Australian human resources company focuses on New Zealand

By ADAM GIFFORD

Australian listed human resource consulting company MXL is looking for New Zealand recruitment firms to buy or partner so it can step up operations on this side of the Tasman.

Chairman Trevor Perry, an Aucklander, says the demand for its online recruitment tools is building here and the company needs some infrastructure to support customers.

"We see big opportunities. The New Zealand market is embracing those opportunities faster than the Australian market," Mr Perry says.

"A lot of companies are now transtasman, and they are using their New Zealand operations to test things. This is new ground, and they don't like to jump off the deep end."

MXL was formed when a shelf company, which previously made shafts for golf clubs, bought several recruitment-related companies, including Innovative People Solutions, a specialist assessment firm with offices in Sydney and Melbourne, recruitment agency Pinnacle Recruitment, and HRnet, a technology-focused company which was developing job boards and other innovative recruitment solutions.

Mr Perry was brought in because of his operational experience as chief executive of Prudential Australia.

While initially cool on the idea, he became excited once he saw what MXL was proposing.

"Corporates aren't in love with recruitment companies because they think they charge too much and they're uncertain of the outcome, but they're a necessary evil.

"I saw what MXL was offering as an opportunity for companies to reduce recruitment costs and increase the likelihood of getting the right person. Staff turnover would come down and the costs of finding and training people would come down."

MXL builds online tools which can be used by recruitment firms or companies to attract and sift out talent, then to guide the interview process.

"With the Interview Architect, managers can ask the right questions for the job they want to fill, then have a consistent standard to evaluate the candidates," Mr Perry says.

He says MXL's tools won't replace recruitment firms, but it means they can speed up the process.

"Recruitment is expensive because it is labour intensive."

While the bulk of MXL's revenue comes from recruitment tools, it also earns about 20 per cent from its CMS college management system, which allows tertiary institutions and private training providers to manage student data management, employment services, student accommodation services and government compliance information.

Mr Perry says CMS has sites in Australia, China and Korea, and a British sale is imminent.

More than 200,000 students are now managed through CMS installations.

"The logic behind MXL owning the CMS business is CMS provides a huge database of students to whom there is potential to provide employment information and solutions through our employment web."

Jane Hussey, manager of online solutions, says MXL is working with two large New Zealand corporates to put branded recruitment tools on their websites.

"The jobs would be advertised on their page, which then links through to our software," she says.