From the outside in – A recruiter’s journey from agency to internal recruitment functions.....

Courtney Sertdemir joined us as an Internal Recruiter 10 months ago and here, our little ray of “sunshine” explains her journey.

I think it was about two years into my recruitment career, when I was starting to feel more established and confident in my role that I began considering the move into internal recruitment, or as agency recruiters call it, moving to the “dark side”.

More and more I started to wonder about the people I spoke to on the phone, what exactly were Talent Acquisition specialists or Internal Recruiters accountable for? Was their day just like mine? Did they have as many vacancies to fill? Was there any difference working internally? Did they have strict KPI’s?

So I started to look around. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my job but thought why not see what’s out there! So, like every semi passive/ semi active candidate I’ve ever met with, I tried my luck and became one too.

Courtney climbing the corporate ladder! 

To start off, it’s a tough gig trying to get an internal role, why? Because just like me there are plenty of agency recruiters thinking the same thing about their career. So, you’re now competing against every other agency recruiter out there. I mean, you already vie for jobs and candidates in the market but now its recruiter against recruiter on the same catwalk trying to be “internals next top model.”

Now, I know what people think about agency recruiters going internal, we are over it; over the sales targets, KPI’s and cold calls. Yes, for some this is the case but for me, I enjoyed all those things, I just didn’t enjoy sending out non relevant resumes just to meet my quota, I didn’t enjoy doing whatever it takes to get a placement across the line, even if it challenged your own ethics. Unlike some of my peers, I didn’t see candidates as a dollar sign.

What I did want was to be a brand ambassador, a true subject matter expert. Why work 20 roles with multiple clients when I can work 20 jobs with one brand. You start to want to make a difference on a more personal level, you become an integral part of the organisation, believing in what you do and why you do it.

So, eventually your times comes and you land your internal dream job. Its everything you had hoped it would be and nothing like you thought it would be! For me I think the hardest thing to get used to was the silence - no radio, no bell rings and no consultants yelling over each other on the phone. Because that’s all we really did at the agency, we lived on the phone – sales, sales, sales.

You start to learn new things too; you recruit for roles you have never recruited for before – even ones you never knew existed! You have meetings with GM’s, you start truly caring about the commercial elements of running a successful business, like strategy and team member on boarding. You learn more about HR processes and work force planning.

But ultimately I got what I really wanted, a chance to place people in their dream job, a company culture to live and breathe, a chance to learn more about how a business operates from a Support Office point of view, to create long lasting partnerships and to be a trusted advisor.

So far, it’s been an amazing journey and I wouldn’t change a thing, except for maybe putting a radio in the office!

Meet Justin Pigozzo, Marketing Assistant for Rivers and recent winner at the Australasian Catalogue Awards!

Today we would like to celebrate some more SFG success and introduce you to Justin Pigozzo who is fresh from his win at the 24th Australasian Catalogue Awards. Over to you Justin…..

24th Australasian Catalogue Awards

“Hi, my name is Justin Pigozzo and I’m a Marketing Assistant for Rivers. I began my career with SFG back in May 2014. Like every new grad I trawled the internet everyday hoping to find a dream job and someone who would give a recent graduate a go!

With a degree in Graphic Design and a true passion for fashion and retail I was determined to work within the Retail Fashion industry. Whilst I was visiting family in Western Australia, I had a Skype interview for the role in Rivers, I then caught an earlier flight home to come in for a face to face interview and… a few days later I found myself as a new employee at SFG!

The Rivers Marketing team celebrating success

I joined SFG when Rivers was still a new brand to the Group. I am very fortunate to say that I have been part of the Rivers amazing transformation journey since the acquisition… and I look forward to what becomes of the brand in the future!

Working with the Rivers brand has definitely lived up to the “fast paced environment” it stated on the job description! My main role within the brand is Creative Producing – this means helping execute our frequent photo-shoots and TV commercials. With a catalogue produced every two weeks and over 3.5 million copies printed and delivered across Australia, along with countless TVC spots hitting the screens weekly, the need to be accurate and on time is hugely important. The role is hectic but that’s exactly the way I like it! No two days are the same, one day I’ll be casting models for our upcoming catalogue and TVC shoots and the next I am helping to organise a new store opening.

Justin and his giant cheque!

What’s also really amazing about working at SFG is the opportunity to succeed and be recognised for your achievements. Last month I was given the greatest honour to be nominated and become a finalist at the Australasian Catalogue Awards. I was up for the “Best Young Talent” category and was really excited at the prospect of winning! A group of us from Rivers Marketing flew to Melbourne for this fantastic event dubbed the ‘Catalogies’ that was held at the Crown Casino. We had an awesome night celebrating success as a team and enjoying dinner and a few drinks. When it came to the award announcements, I was nervous, but elated when I won my category (and a giant novelty Cheque) which was truly amazing!”

Sally Patman, Creative Director for Rivers said: “Justin’s ability and logical approach to creative production is a true asset to the team. His ability to negotiate model contracts, location fees whilst keeping the art production rounds on track is to be admired.”

Well done Justin – awesome achievement, keep up the hard work, creativity and dedication – here’s to many more years of awards & recognition!

Do you know why you jump out of bed every morning? Do you know why you do what you do

#ourculturecode

Last week we launched our new Corporate Purpose, or Mission Statement, to our 400 Support Office Team Members in Sydney. We kept the event a secret and built the suspense and excitement through enticing (but ambiguous) emails and teaser posters throughout the building – after weeks of speculations we had some very interesting theories about what we were doing!

The night was a huge success and a milestone in SFG history as it was the first time we had everyone together in one forum.

Beautiful product in the Ivy ballroom

From 4pm our Team Members started to fill up the Ivy Ballroom and at 5pm the doors shut when Gary Perlstein, our CEO, took to the stage. Gary started SFG back in 1993 and is a key figure in our business. Gary gave us an update on the business performance in FY15 and delivered our key focus for the new year ahead. He outlined our group KPI’s and goals to emphasise that whilst we are a multi-brand group, where each brand has its own targets and goals, we are one #sfgfamily, and it is important we all know what our common goals are.

Then our Leadership Team took to the stage to introduce their individual brands/departments along with key focuses for FY16 – we even learnt their star signs, both Western & Chinese which included everything from a Rat to a Tiger! We had a Q&A with Gary, with questions from Team Members, asking what they really wanted to know about him. They ranged from personal to the professional; one of the stories he told resulted in him rolling around on stage to re-enact a key store moment for him, early on in SFG history!! (there’s no photo of that unfortunately!)

Gary Perlstein, CEO

After this, Gary got to the core of the event – WHY were we all there? He introduced us to Simon Sinek’s, Leadership expert and Author, principle: The Golden Circle. Most of us know WHAT we do and HOW we do it – but how many of us know WHY we do it? If you can identify your WHY you will be inspired and inspire others. Successful, authentic and respected companies (and people) are connected to their WHY, they live it and breathe it.

As SFG has changed and grown over the years it was important for us to re-evaluate our WHY and make sure we knew not only what we did and how, but more importantly WHY we did it. To see more of what we are talking about visit Simon’s website: Start with Why

So, what is our WHY? What inspires us?

Our new corporate PURPOSE …….

We know our reason for being is a little aspirational, but we dream BIG because we believe we CAN!

You might be asking, WHY such an ambitious statement? You’d be right in stating it is ambitious – but we aren’t afraid of that. Let’s ask a different question?

•         WHY is fashion just for the young or the skinny?
•         WHY doesn’t everyone deserve to look and feel great in what the wear?
•         WHY should anyone feel marginalised because of their age or size?

Our brands don’t exclude anyone and cater for the mature and curvy because our customers deserve the right to look great and feel confident. To quote Gary on the night “We want to build confidence and self-esteem to help change people’s lives – to be life changing!”

Our lovely City Chic Team - looking bold, sexy & glam! 

Some of the stories we hear from customers in our stores would shock and upset you; women who have been abused because of their size, by both strangers and supposed loved ones; made to feel insignificant, not worthy and disgusting. People should not determine their success or failure based on their clothing size. Whether you lose or gain weight your self-worth should not fluctuate. There needs to be a shift in society towards promoting a body positive image and fashion retailers have a key part to play. 

This is WHY we are on a mission, we are living with PURPOSE.

In the second part of our blog next week we will talk about our inspirational guest speaker and provide more insight into what some of our fabulous brands have been doing to change the perception of fashion! 

Crossroads Pop-Up Fit Bus

We are very excited to announce the arrival of the Crossroads Pop-Up Fit Bus!!!  We launched this last week at the Sydney Royal Easter Show where we will open for business for the next two weeks before we head off on a 20-week trip down the East Coast of Australia with Westfield centres. 

The Fit Bus is a pop-up shop where new and existing customers can come and see the Crossroads brand and our fantastic fit proposition brought to life. In the ‘store’ are skilled ‘fit specialists’ who help ladies chose the best fit pant’s for them. With 5 styles, 7 colours and 3 leg length we have got you covered! Some of the features of our range include:

• Tummy smoothing 
• Waist adjuster 
• Tummy control 
• Rear shaping 
• Elastane rich fabric 

Our first day was really busy and we had an opportunity to really engage with customers on a more intimate basis.  The bus has some great features that allow us to showcase our Denim and Black Pants range and allows the customer to get the best fitting product! 

This concept was pulled together in record time by the Crossroads team.  In just 5 weeks the team have worked to get the bus fully re-built on the interior, stocked, staffed, video made, marketing collateral created and printed, tour organised and new bags printed to name a few of the core activities!

Well done to team Crossroads!

Anything is possible.........

Knowledge is power 

This weekend 20 SFGer’s headed off to the Women on Top Conference held in Sydney. This was a forum for smart and savvy business women to share their secrets to getting on top in business and in life. The day was filled with learning & being inspired by women at the top of their game from all walks of life. We took something away from their stories and journeys - for ourselves personally as well as for our careers @ SFG.

Here are some of our key takeaways:

• Amanda Gore introduced us to The Joy Project… remember that your thinking determines your story, which determines your beliefs & behaviours - be conscious of your thinking & what you say out loud. So be a spirit ‘igniter’ not a spirit ‘foofer’, eradicate fear, find your joy spot & leave joy bombs all around the office. 

• Mia Freedman took us on the journey of remembering not to compare our behind the scene life with other people’s highlight reel. She wanted to change the conversation of women by women for women. Make sure you build strong foundations, so that when the wind blows you’re ok. Life balance is about setting boundaries & the art of delegating is about managing your ego. 

• Louise Fowller & Loral Langemeier talked about having self-worth; looking for things to give yourself credit for, create a deep fulfilling life by selling from your souls rather than selling your soul (why do you come to work every day?). So live out loud, say yes & worry about ‘how’ later, find a person that knows how to do that thing better than you & then do as they say. Design a life/career you want.

• Chloe Morello showed us that anyone can be successful if you’re passionate about your strengths & skills. We also learnt some interesting things about monetising social media.

•  Lisa Messenger taught us to ‘know our why”. Have purpose, passion and say yes & figure out how later. Be a disruptive entrepreneur, be nimble flexible & fast. Feed your soul and your brain by talking, following & being inspired by others. Finally, get feedback - listen, shift your thinking & ask what you can do with it. 
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           A big "Thank you" to all the lovely ladies for attending; we hope you all enjoyed it and left feeling inspired and empowered! If you would like further information on the event please go to their website http://womenontop2015.com/ 
      
      Team Member Testimonials:
      "It was a fascinating insight into how women who have overcome careers that had both turbulent times and amazing times but learnt from the two are still passionate about what they believe in and what/who they work for. It was lovely to see they are now living the dream with jobs that they love with values they believe in!" Laura, from Millers Marketing Team