Interview Team Leader – Dennis
How Did All This Get Started
I completed my apprenticeship in the eighties in the oil and gas industry as a first class welder and pipefitter. I was an adult apprentice and had some serious life experience behind me already, and I looked at my apprenticeship as something that could get me a better life if I applied myself – I was also in the oil and gas industry, an industry driven by deadlines, there were no excuses back then.
Projects got completed on time, gas flowed on or before the due date. I had a thirst for getting it right, first time every time, I was hard to work with, I made sure everything was done correctly and I got things done.
I was very lucky to have had a guiding light in the shape of a man mountain of a foreman, his name was Sam and he was a huge an imposing man – but for whatever reason, he liked me and took me under his wing, that man, and that period in my life shaped me. I travelled all over Europe working on pipelines and oil rigs and module yards building rigs and massive barge cranes. Wherever Sam’s next project took him he got me transferred to his project. We worked a roster of 28, 12 hour days at work, then 3 days at home, with travel both ways being in my time. Sam taught me the meaning of working hard, but Sam also taught me another lesson. Sam retired after working 46 years for that company, he had run some of the largest piping contracts in Europe, it was his life. And sadly 6 months after Sam retired he passed away, even after he had passed he was still teaching me lessons, and this one was ‘there has to be more to life than this, less than three days off a month, work your whole life and then when you retire, pass away after a few months’. Sam RIP, you helped me in so many ways, I’m doing my best to pay it forward.
And that’s why in January 1992 I decided to migrate to Australia. There had to be more to life.
I remember three things about the day that I stepped off that plane in Brisbane, having flown from Europe.
The first was, I remembered I didn’t know what hot was.. It was a scorcher in Brisbane that day, or it was to me, I had never felt heat like it, I left a European Winter to arrive in an Australian summer..
The second thing I remember was that I did not know a soul in Australia, not one person.
And the third thing I remember was that I made a promise to myself that day, that I was going to make it work for me in Australia.
In 1999/2000 I formed my first recruitment company in Australia. It came about when one day I had a difficult conversation with my boss at the time, I was frustrated at his inability to effectively run the company and that his projects were falling behind because it. And he said to me “if you’re so smart and you think you can do better, buy the company and you run it”. That night when I phoned home, I talked it over with my wife and asked, do you want to set up a company and run it our way? She said let’s go for it, I gave 30 days’ notice the next day and the rest is history.
People think that I’m the driver behind all this, but I can say categorically that without my wife supporting me while raising a family, that I’d be nothing.
This is 100% a team effort, always has been and always will be.
Recruiting Internationally
In 2004 I started recruiting overseas due to the skills shortages in Australia. We recruited highly skilled workers from Far East Asia, including the Philippines, Maylasia, Indonesia, and Singapore.
In 2006 our first recruitment company outside of Australia was formed and we opened offices and training and testing facilities in the Philippines.
By 2007 we had become the sole supplier to a major Australian Recruitment Company, they were the preferred supplier of international recruitment services for Commerce Queensland Members and we started supplying their clients, who were major Australian Drilling and Mining Companies with overseas recruitment services.
In 2008 we purchase that Australian Recruitment Company outright and now we dealt directly with Multi-National Companies, supplying welders, mechanics, drillers and associated trades.
Recruiting For Caterpillar Dealers And Komatsu
In 2008 I was approached by Hastings Deering Australia Limited (HDAL), the Caterpillar Dealer for Queensland and the Northern Territory in Australia, Papua New Guinea, The Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, and Fiji.
HDAL had been given our company name by Commerce Queensland as a preferred supplier, to try our International Recruitment Services.
And in August 2008 we held the first recruitment drive and interview sessions for HDAL who wanted to hire 16 workers.
HDAL interviewed 25 candidates and hired 22 of the 25 people interviewed, upping the initial order from 16. With the remaining 3 candidates requested to work on very specific areas, and who were subsequently hired by HDAL later on. These initial workers that were hired went into The Component Rebuild Group and Engine Specialisation.
We subsequently started a project to work with HDAL developing a bespoke International Recruitment program specifically for their needs. I was seconded to HDAL and spent considerable time going to branches and MARC sites, developing a very detailed understanding of how each branch / site operated, and what their specific needs were.
The International Recruitment Program was expanded and have deployed hundreds of Caterpillar Trained workers into the HDAL group into various countries, with the most recent recruitment drive being held in January 2024.
In 2010 we started supplying to WesTrac, the Caterpillar Dealer for Western Australia and parts of China – Our services were recommended to WesTrac by HDAL, dealer to dealer.
We have successfully recruited for and deployed workers into CRG, Engine Specialization, Equipment Assembly, General Bay, Field Service (town based), Field Service (Mine Site Based), Mine Site Pit / Breakdown, Customer Service Agreement (CSA) Sites, Maintenance and Repair Contracts (MARC) sites, and Planned Component Replacement (PCR).
2012 I was sent to Maylasia by HDAL along with Brent Diflo to assess the recruitment possibilities for Sime Darby the parent company of HDAL to supply workers from the Caterpillar Dealer Tractors Maylasia.
During 2012 I developed a bespoke Quality Management System which complied with the requirements of ISO 9001:2008 and it was audited by SAI Global and passed Audit first time – we became an ISO 9001:2008 acredited company.
Also in 2012 I was approached by Komatsu Australia, and we developed an International Recruitment program for Komatsu Australia, deploying Komatsu trained mechanics into Western Australian workshops and mine sites for Komatsu.
I Don’t Interview People, I Listen, We Talk And Share Experiences
I have recruited for mining contractors for Australia, Papua New Guinea, and New Caledonia – multi brands of OEM, Cat, Komatsu, P and H and Letourneau. I’ve recruited for Volvo Dealers in Ireland, Earthworks Companies in the UK and of course recruited for our own companies staff in Australia, HK, the UAE, The Philippines, Botswana and Zimbabwe. I have a French Diploma of Public Works covering large earthmoving equipment – maintaining and operating excavators, rigid off-highway trucks, articulated dump trucks, wheel loaders and backhoe loaders. I have a French Diploma of Forestry – Specialty Sustainable Forestry, I am a Qualified CSWIP Welding Inspector, and a Qualified Australian Welding Supervisor – Australian Standard 1796 Cert 10
My approach is very hands on, I have been in my boots walking the dirt where the candidates want to be, I migrated to Australia when I was in my early twenties, I didn’t know anyone in Australia. As a tradesman I’ve worked in some of the hottest places on the planet, working in 53C and some reasonably cold places -30. I’ve earned my stripes when it comes to talking with candidates not only about the work, but also when it comes to relocation, working in isolation, not knowing anyone in a new country and how that can affect some workers.
I worked FIFO way before ‘family friendly’ was even being talked about, let alone introduced – It gave me an understanding and it gave me empathy, workers are the key to our business – if we cannot source the right workers, if workers don’t trust us to deliver what we say we are going to deliver – then we have nothing to offer clients.
I would suggest that my personal interviewing techniques are more likely to be viewed as discussions between two people that respect each other, and I’m quickly able to break down barriers and find out who I’m really talking with and what they can offer and what they want and need. And I think the workers also quickly see they are talking to a man that keeps his word.
We never charge fees to workers, there are no hidden charges to pay, no high interest loans to pay off – we source highly skilled workers for companies that need highly skilled and experienced workers, ethical companies do not allow their workers to be charged fees.
Skilled Migration Group Limited only work with ethical companies and clients.
We must be doing something right because in over 25 years of recruiting, I can count on one hand the number of times that a worker has not stayed long term in a role.