Rise and rise of Robert Walters

By VICKI JAYNE

For a chap whose name has launched 24 recruitment offices in 14 countries, British-based Robert Walters is remarkably reluctant to claim much personal credit for the success of his eponymous company.

During a visit to the Melbourne office last week, he did concede to good timing.

"When I started in 1985, it was very easy. All you had to do, as I did, was have a serviced office and a part-time secretary to type CVs. People used you because there were no dominant players."

These days, client companies are now more demanding. "They want assurance their recruiter is credible and capable of delivering the right goods.

"If you go and pitch for a client now, you have to persuade them you have a strong balance sheet, that you have a good client base, that you are international with owned offices, not just affiliates.

"To be frank, in the past you could make a living very easily out of your spare bedroom in recruitment. It was simply about striking it lucky and banging in volume.

"I took a decision from day one that I could either play golf every Thursday, have a nice little business and zero stress - or try to build something."

Where Walters does claim credit is for spotting the need to respond to a more global job market.

"I didn't foresee the industry's increased professionalism or that the barriers to entry would be quite as high as they are now - but I did foresee it being more international. The first office I opened outside London was Brussels."

His own career had already taken him out of Britain. Graduating in the mid-70s with a degree in economics and government, Walters worked initially for Deloitte & Touche before joining Michael Page to help build the specialist recruiting company in Britain and the United States.

"At the time I started with them [in 1978], there were five people in one office and I saw that number grow to 150 or so when I left."

By then, he had some clear ideas about how he wanted to structure his own recruitment company - and how to brand it.

Right from the start, he knew how he wanted the agency positioned, and admits to being rigid about marketing consistency.

Robert Walters specialises in staff for IT, professional, support and call-centre staff. Walk into any of the company's offices, whether in London, New York, Hong Kong, Japan, or in New Zealand, and you'll find a very similar look and feel.

It means that clients and candidates will find the same quality of people, style of brochure, work practices - even furniture, says Walters.

They will also get a very customer-oriented service. Staff have never been paid on commission or been encouraged "to just bang in bodies", says Walters.

Instead, the emphasis is on building long-term relationships both with client companies and candidates. Clients, says Walters, want someone who knows their culture, can supply the right talent, can infill with contractors when needed, manage their workforce internally - almost, in some cases, to project-manage.

One significant indication of the changing relationship came three years ago when a "prestigious" client wanting a recruiter in Japan - where Robert Walters had not yet established - asked if there was any way it could help set him up there: "Never thought I'd be having that sort of conversation with a client."

And while clients pay the bills, candidates are equally important, says Walters.

"If we have an oversupply, it can be very easy to neglect them and spend all the time looking for jobs. But that is foolish and shortsighted. Candidates remember who has returned their calls in bad times, even if you can't help them."

Walters is happy to personally front up to peeved candidates or play pacifier with clients if any stuff-ups occur.

That, and a policy of getting performance feedback from clients and candidates, makes good commercial sense.

"Invariably you pick up more work. And it's a nice thing to do."

Not that it's been an easy ride. "I think we chose the hard route going international first. No doubt about it, because there is every imaginable difference to contend with - culture, work practice, the lot."

He found that early when he persuaded the Brussels office to try sending out CVs on spec - a practice then common in Britain.

"I said, 'Give it a go' and it was a disaster. I probably set that office back two years."

That's why international offices are set up with local people. "If we did anything that deserves a pat on the back, it's that most of the offices have been grown organically [rather than by acquisition]. That means starting with a blank sheet of paper, a PC and a serviced office."

In the long run, it's proved a good approach as each new office can leverage the company's increasingly international presence. It's an empire the founder contemplates with self-deprecating humour.

"I've always been a believer in the fact that we make money out of thin air, so you have to make sure you get the image and positioning right. It's really not rocket science. You just work 10 per cent harder, have good people and play straight - and you'll probably win in the long run."

* vjayne@iconz.co.nz