Engineering Recruitment, Engineers Recruitment, Engineering Employment, Engineering Professionals, Engineering Jobs, WA, Australia

Having found his current position as principal planning engineer, network planning & development, at Western Power, Douglas Thomson used recruitment agent JSM Appointments to help him bag the job.

Douglas was over in Queensland when he had been approached by JSM recruiter Sonja Masters – a contact of Douglas’s had recommended him for a position.

While he had been looking for a job, Douglas found it difficult to find opportunities arising, especially when they were interstate. “I was looking for a principal position,” Douglas says. “I came over to Australia from the UK and basically had to re-establish my credentials again. I had a senior engineer position in Queensland, but thought I was probably capable of a lot more, considering my experience.

"I was on the look-out but it is very difficult to pick up all the jobs in Australia. Especially with Seek (.com.au) – it just becomes too much information, there are too many jobs and not enough focus, it’s too general. That’s where it’s good to get involved with recruitment consultants.” Douglas believes the opportunity to speak with Sonja about the intricate details of the position, what it would entail and what skill matrix would be required was incredibly valuable.

“We had that correspondence upfront; the outline of the job, what Western Power was looking for in terms of skills, knowledge and an experience base,” Douglas says. “After that initial contact I knew it was a really good skill matrix match.”
Such a good match, in fact, Douglas and his wife Kate moved from Queensland here just for the job without having seen Western Australia before.

“I knew a lot of ex-pats that came out to Perth, but had no feelings about the city myself,” he says. “A lot of people talk about it being remote; a lot of feedback I’d received from people on the East Coast wouldn’t consider Perth because of family ties, but our family was back in the UK.”

Candidates were pre-selected by JSM and were asked questions related to softer skills, ambiguity, risk and previous positions.

“From my basis, when I got offered the interview at Western Power over in WA I knew I was a good match,” Douglas says. “I wasn’t going to waste the trip either, so we made a weekend of it to be sure we knew what we were doing in case I was offered the job. So we did a few things, went to Fremantle, Cottesloe, had a look at the city and around at some of the beaches.

“I went through pre-selection with Sonja and an informal chat with my present manager so they could get a feel for my experience.

“I also had a formal interview with the key stakeholders, followed by an informal session to meet other employees that I would be involved with during my career. I felt this enabled Western Power to get a rounded view of my capabilities and overall fit for the organisation.

“After that week, my manager offered me the position, which was really exciting. “JSM went above and beyond to help me to get the job and give me all the information. When we arrived in Perth after we moved a month later, Sonja met us at the airport and took us out for a bite to eat, which added value, they just made us feel comfortable. She called me into the first and second week to see how I was going.

“I think with a visit, if you come over and things don’t happen the way you want, you may not feel comfortable which could result in not taking the job.”

Having been in the job for about a month, Douglas is very comfortable and feels there is a 95 per cent skills match. “After the first week I felt like I’d been here a long time,” he says.

The West Australian, 17 April 2010: Choose your Recruiter Liftout