Vincent's Story - Civil Engineer
Vincent's story is brought to you by Blair Stewart
Business Development Manager for Construction
The person's name and likeness have been changed for privacy reasons
Tell us about this person and how you originally came across them?
"Vince applied for an ad from Dubai where he had been working there for 15 years. We looked at his CV and he didn’t have any New Zealand experience, but he had a great skill set.
I remember at the interview stage he showed us a presentation of his projects and we pitched him to a particular client straight away. He had 4 different degrees, and he was also a qualified carpenter, so he ticked all the boxes for almost everything we had.
Since then, we have placed him with that client and the feedback has been that he was one of the best people they’ve ever had working for them."
What was it that stood out about this candidate to you?
"He was confident in what he was delivering and everything that we asked him he delivered on. He had a great demeanor and I knew he would add great value to our client."
Were there any unique challenges with this candidate?
"Without New Zealand experience we needed a client that trusted us and that is exactly what happened."
As a consultant, what did you take away most from this experience?
"If people are the right skill set and cultural fit they don’t necessarily need to have New Zealand or Australian experience. After all, we’re not the only countries that build in the world. Take a punt on some people from overseas, if you’ve got the right person it doesn’t matter where they’re from they can easily learn the building codes of New Zealand and Australia."
Do you feel you were able to impact them positively in the experience? Was there anything they did that left an impact on you?
"For him to go and study New Zealand building codes and to prepare so well for the interview and to learn the different techniques and structural needs that we have here was very impressive; I saw his level of preparation and I thought that was the standard people need to be at."
Where are they now? Have you had contact or followed their progress since?
"He wants to stay here for good now, so we’ve obviously impacted his life. His wife is here now after 1 year, and they want to settle in New Zealand."
P: +64 9 969 1022 | M: +64 27 7788565
