Before joining Alexander Appointments, I already understood that recruitment is never just about filling a vacancy. What has been reinforced for me is how much depth there is to the work when it is done well, and how much influence it can have on a business. For SMEs and growing firms especially, recruitment can create real leverage. The right hire is not simply a person who can do the job. They affect team dynamics, productivity, leadership capacity, and often the pace at which a business can grow. In that sense, recruitment sits much closer to business strategy than many people realise. What I’ve appreciated is that the value of a good recruitment partner extends well beyond the obvious. Yes, there is the ability to reach candidates beyond job ads, through networks, relationships, referrals, and a more targeted market approach. But there is also the broader perspective that comes with understanding role design, team structure, and how a hire fits into the bigger picture. That’s where recruitment becomes more than a process. For businesses that are growing or under pressure, the conversation often needs to go deeper than the vacancy itself. This is also where people advisory can add real depth, not by selling a service, but by helping businesses think more clearly about the people decisions behind the hire. When you are working with businesses that are stretched, scaling, or trying to stay ahead of change, the conversation often needs to go deeper than “who can we place in this role?” It becomes: what does the business need to support sustainable growth? Where are the pressure points? What capability is missing now, and what will be needed next? Those questions matter because the wrong hire can slow a business down, while the right one can create momentum. What I’ve also seen is that recruitment is often a reflection of the quality of the organisation itself. The way a business recruits says a lot about how it values people, how clearly it thinks about its future, and how prepared it is to build for the long term. That is why the process matters, not just operationally, but culturally and strategically as well. Recruitment has always been about people, but it’s also about judgement, timing, and understanding context. The more I’ve seen behind the scenes, the more I’ve appreciated just how much skill sits beneath what can sometimes look simple from the outside. And that, for me, is what makes the work interesting!

Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport is quickly approaching the commercial opening of its 24-hour cargo operations on 26 July 2026, sparking both excitement and speculation around the potential economic uptick we can expect from a new, curfew-free freight gateway in Sydney’s West. The precinct opens with capacity for at least 220,000 tonnes of freight a year and is expected to lift Sydney’s air cargo capacity by around a third once operating (Qantas, 2024). Additionally, from 1 November 2026, the 74 overnight freight movements per week currently permitted at the Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport will be re-routed to the Western Sydney Airport (Western Weekender, 2026). With such a significant shift in the supply-chain, employers in the logistics sector must be prepared to adjust their hiring plans in line with these changes. Air cargo has always depended on overnight movements, the late departure that connects to an early international service and the freighter that has goods on shelves before trading opens (ASCLA, 2026). The roles the precinct creates are therefore built around night shifts and around-the-clock rostering from the outset. This attracts a different labour pool from the daytime ground-handling and warehousing work most Sydney logistics employers are used to staffing, narrowing the pool of workers willing and able to take it on. This labour pool is further narrowed by the nature of the freight. Only a minority of goods rely heavily on air transport, and those that do are the time-sensitive and high-value categories, with air carrying close to a third of global trade by value while making up less than one per cent of its weight (International Air Transport Association [IATA], 2025). Speed and reliability are the baseline expectation for anything that flies. What makes a 24-hour precinct commercially necessary is the specialised cargo within that flow, particularly pharmaceuticals and perishables, where the handling requirements are demanding. Pharmaceutical shipments moved by air are now 90 per cent temperature-controlled, up from 59 per cent in 2019 (Air Cargo Week, 2025). This is already visible in the precinct’s tenant decisions. The air services group dnata is directing around A$6 million of its Western Sydney investment specifically to equipment for pharmaceuticals and other time and temperature-sensitive shipments (dnata, 2026). Cargo of this kind is handled by staff trained against standards such as IATA’s CEIV Pharma certification and Good Distribution Practice, and increasingly requires dangerous-goods competency because the temperature loggers now common in these shipments are lithium-powered. Credentialed handlers of this type are not abundant. IATA’s specialised certification program has covered fewer than 700 companies worldwide in a decade (IATA, 2025b). “ As our blue‑collar recruitment partners build the night‑shift workforce, our focus is on the technical and leadership roles that shape how Western Sydney operates: Heads of Operations and Supply Chain, planning and optimisation specialists, lean‑trained CI leaders and quality managers for pharma and time‑sensitive freight. These roles underpin the systems and practices that support everyone on the ground. ” - Michelle Wood | Client Engagement Manager & Talent Partner | Logistics, Supply Chain & Operations All of this lands in a market that is already stretched. Nationally, only 68.2 per cent of advertised vacancies were being filled as of early 2026, with recruitment conditions weakening across metropolitan and regional areas alike (Jobs and Skills Australia [JSA], 2026). The transport, postal and warehousing workforce has a median age of 43 (S2C, 2026), which points to a steady stream of retirements the sector is struggling to replace. Western Sydney adds a further complication that is specific to this site. The Sydney Metro line serving the airport is not expected to open until 2027 at the earliest, so for its first year of freight operations the precinct has no rail connection, with workers relying on road access and interim shuttle buses (NSW Government, 2026). Night-shift roles will therefore be filled almost entirely by workers who drive, drawing on a catchment concentrated in Penrith, Liverpool and Campbelltown. In our experience, a thin catchment combined with unsocial hours puts direct upward pressure on the pay rates needed to attract and hold staff, and lengthens the time it takes to fill each role. How will these trends shape hiring decisions? In order to avoid costly delays, hiring managers should plan ahead to pre-empt these constraints. Employers planning to staff operations at or around the precinct should expect requisitions to take longer to fill than comparable roles closer to the city, and should begin recruiting well ahead of the volumes arriving in the November window. Where roles involve pharmaceutical or perishable cargo, credentials should be treated as a scarce and valuable quality to be screened for early, because the candidates who hold them are few and are being courted by more than one employer at once. Perhaps most importantly, employers with existing teams at Kingsford Smith should not assume those teams will simply move west. A 44-kilometre shift in workplace, onto night shifts, tends to produce attrition, which means the western operation often has to be built as net new hiring rather than relocation. A larger operation running around the clock also carries a heavier requirement for white-collar management, planning and professional support. For example, a 24-hour cycle needs planning and supervisory coverage across night hours which weren’t previously rostered, so a single daytime management layer will not stretch to cover it. Where pharmaceutical and perishable cargo is involved, quality and compliance move onto the operational critical path, because a temperature excursion becomes a stock write-off and a customer breach. In both cases the conditions making frontline hiring difficult give the professional layer a different shape, and it is better planned for at the outset than addressed once the site is live. “The Western Sydney precinct will expose any weakness in planning. Roles such as Supply Chain Planning Manager, Network Planning Manager and Continuous Improvement Lead have moved from ‘nice to have’ to essential if employers want to hit service levels without burning out their teams, not to mention impact on the bottom line” - Danijela Negro | CEO | Strategic Recruitment Advisor | Finance & Accounting None of this is to overstate the scale. The headline employment figures attached to the airport and the wider Aerotropolis are long-run projections that span all industries and decades of development, and should not be read as freight hiring at the precinct itself. A meaningful share of the air freight arriving in the first year is being displaced from Kingsford Smith rather than created new, so gross hiring at Western Sydney will overstate the net change across the Sydney market. The 1 November date is a stated government intention rather than a certainty. What is not in doubt is the direction. From late July, Sydney gains a 24-hour freight operation whose economics depend on the skills the local labour market is shortest on, and the employers who plan their hiring around that reality will be better placed than those who treat it as business as usual. References: Air Cargo Week. (2025, December 10). E-commerce, perishables and personalised medicine reshape air cargo priorities. https://aircargoweek.com/e-commerce-perishables-and-personalised-medicine-reshape-air-cargo-priorities/ ASCLA (Australasian Supply Chain & Logistics Association). (2026, June). Cleared for take-off: What Western Sydney Airport means for freight. https://www.ascla.org/cleared-for-take-off-what-western-sydney-airport-means-for-freight/ dnata. (2026, April 22). dnata earmarks A$32 million for cargo facility at Western Sydney International Airport. https://www.dnata.com/media-centre/dnata-earmarks-a32-million-for-cargo-facility-at-western-sydney-international-airport/ International Air Transport Association. (2025). Air cargo, trade, and economic growth in 2025. https://www.iata.org/en/iata-repository/publications/economic-reports/air-cargo-trade-and-economic-growth-in-2025/ International Air Transport Association. (2025b). IATA CEIV marks 10 years of improving air cargo supply chain performance. https://www.iata.org/en/pressroom/2025-releases/2025-04-17-01/ Jobs and Skills Australia. (2026, March). Occupation shortage report — March 2026. https://www.jobsandskills.gov.au/publications/occupation-shortage-report-march-2026 NSW Government. (2026). Tracks laid but steel more to do on Western Sydney Airport Metro. https://www.nsw.gov.au/ministerial-releases/tracks-laid-western-sydney-metro Qantas. (2024). Qantas Freight joins Western Sydney International Airport's new 24-hour cargo precinct. Qantas Newsroom. https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/media-releases/qantas-freight-joins-western-sydney-international-airports-new-24-hour-cargo-precinct S2C. (2026). Industry spotlight — Transport, logistics & supply chain in Australia. https://www.s2c.edu.au/blog/industry-spotlight---transport-logistics-supply-chain-in-australia Western Weekender. (2026, July). Making a noise: Anger over plan to shift overnight freight flights to western Sydney. https://www.westernweekender.com.au/2026/07/making-a-noise-anger-over-plan-to-shift-overnight-freight-flights-to-western-sydney/

I’ve been recruiting since 2007, starting in a fast‑paced blue‑collar environment before moving into white‑collar roles in 2009. Over that time, I’ve worked with logistics and supply chain people at all levels, from entry level through to senior leadership. Because many clients and candidates have stayed in touch for years, I’ve seen how careers “actually” play out. Some move forward steadily. Others work just as hard but keep getting stuck or overlooked. Here are a few patterns I see over and over that might help you think about your own next step. What successful careers tend to have in common They know the difference they make People who progress can explain the impact of their work, not just list tasks. Instead of “I manage inventory,” they’ll say, “We lifted stock accuracy and reduced write‑offs.” They have a basic handle on before‑and‑after and can talk about it in simple language. They stay close to the work and the customer People who grow tend to stay curious about what’s happening on the floor and at the customer end. They ask questions, go and see issues for themselves, and listen to the people doing the work. In interviews, they don’t just repeat process steps, they can explain why they did what they did and how it helped the team and the customer. They’re willing to take on “messy” work Strong careers often include a few challenging pieces of work, a system change, a new site, a shift or area that wasn’t running well. Those situations build skills and trust quickly. The people who benefit from them say “yes” to learning opportunities, but they’re also honest about what’s realistic rather than trying to be the hero all the time. Things that quietly hold people back Being “the reliable one” and getting stuck Many people in this industry are extremely reliable. They step in, stay back and keep things moving. The downside is that if you’re always the one who fixes everything, no one else learns how to do it. All the knowledge sits with you, which can make it hard for your manager to move you into something new. Sharing what you know, documenting processes and involving others is often the next step if you want to grow. Opting out of systems and data Supply chain roles involve more systems and data now than when I started. Careers often stall when someone decides “I’m not a systems person” and avoids new tools. You don’t need to be an expert; you just need to be willing to learn your systems properly and ask questions. The people who do this often become the “go-to” when something changes – and that’s where new opportunities usually start. Forgetting how small the industry is Logistics and supply chain is more connected than it looks. People move companies and remember what it was like to work with you. I’ve seen good operators miss out on roles because of how they handled a resignation or how they spoke about past employers. Not every situation is easy or fair, but how you respond tends to follow you. What standout candidates often do From years of interviewing, there are a few habits I see in people who really stand out: They bring clear, recent examples and can walk through what happened and what changed. They link their experience to the role they’re interviewing for, not just their last job. They understand how their part of the chain affects service, cost, safety or cash. They’re honest about mistakes and what they learned. They’re consistent and respectful in how they deal with people at every stage of the process. A few questions to ask yourself If you’re working in logistics or supply chain and thinking about your next step, it might be helpful to reflect on: Can I explain the impact I’ve had in each role, not just my responsibilities? Am I avoiding certain systems, projects or changes because they feel uncomfortable? How would people I’ve worked with describe the way I show up when things are busy or difficult? You don’t need to change everything at once. Choose one area that feels important right now and focus on small, consistent improvements over the next few months. In my experience, that’s what usually makes the real difference over time.

There’s a moment in almost every finance career where you realise, you’re no longer satisfied with meeting month end deadlines. For me, that moment came earlier in my career when I was working as a Management Accountant for a French industrial and telecoms group. On paper, it was everything I’d worked for, a global organisation, responsibility for reporting, budgeting, and analysis, and a clear path upward. But over time, I noticed something. The reports were accurate, the reconciliations balanced, the deadlines met, but the real impact wasn’t in the spreadsheet. It was in the conversations that followed, the decisions leaders made, the priorities they set, the investments they delayed and the teams they built. The numbers told a story, but people decided how it played out. That curiosity, about people, teams, and how finance functions really work, led me from Management Accountant to Recruitment CEO. Along the way, I’ve learned what truly makes finance teams high‑performing: not more transactions, but more intention; not more hires, but better ones; not more process, but clearer ownership. Here’s what that journey taught me. Lesson 1: Technical excellence is not enough  Early in my accounting career, the focus was simple: accuracy, compliance, deadlines. Do the work well, and the results speak for themselves. Except they don’t. Not fully. I saw strong professionals overlooked because they couldn’t communicate beyond finance. Analysts who could present data but not influence decisions. Teams with capability, but limited impact because they weren’t connected to the broader strategy. In recruitment, the same pattern shows up in hiring briefs focused purely on technical skills. Important? Absolutely. Sufficient? No. High‑performing teams need people who can translate complexity into clarity, influence conversations, and ask better questions. For leaders, that means hiring for capability and communication. For job seekers, it means stepping out from behind the numbers and owning your voice. Lesson 2: Structure before scale Growth in finance often defaults to more hires. More transactions, more people. More reporting, more analysts. In reality, high‑performing teams aren’t built by adding people to a messy structure. They’re built by fixing the structure first. I’ve seen how unclear responsibilities, process gaps, and ad‑hoc reporting quietly erode efficiency. No amount of effort can compensate for poor design. Today, I see the same in recruitment. What looks like a capacity issue is quite often a structural issue. The real need isn’t always another pair of hands. It’s leadership that can define a process, clarify ownership, and design roles with intention. For leaders, it’s building the backbone first. For professionals, it’s focusing not just on doing the work, but improving how that work gets done. Lesson 3: Visibility changes everything I saw how the same numbers could either empower or overwhelm. When finance acted as the interpreter, decisions improved and teams were better aligned. When visibility was poor, performance suffered. The same applies today. Many hiring challenges are really just visibility problems: unclear career paths, vague expectations, and misalignment with business priorities. High‑performing teams make visibility non‑negotiable. Everyone understands their role, expectations are clear, and growth pathways are visible. For leaders, this means clarity and intentional frameworks. For job seekers, it means asking better questions before accepting a role. Lesson 4: Recruitment is a strategic lever For me, moving from accounting into recruitment raised a few eyebrows. But recruitment, done well, is one of the most powerful levers a finance leader has. Because the cost of getting it wrong isn’t just a bad hire. It’s slower delivery, missed insight, team burnout, and declining trust in the numbers. The right hire, within the right structure, at the right time can significantly change a team’s trajectory. That’s why at Alexander Appointments, we focus on people advisory alongside recruitment, partnering with our clients to shape teams, not just fill roles. For leaders, this means being open to challenge. For professionals, it means recognising how much your environment shapes your growth and impact. Lesson 5: Careers are built, not stumbled into My career didn’t start as a CEO. It started with accounting fundamentals and an understanding of how businesses operate and evolved by paying attention to what energised me most: people, problem‑solving, and impact. Careers in finance are built through deliberate choices. For me, the constants have been curiosity, asking “why,” and a willingness to pivot when needed. For leaders, remember your people aren’t static. For professionals, see your finance skills as a foundation, not a limitation. High‑performing finance teams are built with intention, by leaders who hire beyond the job title, prioritise structure, value visibility, and treat recruitment as strategic. Professionals should see themselves as business partners who invest in their growth and step into roles that challenge them. From Management Accountant to leading Alexander Appointments, one thing has remained constant for me: the most impactful work happens when numbers intersect with people. If you’re hiring and something about the brief doesn’t feel right, trust that instinct. The best next step isn’t always posting the role – it’s asking better questions first. And if you’re considering your next move, whether up, sideways, or into something new, clarity matters. The right decision starts with understanding what you and your team actually need. If something about your team, structure, or next career move doesn’t feel clear, that’s usually a signal worth exploring. I’m always open to a conversation about what “good” really looks like before you make your next move.

One thing we see time and time again in recruitment is that the brief you start with isn’t always the brief you finish with, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Once hiring managers start meeting candidates, something interesting happens. The role begins to take shape in a more practical, “real-world” way. What looked right on paper starts to shift. Sometimes it’s about recalibrating what “good” actually looks like. After a few conversations, it becomes clearer which skills truly drive outcomes, and which were more “nice to have”. Other times, it’s driven by the business itself. Priorities change, new projects come into play, or internal structures evolve, and the role needs to adapt. We also often see adjustments based on the market. If the initial talent pool isn’t quite hitting the mark, whether it’s too narrow or not aligned, the brief will naturally flex to attract a stronger mix of candidates. The focus then tends to shift from tasks to outcomes. Instead of hiring based on a list of responsibilities, hiring managers start thinking more about what success in the role actually looks like. At that point, the role becomes less about the original job description, and more about finding the person who can deliver the right outcomes. So, in reality, a job brief is just a snapshot in time. The hiring process is where it becomes something more dynamic. And when there is open communication along the way, that evolution doesn’t slow things down, it often just leads to a better result. This is also where that initial consultation between the recruiter and the client becomes really important. Even when you’ve worked together for years, every role has its own individual dynamics, challenges, and expectations. Taking the time at the beginning to properly align on the brief gives the whole process a stronger starting point and makes it easier to navigate any changes that may come up.  If this is something you’ve seen in your own hiring process, or something you’re currently working through, I’m always open to a conversation and sharing perspectives, so feel free to reach out.

AI is reshaping recruitment; there’s no doubt about it. Candidates are now using it to optimise resumes and generate more tailored applications, and employers are using it to screen and shortlist at scale. It’s faster, more efficient, and on the surface, more effective. But there’s an important catch to consider here: we’re starting to lose the authenticity within the process. We now see more applications that look perfect on paper, keyword-rich, highly aligned, and technically “right”, but when you dig deeper, there’s often a gap between what’s written and what’s real. This is because AI is great at matching patterns, but it’s not good at understanding the context behind it. It can’t assess someone’s true capability, career decisions, or identify their potential beyond what’s written in the text. And when both applications and screening are AI-driven, the risk is that decisions are made on polished outputs rather than genuine insight. AI isn’t the problem. Misuse of it is. Here at Alexander Appointments, we see AI as a tool, not a strategy. It supports our process but doesn’t replace our judgment. This means going beyond the CV. Having real conversations. Understanding the “why” behind experience, not just the “what.” And challenging what’s presented, rather than taking it at face value. Because sourcing has never just been about finding candidates; it’s about finding the right ones. And in a market where everyone has access to the same technology, the real differentiator isn’t AI; it’s human insight. AI will keep evolving. Tools will keep improving, but it’s the ability to truly assess people that remains human. And hopefully that’s not changing anytime soon. I’d love to connect and hear your thoughts on this. If you’re seeing the same shift or thinking about how to refine your approach, let’s have a chat…

If I only looked at offer letters, I’d assume supply chain and logistics people move purely for money. But in the conversations I have every week, I hear something very different. Not long ago, I met a Transport Coordinator who, on paper, had no reason to leave. Good brand, decent salary, permanent role. When I asked why he was really looking, he paused and said: “It’s not about the money anymore. I just want to feel like a human being again.” When candidates drop their guard, their reasons for moving usually come back to three main things. Pay: “Just make it feel fair” Pay matters, of course. But very few people say, “I need the highest offer in the market.” What they actually tell me sounds more like: “My role has doubled in scope, but my salary hasn’t moved.” “A new hire has come in above me for the same job.” “No one can explain how pay decisions are made.” For most, if pay felt fair and the conversations were transparent, they’d be much slower to take my call. Culture: how people behave on a bad day In supply chain, culture shows up when everything hits at once – trucks queued, system down, customer shouting. That’s usually when people decide whether they can stay or need to start looking elsewhere. Off the record, I hear about: Being spoken to poorly in front of the team. Unrealistic overtime. Leaders promoted for tenure, not people skills. On the flip side, many will accept a slightly lower offer for basic respect and a voice. Stability: not calm, but clarity When candidates say they want stability, they don’t mean nothing ever changes. They work in supply chain; they know better! What they want is: Roster stability so they can plan their lives. Enough resourcing that every week isn’t survival mode. Leaders who explain what’s changing and why. I recently worked with a Senior Coordinator choosing between two offers. One paid a bit more but was vague on rosters and “still working out the structure.” The other was slightly lower on base but clear on shifts, expectations and reporting lines. He chose the second: “I can adjust to the salary, but I’m not going back to constant chaos.” If you’re hiring in supply chain, you’re not just competing on salary bands. The candidates I speak to are weighing up three questions: Is the pay fair and explained? What’s the culture like when things go wrong? And can I build a life around this job without burning out? If this resonates, I’m happy to connect and share what I’m seeing across the market and where roles are falling short, before candidates walk.

There’s a moment in almost every client conversation where the brief sounds clear, logical, and already decided - “We need an Accounts Payable person.” Straightforward, right? But over the years, I’ve learned that what a business asks for and what it actually needs are often two very different things. This week, I sat down with a client who is experiencing strong growth. Their finance function was under pressure, and their instinct was to hire an Accounts Payable Officer to manage the increasing volume of transactional work. On the surface, it made sense. More invoices, more workload, more hands required. But good recruitment isn’t about taking orders. It’s about understanding the business behind the brief. As we unpacked their structure, workflows, and future plans, a different picture emerged. The real issue wasn’t just volume, it was oversight, prioritisation, and financial visibility. There were gaps in decision-making, reporting, and process ownership that a transactional hire simply wouldn’t solve. In fact, bringing in an Accounts Payable Officer first would have risked reinforcing the very bottlenecks they were trying to fix. What the business actually needed was a more senior finance professional, someone who could take ownership, introduce structure, and create clarity. Someone who could not only manage the function but elevate it. The recommendation was simple: build the right foundation first. Once that senior capability is in place and embedded, then it makes sense to layer in support roles like Accounts Payable. At that point, those hires become enablers of scale, not temporary fixes to deeper issues. This is where true consultation comes into play. Recruitment, at its best, is not transactional. It’s strategic. It requires business acumen, experience, and the confidence to challenge assumptions. Because the cost of getting it wrong isn’t just a misplaced hire, it’s missed opportunity, inefficiency, and stalled growth.The right hire, at the right time, in the right structure, can fundamentally change the trajectory of a business.That’s why we’ve built our People Advisory offering at Alexander Appointments. It complements our recruitment delivery by ensuring we’re not just filling roles, we’re helping shape the structures, capabilities, and strategies that drive long-term success. Because sometimes, the most valuable thing we can do for a client isn’t to say yes to the brief, it’s to ask the right questions. If you’re about to hire and something doesn’t quite feel clear, trust that instinct. I’m always happy to sit down and help you gain clarity on what your business needs before you make the investment.