Recruitment industry leaders Reo Group and Cox Purtell announce merger as Reo Purtell

Awarding-winning recruitment firms, Reo Group & Cox Purtell have announced they will join forces to become Reo Purtell.

The merger places the firms in an ideal position to take advantage of the post-COVID growth cycle as business begins implementing growth plans which had been on hold during a year of uncertainty.

The Reo Purtell merger is designed to create an agency enabling the people, clients, candidates and shareholders from both companies to grow and thrive. 

Through a broader service offering, more rounded recruitment services and an increased ability to cross-sell, it’s a merger which allows for a greater talent and client pool, showcasing a compelling agency able to win a greater number of preferred services agreements, and a more sustainable organisation as a result of massive back office cost efficiencies, which can be redeployed into customer facing staff. 

Cox Purtell CEO James Purtell said the collaboration made sense.

“It was (Reo Group CEO) Stella Petrou Concha who presciently called it at a panel event in early 2020 prior to COVID about the future of recruitment… the answer was ‘consolidation’,” he said.

“The penny dropped for me and we quickly realised how powerful coming together would be.

“That’s when we got more serious about it; we’ve been working on making it happen for much of 2020.”

As industry colleagues, Purtell and Petrou Concha have been on each other’s collective radars for some time. A partnership seemed inevitable.

“We certainly share similar values around what we believe great service and great recruitment should look like,” Purell explained.

Petrou Concha agreed, saying that their shared ideals made their different approaches a winning combination.

“Despite the similarities, we have different strengths and skill sets and ultimately, I think this is why we felt we were aligned and would make an awesome team,” she said.

Purtell sees the merger as being a significant step in his agency’s story.

“We have achieved so many great things over the last 27 years, placed tens of thousands of people in jobs, won many awards and launched many careers and businesses,” he said.

The recruitment industry has taken a severe hit because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Reflecting on the tumultuous past year, Purtell still firmly believes that recruitment is an extraordinarily resilient industry.

“In the short term, there’s no doubt there’s been a big impact,” he said. 

“There are, however, still many businesses that are doing well and many more who are adapting and starting to find their feet again. 

“Like many other businesses, we’d already evolved and were able to work essentially from anywhere before the crisis, which stress-tested all our technologies. 

“Most modern agencies will be using cloud-based software and we are heavily reliant on those. Fortunately, for the most part, these are perfect for operating in an environment like the one we’ve been in.”  

Both agencies feel that the merger will lead to multiple benefits and set a benchmark for industry excellence among recruiters. 

Among the manifold benefits, Reo Purtell looks to provide more – and greater – opportunities for staff, clients and candidates alike. Their enhanced service offering for clients will increase revenue through the diversification of verticals, while reducing the cost per seat, allowing greater investment in people, culture and benefits.

Anticipated higher success rates in winning key strategic clients to sustain their revenue streams will increase employee retention and prove a more attractive prospect to new employees.

Founded in 2009, Sydney-based Reo Group has become an industry leader in recruitment, widely known for their unique Evidence Based Recruitment Method™, designed to eliminate the risk of unconscious bias in the recruitment process.

The firm has placed more than 5,000 people in roles over the last decade, with 98% of their permanent placements remaining in place for more than two years, and 90% of temp roles placed within 48 hours.

Cox Purtell was founded in 1994 in Sydney and celebrated their 26th year in operation in February this year. James Purtell has been a leading figure in recruitment since 1999.

ENDS

For further information:

Annie de Merindol

The Big Smoke

M: 0414 757 390

E: annie.demerindol@thebigsmoke.com.au