From answering a simple reference call for a colleague’s application, today Ronnel Britania is one of the stars of the team at our labour hire company Techforce.
Last year Ronnel was the inaugural recipient of Techforce’s prestigious Director’s Choice Award, (presented to an outstanding contributor who embodies the vision and values of the business) and, in just two and half years, he’s built a highly successful hospitality, catering and facilities management division from the ground up.
Ronnel said it was an unusual path which led him there but it quickly became apparent it was the right move for him.
“I was a referee for an applicant for a role with Techforce and received a reference call. The conversation progressed and they asked me to come in and talk to them,” Ronnel said.
“I didn’t understand why they wanted to speak with me at first. Techforce is well known in Western Australia as a lead recruiter for trades related roles and in mining, but my background is in hospitality!”
“I’ve worked in the Philippines (as Executive Chef for the Asia Pacific Economic Conference in 2018), in the UK, and migrated to Australia to work as a chef on Barrow Island, a Western Australian oil facility where I was cooking every day for 7,000 people!
“But I’d also spent some years recruiting for the catering sector in Western Australia and Techforce had seen an opportunity to build a new recruitment stream in recruiting and placing people in hospitality and catering in the mines.”
Ronnel says he was ready to challenge himself with something new and joined Techforce in Perth in 2020.
“I started from scratch. The business had never operated in this space before but they’d been considering it for a while and looking for the right person to lead the way,” he said.
“But I was determined to be successful and build the business in a new sector. My CEO Justin McNicol were very supportive and asked me what I needed to get the function up and running and how he could set me up for success.
“I started with just one client but, within six months, I’d built a thriving business and had increased weekly billing by 2,000 percent!”
Last year Ronnel’s role expanded from leading the hospitality and catering division to become Techforce’s National Manager Facilities Management. Today he has team in Brisbane and in Adelaide and, with the acquisition of Techforce by PeopleIN in 2021, it enabled him to create strong collaborative business development networks with the many other brands that comprise the group.
“I could see the opportunity to partner with them, to cross sell our services and deliver the best outcomes for clients, whatever their labour needs.”
“At Techforce we have clients who have commissioned us to recruit internationally. Some of the other PeopleIN businesses source workers from overseas too and I’m working with our colleagues to explore opportunities to collaborate right now.
“I’ve been lucky to be supported in all my ideas by my leaders and I owe it to pay it forward. I want to give my team the opportunity to grow and have the philosophy that this is my business and aim to work with others to help us achieve success together.”
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