General Manager Kelly Doran talks to us about why there’s never been a better time to join Ochre Recruitment, reveals the values she’s looking for in a new recruit and outlines her vision for an established business on the cusp of a business-wide transformation.
Why is now such a great time to join Ochre Recruitment?We’re currently going through an exciting business-wide transformation and have so many opportunities for genuine career progression. We’ve spent the last year setting ourselves up for 2020 and even though we’ve been in business for almost 20 years, it feels like we’re in a start-up environment. It’s an inspiring and motivating time for the whole team.
Our parent company Ochre Health is an established and well-regarded healthcare provider with almost 40 medical centres across regional and rural Australia. Previously, Ochre Recruitment operated separately to Ochre Health, but this year we’ve been focused on bringing the two businesses back together. For the first time, Ochre Recruitment in Sydney now sits with the Ochre Health team in our newly refurbished offices in Woolloomooloo, and the benefits for us all are huge.
Would you say that’s Ochre Recruitment’s main point of difference?Absolutely. None of the other medical recruitment agencies in Australia and New Zealand are part of a broader healthcare business which makes us truly unique. We supply doctors exclusively back into the Ochre Health business, which is like having a great client on-site. And with a medical workforce of over 200 doctors, nurses and practice managers, our partnership with Ochre Health also means we have access to unrivalled educational resources from doctor-led medical presentations to in-depth training sessions on a wide variety of topics. It's like being in the engine room. You get to see first-hand how a successful healthcare business operates, and for a medical recruiter, there’s a real buzz about this. Our network of healthcare providers, from hospitals to general practices, and our permanent and locum doctors, all trust and respect our specialist expertise, which gives us enormous leverage and a valuable point of difference. With an Ochre Recruitment brand refresh, a new website ready to go in March 2020 and the latest industry-leading Salesforce CRM and Marketing Cloud, we’re almost ready to complete our business transformation. And we need talented people to join our team to drive this growth strategy forward.
What career opportunities does Ochre Recruitment offer talented recruiters?As part of our transformation, we’ve restructured our teams across our three offices in Sydney, Hobart and Wellington. Our specialist recruiters are now working collaboratively and there are some great career opportunities for the right people.
If you’re looking to progress to become a team leader or a division manager, you will have a chance to step up. The same goes on the administrative side. We’re keen to welcome administrators into the organisation who are looking to develop their careers further.
For me, good leadership is all about looking for other leaders. My responsibility is to develop others and I’m committed to making this happen. Throughout my career, I’ve been responsible for helping a number of people develop their own careers and step up beyond their initial role, so I would like to leave the same legacy here.
How would you describe the workplace culture at Ochre Recruitment?Although we’re embarking on some significant changes at Ochre, we’re still careful about staying true to who we are. The Ochre Health Group was founded nearly 20 years ago in the NSW outback town of Bourke by two GPs, Hamish Meldrum and Ross Lamplugh, who still own and lead the company today.
Our culture is grounded in the type of people Ross and Hamish are – honest, hardworking country GPs who are committed to bridging the health inequity gaps in regional and rural Australia. They’re just down-to-earth, caring and fun, and these qualities permeate throughout our culture. There are no airs or graces, and everyone’s very approachable. You’re able to come to work and be yourself.
With our transformation, we are very mindful of not losing our down-to-earth culture. The core of what we do, who we are and our identity is still here. We’re just enabling Ochre Recruitment to evolve and grow so we're ahead of the game.
What systems do you have in place to assist your recruitment teams day-to-day?Anyone who’s been in medical recruitment for any length of time will know how extremely bureaucratic and highly competitive our industry is. The compliance requirements are extensive, it’s highly competitive and there is a real issue with speed to market.
We took a step back as a team and analysed our recruitment processes. What are our biggest issues? Where are our pain points? What slows us down? What makes us ineffective? How can we evolve our processes? And how do we continue to perform exceptionally well? It’s a real juxtaposition. We therefore must be smart, quick and efficient to succeed.
The good news is, we’ve came up with a solution for all of our issues and are in the process of implementing a new Salesforce CRM with Marketing Cloud customised specifically to our business. This new CRM will be phenomenal for all of us. We’re predicting in 2020 we’re going to be 35% more efficient than we were in previous years. The job satisfaction these new systems will deliver to our recruiters will be enormous!
What qualities, strengths and skills are you looking for in a new employee?The people we’re looking for don’t necessarily need to have medical recruitment experience but ultimately, we’re looking for the right values. Cultural fit is important but values are everything. To join Ochre Recruitment, you need a combination of integrity, honesty and ambition. You’re curious and you want to learn. You’re excited to embark on the next stage of your career. And you want to be part of something new, challenging and dynamic. We’re looking for people who will be a part of our family and future moving forward.
I was lucky enough recently to hear Obama speak at a conference in San Francisco and one of the things he said that resonated with me was, "I tell my daughters all the time to be kind and to be useful". This statement sounds so simple but it encapsulates the type of people we’re looking for. Sometimes recruitment has a way of knocking you down. But when you've got good, kind people around you, they always pull you up.
What’s your 2020 vision for Ochre Recruitment?I honestly think we’re building something special and into 2020, we’ll be driving the business more commercially with a focus on marketing our unique selling propositions. We’ve already got some great people, and with an injection of new talent, I believe we’ll soon be the market leaders in general practice and rural generalist recruitment in Australia and New Zealand. We have a chance to make a real difference and this is what inspires me to come to work each morning.
Recruitment is a meritocratic industry – the more you put in, the more you get back. We’ve done the hard yards this year and I’m now really excited about building an exceptional team. 2020 is going to be our year. -----------------
What’s your 2020 vision?
If you’d be interested in finding out more about your future career with Ochre Recruitment, please contact Kelly directly on 0422 479 795 for an informal phone chat or coffee catch up. If you’d prefer to email, please don’t hesitate. kelly@ochrerecruitment.com