Perth recruitment company, Scotford & Fennessy, has opened an office in Adelaide as part of a national expansion following strong demand for its services from the mining and construction industries.
Established by Peter Scotford and Nick Fennessy five years ago, the business has undergone major expansion during the past year, with staff numbers at its head office doubling to 16.
Mr Scotford told WA Business News the company’s move into the Adelaide market came six months after the group opened an office in Brisbane on the back of demand from its Western Australian clients undertaking work in Queensland.
“The primary motivation for us has been to service our clients we are already dealing with,” Mr Scotford said.
The Queensland office has grown to employ six people and will move to new premises in November that can accommodate an expansion to 14 people.
He said the group was able to source work for candidates wanting to move to Queensland and those wanting to shift from Queensland to Perth.
Mr Scotford said he and Mr Fennessy decided to open an office in the Adelaide market in anticipation of growing demand for skilled workers in the mining and engineering sectors.
The office opened about three weeks ago.
“People are tipping Adelaide as the next location to grow,” Mr Scotford told WA Business News.
“There are loads of people developing property and there is the view that if the uranium mining kicks it will be very strong in Adelaide. Olympic Dam is already big for them”.
Mr Scotford said the business had experienced strong demand for labour from companies working on infrastructure and rail projects while it was undertaking mining work for clients in Queensland.
He said securing new clients had not been the challenge in its east-coast expansion. Instead, it was getting the recruiters on deck to source people for their clients.
To solve this dilemma, Scotford & Fennessy turned to a fellow recruitment company specialising in recruiting recruiters.
“The recruiters in the local market hadn’t heard about us, so it was hard work,” Mr Scotford said.
He said both offices could employ up to 16 people each by the end of next year.
Mr Scotford ruled out moving into Melbourne or Sydney because neither market provided sufficient leverage to the resources sector.
