Superior Personnel: Recruiting for the Future

Andrew Berry is the owner of Superior Personnel and alumni of The Icehouse’s Owner Manager Programme. Having completed the programme in 2014, Andrew’s recruitment firm has now grown to include exServices recruitment – transitioning military, police and fire staff into civilian careers. We checked in with Andrew to see how this business has been tracking since completing the Programme.

Did you have a ‘nail in the coffin’ moment? What was happening in your business that made you decide to take on the Owner Manager Programme? 

I purchased Superior Personnel in June 2013. I came from a background of 14 years in the NZ Police, which prepares you for lots of things, but owning a business isn't necessarily one of them. I knew Andy Hamilton beforehand and had a chat with him – the suggestion was wait and get 12 months in the business under my belt, then attend the Owner Manager Programme . That’s what I did. I was VERY lucky to get on the Owner Manager Programme 32 with that bunch of business owners. When I purchased the business I knew the risks I was taking on and I had some ideas around growing the business, but I had no experience or real understanding of how to put them into action.

Andrew Berry in Band e Haibat, Afghanistan

What have been some of the key results you’ve experienced at the hands of the Programme?

First and foremost, I now have 19 other business owners who know what Superior Personnel is and who understand what we do – when I have a business question I have 19 people I can turn to. I can’t emphasise how much that means to me. The key product from the Owner Manager Programme was how to make something in my business unique. Industrial recruitment is a hugely competitive business with low barriers to entry. I was finding it difficult developing a concept that made us unique and relevant to our clients.

The Owner Manager Programme also gave me the confidence to implement our business plan to expand geographically – we now have branches in Auckland, Waikato and the Bay of Plenty (from Jan 2017), with plans to continue that expansion. I also have options to expand our service offering to complement the temporary and permanent recruitment services we currently offer.

Financially our business has taken off since the Owner Manager Programme . I don’t think that it's a coincidence that we have grown quarter on quarter and have seen significant client growth since the Owner Manager Programme 32.

As part of your Growth Plan, you wanted to pursue a new venture - exSercives Recruitment. It’s great to see this has been implemented. Can you explain how the Owner Manager Programme set you up to pursue this? 

One night over a refreshing wine or two, the other owners made me realise that our unique point was staring me in the face….and that is where exServices Recruitment started. The concept is to assist ex Military, Police and Fire staff to transition from uniform into civilian employment. Overseas, the hiring of veterans and ex Police is huge, particularly in the USA and UK. Over the next 3 years, it is estimated 5,250 Service men and women will leave NZ Police and NZ Defence Force and transition into the civilian workforce – that is a huge pool of motivated potential employees.

exServices Recruitment is the first and only recruitment agency in NZ specialising in the transition of ex Military and Police staff into civilian roles. Ex-Service personnel have a set of traits that can provide a competitive edge because they may not be so common in a civilian workplace. These include:

• Dependability: A key characteristic is showing up on time, in the right place without the need for reminders. Follow through to the end regardless of task complexity & trained to “figure it out”
• Integrity: This is a big deal. Take responsibility for their actions and respect for procedures and protocols
• Leadership & Decision Making: Services teach and practice leadership readiness at every level of their organisations and composure and performance under pressure to solve problems.
• Teamwork: Looking out for others is ingrained. Used to working in diverse workplaces and environments.
• Initiative: Services staff are independent self-starters.
• Tenacity: Persistence means they will get the job done.
• Professional Presence: Professional appearance, presence and self-discipline are key
• Adaptability: Most service staff move into a new role every few years depending on rank and the search for promotion – means they are highly adaptable and do so without complaint.
  
  

How is this new venture tracking now? Can you give us some context around the service and where you see it going in the future?

We launched exServices Recruitment in June this year. Unfortunately in NZ, many employers are yet to understand the benefits of employing exServices personnel and that is our challenge. That challenge aside, we have been successful in working with several employers in Auckland who have benefited from both the permanent and temporary placement of exServices personnel. We will persevere with this and promote the exServices concept further in the coming months. Over the next 12-18 months we want to get to a point where we can hold job fairs for ex-Military and Police staff with clients attending looking for exServices candidates. That would be the “sweet spot” for this part of our business.

How do you think you’ve developed personally from The Icehouse programme?

Confidence in my business has been a huge outcome for me. I am better placed now with some good business discipline, but more importantly the ability to reflect on my Owner Manager Programme course, take the bits relevant to me and use them at the right time for my business. The ability for those of us on Owner Manager Programme 32 to stay in touch has been fantastic – we have held one reunion which combined some work and reflection, and social events have been great, and I still see the interest from the others in continuing this.

2019 Update: Four years on since completing the Programme, Andrew shares a milestone success for Superior Personnel, “we set a lot of business goals for 2020 and achieved them all before late 2018, thanks in part to the ongoing support and relationship with The Icehouse. One goal was to have four branches and we achieved that in 2017, the other was to have the business be successful and sustainable enough that my family and I could sail around the Pacific for six months – we leave in May!”