess discusses her career progression from studying business to becoming the Head of People and Culture at Reckon, highlighting that throughout her journey, people are what make a company amazing. Jess started her journey at university where she majored in Business Law and HR. Her initial vision was to be a lawyer, identifying a desire to help people but through a limited prism where she didn’t know the scope of different career options. However, after interning, Jess discovered her love for business and changed the trajectory of her path. Transitioning from academia into the real world of HR, Jess explains the shift from a focus on psychology to placing importance on wellbeing. This change forced Jess to essentially reconsider what she had learnt at university, harbouring the fundamentals while placing more emphasis on being a “really good people person”. Jess discusses the benefits of opening up a conversation about mental health in the HR space, explaining that it gave her the ability to “bring her whole self to work”. This shift came with a realisation for Jess in terms of her relationship with HR: people trusted her more when she was being authentically herself in the work space. “I think you should really get to know everyone in a company to succeed.” Jess’ clarity regarding getting to know people in the workplace informed her decision not to work within agencies. From her first role at Groupon she moved onto an HR Administrator role at IGT and was promoted to HR Business Partner within the year. Here, she worked with a network of people who motivated and mentored her. The knowledge and confidence Jess gained at IGT inspired her to embrace an unexpected opportunity at her next company when her manager resigned, effectively promoting Jess to HR Advisor. While also discovering her own capability in this role, Jess learnt how to say no to get the most out of herself. Finally, six years ago, Jess found herself at Reckon. Talking about the transformative journey that Reckon has undergone in this time, she is proud of the upwards trajectory it has taken and her own personal growth. “My favourite saying is ‘love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life’.” To hear more from Jess, including her definition of an organic mentor and the tools she uses to grow personally and professionally, listen to the full episode of Strivin and Thrivin.

In his current role, Jamie Finnegan, Finder’s Global Head of Talent, is responsible for the growth of Finder's team while also designing and driving business initiatives to further enhance Finder's unique culture. This week’s episode of Strivin and Thrivin covers Jamie’s career journey from England to Australia and beyond.  Together with Strivin’s Laura Johnson and Tech Life Sydney’s Neil Gunning, Jamie reminisces about starting his career as a recruiter and then moving into the people function. “I've been very fortunate that the growth has come in many different forms and directions.” From Jamie’s interview, though, it is clear that this “growth” is not something that simply landed on Jamie’s lap. Instead, it’s something he worked for - often requiring long hours working with different timezones and actively pursuing opportunities for learning. “Just be a sponge. Just soak up as much as information as you can. Learn from everyone, everyone's going to have a different perspective.” According to Jamie, these learning opportunities are everywhere. He names numerous people that have been instrumental in his career (and learnings) and talks about the course he is currently participating in, called Redefining HR.

Today, Laura Johnson is joined by Scott Crowe, Lead Recruiter at Canva. Scott studied Psychology at university, specialising in Organisational Psychology and Emotional Intelligence, unknowingly laying the foundations for his future career in recruitment. After graduating, Scott travelled for five years before he met the founder of a recruitment agency who got him his first job in recruitment. Falling into the role, Scott was able to apply his psychology communication skills to recruitment, discovering that his strength lies in storytelling as opposed to sales. Straying away from the transactional side of recruitment, Scott then moved onto an internal position at a new company. Scott differentiates between agency and in-house recruitment by the frank nature of the conversations you can have in-house. By this, he explains that there is no room for over-inflation or to misrepresent a role to a candidate. “When you're an agency, you place somebody and you don't have to see them at lunch […] in-house you do.” In 2015, Scott was able to apply this mindset further when he moved to (then) startup company, Canva. Here, Scott saw an opportunity to challenge the status quo and push the boundaries. Commending this notion, he stresses the importance of finding a perfect balance between not being too comfortable and feeling safe enough to try new things. A start-up environment provided this for Scott, allowing him to thrive while maintaining the humility to admit when something didn’t work. Scott explains how recruiting in-house requires a higher level of engagement and is often a longer lead. Scott checks back in with candidates six months to a year later with new developments and opportunities and even maintains relationships with individuals who did not land the role but may have been suitable from a cultural perspective. This long term focus is something that has helped Scott to thrive in this industry. “Relationship building is critical to the long term career”. The career advice that Scott offers links to his attitude towards the importance of a psychological safety net at work, as well as building relationships. Rather than seeking hero status at work, he encourages people to find satisfaction in teamwork. “People who are successful don't tend to do it by themselves. They tend to do it in a team.” To hear more from Scott, including his use of the baby analogy and acknowledging when you’re in a role that doesn’t suit your skillset, listen to the latest episode of Strivin and Thrivin now!

Today, Laura Johnson is joined by Andew Sully, Co-Founder & Co-CEO at Talenza. Andrew is an experienced recruiter and business leader with an entrepreneurial attitude that has got him to where he is today. Championing change and going against the grain, Andrew explains how a rich career, working across multiple industries, has allowed him to perfect his customer service-centric business model. Andrew’s proactive, entrepreneurial flair was clear from his time at university, 20 years ago. Identifying an opportunity, Andrew and a friend set up a painting and decorating business to assist their landlord while they were at university. This is where Andrew’s entrepreneurial drive and ability to evolve in the professional world began. Andrew’s natural confidence with people led him to consider a range of careers from the police force to sales. Moving from Newport, Wales to Australia, Andrew secured a position at recruitment agency, SThree. Here, he was thrown in head first and exposed to invaluable experience, learning as he went along. As his time working at SThree drew to a close, Andrew admits that he knew he had to do something for himself, having learnt from the good, the bad and the ugly at this global business. “They just lost their way around customer experience and what made them successful in the first place. They just didn't change and pivot the business model enough.” Andrew is a firm believer of evolving in business, continually stressing the importance of learning and growing. Rejecting the notion that revenue should prevent internal evaluation, he explains how he has learnt to prioritise customer satisfaction in order to help his own business, Talenza, thrive. Setting up Talenza in 2016, Andrew pledged to place customer satisfaction, teamwork and values at the center of his business model. Andrew candidly explains how he was forced to reevaluate and analyse whether Talenza was staying true to these values when Covid-19 hit. Adopting a refreshingly optimistic take, he admits that this crisis allowed him to pivot and evolve. “If you're not learning, and you're not growing and you're not driving some sort of change in yourself, then you'll never stay at the top of the game.” To hear more from Andrew, including how he manages to escape from work, listen to the latest episode of Strivin and Thrivin now!

This week on Strivin & Thrivin, we speak with Rebecca Powell, People and Culture Director. Rebecca is a hands-on People and Culture Director with experience spanning from working in Australia’s biggest corporate bookmaker, SportsBet, to start-up companies. Discussing the unexpected twists and turns of her career journey, Rebecca reveals the lessons she has learnt and how she has evolved as a leader. Rebecca career journey started when she joined SportsBet in 2014. Despite its magnitude, she believes that the constant innovation, change and growth gave SportsBet a start-up feel that she enjoyed. From here she transitioned to a real start-up, describing it as accidental but natural as she discovered that this is where she thrived. Rebecca’s next move helped her to realise her need to be hands-on. Moving over to BetEasy, a smaller and younger company, Rebecca found a space where she could make a difference. “I feel it's a lot easier to drive change and have an impact on things in those smaller companies.” Having been made redundant at the start of the first COVID-19 lockdown, Rebecca seized the opportunity to volunteer for a Not-For-Profit Talent Acquisition & Human Resources company. This work led her to a maternity cover job in a start-up company which ultimately confirmed her enthusiasm for spaces in which she could directly drive change. Rebecca’s best career advice shines a light on the value she finds in having a practical and positive network of people around her. Quoting her mentor when she was made redundant, Rebecca explains how being told to,  “Come out smarter than you came in”  forced her to open up to new ideas and ways of thinking. Rebecca applies critical thinking to her role as People and Culture Director at IntelligenceBank, ensuring she always asks questions, even as a leader. “It's how you conduct yourself. It's your thought leadership more so than anything else that I think sets one apart.” To hear more from Rebecca, including her spin on “fake it ‘til you make it”, listen to the latest episode of Strivin and Thrivin now!

Today, Laura Johnson is joined by Simon Bernadino, Founder of Lab17 and talent acquisition specialist. When Simon took on his first role as a retail store manager at 21, he met a colleague and friend with the right connections to help him kickstart his career. Being introduced to the GM of a media company, Simon had his first taste of the business world and confirmed his interest in sales. Following this, Simon took a six month trip to London which turned into four years and the beginning of his recruitment journey. Explaining that the same friend introduced him to a global SAP recruitment agency, Simon admits that he found his skill for talent acquisition by falling into it. With a taste for recruitment and the prerequisite of enjoying meeting new people, Simon continued on this path, exploring agency and in-house work before going on to found his own company, Lab17. Simon worked at a boutique recruitment agency before transitioning to the in-house talent acquisition team at Spotify. With a wealth of experience in different recruitment environments, Simon founded Lab17 with his childhood friend and business partner, Nick Ingall. With Lab17, Simon and Nick were able to fuse their interest in tech with their desire to shift away from the traditional recruitment model. Describing Lab17 as more of a Talent Acquisition Consultancy, Simon explains that it was founded as a lifestyle business and adapts to a new partnership model. “You have to have a genuine curiosity about tech and product development and actually attach yourself to the mission of an organization that you're actually interested in.” Simon has an authentic interest in what he does and identifies this as the key to being successful in business. In terms of the best career advice he has been given, Simon expresses a similar notion, encouraging people never to outsource motivation. “I never want to rely on pressure from peers or family or social media or just the world to motivate me to want to do something.” Simon’s experiences with mentors have been outside of business, instead drawing parallels between the lessons he has learnt through his football coaches. Expanding his mentality on and off the pitch, he explains how invaluable lessons are learnt when dedicating yourself to a passion project. “Find things that you’re passionate about and make sure you dedicate time to them.” To hear more from Simon, listen to the latest episode of Strivin and Thrivin now!

Today, Laura Johnson is joined by Hassanah Rudd, Global Head of Talent at Squiz, tech start-up. Hassanah has 25 years of experience in the recruitment industry and still loves what she does, today. Hassanah has lived in England, New Zealand and Australia, taking on a variety of roles. However, her passion for recruitment has never faltered. Attributing half of her career moves to chance and headhunting, Hassanah speaks of the different stops along her career path as a stroke of serendipity. Finding her knack for recruitment when she was working at a job centre in Oxford, Hassanah’s move to New Zealand was facilitated by her confidence in her recruitment abilities. Here, she transitioned to in-house work and eventually the tech start-up where she works today. Hassanah discusses the difference between in-house and agency recruitment, admitting that her passion lies with in-house. Although she credits agencies for teaching her a lot and allowing her to work with different industries, she explains that she enjoys being close enough to something to make a positive difference. Being headhunted for her first in-house role by a friend, Hassanah was thrown in at the deep end and never looked back. Offering advice for those making a similar move, Hassanah stresses the importance of investing in relationships. Speaking candidly about the necessity of a strong network, Hassanah explains that in this space, building up trust is critical. Not only in terms of your peer group, but also key stakeholders. “If you can develop really strong relationships, you can affect change. You can nudge the thinking.” After these roles, Hassanah progressed into leadership positions and discovered she had to get comfortable being uncomfortable. At first suffering from imposter syndrome, she questioned her ability to lead leaders. However, championing mutual respect, Hassanah left a positive legacy at these companies and discovered that vulnerability and self-confidence were her greatest assets. “You're never going to get it right all the time. So you also have to create a space where it's okay to fail.” Hassanah acknowledges the value of mentors in her career, reflecting on one who gave her some advice that she still lives with and works on today. For this reason, she encourages finding a mentor that will sometimes challenge you. To hear more from Hassanah, including why she never switches off, listen to the latest episode of Strivin and Thrivin now!

Today, Laura Johnson is joined by Anthony Enright, Head of People (ANZ) at Klarna. Anthony kick-started his career in recruitment straight out of University, where he studied HR and Marketing. Since then, he has used his resilience, logic and genuine interest in people to navigate his way through the business world. Describing the peaks and troughs he has endured in his career so far, Anthony is open about his journey to discovering where he excels most within the HR space. Anthony’s first job was a six month gig at a boutique recruitment agency which he candidly admits was not a role that played to his strengths. Acknowledging that sales was not the direction he saw himself going in, he transitioned into what he called a “half HR role”. In this role he was primarily responsible for administrative tasks from payroll to negotiating with contractors. This led him onto his first full HR role where he stayed for three years before moving onto Ansarada. “And that's where I would say my career started to go a little bit more rapidly scaling in that context.” Working for Ansarada for six years, Anthony credits this period for teaching him a lot, allowing him to figure himself out and critique himself. When asked for his greatest career advice, he reflects on the leadership programme at Ansarada, highlighting the importance of “touching someone’s heart before asking for a hand”. This human aspect runs as a motif throughout the conversation, epitomised by the fact that Anthony did a psychology degree. Essentially, he explains that he loves to get the best out of people. “The more value you can produce for other people, the more valuable that you've become in general.” When discussing the value of mentorships, Anthony explains that helping people early and often is one of the best things you can do. As a coach at the Startmate Fellowship programme, Anthony is well-versed in mentoring and helping people along their journey of career development. His advice is to accept that a cookie-cutter approach won’t always work. “Everybody's going to have things that make them tick, and things that are going to go against their personal values, and being very clear or being able to articulate them is going to be helpful.” To hear more from Anthony, including the lessons he has learnt through trial and error, listen to the latest episode of Strivin and Thrivin now!

This week on Strivin & Thrivin, we speak with Anita Thomson, Head Of Marketing & Communications at LOD, an alternative legal service provider. A career spanning a number of different roles has brought Anita Thomson to where she is today. She has been leading the marketing and communications for LOD since 2016 but has a wealth of stories to share from her career journey to date. “Seize any opportunity so that you can make an informed decision.” Anita got her foot in the door while still at university, with an eight-week indigenous cadetship at Deloitte. This solidified her interest in the human side of business and led her to take on the first HR graduate position in Deloitte in Australia. Starting internally, she later moved onto graduate recruitment. This was a great opportunity involving big budgets and the opportunity to work closely with partners, and it set her up with the skills she would need for managing client expectations later in her career. Anita then moved into an HR role. She made a smooth transition from being a consultant to a manager, and established herself within the generalist HR field.. She attributes her success to date, to the people she has met and worked with along the way, seeing many of them as “champions” rather than “mentors”: “It's more about having champions as opposed to mentors...It's about surrounding yourself with people and having those people who have got your back and who are active supporters of you.” After having her son, Anita moved to London and took on the role of Senior HR Manager at Ashurst, which offered the opportunity to put her HR skills into practise at scale. She describes many of her professional experiences as ‘fun’ and is a strong advocate for the advice that you must,  “Listen to your gut”. Following this mindset, she found herself at a start-up legal services company, and she hasn’t looked back. At LOD, Anita decided to take the leap from HR to Marketing after seeing synergies between the two, from the communications side of things, to selling the employer brand and being challenged with the perception of being an internal support function. While she’s incredibly proud of her career story, Anita stresses the importance of stepping up and acknowledging that you deserve a position at the table and admits that she should have asked more questions during her early career. To hear more from Anita, including her views on the similarities between HR and marketing and how she made her career transitions so smooth, listen to the latest episode of Strivin and Thrivin now!

“The best advice that I’ve received over a period of time is to be authentic. It’s way easier to be yourself than to try to be someone else.” This week on Strivin & Thrivin we chat to Lucy Briggs, Senior HR Business Partner at Mindbody, a SaaS company providing industry-leading fitness and wellness software. Lucy lives and breathes all things HR and wellness. After discovering a genuine interest in the human psyche, Lucy changed university degree from Psychology to Human Resource Management and has never looked back. In this space, Lucy realised her obsession with driving success in businesses through people. While her career path hasn’t been linear, it has taught her to take every opportunity and be open to change. Finding a position in a great company right out of university, Lucy was able to gain early exposure to executive level colleagues through her HR role, validating that she was in the right industry. Lucy describes her transition into a not-for-profit as a personal decision that sparked her curiosity. Seeing people work beyond their salaries, with limited tech, inspired and taught her the importance of prioritising purpose as a professional driving force. “They were working for a cause, they could see the purpose in what they did, and that was the driver over salary” Next, Lucy took on an HR Advisor role at software testing company, Planet, entering into the tech world, which really excited her. Acknowledging the lack of people studying technology, Lucy believes it’s important to take opportunities to change the status quo and take on opportunities in the technology space when they come your way. Today, Lucy works at Mindbody and truly champions the core values, with a professional and personal passion for wellness. Her top pieces of career advice today?  Be your authentic self and reject the notion that you should always stay late in the office. “It feels like the perfect combination of who I am and what I do. I am a Senior HR Business Partner at Mindbody, but I am so driven by wellness.” To hear more from Lucy, including her best career advice, her experience with mentorships and the way she stays goal-orientated, listen to the latest episode of Strivin and Thrivin now!

Today Laura Johnson and co-host, Tim Griffiths, are joined by Quila, Employer Branding Leader at RMIT University. Quila is passionate about her career and loves to tell the story of her journey to date. In her own words, that journey  can be summarised by three core principles, asking questions, taking opportunities and saying yes. That, and a true understanding of people. “I'm really grateful that I said yes to every opportunity that I've been tapped on the shoulder for.” Quila stepped out of University, straight into a full-time sales job at Xerox. Describing the environment as a “cutthroat boys’ club”, she says she loved it and hesitated to move on from a company influenced by family tradition. However, deciding to take life by the horns, Quila transitioned into a sales job at a tech company and, after spotting a blue-haired, converse-wearing guy on her first interview, her idea of the working world was flipped on its head. She realised,  "Oh my God, people can be themselves at work?” Here, she threw herself into different opportunities, discovering a knack for digital marketing and community management. Quila’s next step was moving to Australia with her husband and she admits the struggle of the job hunt in a new place wasn’t easy. However, after 26 applications she bagged a job at the Australian Post which proved to be one of her greatest adventures yet. Learning on the job, she started out in social media and then transitioned into the group that pulled together the Employee Value Proposition (EVP). This was the start of her journey in Employer Branding. Fast forward to today and she has now been with RMIT for two years where she is Employer Branding Leader. When asked about her key learnings, Quila says you cannot underestimate the importance of treating each person differently and asking the right questions. “You end up attracting people for the right reasons instead of it just being for a position description, or key selection criteria.” And she’s passionate about the importance of authenticity in the way a brand presents itself to candidates online, calling out the “yucky” side of career sites that just include a rainbow of human beings in their header image to show they’re ticking boxes. To hear more from Quila, including her admiration for Strivin’ podcast guest, Andrea Kirkby, her mentorships and her past misconception of HR, listen to the latest episode of Strivin and Thrivin now!

“Right now there's not a lot of ad response. Somebody is tapping people on the shoulder through LinkedIn and a lot of them take a week to respond sometimes.” Unless you have been hiding under a rock for the past year, you know that tech recruiting in Australia is becoming more and more of a struggle. In this episode of Strivin & Thrivin, we talk to Nicolle Hann-Dunbavin, who has over 20 years of experience in tech recruitment in Australia. She discusses how recruitment has changed over the years and the current challenges being faced by recruiters in the tech world. Talent acquisition is not only struggling with fewer candidates, but many employers are asking for too much. “They have a very, very long list of technical experience that they want these candidates to have. We'll go through several rounds of candidates before they realize we can't find someone with all of this experience.” Nicolle explains how her role has evolved with technology. How turn around times have come down, but the role still centres around communication even if it has changed from phone calls to emails. Even after 20 years, she still has a smile on her face as she talks about the kick she gets out of finding someone their dream role. Tune into this episode to hear more of Nicolle’s insights.

“Often there is that perception that you're making the transition to an internal role because you're not a great biller” When Samantha Barnett made the transition from agency to in-house recruitment it was less common than it is today. However, even with the rise in recruiters switching roles, there is still the stigma that you are doing it because you are not a great biller. In this episode of Strivin & Thrivin, Samantha shares her story of transitioning careers. She explains how she overcame the obstacles and doubts in her mind and came to the clear decision that internal recruitment was the right path for her. Not only did she transition to internal recruiting, but with her success at her new company MYOB, she was asked to manage the recruitment team for the company. This meant expanding beyond her specialty of tech recruitment and moving from peer to manager. “I had great relationships with people on the team, but it was awkward. There's no lying or trying to cover that. There were people in the team that I had been peers with for a couple of years and all of a sudden was sitting down with them, setting their goals with them, and they had to be more open with me.” Tune in to this episode to learn how Samantha navigated the transitions. She shares stories about internal and external mentorship, her favourite podcasts, and finding inspiration in strange places

Trent’s career story is fascinating: In the space of a decade, he has been through more changes than most people experience in their whole career. Trent is currently the HR manager at MICROMINE. He joined the company several years ago just before mining in Australia took a huge downturn. He was part of a HR team that was reduced from three to one and was the one that was asked to stick around. He then saw the company switch to a software company and helped take the family-owned business through selling. And Trent has been there for it all. Trent shares his experience and talks about the mindset that has allowed him to successfully adapt and grow with the company. “I always say yes. So I just go ahead and if someone says, "Okay, can you do this?," or, "Can we do this?" I always start with, "Yeah, I think we can," and then work out the details along the way.” He also shares his struggles. From experiencing imposter syndrome, to working with two very different leaders. “They were two very different leaders. Both like to inspire and motivate in their own way.” Tune in to this episode to learn from Trent.

“Only asking your placement for feedback is like asking your husband or wife on your wedding night, whether they love you or not.” From being chased down the street by a kid with a machete while doing door-to-door sales to the CEO and founder of Recruiter Insider. Tune into this episode of Strivin & Thrivin to hear from Justin Hiller about his career journey and what led him to build a business around reviewing recruitment agencies. Justin Hiller found a gap in the market. He saw that the way recruitment agencies were reviewing themselves was far off the mark. You could have one happy placement but fifteen other unhappy candidates that were having a bad experience. If you were only asking the happy placement for their feedback, you’d be patting yourself on the back every time. Justin noticed this and that's how Recruiter Insider was born. But the journey here wasn't easy or by any means conventional. From flipping burgers at Maccas, to finding investors in his passengers during his days as an Uber driver, to meeting members of his advisory board while competing on a reality TV show in the UK. This has not been a normal journey to success. Tune in to this episode of Strivin & Thrivin to hear all the hilarious details. He also shares top bits of wisdom he has learnt along the way such as experience working at companies that showed him exactly what not to do – like the mismanagement of resources and having three people doing the same role where you only need one and then one person doing a different role, where you needed three.

“One thing that I found really helps is being data driven, giving people the understanding that you have from the data.” Recruitment is a process in which data is regularly overlooked. The argument is often that no two people are the same, so we can’t break recruitment down into numbers. But is this view of data and recruitment too narrow? In this episode of Strivin & Thrivin, we talk to Carlie Bowden from The Nudge Group about how her career transitioned from private recruitment to government recruitment to management and eventually landed her in her current role as Director of Product & Project Services. There are two major takeaways from this episode: The importance of honesty and the value of data. The former is part of Carlie's work strategy that has led her to success and helped her nail one of her biggest challenges in her management role – transitioning from peer to manager. “Honesty was key, and if you're honest, no matter how brutally honest, they really can't say anything to you because you're just giving them the facts. They can't say that this is unfair.” Together with honesty, Carlie believes her love for data has played an integral part in her career. She recalls that when she started using data to guide her and her team, she had team members coming to her asking for the sales reports and more data. It's all about how you present and use the data. Don’t remind people where they are failing, look for patterns where they succeed and continue to emulate those behaviours. “You find a trend and then they get excited because you didn't remind them that they needed to make a target this week. You reminded them of a time that was really happy and they were excited and it really energizes them and it motivates them more.” To hear more insights from Carlie, including why finding the right environment is often more important than finding the right role, tune into this episode of Strivin & Thrivin.

Career transitions are never easy but Emma Dwyer has managed hers with grace. Starting in tech recruitment out of university, she is now a People and Culture Director for a recruitment agency in Sydney. The roles are much further apart than you might first think and the way she got there required a lot of motivation, learning, and a passion for people. In this week's episode of Strivin & Thrivin, Emma talks about how she landed her role in People and Culture, finding the balance between being a mum and her career, joining a startup, and how continued coaching is helping her thrive in her new role. “It's still a huge learning curve for me constantly. I know when I first moved into the role, the multiple facets of HR people and culture, so to speak, weren't as addressed by myself as they are now.” Listen to this episode of Strivin & Thrivin to learn more from Emma about navigating a career transition and extra tips about how coaching has helped her thrive in her new role.

“It took a long time for me to stop trying to get the person the job by prepping them too much for their internal interviews and things like that, and letting them get the job off their own back.” Internal recruitment can seem a world away from agency work. If you are thinking about making the switch but wondering if it's the right transition for you, tune in to this episode of Strivin & Thrivin, as Olga shares her career story. Olga explains she went from the top of the sales board at recruitment agencies (and loving it!) to building communities and growing the number of consultants at Novon, her current role, from 15 to 50 in less than a year. Discover what she learned along the way and what she loves about internal recruitment. Listen to this week's episode of Strivin & Thrivin to learn more about internal recruitment secrets and the reason Olga loves her job so much (it might even bring a tear to your eye).

“Work on the things that you are exceptional at to become completely dominant at them. Why waste time focusing on becoming mediocre? Which is essentially working on your weaknesses.” This week on Strivin & Thrivin I sat down with Steve Grace, Founder of The Nudge Group and recruitment expert. The Nudge Group offers a holistic People Partner Model for early stage and established businesses going through rapid growth. Steve has been in recruitment most of his life (except one brief and unsuccessful attempt at a pro tennis career). Not only is he a recruitment expert, but his experience in both starting his own business and investing in the business of others gives him unique insights into what both candidates and clients are looking for from the recruitment experience. Steve explains how he, like many, stumbled into a recruitment job and it ended up becoming his career. “I wandered into a recruitment company called Computer People and said, "Can you get me a job? I like computers." And they said, "No. But how about you come and work for us? You've got no skills in terms of computers, so we can't find you a job there. But how about you come work for us?" And I was like, "Sure." Following a short stint at an unsuitable role In London, Steve decided to move to Australia as a means to excuse the short-held position to future employees- as good a reason as I’ve ever heard for relocating. The term “all's well that ends well” springs to mind as Steve never moved back. This was only the beginning of his story. There were a lot of twists and turns, from joining a startup called Junk Food that aimed to put cereal in every office in the city, to a Chinese tourism business.  Steve’s experience is varied and valuable and inevitably gave him the foundations to take the plunge and become the sole founder of his own successful recruitment group, The Nudge Group. Tune into this episode of Strivin & Thrivin to hear Steve’s biggest learnings.

On the podcast this week Laura and Tim catch up with Jo McCatty, Founder of Protoscience, a global career coaching business specialising in STEM and Life Science. Jo is also part-time Head of Talent for Invisible Partners and hosts her own podcast in her spare time. Like many postgraduates, Jo went travelling after university and settled in London with the intention of pursuing her science degree to a career in pharmaceuticals. When presented with an opportunity Jo didn’t hesitate to take it up and hasn’t looked back since. “It seems, I found people more interesting!” she says. Though, while her career moved away from the sciences, she’s remained an advocate for it and woven it back into her career today. In this episode, we take a trip down memory lane to reflect on her career in recruitment and how the industry has served her over the years. Having worked in all corners of recruitment, Jo’s insight is broad and invaluable and we gauge how she believes success in this field comes with passion. “You have to love the idea of helping someone find their next opportunity.” Talking us through the key differentials between internal, agency and executive recruitment, we segway into Jo’s experience as a career coaches and the impact they can have on career success. Jo is someone who champions career coaching having eased herself into it over the years, working it in around her full-time job before seeing an opportunity to make more of it, particularly in the STEM fields. Jo sees coaching as “a side passion project that becomes something that you want to do more of,” and has used her podcast to give voices to those within the STEM community and highlight opportunities and prospects for those pursuing careers in these fields. “Good coaches, they meet you where you are and they give you what you need without you knowing what that is” This week’s podcast is great for anyone considering a coach, mentor or STEM career. Jo shares fascinating insight into how she juggles parenthood, a startup, a podcast and a part-time job and it’s an inspiring listen! Listen to the latest Strivin & Thrivin episode now!

Jeff Waldman, Founder of ScaleHR joins us on the Strivin & Thrivin podcast this week, to discuss the career journey that got him to where he is today. With over 20 years in the HR industry, Jeff has an HR background that started in business and so has always had a business-orientated mindset. As it stands, Jeff is currently the Founder, Principal of a new company called ScaleHR, a company that works with growing small-medium businesses to help them scale their people operations and brand awareness. Jeff isn’t someone who fell into HR or recruitment but rather he pursued it early doors when studying for his business degree. The strategies involved in developing effective workforces and driving good business results is what pulled him in. Retrospectively speaking, he believes his career trajectory hasn’t been based on titles and salary, but rather on the role and responsibilities. “Don't chase money because money will come later on, chase the opportunity” As we dive into Jeff’s career history, he shares his best and worst moments, encouraging listeners to trust their gut instincts and find companies and environments in which they can thrive. Now working for himself we discuss the importance of structure, staying abreast of everything in your industry and filtering out what’s applicable and relevant to you and your role. In the HR industry, things are changing constantly and outdated information can quickly become conflicting with new information. As we learn more about this and the importance of maintaining good relationships with lawyers as you work hand-in-hand so often in HR, we get a great understanding of Jeff’s professional approach to work. During this recording, Jeff shares his approach to mentoring, having been a mentor to others for a few years now, and how he aspires to lead his mentees to the best outcomes. We learn how a strategic approach to being a mentor helps drive the best results and how rewarding it is for both mentee and mentor. Listen to all this and steal Jeff’s recommended reading list on this week’s Strivin & Thrivin podcast!

Welcome to the latest episode of Strivin & Thrivin, the career development podcast inspiring you to make some bold changes. During this week’s episode, we chat with CEO and Founder of BoB Group - Meahan Callaghan. Meahan founded BoB in 2016 in a bid to help HR people build successful careers and successful workplaces. During this podcast, we explore the similarities between customers and employees and what Meahan learnt during her stint as Chief People Officer at Afterpay, the shop now, pay later platform, as well as covering her time as ChiefCustomer and People Officer at Message Media. On reflection, she explains how Brene Brown’s definition of vulnerability helped her approach the challenges associated with Covid-19 and remain aligned with the leadership teams she collaborates with. Enjoy our latest episode and be sure to sign up to Strivin & Thrivin for more career insights, mentorships and learning materials!

This week on Strivin and Thrivin we chat to Kristin O’Brien, a Senior People and Culture Leader specialising in Org Design and Business Transformation. She runs her own firm, KOB Consulting based in Melbourne, Australia to help structure companies in order to deliver growth. Kristin has been exposed to businesses at every stage of their development and success, and she’s no stranger to redundancy, jumping back into education or relocating for work. During our thirty-minute episode, Kristin discusses what an Org Design consultant is, pulling the strings across the business to ensure that the right talent across all sectors of the business aligns in order to bring the business’ operating model to life. Having spent a big chunk of her career in corporate HR, Kristin has extensive experience working in international markets both for small startups and well-established companies and even businesses in decline. It’s this varied experience upon which she credits her understanding of how org structure impacts business success. “My whole career, I guess I've gone for breadth rather than depth which I think has served me pretty well,” she tells us. These days, while running her own consulting business, overseeing a portfolio of companies, Kristin enjoys meditation to start her days on the right foot, she’s learned to frame what’s important and worthy of stress and energy, without beating herself on things out of her control. We cover everything from the reality of launching a startup, including the highs and lows and when to make the decision to step back. The career lessons Kristin has learned along the way are ones we all wish we knew as she shares what advice her younger self wishes she had known. To listen to Kristin’s podcast where she shares some persona experiences and her greatest learnings over the years, download the latest episode of Strivin & Thrivin now!

“When you do combine your strengths and your values, you will be happier, more productive, you'll have a better sense of wellbeing” During this episode of Strivin & Thrivin we talk candidly with Angella Clarke-Jervoise, Associate Director of Global Talent at EY. Angella has been at EY for the past 25 years, having filled eight different positions within the company, though mainly around recruitment, after being attracted to the idea of working for a large international company. Like many, she fell into recruitment yet found herself in a number of unhappy positions at various companies early on. It was during this period that Angella found herself confronting the issues she had at work, learning to be honest with herself and accepting that she needed a complete overhaul to find what was right for her. She’s someone who has taken to coaching and mentoring keenly, acting as a coach for others as well as having her own coach to guide her. “I like to liken coaching with: we're together side by side, on a path in the dark and I'm holding the torch. You're taking the steps, I'm just holding the torch in the direction you want to walk.” When sharing her three most important lessons learnt in the workplace, the standout one for her was acceptance. “I wish I'd accepted that who I am is enough. I would have saved a lot of stress and angst and frustration,“ she tells us. Angella helps us reframe how we think about ourselves professionally and playing to our strengths. Not only does this make a happier, more positive workforce, but it encourages people to double down on their strengths and build out from there. Enjoy this emotional and inspirational podcast of Angella’s career and life lessons as she shares her learnings on how to be more receptive to other peoples feelings, her honest struggle of relocating for work and building and putting a greater focus on self care.

“Whatever you do in your career, you've got to have a real passion and energy around it” Another week means another great podcast and this week we caught up with Lyndsey Devitt, People and Culture Director. Having started her career as an accountant, Lynsey isn’t averse to high-pressure jobs. We quickly get into her career changes, learning her strengths, namely her ability to spot great talent and build effective teams. Lynsey’s worked with a variety of organisations from startups to retail businesses, banks and educational institutions, expanding her breadth of HR exposure in different industries and learning to adapt to different company cultures and strategies. Her varied career has allowed her the opportunity to learn from a variety of leaders. It’s these informal mentors that Lynsey believes she has learnt most from, carving out leadership personas from what she has seen be effective and otherwise. Lynsey moved into HR not for the people aspect, but for complexity that comes with working with people and establishing a people strategy that ensures the best business performance. She shares her belief that the most effective HR professionals are those who really take the time to understand how the business works, the complexity of its goals and objectives and to never assume all HR roles work the same. “I have always been interested in businesses and how organizations operate. I think coming into the business world from an accounting standpoint, whilst it gives you a great foundation, what it taught me pretty quickly was that my passion lies much more in dealing with people-related matters and getting the best out of businesses from a people perspective,” says Lynsey. To hear more of Lynsey’s experiences, her advice to new HR professionals and how to instill a thriving company culture in a startup environment, listen to the latest episode of Strivin & Thrivin now!

This week on Strivin & Thrivin we chat to Caitlin Fairchild, Head of Global Talent Acquisition at Xplor. Caitlin is recruitment through and through, having started down her career path ten years ago upon her move from the States to Down Under straight out of university. She’s stuck with it ever since, becoming more impassioned with it as time went on. Caitlin started in a fairly narrow recruitment role, but joining a startup during the early stages, she quickly broadened her skillset and added more strings to her bow, moving into the wider ‘people’ function at a pace. “I don't think I'll ever fully detach from talent, I always just want talent to be a huge part of what I do,” she tells us. In a fascinating turn, Caitlin explains how she’s naturally an introverted person and how her training and development in the workplace has helped her leverage the strengths of being an introvert and succeed in a naturally extroverted industry. We take a deeper dive into the qualities of introvert and extroverts within the recruitment and HR space and how each lends itself to great outcomes. Now working in technology recruitment, Caitlin explains why it’s such an in-demand sector of late and what the qualities of a good tech recruiter are. The industry has become a community for software engineers and development professionals and having an understanding of it is invaluable as a recruiter. Caitlin highlights the importance of having a firm understanding of the industry you’re operating in, the people who are passionate about it and the skills necessary to successfully recruit the right talent. Caitlin’s career has proven to be linear and rewarding in a short space of time. It’s interesting to hear her reflect so fondly on the last ten years and her successes. To hear more about Caitlin’s experience, from setting up the Melbourne Recruitment Meetup to network with like-minded individuals, to her aspirations as a young girl, listen to the latest episode of Strivin and Thrivin now!

“I think every day is a learning day” This week on Strivin & Thrivin we get to know Lauren Sharp, Director at Sharp People and Co-Host of the TaPod Podcast, for which her early career as a Cabin Manager at Ansett prepared her well for. Sharp People was founded by Lauren and is a recruitment company focusing on the information, technology and communication industries in Australia. Sharp People focuses on talent acquisition, stressing the importance of a positive rapport with each recruit, something Lauren believes is typically lost via recruitment agencies. Lauren shares her career experiences from starting out at Ansett as an Air Hostess where she channelled her love for travel and exploration, before moving into a recruitment agency and eventually setting in-house as a recruiter for technology companies, where her passion lies. We get a feel for what that has been like for Lauren’s progression as she had to learn the world of computer software and recruitment at the same time, but found herself flourishing in the industry and eventually set up Sharp People as a side hustle. Like many others, Lauren was hit by the Coronavirus impact and soon found herself making a real go of it with Sharp People, to much success. Like everyone else, Lauren is adjusting to a “new normal” post COVID, and the time to recalibrate has allowed her to focus on doing more of what she loves. So she bought a puppy, cranked up her own business efforts and set up TaPod with her Co-Host Craig Watson, a passion project for the two of them. On TaPod, they chat all things Talent Acquisition with TA leaders, Industry suppliers and agency representatives. This Strivin & Thrivin podcast is a great episode about self-belief, investing in yourself and owning your career goals. Believe it or not, Lauren still finds the time to go to the gym, walk the dog, have a social life while working six days a week and most importantly, she loves it. Listen to the latest episode now!

This week on Strivin & Thrivin, we catch up with Craig Watson, Director and Founder of Recstra, the platform for HR specialists looking for more flexible working hours. Recstra allows you to choose the hours you work while saving companies on excessive recruitment fees. Craig tells us, from a young age he knew his talents lay in accounting and economics so, naturally, he concluded he’d grow up to be a “Super Accountant”. With the nudge from his mum, he trained to be a teacher, leaning on his personable skills and people qualities. Today Craig is a family man who has established a successful career in recruitment. While his day job is at Recstra he also co-hosts Tapod, a podcast about talent acquisition. During his downtime, he catches up with family and spends his weekends being a surf lifesaver. “I stumbled and stumbled and stumbled along for many, many years,” Craig tells us as he recalls his career journey and the defining moments in which he was able to identify that his strengths lay in working with people. We broach the topic of in-house versus agency, during which Craig highlights the major pitfall of agencies is the race to fill seats rather than source a quality hire. “This race to the bottom, it's all about who can fill the role quickest because the quickest person gets paid. So it affects quality and there's this pressure by agency owners for people to get the job done”. We establish that to Craig, the importance of recruitment is being able to add value and finding the right people in order to do so. This means understanding each recruit and being more approachable. “If people are more comfortable with you, they're more authentic”. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. During our conversations, we cover everything from diversity to the impact COVID-19 has had on the talent pool. Listen to hear more from Craig on switching careers and taking the plunge on new projects.  Available now on Strivin & Thrivin!

In this week’s recording of Strivin & Thrivin, we catch up with Andrea Kirby, Director of Talent Table, to have a frank and honest discussion about her career learnings and her more emotional approach to work. Unafraid of calling out wrongdoing, regardless of someone’s seniority, we get a great sense of how principled Andrea is and the impact she has had on the lives of others. Listen to this brilliant episode now!

This week on the Strivin & Thrivin podcast we talk to Garth Quinn, Recruitment Manager at Uniting. While reflecting on his career path, we take a trip down memory lane to Garth’s time working in cinemas, where he tells us the truth about the popcorn! But as we get down to the nitty gritty in this podcast, we discuss the challenges of internal recruitment. Garth explains the challenge of stakeholder management: you don’t tend to deal with in-agency and adopting the company culture in order to make the right hires. Garth also sheds some light on how the role of an in-house recruiter can be drastically different from industry-to-industry, highlighting the sensitivity required in social care industries and the ability to adapt professionally to provide a duty of care. “The biggest learning coming into aged care is the protection of our clients and protection of the organization,” says Garth, “It's a critical service that we provide to our clients and if we don't have the right people in the right place, then [the patients] suffer”. For people considering a career path in aged care, this is a great listen. Despite being in a niche industry, Garth stresses the importance of keeping your finger on the pulse, ensuring you’re caught up with the latest industry news both inside and outside your sector, networking internally as well as externally wherever you can, both for your own growth and development but to also ensure you are working ahead of the curve. There are learnings and transitional skills that be applied to various industries. During our chat we cover everything from the ‘recruiter whinge’ and everyday bugbears to leading with data to ensure credibility and transparency when hiring new recruits. Gareth is a firm believer that there are no shortcuts on recruitment and success is born from strict processes, strategy and policy. Listen to the latest episode of Strivin & Thrivin for the latest insight from HR professionals on career success.

Welcome to the latest episode of Strivin & Thrivin, the career development podcast inspiring you to make some bold changes. During this week’s episode, we chat to Adele Moynihan, Global Head of Founder Strategies at Antler Australia. Adele tells us what it’s like working with a different calibre of candidates - ones unmotivated by money, job titles or perks, but driven by their want to change the world for the better. It’s one not to miss! Enjoy our latest episode and be sure to sign up to Strivin & Thrivin for more career insights, mentorships and learning materials!

Welcome to the latest episode of Strivin & Thrivin, the career development podcast inspiring you to make some bold changes. This week we explore how VR and recruitment can be used to great effect. Stan Rolfe, Training Manager at Training Unlimited shares his own experience, having taken the plunge with VR technology in a recruitment roll-out to great success. He shares invaluable insight into the learnings he’s taken from his experience, the challenges and the setbacks. For those looking to experiment with different recruitment techniques for long-term, successful recruits, this podcast is not to be missed. Enjoy our latest episode and be sure to sign up to Strivin & Thrivin for more career insights, mentorships and learning materials!

Welcome to the latest episode of Strivin & Thrivin, the career development podcast inspiring you to make some bold changes. In our latest episode, we catch up with Hope Dawson, Founder of Forme Consultancy to discuss the challenges of running your own HR consultancy. Covering everything from juggling multiple projects and clients, to overcoming mistakes. Hope shares insight into overcoming your fears both personal and professional and learning more about yourself along the way. Enjoy our latest episode and be sure to sign up to Strivin & Thrivin for more career insights, mentorships and learning materials!

Welcome to the latest episode of Strivin & Thrivin, the career development podcast inspiring you to make some bold changes. During this week’s episode, we chat to Cloë Stanbridge, Talent Acquisition Lead at The Lab17. We discuss the differences between hiring in house versus agency recruitment, what it's like working for a fast-growing startup and now how Cloë is helping The Lab17 enable tech companies to scale their teams, and accelerate their growth. During our chat, we delve into what it takes to build a successful company culture as you’re mass-hiring and how to instil confidence in your stakeholders. Enjoy our latest episode and be sure to sign up to Strivin & Thrivin for more career insights, mentorships and learning materials!

Welcome to the latest episode of Strivin & Thrivin, the career development podcast inspiring you to make some bold changes. This week we chat to Pavi Iyer, Talent Acquisition Leader. Covering everything from imposter syndrome at work to knowing your worth, we address the uncomfortable conversations people still aren’t having in the workplace and how HR professionals are working to combat this. Enjoy the latest episode and be sure to sign up to Strivin & Thrivin for more career insights, mentorships and learning materials.

We love hearing from passionate, successful HR professionals and this week we spoke to Sarah Blackmore, People and Culture leader. You’ll soon appreciate Sarah's love and enthusiasm for the industry and her constructive outlook on things as she takes us on a journey back through her career and teaches you how to broaden your horizons to better understand the space you operate in. During our chat, we hear about Sarah’s job history and her approach to getting on the career ladder, something she feels fell into place later in life. Addressing the ever-prominent issue a huge number of us have faced - or are currently facing- of trying to figure out what you want to do as a career, Sarah tells us her road to starting out wasn’t so smooth and how temping set her off initially. “Temping for me was like the gateway into being able to try different environments and try different kinds of work and see what stuck.” Admitting she only found what she truly loved doing in her thirties, we go on to learn of how her previous roles were a learning curve and steered her toward where she is now, yet not still without its setbacks. Like most us of, Sarah had those moments of feeling directionless. “Not knowing where I wanted to go was mainly because I just didn't know what I was capable of and what could potentially be possible for me.” Having started in event planning in a completely different role, she has come 360 to work for Eventbase to look after their people. “I actually think it's the same mindset that made me happy in events that makes me really, really happy in people.” But how are those in the event industry coping during a global pandemic? She, like many, has had to change and adapt to a new way of working and looking after people at work during this time is increasingly important. “Our business has been completely turned on its head, which has been incredibly difficult, but also incredibly interesting from a people person’s perspective because it's given me [the] opportunity to do things that maybe I would never have been able to do.” Throughout our podcast, we cover a number of topics in HR and recruitment and, of course, the importance of mentoring. “One of my big passions is middle management and middle management coaching because they typically are the guys that are left a little bit behind.” To hear more insight from Sarah on the challenges smaller businesses face when it comes to tackling issues such as remote working, facilities and larger ongoing issues such as inclusivity, listen to this week’s Strivin & Thrivin podcast. Sharing real stories and real insight every week!

This week on the Strivin & Thrivin podcast we caught up with Michael Delaney, Head of Talent at Humanforce, the shift-based workforce platform. For those considering a career change, Michael shares insight into his successful and unexpected career pivot, or should we say pirouette? The first 15 years of his career, Micheal spent as a professional ballet dancer, performing everything from Swan Lake to Bananas in Pyjamas. Now, in a completely different field of work, he can still be relied upon to get the dancefloor moving. During our chat, we discuss what it takes to make a complete career change and the people who helped him succeed. “It's funny, you know, when you talk to someone who really knows what they're doing, it's amazing, the insights that you get - who knew that experts could really help you grow and plan?” Michael reflects fondly on his first female mentor, during a time when mentors were formally recognised and gets to the crux of what it means to be a good mentor. “It's not always about telling them what to do. It's about asking them questions and letting them come to the realization that they could maybe look at things in a different way.” The past year has seen Michael juggle being both a mentee and a mentor. Supporting those who have lost their jobs due to COVID, he has been working for a programme called Jobs for Australia, career coaching and guiding mentees on how to navigate the unknown landscape. Killing two birds with one stone, he also used the platform to land his new role at Humanforce. During our conversation, we learn the value people can gain both personally and professionally, by having a mentor from someone who has been on both sides of the fence. “I have a personal mantra in life that every day try and make somebody feel better and mentoring is a great way to make people feel better.” Listen to Michael’s podcast on Strivin & Thrivin now, where we learn what it takes to be a successful career mentor and how Michael went from one-man show to team player.

This week on the Strivin & Thrivin podcast we chat to Amy Cotterill, Global Talent Acquisition Lead at Xref. Amy talks about something we’ve all experienced. Trying to be a ‘yes’ person, taking on too much and struggling with an unmanageable workload. There are some of us who have painfully tried to struggle through unmanageable to-do lists, got things wrong, missed things out and even experienced burnout. “I'm a natural people pleaser... I used this to just say, yeah, okay… and then I'd look at what I have to do and I'd be so overwhelmed.” During our time with Amy we learn how she now manages her workflow, how mentors have helped her prioritise her workload, stakeholder management and refine her expectations. In doing so, she shares her advice on managing a mentor relationship. “Be prepared, , know what you want to get out of the session...They can't give you the Holy grail”. Having a fairly linear career path, Amy started out in recruitment, building a strong network of contacts and an impressive skill set as her roles gradually evolved and expanded. But growth didn’t happen without putting herself out there and pushing the boundaries of what she was comfortable with - something she has encouraged herself to do ever since moving from the UK to Australia eight years ago. If you’re looking to hear more about self-management and managing not only your own expectations but that of leaders around you, give Amy’s Strivin & Thrivin podcast a listen!

After moving to Sydney 13 years ago, Scottish-born Neil Gunning tells us he learned a lot about “having fire in the belly” and the importance of hustle, while being strategic and resourceful. Neil started out in recruitment as a teenager learning the beginnings of his craft in various agencies in Scotland. Today, he works for Frollo, the Australian FinTech company and open banking leader teaching users to be smarter with their money as well as NextGen.net, a technology provider to the mortgage lending industry. But the hustle doesn’t stop there, Neil is also the Director of Tech Life Sydney, an employer branding as a service platform and has his own passion project on the side, Fletch & Bob, a specialty coffee  business and no-doubt the fuel behind his hustle. In our latest episode of Strivin & Thrivin podcast, we caught up with Neil to talk about his professional experience. Just a few of the topics we cover are: LEADERSHIP What Neil has learned from other leaders and what he aspires to be like as a leader. “If you're in a leadership role, you're there to have an opinion, you're there to bring your experience and bring your lens to whatever context you're working in. And, and if you're not going to back yourself why would anyone else?” MENTORSHIP Having two mentors himself, we cover the importance of extracting value from them, what questions you need to be asking and how you should approach your mentor. “You need to have respect for that person and need to know that you're actually going to be able to learn from them.” BALANCE We find out what life experiences, outside of the professional field have taught Neil about himself, about his approach to work and in achieving balance. Listen to our latest Strivin & Thrivin podcast for invaluable insight into Neil’s successfully diverse career within talent acquisition and beyond.