Tougher times mean resourceful recruiting

A recently launched recruitment service promises to give fashion houses more bang for their buck while enhancing female TCF professionals' work-life balance. Maternity Resources is the brainchild of Melbourne fashion identity Peter Abbott - whose resumé includes the launch of organic clothing brand Humanitee as well as consulting under the Apparel Resources banner and senior positions with labels including Rivers, Jag and Diana Ferrari.

Abbott said he joined forces with Melbourne recruitment firm Domain Consulting to launch Maternity Resources after identifying strong demand from the fashion industry's largely female workforce.

"Through my consulting a lot of people were telling me they wanted to get back into the workforce, usually after having a baby, but that they didn't want to do it full time. I started informally putting them in touch with contacts I came across while consulting, but eventually decided to formalise the service, brand it properly and put the word out." As well as specialising in maternity cover placements, Maternity Resources also specialised in short contracts.

"One of the things we offer is an idea that's now widely used in the UK, where professionals are brought into a company for a two or three-month period to work on specific projects. We're not just talking about receptionists or secretaries, but highly skilled people. I have a designer on my books who has just returned from the UK working for a well known brand there. She's very happy to have the flexibility of working shorter contracts. And from the company's point of view, they're delighted to have the skills of that person for two or three months without the enormous cost of putting her on a salary. I've also got a merchandise director who usually pulls in $200,000 a year and he's on a three month stint. What the company will get from him is a re-shaped supply chain and a revised QA process, in other words an enormous benefit without enormous cost."

With around 160 clients currently on its books, Maternity Resources had benefited from the partnership with Domain Consulting by leveraging the latter's client database, Abbott said. As the economy tightened, he predicted increased use of shorter contracts to fill skills gaps on specific projects. "Times are tough so companies are increasingly watching their overheads. This service facilitates that process."

By Belinda Smart