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Award categories and criteria

The SARAs are open to Australian and New Zealand-based recruitment agencies and RPOs. View the categories and criteria to determine the awards you'll enter and the information you need to showcase.

Award categories

Recruitment Agency of the Year (Small, Medium and Large)

The winner of this award will be able to demonstrate their dedication and pursuit of excellence across culture, innovation, growth, candidate engagement and contribution to the success of the recruitment industry.

Recruitment Process Outsourcing Agency of the Year

The winner of this award will demonstrate how they support and promote their customer's brand in-market, apply innovation and efficiency to solutions, execute effective business partnership and drive candidate engagement. ⁠This award is open to agencies that primarily operate as a dedicated Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) agencies that can demonstrate that RPO services represent a core and substantial part of their business offering.

New Recruitment Agency of the Year

The winner of this award will be an agency that has made its mark on the industry in a short time, demonstrating merit across culture, innovation, growth, candidate experience and industry contribution.

This new category is open to recruitment agencies that have been in operation for one to two years, and have created great outcomes for candidates, clients and the industry.

Outstanding Progress in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

The winner of this award embeds diversity, equity, and inclusion into their business and their work with clients. They demonstrate this commitment not only through new initiatives, but also through the way they operate day-to-day, with inclusive practices, policies and behaviours that create lasting benefit for diverse talent pools and the recruitment industry.

Excellence in Candidate Experience

The winner of this award will be able to demonstrate their commitment to providing an exceptional experience for candidates throughout their job search journey.

Recruitment Leader of the Year

The winner of this award will be a recruitment professional who inspires and motivates their team, performs to business objectives, and makes a positive impact within their agency and the overall recruitment industry.

Recruitment Consultant of the Year

The winner of this award will be a recruitment professional who has excelled in the area of client and candidate engagement, and has contributed positively to the recruitment industry as a whole.

Your SARAs submission checklist and entry tips

What the judges are looking for

Our panel of industry experts assess entries using the following guiding criteria. This criteria has been designed to recognise outstanding professional service and client support across the recruitment industry, and shine a light on the positive impact recruiters make on people’s lives. Here's an overview of what the judges will look for:

Client and candidate centricity

How are you putting the candidate and your clients at the centre of your strategy or initiative/s?

Innovation

How are you doing things differently and challenging the status quo? What sets you or your agency apart?

Growth

What are your targets and how do you know you are meeting them?

Industry impact

How does this achievement improve your team, your agency, or the broader recruitment industry?

Judges

Experts in their field, our exceptional judges have been appointed to select the winners and finalists of the SEEK Annual Recruitment Awards. ⁠ We're still finalising our full judging panel but you can take a look at our confirmed 2026 SARAs judges below:

Lesley Horsburgh

Managing Director, APSCo
Lesley has had a long relationship with the global recruitment profession dating back to her capacity as Owner of Recruitment Extra magazine which was founded over 20 years ago, along with the highly coveted Recruitment Excellence Awards. She joined APSCo Australia as MD in 2019 to help drive growth across the Association and support profession...
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Charles Cameron

CEO, RCSA
Charles Cameron is CEO of RCSA, the peak industry body for recruitment and staffing in Australia and New Zealand. Charles has twenty years of experience consulting within and leading an industry which inspires him every day. Charles is Vice President of the World Employment Confederation and leads over 50 recruitment and staffing associations fr...
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Thalia Thomas

Head of Recruitment, ANZ
As Head of Recruitment for ANZ, Thalia leads delivery-focused, agile teams that support the bank's transformation agenda by finding, engaging and hiring talent across Australia, New Zealand, International (Asia, Europe, America); as well as recruiting our contractors globally. She has been working in talent acquisition for 16 years, starting in ...
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Alex McVeigh

Founder, She Graduates
Alex McVeigh is an Employer Brand and Recruitment Marketing specialist, passionate about helping organisations attract, engage, and retain top talent through compelling storytelling and strategic branding. With over 15 years experience at leading companies like Alinta Energy, Commonwealth Bank and Deloitte, she has led employer brand transformat...
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Richard Fairclough-Rushton

Regional Head of Talent Acquisition - APAC / Middle East, G4S
Richard Rushton is the Regional Head of Talent Acquisition at G4S, a global leader in security and services with over 800,000 employees across the globe. With over twenty years of experience in the field, Richard brings extensive expertise in recruitment and talent acquisition, including executive search from both agency and in-house perspective...
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Andrew Retschko

Senior Executive- Talent Acquisition, Inclusion and Sustainability, Medibank
Andrew Retschko is the Hub Lead for Talent Engagement, Inclusion, Sustainability and Community at Medibank, an integrated healthcare company supporting the health and wellbeing of more than 3.7 million Australians. In this role, Andrew leads a multidisciplinary team that brings together Talent Acquisition, Diversity & Inclusion, Sustainability a...
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Shanyll Haywood

Global Talent Operations Leader, Flight Centre Travel Group
With over 23 years of experience at Flight Centre Travel Group, Shanyll  is a seasoned and strategic Global Talent Operations Leader, known for driving excellence across talent acquisition, systems optimisation, and candidate experience. Working with her global team Shanyll plays a pivotal role in shaping and operationalising the global Talent A...
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Meagan Anderson

Senior Manager, People Services, Victorian Electoral Commission
With a career that commenced in manufacturing engineering, Meagan ultimately found passion and purpose in more people orientated professions. Initially moving into the recruitment industry, Meagan held senior leadership roles with a number of firms locally and spent four years in a global role based in Switzerland. Since then, Meagan has worked ...
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Jennifer Haralambous

Head of Talent Acquisition, Country Road Group
Jennifer leads a high-performing Talent Acquisition team at the Country Road Group, overseeing recruitment across Corporate, Retail, and Omni Fulfilment Centre functions in Australia and New Zealand. With extensive experience spanning both agency and in-house environments, she brings a strategic and people-first approach to hiring. Throughout he...
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Natasha Hosein

Manager - Talent, Wellways Australia
Natasha Hosein is Manager – Talent at Wellways Australia and an accomplished HR and Talent leader with over 25 years’ experience delivering workforce and recruitment solutions across complex and diverse environments. Much of her career has been dedicated to talent acquisition: she has a proven track record of delivering high-impact recruitment s...
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Fiona Reynolds, B Com, MBA

Head of Talent Acquisition, Monash Health
With over 25 years’ leadership experience in executive search and recruitment, Fiona has worked in corporate, not for profit and public health organisations in Melbourne and Sydney.  After joining Monash Health in early 2016, in 2017 she established the first centralised recruitment team in a public health service in Victoria.  Initially demonst...
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Peter Acheson

Peter Acheson is a highly accomplished chief executive with a distinguished career spanning more than two decades in the staffing, telecommunications, and professional services sectors. Known for his ability to drive transformation, deliver sustained growth, and create significant shareholder value, he has successfully led large-scale organisati...
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Ken MacLeod

Associate Director - Talent Acquisition, Optus
Ken MacLeod is an accomplished Talent Acquisition leader and contingent workforce specialist with extensive experience partnering with large, complex organisations to deliver strategic workforce outcomes. Currently an Associate Director in the People Services and Delivery team at Optus, Ken brings deep expertise across contingent labour, workfor...
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Andy Steeds

Head of Talent Acquisition, Australia & New Zealand, Capgemini
Andy Steeds is Head of Talent Acquisition for Capgemini Australia and New Zealand. With 15 years of experience in recruitment agencies and in-house talent teams, he is very focused on equity and inclusion in the candidate and employee lifecycle. He is the winner of the SEEK STAR Awards Talent Leader of the Year 2025 and is very excited to judge ...
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Dan Creevy

Manager, Talent Acquisition, Adidas
Dan Creevy is a Talent Acquisition Manager at adidas, leading recruitment for the Pacific Region including Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific. He brings extensive experience driving end to end recruitment strategy, partnering with senior leaders, and building diverse, high performing teams across complex, fast moving environments. With a ba...
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