Australian talent management firm angry after NSW government snub

An Australian recruitment firm is angry an American company appears to have been awarded a lucrative contract with the NSW Government, despite local firms competing for the same work.

Karen Cariss, co-founder and chief executive of talent management firm PageUp People, said in an interview with Business Spectator that a story appeared in an industry publication suggesting US-based talent management firm Taleo had won the contract.

Cariss says that if the speculation is right, the NSW Government’s decision is disappointing, especially after it announced in last week’s State budget that special consideration would be given to Australian companies competing for government work.

“It’s a very disappointing and frustrating move” she told SmartCompany this morning. “It’s business – you win some and you lose some. The frustrating thing is not that we lost the business, but that it didn’t go to an Australian company.

“My understanding is that the NSW Government just announced they’re looking to help support local providers, but it appears it might be too late.”

“The government is spending a lot of taxpayer’s money to stimulate the economy. We could have done this, and we could have helped employ more people. Sending the money offshore seems crazy in this type of economy. I would suggest there are Australian companies that could service them better than a US company would.”

Cariss says she can see “no commercial rationale” for the decision, and that the most frustrating aspect of the decision is not that PageUp lost the contract, but that it did not go to an Australian firm.

“Whether there’s a pre-established relationship or pre-established people that have used that American system before and have therefore felt comfortable with that, I really don’t know. But apart from that, I can see a lot of reasons why it doesn’t make sense.”

The NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet did not comment before publication.