Categories

Award categories and criteria

The SARAs are open to Australian and New Zealand-based recruitment agencies and RPOs. View the categories and criteria to determine the awards you'll enter and the information you need to showcase.

Awards categories

Recruitment Agency of the Year (Small, Medium and Large)

The winner of this award will be able to demonstrate their dedication and pursuit of excellence across culture, innovation, growth, candidate engagement and contribution to the success of the recruitment industry.

RPO of the Year

The winner of this award will demonstrate how they support and promote their customer's brand in-market, apply innovation and efficiency to solutions, execute effective business partnership and drive candidate engagement.

New Recruitment Agency of the Year

The winner of this award will be an agency that has made its mark on the industry in a short time, demonstrating merit across culture, innovation, growth, candidate experience and industry contribution.

This new category is open to recruitment agencies that have been in operation for one to two years, and have created great outcomes for candidates, clients and the industry.

Outstanding Progress in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

The winner of this award will treat diversity, equity and inclusion as integral to their organisation and within their clients’ workplace. They will demonstrate their commitment through meaningful initiatives and strategies that benefit diverse talent pools and the business.

Excellence in Candidate Experience

The winner of this award will be able to demonstrate their commitment to providing an exceptional experience for candidates throughout their job search journey.

Recruitment Leader of the Year

The winner of this award will be a recruitment professional who inspires and motivates their team, performs to business objectives, and makes a positive impact within their agency and the overall recruitment industry.

Recruitment Consultant of the Year

The winner of this award will be a recruitment professional who has excelled in the area of client and candidate engagement, and has contributed positively to the recruitment industry as a whole.

Your SARAs submission checklist and entry tips

Judges

Experts in their field, our exceptional judges have been appointed to select the winners of the 2024 SEEK Annual Recruitment Awards.

Donna McLeod

Director Workforce Capability and Talent, Department of Regional NSW
Donna is excited by people, culture, talent acquisition, employer brand, engagement, inclusivity, great relationships and ongoing learning. Using a human centred design approach, she is a decisive, creative influencer who is forward-thinking and ambitious. Donna encourages others to work hard, play hard, collaborate, and celebrate; a happy and e...
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Lesley Horburgh

Managing Director, APSCo
Lesley has had a long relationship with the global recruitment profession dating back to her capacity as Owner of Recruitment Extra magazine which was founded over 20 years ago, along with the highly coveted Recruitment Excellence Awards. She joined APSCo Australia as MD in 2019 to help drive growth across the Association and support profession...
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Charles Cameron

CEO, RCSA
Charles Cameron is CEO of RCSA, the peak industry body for recruitment and staffing in Australia and New Zealand. Charles has twenty years of experience consulting within and leading an industry which inspires him every day. Charles is Vice President of the World Employment Confederation and leads over 50 recruitment and staffing associations fr...
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Thalia Thomas

Head of Recruitment, ANZ
As Head of Recruitment for ANZ, Thalia leads delivery-focused, agile teams that support the bank's transformation agenda by finding, engaging and hiring talent across Australia, New Zealand, International (Asia, Europe, America); as well as recruiting our contractors globally. She has been working in talent acquisition for 16 years, starting in ...
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Vicki Emmerson

Vice President, Talent Acquisition Asia Pacific, Thales Group
Vicki is seasoned in all aspects of HR with a particular focus in Talent, having worked across North America and Asia Pacific building Talent Acquisition functions. Her passion and energy comes from building high performing & engaged teams and delivering strategies that make an impact on the organisation and its people. Vicki loves to have a lau...
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Cathy Sinden

Director of Talent Acquisition, Accor
A practical results driven talent attraction professional with extensive experience in the hospitality industry working with iconic brands such as Starwood Hotels, The Star Entertainment Group and now with Accor.  Living with purpose, Cathy is a straight talker and is not afraid to challenge the status quo. Cathy will happily challenge the tradi...
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Maree Fiore

Head of Talent Acquisition, Bunnings
Maree currently leads the Talent Acquisition team across Bunnings and is responsible for overseeing the recruitment team's operations across Australia and New Zealand.  She has over 20 years’ experience within Recruitment, HR and Talent Management working in both agency and internal environments predominantly within the retail sector. Maree’s fo...
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Finella Oakley

Talent Acquisition Lead - Australia & New Zealand, JLL
Finella is a highly experienced professional with a diverse background in internal recruitment across various industries including property, construction, IT and Hospitality. With over 20 years of experience, Finella has developed a deep understanding what is required  ‘client-facing’  Finella has held various roles in Human Resources & Recruitm...
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Greg Hamilton

Manager Human Resources, BHP
Greg is a global human resources leader with over 20 years experience in the Mining, Manufacturing, and Retail industries. He has had exposure to all facets of HR, from business partnership, employee relations, talent acquisition, organisational development, and talent management.   As the Manager Human Resources at BHP, Greg leads a team of HR ...
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Andrew Retschko

Senior Executive- Talent Acquisition, Inclusion and Sustainability, Medibank
Andrew Retschko is the Senior Executive - Talent Acquisition, Inclusion and Sustainability at Medibank, an integrated healthcare company providing private health insurance and health solutions to 3.7 million Australians. He has spent the last six years in the recruitment industry, commencing in a boutique agency before moving into executive sear...
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Lorraine Carr

Head of Talent Acquisition, HUB24 Management Services Pty Ltd
Lorraine is Head of Talent Acquisition at the HUB24 Group, who lead the wealth industry as the best provider of integrated platform, technology and data solutions. With a distinguished career spanning over 17 years in recruitment, Lorraine’s journey has seen her work across agency, RPO, MSP and internal recruitment. At the HUB24 Group, she empow...
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Margaret Mitchell

Head of Talent, Cleanaway
Margaret is a strategic talent acquisition leader with over 20 years recruitment experience gained in diverse industry sectors including Mining, Technology, Logistics and Industrial.  With a foundation in Agency recruitment, her experience incorporates leadership roles within RPO and Inhouse Talent Acquisition solutions. As Head of Talent at Cle...
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Sonja Needham

Talent Acquisition Manager, Virgin Australia
Talent Acquisition Manager at Virgin Australia, the second-largest airline in Australia and a leader in the aviation industry. With 20 years of recruitment experience and has led large diverse recruitment functions over the last 15 years, Sonja is passionate about attracting, engaging, and retaining the best talent for the airline, and fostering...
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Troy Hoggan

General Manager - Talent and Capability
Troy leads the global talent, culture and capability functions for Visy Industries, a market leading recycling, packaging and transport company.  For 25 years, Troy has advised leaders in some of Australia’s largest banking, insurance, telecommunications and manufacturing companies to build talent and create conditions for people to do their bes...
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Jessica Boxtel

Talent Acquisition Lead, Operations and Strategic (Acting)
Jessica is a seasoned Human Resources professional with over 15 years of experience in the Mining and Oil & Gas industry. Throughout her career, she has excelled in various HR functions, demonstrating expertise in Human Resources / Talent Management, Strategic Planning and strives to be a leader in the diversity and inclusion space.  Having navi...
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Kristy Larkin

Head of Talent, Endeavour Group
Head of Talent at Endeavour Group joining Endeavour to support the transformation agenda for Talent after the demerger from Woolworths. In the past two years we launched our new People Promise, new Careers Site and new mobile enabled recruitment system. In the past 10 years, I have worked with businesses through transformation, turnaround, merge...
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