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Horner Recruitment leadership on our 45 years of experience: clients & candidates and the keys to our success

We’re celebrating 45 years in business in 2020, which is a significant achievement, so we’ve asked Maria Karpetis (Projects Manager) and Phil Webster (Operations Manager), to share their insights on this amazing milestone and what it means for our clients and candidates…

Q. What do you feel has been the backbone of Horner’s longevity?

Maria – “From my perspective, it’s our consistency of service delivery combined with a very high level of commitment by our employees.

Our service delivery is through a team-based culture, where there’s not a trace of internal competition. Typically in our industry, there can be a lot of direct or indirect competition between internal consultants which is reflected in how they are remunerated. 

Creating the right culture is a huge focus, this is based on a dynamic working environment where everyone from Resourcer to Director has a voice. In addition, we’re wholly located in Melbourne, which means it’s easier to nurture a fantastic company culture.”

Phil – “I put this down to a strong connection with our industry. We’ve weathered every social and economic storm thrown at us; 1980’s recession, Y2K, the GFC, but it has been the long term tenures of our leadership that has seen us through.

As a business we’re also actively involved with our industry peak body, the RCSA (Recruitment, Consulting and Staffing Association). Peter Langford, our Director, has completed 10 years of service on the board of the RCSA serving as Vice-President. “

Q. Experience is everything in business, especially recruitment… how do you feel our 45 years of experience helps our clients & candidates?

Maria – “We’ve been able to grow and develop as a business by embracing diversification and the concept of trying new ideas. This provides our employees with a diverse work-life and introduction to new markets and services.

The other important element is our attitude to our clients. We’re humbled by the client relationships we have and our culture is all about respect to our clients regardless of size. It’s built into the Horner Recruitment DNA that every client, regardless of size, receives the same high level of service, even the client that only calls us once a year!

Every client is important to our business, every single one. We respect everyone equally. This is built on open and honest communication. I always say to the team if we can’t help a client with a particular service then we tell them honestly that we are unable to do so.  In the past, we’ve apologetically said no to business if we feel we’re not culturally aligned.”

Phil – “We live or die by what we can deliver as talent consultants and we’re only as good as our last placement. Our 45 years of experience is a wealth of information, knowledge and wisdom, which we pass on to our team, clients and candidates to always find the right solution.”

Q. Looking forward to the future now… how do you see the success of Horner Recruitment shaping up over the next 5 years? 

Maria – “A clear long term goal for us is to deliver a level of service that converts every Horner client into an advocate of our business. We will continue to hold ourselves accountable. For us, it’s about maintaining the quality of service provided.”

Phil – “This is a question we’re discussing right now, given the current COVID-19 situation. My thoughts are the next 2-3 years is going to present a significant challenge to employers worldwide; be it government legislation, consumer and social changes or emerging technologies. Drawing on 45 years of wisdom, we see Horner as being the experienced partner to help our clients navigate these challenges. “

We’re here to help.

Horner is proud to be Melbourne Recruitment Specialists for 45 years.   We’re here to help you now, and into the future. Connect with the Horner team today!