Success Stories

These are just some of the many success stories from Australian companies who exhibit at the expo. 

South Africa 07

 

HBOS Australia, Banking Professionals and IT

“This was an experiment exploring international recruitment. We weren’t sure what to expect but were hoping to make contact with a number of banking and IT professionals. Opportunities Australia Expo far surpassed expectations. We were blown away with what we have accomplished here… We were very impressed with the quality of people with a banking background and how prepared they were with resumes as well as how they had researched HBOS. It’s an exceptional opportunity to get access to international candidates that match your requirements and are ready to move to Australia.”

Simone Shugg, Human Resources Business Partner, Corporate & Business Division
Live in Canberra – Govt. Dept.

“The expo has been a great success for Canberra. Many hundreds of people have visited the stand… We have collected about 200 resumes of highly skilled people who matched the skill sets we are in desperate need of in Canberra.”

Simon Kinsmore, Manager

Honeywell - Engineering

“Honeywell was completely overwhelmed by the response and had candidates queuing for an hour. The candidates that attended were well prepared and mostly well qualified. We are still working through our response but have over 12 second interviews booked in. I would imagine that as a result of the expo we will be making at least 6 or 7 offers. We do however expect to build upon this over the next 6-12 months as not everyone can move immediately and it helps us build our long term pipeline.”

Victoria Leonard, Pacific Staffing Leader
“We took approximately 150 registrations and found radiographers, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech pathologists. It is definitely worthwhile and was a very well run event.”

Joanne Calder, Global Health Source - Healthcare
 
Professional Advantage - IT

“Thousands came to our stand. It was 5 deep with people trying to talk to us. We took 500 CV’s and we’re likely to make offers for consultancy and training roles plus a few business intelligence roles. Overall it was well worth it”.

Mary Hanna, Professional Services Manager 
Laing O’Rourke – Construction / Engineering

“If I walk away with 4 people I would class it as successful. We have done a dozen interviews; collected 70 CV’s and will probably place at least a dozen. We have given away 500 packs and had around 1000 people visiting our stand. If you are serious about meeting your resource needs then to participate in the Opportunities Australia Expo has to be part of your strategy”

Mark Vining, General Manager Human Resources 
Moly Mines Limited – Mining & Resources

“We were aiming to attract good quality, difficult-to-place candidates [Mine Planning Engineer, Geology Superintendent, Mine Surveyor, Mine Pit Superintendent, Electrical Engineer, Mine Geologist, Electrical Tradesperson, Plant Metallurgist] and needed 2-3 to meet ROI. It’s early days [2nd day of the Expo] but I’d be surprised if we didn’t manage that. We had hundreds of CV’s and on the whole the quality was very good. It’s definitely worth considering and in 6 months time we will be able to qualify that a lot more.”

Sue German, Manager Human Resource
Testimonials – United Kingdom

London March 2007


“We seek people from all over the world, but the UK is good because the candidates speak the same language and are also incredibly motivated to move for lifestyle reasons. We would have seen over 120 visitors and collected approximately 100 CV’s. 60% of those CV’s are people we are looking at following up with after the expo. We are pretty sure we will meet our quota with that many candidates to select from, so we are pretty pleased! You get the opportunity to meet face to face and assess people far better than on a piece of paper. We would recommend the expo!”

Alexander Irvine, Business Development Manager, Aibel Ltd. 

“From over 60 resumes that we collected from the London expo, nine candidates have already moved through to a second round of interviews. The overall results so far have been very positive, with the expo proving more cost effective than using a recruitment agency.”

Sophie Schaedel, Employee Relations Manager, Baulderstone Hornibrook


“The serious candidates have brought resumes and their certificates of trade as they are highly motivated to make the move and many have started their Visa Application process… If you have the opportunity, do it!”

Denise Hipwell, Recruitment and Corporate Induction Manager, Country Energy
“We collected a few hundred CV’s… from planners, engineers, plumbers, electricians, doctors and nurses… They have been high quality applicants… After exhibiting at other shows, we feel this is the best one to exhibit at!”

Peter Pedersen, General Manager, IRDB

“We have accepted 45 resumes and have also collected resumes from disciplines we weren’t expecting to recruit for here at the expo… if this is the market that you want to tap into, I would recommend the expo.”

John Hussey, Manager Human Resources, South East Water
London October 2006

“The Australian Tax Office placed 5 people within the IT and accounting area and 1 year after the expo they are still placing people they met at the expo.” The ATO are attending Opportunities Australia Expo again in Oct/Nov 2007.

Angela Kendall, Senior Recruitment Advisor, Australian Tax Office
“IP Australia seek highly experienced professionals (i.e. engineers, doctors) who after years of industry experience are looking to move into a specialist role reviewing applications for patents and trademarks. These are extremely hard candidates to find and our client has 3 accepted job offers and is in negotiations with 6 more.”

Kate McRae, GM Human Resource Management, IP Australia
We have met some very very good people and the expo has exceeded our expectations. We have been pleasantly surprised at the quality of people speaking with us and we have seen more potential employees at this expo then all the 3 of the recruitment fares we attended last year.

Dr Susan Svilans, Medical Director, Central Northern Adelaide Health Service, Government of South Australia
Previous Comments

“We have had over 1200 candidates leave their details with us and it appears that 60% would be suitable. Already we can identify a few outstanding candidates who match all our criteria. It has been a very good expo which I would recommend to the health sector.”

Claire Brock, Director, Ccentric Group
Government of Western Australia - www.wa.gov.au

‘This is the second time that we have exhibited at the expo and both times we have been pleasantly surprised with the quality and quantity of visitors. Our expo experience was very positive and I would definitely recommend the expo to anyone who has not come before’

Georgie Hawkins, Government of Western Australia


Study Options - www.studyoptions.com

‘The expo has certainly met my expectations and if I had to use one word to sum it up it would be “Quality”!’

Stefan Watts, Managing Director, Study Options

Health Workforce Queensland  - www.healthworkforce.com.au

‘We have eight candidates looking to move to Queensland as a result of being at last year’s expo. This may not sound like much, but we are pleased as it takes months to recruit GPs, and the calibre of these candidates is very high’

Charlie Duncan, Recruitment & Locums Manager, Health Workforce Queensland
South East Water - www.southeastwater.com.au

‘The expo has been very successful. We have spoken to over 200 candidates and have collected 45 resumes’

John Hussey, Manager Human Resources, South East Water

Minara Resources - www.minara.com.au

‘We were aiming to recruit up to 5 people from the expo and have taken about 60 resumes, with 20 who tick all the right boxes for us’

Dee Richards, Human Resources Advisor, Minara Resources