PM&C Presentation
Connect Indigenous businesses with
Commonwealth Officers
29 June 2016
Brad Watts & Dan Wilson
Introduction to First Grade
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Commenced as a labour hire & recruitment firm in late 2011
Initially specialised in Construction, Mining, Oil n Gas and Logistics markets
Demonstrated capability and competed confidently with global recruitment firms
Became a registered Supply Nation supplier in early 2013 – we identified this period
of time as the business being genuinely ready and capable to deal directly with
government and major corporate firms who have an interest in embedding
Indigenous business in their supply chain
In 2016 we have 10 full time employees, 33% Indigenous employees, up to 175
candidate out working daily and providing services to over 40 active clients in
Construction, Resources, Logistics, Facilities Management, State & Federal
Government and Banking
All of our senior recruitment team have spent time with major firms and understand
the account management strengths that exist with engaging with small to medium
enterprise. We pride ourselves on our service delivery and continual improvement
strategies
The IPP introduction
• We started to notice changes immediately after 1 July 2015
• ATO led the IPP introduction with panel inclusion on the deed of standing
offer for recruitment & labour hire service
• With the strength of the IPP, and with our own development and
improvement, we commenced the process of ‘introducing ourselves’ to
departments
• Emails, letters and events ensured that our business and our willingness to
work became known amongst departments
• We understand the opportunity is only as good as our service delivery, so we
have focused on the basics of chasing feedback, both positive & negative to
further educate our business to be successful
• We are now beneficiaries of a steady work stream from a range of
departments which has seen significant growth in our business
Control it & build it
• The challenge now is to control the influx of work
• Manage it appropriately to succeed and build our own capability, capacity and
reputation
• We have been included in additional work opportunities away from our traditional
service offering
• Opportunities such as Grad Programs, Trainee Programs & Project Manage an entire
Recruitment Program for ATO
• Initially unsuccessful, but our business value of continual improvement meant we
sought feedback, improvement and better outcomes
• We learnt about non conforming tenders, offering speciality sections of a tender
• The net outcome for FG- improvement, building competency, building our reputation
What success is starting to look like for FGR
• First Grade Recruitment expansion to First Grade Group
• A services division that will focus on property servicing, grounds
maintenance and tenancy relocation for State and Federal Government
• Additional employees at the First Grade business due to the success of the
IPP
• The growth and expansion of the business has given us further opportunity
to control our own successful outcomes and employment targets
• Increased use of suppliers to our business- the benefits to our business are
being shared to the wider economy
• Further expansion plans in pipeline which will mean further employment
and benefits to wider economy
References
Carmel Tricarico – ATO
[email protected]
Karen Evans – DSS
[email protected]
Scott Vernon – Agriculture
[email protected]
John Cochrane – QLD Health
[email protected]