When I set up a 300 square metre warehouse in Williamstown, Victoria in August 2004, my belief was simple. Imagine how much better the world could be if everyone treated people how they want to be treated.
The kind of “burn and churn” mentality I’d experienced where clients and candidates are treated like numbers didn’t sit well with me, and I believed that by starting Zoom Recruitment, I could make a genuine difference in people’s lives.
The business was small at the outset, and it was only me and one other person who held down the fort when I had to rush out to see clients. We started out with clients in the Construction, Civil and Rail sector and in 2005, we extended our services to Manufacturing clients.
We slowly started growing our team, and by 2006, we had around 7 full-time people. It was also in 2006 that Zoom Recruitment opened another branch in Preston, Victoria. By early 2007 Lisa Giakalis, our current National Operations manager, had joined the team. The company was quickly developing as we started serving more Industrial clients, and in 2007, another branch was opened in Dandenong, Victoria.
The early years were characterised by a kind of outlaw attitude where we took on unprecedented challenges and worked hard to reach new heights. We had clients in New South Wales and Queensland before we had offices there, and we opened those offices in 2008 to address their needs more efficiently. We planned, strategised and tackled challenges with solutions our clients hadn’t considered.
In 2013, we extended our reach to the Mining and Resources sector in Western Australia, where we opened a branch in South Perth. The next year, we opened two more branches in New South Wales: one in Dee Why and another in Mascot. Our focus wasn’t just on providing client service, but on building genuine relationships with our clients and over delivering as consultants. And this is what set us apart, allowing us to win some of our biggest clients ever.
At this point, Zoom Recruitment had grown from a modest 300 square metre warehouse to multiple branches spread across Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, and Western Australia. Our teams had expanded too, and many of our people were promoted to exciting new roles as Zoom Recruitment was becoming larger. But with all these changes, one thing had stayed the same: our belief that the relationships (people) come first.
Zoom Recruitment was flourishing, and in 2015, we held our first official AGM in Sydney. The AGM was a chance to celebrate our wins and give historical significance to the people at Zoom Recruitment. We took all of our people to Sydney with us, and we went for a Harbour cruise together. It was at this point that I remember thinking we’d made it. But to really express the significance of the trip to Sydney and the Harbour cruise, I’ll need to explain the backstory.
Lisa and I had dreamt about doing that for years. She’d told me very early on in her career at Zoom Recruitment how one of the previous companies she’d worked for had celebrated Christmas. Basically, they’d flown their Melbourne team to Sydney, eaten a fancy breakfast at a hotel and then gone on a cruise around the Sydney Harbour. She told me that when we could do that, that’s when we’d know we’d made it. So we set that as a dream, as a goal for Zoom Recruitment - and we made it! And to be able to give that opportunity to all our people – everyone thought we’d made it.
After many years of consulting with us, Peter Kyriopoulos, our current Director, officially joined the team in 2019. With Peter’s sound advice, Zoom Recruitment moved from strength to strength. By 2021, our senior management team decided it was time for a brand relaunch to share what makes us special with the world.
Almost 18 years after I’d started Zoom Recruitment because I’d wanted to do things better, I wanted to unify all 7 of our national branches under one belief. And throughout Zoom Recruitment’s history, people have always been at the very core of what we do. To put it simply: Make People Matter. And this has become our company mantra.