Our People
Dale Clareburt
After finding the recruitment industry over a decade ago I’ve been fortunate to work with some fantastic people and experience the industry from the bottom to the top. Starting out typing CVs, I’ve worked as a Consultant, Candidate Manager and Team Manager for a leading national agency; and most recently I was Country Manager for a global recruitment brand.
Over the past ten years, I’ve often found myself thinking that there must be a better way. Who’s out there challenging the way we’ve always done things? How can I do things differently? How can I be part of a movement dedicated to a better and more satisfying experience for all people (hiring managers, recruiters and candidates) right through the hiring process; on their first day in the new job; and those performance critical first few months?
Well, I’ve finally arrived at a place where I know how I can do this! Our team has massive enthusiasm for challenging the status quo and doing things better. We understand people and know that how we communicate with, manage and develop them is what matters most. I’m excited to be part of a company that is all about helping our clients to grow and transform their business through the talented, committed people they hire and engage.
EMAIL – dale.clareburt@talentmagnet.co.nz DDI – +64 9 551 6002 MOBILE – +64 21 844 226
Paul Leacock
I remember the day I decided to enter the recruitment industry vividly. I had a burning desire to get into HR as having had a successful career in sales and marketing within the IT industry I had decided it was time to put aside my interest in technology in favour of my passion for connecting with people. Full of enthusiasm and excitement I went off to visit a recruitment agency to “talk to the experts” about my grand plan. After quickly accessing the fact that I had a wealth of commercial and sales experience the consultant I was speaking with uttered those 9 magic words – “have you ever thought about a career in recruitment?”
In my 11 years in the industry I have been fortunate to work with and learn from some great people and in many roles both as a consultant and in management. I’ve also had the pleasure of being a founding committee member and chair of the Human Resources Institute of New Zealand’s recruitment group alongside some incredibly talented people running many of New Zealand’s biggest internal recruitment functions and agencies. Together, our mission is to inject fresh ideas and innovation into the New Zealand Recruitment Industry.
It’s been an incredible journey but for me the most exciting things to take place in our industry are still to come. There is a fundamental change coming in the way organisations view talent management – not just as a short-term, tactical problem but rather an integral part of a long term business strategy. Talent Magnet will be at the forefront of this change though innovative solutions that drive our industry forward - now that’s exciting!
EMAIL – paul.leacock@talentmagnet.co.nz DDI – +64 9 551 6001 MOBILE – +64 21 871 968
Kate Billing
There is no other single thing we spend more of our waking hours doing than being at work. So why are so many of us prepared to declare that ‘dead time’, simply exchanging it for money to ‘have a life’ in the few hours before and after sleeping? What if we could all become better people through our experience of work and do good in the world as well as create financial success? Those questions occupied my mind for years while I moved from job to job and country to country – playing the same game as everyone else.
Since returning to NZ in 1996, I’ve explored the talent, culture and brand arenas in senior roles spanning recruitment, talent acquisition and management; employer branding; internal communications; engagement and retention. I took the road less travelled in 2007 and left the corporate world for the thrills and spills of self employment. I thought I’d give it a year and see what happened. Short answer – I love it! Working in an external role with multiple businesses, I can affect and support far more positive change than I ever could on the inside as an employee. No two days are ever the same. I’m learning and evolving every day. My clients are amazing people and I love seeing them deliberately forging their businesses through strength of purpose, connection and the performance power of their people.
EMAIL – kate.billing@talentmagnet.co.nz DDI – +64 9 551 6000 MOBILE – +64 21 283 2855
Simon Martin
I’d done every job under the sun. You name it – plumber, guy who put wicks in candles, waiter, bowling alley attendant, insurance salesman…I could go on, so decided it was time to go back to college. Specialising in computer science, I obtained a national diploma, a broad understanding of technology and, although appreciating IT and the profession, the knowledge it wouldn’t offer me the people contact I had come to understand I needed. From here, as you hear so much, I fell into recruitment.
That was 8 years ago, in which time I have worked for a global IT recruitment consultancy in the UK and, since moving to NZ, another global brand, a boutique specialist consultancy and a large NZ owned generalist agency. Starting out as a candidate manager I have moved through roles including Senior Consultant, Team Lead, General Manager and Principal consultant, for the majority, specialising in IT.
After all this experience I have come to realise something. All these companies are great at what they do but none really offer a true, game changing proposition to clients and candidates alike. Then I met Paul, Kate and Dale. I felt their passion, the way they valued relationships for the long term and how they want to use their powers for good. Amazing, at last people who share my passion for helping people …whether it be connecting people with people, or with resources and opportunities, it applies across the board. Candidates, clients, passersby ….everyone involved will in some way have their lives positively affected by TalentMagnet and Blacksmith.
EMAIL – simon.martin@talentmagnet.co.nz DDI – +64 9 551 6003 MOBILE – +64 27 2053 302