Technology Recruitment Case Studies · New Zealand
I’ve been doing this long enough to see what happened after the hire.
A placement is not proof. What matters is what the person changes, protects or delivers after joining.
That is the part I pay attention to.
Senior BA → AI & BI Lead
The role said Senior BA. The business eventually needed much more.
The brief was for a Senior Business Analyst.
But the business did not really need someone who could simply document requirements. It needed someone who could see an opportunity, get people behind it and turn an unclear idea into something useful.
That was the part I was looking for.
The title got us into the search. The evidence told us who could grow beyond it.
Urgent contractor hire
Six months to go-live. Then the Lead Engineer resigned.
The deadline did not move.
The work did not get smaller.
And this was not the moment to send ten CVs and hope one worked.
The contractor had to enter work already in motion, understand the environment quickly and become useful without creating more disruption.
Speed mattered. Lowering the evidence bar would have made the situation worse.
Long-term fit
The hire still made sense eight years later.
Hired as a Service Desk Analyst.
Eight years later, still with the same business and now a Senior Technical Specialist.
There was no dramatic result in week one.
The proof accumulated over years.
Some of the best hiring outcomes are boring at the beginning.
Repeat trust
Good work tends to travel internally.
One successful search can lead to another.
Then another team. Another function. Another part of the group.
I have been trusted across technology, operations, data, digital, business solutions and marketing.
Not because someone promised me the next role. Because the previous outcome gave them a reason to introduce me again.
Client voice
What matters is whether the trust held after the introduction.
“Jess got underneath the job title quickly. She understood the delivery pressure, challenged what we really needed, and only brought people who made sense for the situation.”
Dan Morgan / CIO / Bidfood“Jess takes the time to understand what we really need and doesn’t flood us with candidates. She puts forward people she genuinely believes are a strong match, which makes the process more focused and gives us confidence we’re considering the right people from the start.”
Carl Omundsen / CTO / Garmin NZ“Jess understands what we actually need, only puts forward people she genuinely believes fit, and is honest about the strengths and trade-offs of each candidate. It saves us time and gives us confidence in who we meet.”
Brian Gould / MD / Blackwall“I’ve worked with Jessica over the years to find people with the right skills, experience and team fit. We’ve had some high-calibre people join our teams as a result of her work. More than once, she’s been able to get us out of a bind when we needed a specific skillset at short notice.”
Peter Zavoda / GM Digital / NZ PostResults depend on the person, the leadership around them, the environment, authority and resources available. These case studies show what happened after the hire; they are not a promise that every hire will produce the same outcome.
Your next critical hire
What does your next hire need to look like six months after they start?
Not on the start date. After they have had time to affect the work.
If the answer is not clear yet, pressure-test the role before you search.
Pressure-test my hire