Our guest blogger is Jason Elias of Elias Recruitment in Sydney, Australia. Elias Recruitment is a specialist legal recruitment business, finding lawyers for law firms, not-for-profits and corporates across Australia. Jason is the Immediate Past Chairman of the NPAworldwide Board of Directors and received our Chairman’s Award in 2014. Jason is also a Fellow of the peak recruitment industry body in Australasia the RCSA (Recruitment & Consulting Services Association). Today he recaps our recent event in Barcelona, Spain and shares his appreciation for NPAworldwide.
For many of us around the world, we grew up watching American TV and movies and learning about US culture and traditions.
One of the things that always fascinated me was Thanksgiving – a holiday only observed in the US and Canada. The Pilgrims never sailed to Sydney or Singapore or Sweden.
What I like about it is people getting together to show their appreciation. I know that it is months from Thanksgiving but I wanted to share my appreciation having just returned from the NPAworldwide EMEA Conference in Barcelona.
Firstly, I run a small recruitment business in Sydney, Australia—some 17,100 km (10,699 miles) from Barcelona. Geographically there are few places further apart on the globe. When I started it in 2000, I would never have dreamed that work would take me to places like Spain.
Barcelona is amazing and the Picasso Museum, the architecture and the atmosphere is definitely worthy of your bucket list.
I arrived at a gorgeous hotel by the beach. The first night of the conference I went to set up the function with my colleague Tim Lane and saw a terrace laid out for a cocktail party with wonderful local delicacies and an array of beers and wine.
NPAworldwide members started to file in. After a long absence from Covid, it was the first time many of us saw each other for 2 or 3 years. Some I had never met. The atmosphere was hard to describe. There were plenty of smiles, handshakes, embraces and laughter. Friendships were reinvigorated and launched. The locals from Spain, especially Pablo, Ana and Maria, made us feel so welcome in their beautiful country. It was great seeing people from around the world, not just Europe but Argentina, USA, Australia and elsewhere.
The content was also amazing. The conference was entertained by keynote speaker Hung Lee. Based in the UK, Hung is a thought leader in the recruitment industry and I highly recommend his podcast and weekly newsletter Recruiting Brainfood. We also had the opportunity to hear Tim Connolly and Gray Hollett from ALC Enable with fascinating content, as well as some interesting recruitment business presentations from our own members – Chairman Jim Lyons, Trond Larsen, Melanie Johnson and Tim Lane.
That night we enjoyed an alfresco dinner at a local restaurant with great conversation, food and wine. Language barriers were overcome and the camaraderie was palpable.
The next day was an excursion to the beautiful mountaintop monastery of Montserrat and lunch at a local vineyard (alcohol seems to be a running theme with recruiters).
It was a great conference made special by those who attended and the excellent planning by Veronica, Tim, Trond and others.
So this is what I am grateful for. NPAworldwide has literally opened up the world a small recruitment business like mine. In addition to the fact I have made plenty of money (I am a Platinum member), moreover I have made plenty of friendships and had opportunities I would never have dreamed of to visit exciting places with friends I have made through the network. Thank you, NPAworldwide.