Becoming One Of The Fastest Growing New Recruitment Businesses in Australia While Having Two Weddings and Five Pregnancies in the Founding Team

On Episode 33 of the “Future of Australia” podcast, I speak with Joanna Ward, the Co-Founder & Director of MayDay Recruitment, who provide temporary, contract and permanent recruitment services, for business support functions, which grew 64% last financial year, and did close to $4.7 million in annual revenue.

This made MAYDAY Recruitment, on the Financial Review list of 100 fastest growing new companies, one of the FASTEST GROWING new business in Australia.

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We Discuss...

• Why she has never applied for a job in her life, despite working in recruitment
• Deciding to travel the world at 26 years old, and finding herself in Sydney selling Fitness First memberships, before getting into IT Recruitment
• Turning her colleagues into her business partners
• “I always had a drive to work and earn money, and bring something back” and how growing up helping out in her parents logistics business helped instill work ethic in her

• Seeing the “Care Factor” disappear in the Business Support Recruitment sector, and deciding that it was a gap in the market for them to bring a responsive and high quality service
• Realising it was a “now or never” moment to start their own business, not wanting to answer to anyone, and balancing their time between work and wanting to start families
• Two out of three Founders became pregnant in the first year of operation, which prompted them to make changes in the early days of the business
• “We hire people internally who have a focus on customer service” to ensure that their clients have a great experience and service level
• Using a platform to monitor feedback from their clients and candidates, assessing every stage of the recruitment process
• “Director of Fun, Director of Care and Director of Sales” as the three personality types of the Founders, and bringing in the “Director of People” Co-Founder
• Having four Founders have helped to broaden the networks, and broaden the skills
• The trend of a lot of people doing a “Side Hustle”, pursuing a side passion, and being happy to be a “Career Temp” working part time roles, wanting the flexibility to pursue other things
• Collaboration has outlived competition, partnering with people who are able to work together well, such as when they added MayDay Recruitment Blue for Blue Collar Recruitment
• “Embrace technology and invest more money in property” and “world travel is a degree in itself” as her advice to her younger self

[Click Here to Listen to the Podcast in SPOTIFY, or Listen in iTunes, or Listen in SoundCloud, or search 'Future of Australia' or 'Derek Stewart' in your iPhone or Android podcast app]

Podcast Episode History:

Episode 1: "Family Business & Real Estate: How Husband and Wife QLD Entrepreneurs Found A Gap in The Market"

Episode 2: "Law & Accounting Firm A.I and Automation + Doubling Revenue TWICE in 12 Months"

Episode 3: "Expat Entrepreneurship & Maximising Your Marketing Dollars"

Episode 4: "Turning a Hobby Selling Quirky Gifts Online Into a Multi-Million Dollar Business"

Episode 5: "Owning 20+ Properties In His 20s to Buying 40 Per MONTH for Clients"

Episode 6: "Engineering Entrepreneurship and Managing BILLION Dollar Assets"

Episode 7: "One Day Away From Shutting Down to 1000% Annual Growth"

Episode 8: "From Losing Your Co-Founder to 59% Growth the Next Year"

Episode 9: "Female Entrepreneurship And Starting a Business 11 Days After Giving Birth"

Episode 10: "From Door-To-Door Salesman To $11 Million Annual Revenue Within FIVE Years"

Episode 11: "From Podiatry Intern to 60+ Employee Health SuperCentre"

Episode 12: "From Selling Burned CDs to $350mm in Annual Revenue"

Episode 13: "Developing a Growth Mindset and Perth Entrepreneurship Going Global"

Episode 14: "From Army Officer to $23mm Annual Revenue Canberra Consultancy in 3 Years"

Episdoe 15: "How High School Best Friends Created One of The Fastest Growing Media Agencies in Australia"

Episode 16: "Creating Entrepreneurs, Corporate Innovation and Helping 10 Year Olds Make $1000+ Per Month"

Episode 17: "From $200,000+ in Credit Card Debt to Seven Figure Annual Income"

Episode 18: "How Construction Consulting Became a Multi-Million Dollar Niche Success"

Episode 19: "Why A Fast Growth Law Firm Embraces Tech and Teaches Its Entrepreneur Clients How to Negotiate"

Episode 20: "From Neuroscience PhD to 70 Employee Fast Growth Consultancy"

Episode 21: "From Inspirational Facebook Posts to the Fastest Growing New Apparel Business in Australia"

Episode 22: "From Sleeping on the Factory Floor to 3rd Fastest Growing New Business in Australia with $40mm+ Annual Revenue"

Episode 23: "From Graduate Finance Job at 18 to Growing Revenue $55 MILLION in 12 Months"

Episode 24: "Paying Drivers MORE The Secret to the Fastest Growing New Logistics Company in Australia"

Episode 25: "From Kicked Out Of High School to Published Author Running A Multi-Million Dollar Digital Growth Agency"

Episode 26: "From $1,000,000+ in DEBT to 6th Fastest Growing New Business in Australia

Episode 27: "How EMPLOYEE-OWNED Consultancy Became 10th Fastest Growing New Business in Australia"

Episode 28:"From Cold Calling in a New York City Phone Booth to Australian Public Company CEO"

Episode 29: "How a Direct-To-Consumer Leak Proof Underwear Business Became The 8th Fastest Growing New Businesses in Australia"

Episode 30: "Why Helping People Lose 6kg+ in TWO WEEKS Made Shark Tank Invest"

Episode 31: "From Road Tripping Around the USA in a Van to Running One of The Fastest Growing Digital Media Agencies in Australia"

Episode 32: "How Predicting Technology Trends Enabled Vamsi to Build One of The Fastest Growing New Businesses in Australia"

Hi, my name is Derek. "FUTURE OF AUSTRALIA" is a project I am running to interview the Founders, CEOs and Entrepreneurs behind the FASTEST GROWING new businesses in Australia. 

"FUTURE OF AUSTRALIA" is about interviewing, celebrating and sharing the knowledge, aspirations, struggles, goals and achievements of these people with a broader audience.

If you are interested in contributing, learning more of keeping in the loop with our updates and email newsletter, email me at [email protected], or give me a call or text on 0404 689 897.

www.FutureOfAustralia.com