Testimonials and meet some of our staff
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Testimonials from some of our
staff
Jane Clements - General
Manager (Australasia)
Hayley Morrison - Business Developement
& Contracts Manager (New Zealand)
Melinda McLaren - National Temp &
Homecare Operations Manager (New Zealand)
Veronica Manion - Australian Business
Manager
Shane King - Permanent Consultant -
Australian Nursing
Sarah Mah - Temp Consultant
Yan Fei Ru - Homecare Consultant
Jane Clements - General
Manager
I started with Geneva Health as an
Agency Registered Nurse in 2003, after nursing in many roles here
and overseas since 1988. I quickly joined our internal After
Hours team as I really liked the people I had met, and my
experience with Geneva. Only a few months later I accepted a
short term contract recruiting Nurses for Geneva Health - full time
in the office. This was quite a 'leap of faith' for me, from
working in clinical settings in uniform, to being in an office
Monday to Friday (and working business hours and not
shifts!). To cut a long story short, I worked hard with the
company, including a few months in our London office - before I was
promoted to role as Permanent Services Manager. In this role
I was responsible for the team placing permanent health
professionals into our NZ clients. This meant I learnt about
budgeting, financial reporting, advertising, sourcing, client
relationships, sales, marketing and we had a boomer year. The
thing I found most surprising in this role, was the really strong,
professional but fun relationships we were able to develop with
'candidates' and 'clients' - some of whom we never met face to
face, but who we feel we really know well!
In 2006 I was promoted to General Manager, at that time our
business included six different streams, and now in 2008 we run 12
business streams - fantastic couple of years!!
So given I started as a temp and within just a few years, am now
leading the Australasian part of this brilliant global company, I
guess the first thing I can say is we are an organisation that
supports development of our team - if you want it, and show you can
do it, then we will do whatever we can to make it happen!
Geneva Health strives to be a leader and a brilliant employer, by
investing time, money and resource into constantly looking at
popular employers and what they do as well as talking to our team
to see what more we could do. Ours is a business that relies
on loyal, hardworking, ethical people - both in the office and out
there representing Geneva with our clients. We know, that to
achieve this we need to:
1. utilise robust recruitment processes that focus on quality staff
who fit with Geneva Health
2. constantly look at ourselves as employers and be open to being
adaptable, flexible and innovative - we think we do this very
well.
We understand that our people are the absolute key to our success,
and aim to provide an environment where everyone feels they can
openly contribute, be heard, influence and be supported, in turn we
are looking for people who are driven, focussed, motivated and keen
to always grow and develop.
Hayley Morrison - Business Development &
Contracts Manager
I have worked with Geneva Health for almost five years (wow time
flies!) and have done many different roles with the company.
I trained as a Registered Nurse in Palmerston North and graduated
with a Degree in Health Science at the end of 1997. From
there I completed 18 months in a permanent nursing role before
travelling to the UK.
In the UK the opportunities for a NZ trained nurse at that time
were endless and I was lucky enough to work in a private hospital
where they taught me Recovery and also to work as a Scrub Nurse in
the OR. Over the course of the next seven years I worked in a
world-renowned cosmetic plastic surgery unit where the clients were
all A-list celebs and then in a private surgical hospital were I
got to the opportunity to learn the skill of a Cardiac Scrub
Nurse.
On my return to NZ I did a wee bit of agency nursing but soon
realised that my interests no longer lay in hands-on nursing so I
approached Geneva Health. Fortunately, Geneva Health were
looking to fill a position within the CST (Candidate Sourcing Team)
interviewing registered and non registered staff for their temp
division and I was given the opportunity to join them. The
challenge of returning to NZ after seven years travel and also a
change of career was over whelming and a bit bumpy to say the least
but I was determined to make the most of the opportunity to work in
the recruitment industry.
Over the course of the next few years I moved into the role of a
Placing Consultant which opened the door to a much broader
understanding of the Health Recruitment Industry. After two
and a half years of working with Geneva Health, I was approached to
train for the Temp Services Managers role. To begin with I
was very nervous, as I was still in the mind of "I am just a
nurse", but it wasn't long till I realised what a fantastic
platform nursing can be to many many different jobs and actually
the skills I learnt as a nurse, can be transferred into many
business situations.
In my role as Temp Services Manager I relied on my people skills as
well as my health background to guide me everyday. I have
been very lucky to have the opportunities that have presented
themselves to me, but ultimately I enjoy the freedom to "make a
difference' working for a organisation that believes in it's people
and the quality of the service they provide.
As part of my career progression within Geneva Health, I am now
currently embarking on a whole new role as National Client
Relationship Manager, so watch this space!
Melinda McLaren - Operations Manager, Temp
& Homecare Services
I began my nursing degree straight from high school in
Australia, but before long I was drawn to the bright lights of New
Zealand. Early on I worked with special needs children and also as
a caregiver in a rest home, so can relate with those on night
shifts! Since moving to Auckland, I have had a few different
career moves, but had mainly been in banking and finance, where I
found I was enjoying the administration side of the roles I had
worked. I then began my career with Geneva Health as an Admin
Support Consultant for our Perm recruitment team combining my
previous interest in health and administrative support work.
It didn't taken long for an opportunity to arise and I was
successful in moving in the Mental Health Consultant for the Perm
team after only 3 months of working with Geneva. This was a
huge step up for me, but I did enjoy the relationships with
international RNs and also our clients through out NZ. There
was, and still is, a huge need in Mental Health. I still keep
in touch with some of the RNs I recruited from the UK.
Always one to try new things, I was drawn to CST (Candidate
Sourcing Consultant), still within the permanent division. But
found that I was seeking a role that was more fast paced, and was
encouraged to look at different departments within Geneva - this is
when I found my place in the world - Homecare.
I began in Homecare as a Consultant in 2006, loved every minute of
it, and was promoted to Senior Consultant, then Team Leader, before
embarking on Homecare Manager earlier this year.
Recently, I have stepped into the role of National Homecare and
Temporary Services Manager, a long way from Admin Support in what
seems like such a short time.
Geneva Health is a wonderful, supportive and genuine
employer. I feel valued. Geneva Health International
employees are rewarded and recognised for hard work and commitment.
The environment is that of enthusiasm and motivation to succeed,
where internal promotion and development is encouraged, and
you can't help but get caught up in the momentum. We are a great
big team working towards the same goals, and you feel a real
satisfaction that you are a large part of the success, this I have
never experienced before.
Veronica Manion - Australian Business
Manager
I have been working for the past four and half years at Geneva
Health and have had numerous roles within the Company. I
began temping with Geneva Health as a Registered Nurse within
Wellington in between traveling and soon found this so satisfying I
decided to temp full-time! This gave me the flexibility and
choice of when to work and when to play! After nearly a year
of doing this, I was contacted to see if I was interested in
working within the Australian Business as a Candidate Sourcing
Consultant, based in the Wellington office. Of course I jumped a
chance to try something exciting and new. I soon realised that
recruitment was the job for me! Shortly after this I began
recruiting for various States in Australia as a Recruitment
Consultant. I feel so privileged to be part of a company that is
hugely supportive and proactive with internal promotions and
recognizing personal achievements.
Working within the Australian business has enabled me to travel
throughout the UK, all over Australia and around New Zealand. My
favourite thing about working for Geneva Health is the fantastic
support, the amazing people and the continuous improvement in
regards to how we operate as a company.
Recruitment is a fantastic field to enter, with so many variations
and aspects, you never get bored… Geneva Health, right from
the start had offered full support and excellent opportunities that
I never would have imagined being lucky enough to experience.
Another great thing about working for Geneva Health is the
diversity and multiple aspects of Health Recruitment that makes the
job so rewarding… I feel if you have got the right attitude and
commitment to succeed you can get anywhere, that is the secret,
another thing that makes Health Recruitment so rewarding is the
continuous global need for health professionals - it keeps us
busy!
My focus now as the Manager is to ensure the fantastic team I work
with is motivated, driven and is given the right support to be
super successful, it is a pleasure to see Consultants feeling the
excitement of getting a placement, or signing on a new client, or
winning some huge business, it is all passion and having the right
attitude, with those two aspects, you can do anything!
Shane King - Recruitment Consultant,
Australian Nursing
Having worked as a corporate travel consultant for seven years,
it was suggested to me that with my strong customer service and
sales background I should consider a career in recruitment.
I started with Geneva Health as a Mobilisation Consultant.
This role takes care of the final part of the international
recruitment process in assisting with all formalities and ensuring
the candidate starts work as promptly as possible. Strangely
enough, starting my experience at Geneva Health in a role that is
effectively the 'end' component proved to be very beneficial in
that I was able to observe what had to be done by my colleagues
before me in order to get the candidate to my stage in the first
place.
Within the year I moved in to the position of Candidate Sourcing
Consultant, responsible for finding the candidates through
successful advertising techniques and then assessing the
suitability of the candidates who apply. I enjoyed the
creativity that this role provided.
Another year on I am now a Placing Consultant. Once we have a
suitable candidate it is up to me to actually find them a
job. I am also responsible for searching for new clients and
developing relationships to ensure we always have vacancies to
fill! I really enjoy this sales aspect of my job and knowing
that I am helping grow our business.
It's not hard to sing the praises of this company, be it to
candidates or clients. We are successful and leaders in our
field and I am very proud to be associated with Geneva
Health.
Geneva Health has provided me with challenge, growth, and
reward. I couldn't ask for more in an employer. It is a
supportive, nurturing environment and I can genuinely say that
there has not been a day during my time here that I have woken up
and dreaded the thought of going to work!
Sarah Mah - Temp
Consultant
Expect the unexpected is one thing I have learnt as a Temp
Consultant and I enjoy the fast pace, variety in the role and you
never stop learning. We develop relationships with a pool of temps
and a portfolio of clients and organise staff to cover shifts when
and where they are needed, 24/7!
I have worked with Geneva Health in the Temp Team now for one and a
half years and have managed several portfolios including
Wellington, Aged Care and Mental Health.
When I left university with a BHSc and BA in Psychology I was a
little unsure what direction to take but knew that I wanted to work
in a role that was people focussed. I have previously worked in
customer service and administration roles with Southern Cross and
DHBs and prior to Geneva Health for a small recruitment agency
involving end-to-end permanent recruitment for the finance
industry. Not having the patience for permanent recruitment nor
enjoying interviewing credit controllers, accountants and the like
I decided to look for a role that would utilise the skills I had
developed over the years and knowledge I had gained through my
degrees - working for Geneva Health appeared to be the perfect
match!
Yan Fei Ru - Homecare
Consultant
I joined Geneva Health after obtaining my Bachelor of Management
back in 2007 in the position as a Junior Payroll Clerk. I have now
been with Geneva Health for almost 3 years; in that short period I
have taken on a variety of duties and have learnt and developed
many administrative skills from performing payroll duties to
covering reception, and after one year I progressed to
Accounts and took on more payroll responsibilities.
In June 2009 I moved over to our Homecare department as the
Support person and after two months I became the Regional Homecare
Consultant managing the Wellington and Hawke's Bay regions,
and am now looking after the Auckland region. Through this
role I am able to further develop my administrative and tasks
management skills.
What I enjoy about working for Geneva Health is that I have had
the chance to develop new skills and enhance old ones but more
importantly being able to put some of my studies into use.
The encouragement I have received from my managers to develop
further in finance and now in Homecare has been really great and is
a fantastic opportunity for me to gain a greater insight into the
business.
Another great thing about working for Geneva Health is that we have
an excellent rapport with our workmates that make working in such a
competitive and stressful environment enjoyable, as everyone is
supportive of each other.