ACT News

Save
Print

Canberra business HorizonOne offers six weeks leave to fill talent vacancy

It can be hard sometimes to find the right person for the job, but one company has gone to extreme measures to get that soul in Canberra.

Braddon-based recruitment company HorizonOne is offering a six-week paid holiday upfront for the person successful in securing its vacant role for a new recruitment consultant. The six weeks leave is on top of the standard four-week annual leave period.

HorizonOne director Simon Cox said the idea began as a way to spark interest from talent interstate.

"We knew we had to do something to grab people's attention," Mr Cox said.

"We believe it's an Australian first, no-one's heard of it before."

The offer of six weeks leave is intended to attract employees to Canberra from interstate, which apparently does not include Queanbeyan. The six weeks, for example, could be used by the new employee to get their families settled in Canberra after a move.

Advertisement

Mr Cox said more and more Canberra companies in future would need think creatively about their recruitment strategies.

"The competition for talent will be all about attracting very creative problem solvers and people that can design solutions," he said.

"People that can think outside the box, that's what companies will pay through the nose for because that's what creates a future in a world where everything changes so rapidly."

The HorizonOne company website states the business sees recruitment as "a science" and "not a sales game".

"Our company was always designed to be different, we wanted to see a change in the recruitment industry," Mr Cox said.

It's not all bad news for residents of the ACT and Queanbeyan though.

"At the end of the day, if someone was amazingly talented and they were here then of course we'd offer them a role," Mr Cox said.

He said if this creative stunt doesn't attract the talent HorizonOne are looking for, there are other tricks up their sleeves.

"But we'll give it a red hot go for six months," Mr Cox said.