Recruitment Rambles & Market News

A startup offered interviews for tattoos and seven people said yes. The ink is the least interesting part; what it says about the cost of a first conversation is the bit worth sitting with.

Not good. Not bad. Weird. Why NZ hiring in 2026 is busy in ways the headlines miss, quiet in ways the optimists gloss over, and unforgiving of employers acting like it’s 2022.

A recruiter writing about agency myths is a bit like a barista reviewing their own coffee. One of these five myths is partly true, and Sarah tells you which one.

Every three years, New Zealand collectively decides to put its career on hold. The election isn’t freezing the market — we are. Why election year is a hiring opportunity dressed up as a risk.

Someone asked Sarah if they should go into recruitment. Spoiler: no. On the 90% first-year exodus, what the job ad didn’t mention — and the people who hear “don’t do it” and argue back anyway.

Australian head offices keep running NZ hires through Australian agencies. Different employment law, different market, different networks — and a gentle reminder about the pavlova.

Not enough people talk about finding great clients — the ones who treat recruitment as a partnership, not a transaction. A small email that carried a big signal, and what five years of trust looks like.

We have a tall poppy problem in this country. The fix isn’t shrinking yourself — it’s owning your wins without erasing the stumbles that got you there. Why a flawless career story quietly costs you credibility.

Some Sarah uses. Some were used on her. All of them stuck. Ten interview questions that make the room shift — and what to listen for in the answers.

Millennials in hiring seats are quietly judging Gen Z for being entitled and hard to manage. Sarah has a very clear memory of what was said about us — and it sounds awfully familiar.

Culture fit should mean “will this person thrive in the way we work?” Too often it means “someone who feels familiar.” The difference between fit and comfort — and four ways to hire for the real thing.

Months winning someone over, a week losing them. Why the exit experience matters more than most businesses realise — and what a good offboarding actually looks like in a two-degrees-of-separation market.

Asking your HR team to also run recruitment is like asking your accountant to run your sales team. Different skills, different focus, different outcomes — and confusing the two is costing businesses good hires.