Hi there! Roland here, Founder and Director of Platinum People Group.
Since you’re here on our website reading this, I’d like to firstly welcome you to our Advice Centre, where we’ll be uploading regular, valuable content for both businesses looking to recruit, and people looking to advance their careers, in the mortgage broking space. Watch this space for helpful industry updates, career tips and more.
Secondly, we’d like to share how Platinum People Group came to be. You’ll notice pretty much straight away that we’re not like other recruiters (in a good way). Here, we share how it all started, what we aim to do, and how we help our clients and candidates.
It all started with a Cub Scout selling chocolates
The truth is, I’ve always strived to be Number One. I always have. Even as a youngster, I would blitz the annual Cub Scout fundraising drive, set on winning myself the $100 incentive for selling the most chocolate boxes. A natural salesman and people person, I would stand outside IGA and sell off my tasty goods, box by box. Who could resist a chubby kid in a Cub Scout uniform with chocolate?
Similarly, I was Vice President at my primary school, always an ambitious academic. I just didn’t have it in me to do things by halves.
Fresh out of high school, I started a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Marketing, and loved it. But I quickly learned that I wanted more than the student life could offer. That’s when I became Team Leader of the sales division at The Comedy Club, where I’d been working part-time on a commission basis making cold calls. Elected for my impressive sales, I became responsible for recruiting people, and began to think to myself… ‘if I can sell a person, I can sell anything!’ Young and naive, I quickly realised there was a lot more to it than that. But that’s where the idea started.
Yep, I felt the call of the recruitment life. I wanted it. And so I pursued it.
Chasing the dream
I started out in recruitment working for Cherry Solutions, a specialist boutique recruitment agency focused on the mortgage broking and financial planning space. It was so boutique that there was often only three of us. They ended up closing their doors around twelve months after I left (not that I’m suggesting there was a correlation!). I was so keen to get a foot in the door and shadow the Director that I did whatever it took to get myself a spot, which included offering to work for free at first. After slogging it for a few months, they finally offered me a Junior Consultant position.
After three and a half years there, I moved my sights to my next opportunity at Randstad. After a slight amount of hounding on my side (I knew what I wanted) I became the youngest person ever to be recruited into a brand new recruitment role, hence the initial caution from them to hire me. Randstad had never recruited in the mortgage broking space, hence this was an opportunity for me to build a new area and team. Needless to say, I smashed my targets and was consistently among the top 25 recruiters in the country for the next three years.
That awkward gap
I’d now been working in recruitment for a number of years, becoming increasingly successful and experienced at my craft, when I saw an opportunity. Or rather, I noticed a gap left behind by Cherry Solutions when they closed their doors. There was no good solution for specialised, boutique financial planning and mortgage broking recruitment.
Plus, I found myself somewhat appalled at how I saw some other recruiters doing their jobs. They’d call candidates with a few roles in mind they wanted to fill, post online statuses about ‘needing to find someone ASAP’, and essentially throw their neediness out to the world, hoping people would bite so they could get their commission.
That’s the difference I wanted to create by starting my own business. I wanted to fill the need for personalised, boutique recruitment, while setting a standard in the industry. At Platinum People Group, we call potential candidates to learn about their stories, understand what they’re looking for in their career, and educate them on their career options as a mortgage broker, banker, BDM or loan processor. Our business is genuinely relationship-focused. That’s our heart and soul – to help people get ahead in their career or grow their business.
Recruiting with integrity
We’re all about providing a great service both to our clients and potential candidates. That’s what makes us happy and gets us excited: the possibility of helping people excel and achieve their ambitions (like I’ve done!).
While a lot of people ‘fall’ into recruitment, I specifically chose this as a career choice because it incorporates everything I love: meeting new people, finding solutions and strategies, and helping people and businesses become successful. I’d be lying if I didn’t also admit that it’s pretty rewarding helping people find their dream job.
I’m here to change people’s lives, and that’s what I get to do. I also help many talented people start their own businesses and contribute what they’re good at back to the world. It’s life-changing and priceless.
And beyond…
My vision is to grow Platinum People Group beyond just mortgage broking, to include financial planning as well, and eventually accounting and insurance. In future, we’ll be growing and hiring more people to join our vision. I can’t wait to see where this journey takes us.
If you’d like to chat, we are always excited to meet new people. So please get in touch by calling us on 03 9913 9642 or sending an email to hello@platinumpeoplegroup.com.au. Let’s get a coffee and talk about your dreams and ambitions.
