About Us

Tasmanian educated, Simone spent 8 years in Sydney working within large HR and recruitment consultancies specialising in recruitment projects for internal restructuring campaigns. Simone has worked on a number of large scale projects within multinational companies across a range of industries assisting these organisations with the difficult task of managing people through a restructure. Simone returned to Tasmania in 2005 and has continued to work as a HR Consultant, specialising in both government and large scale change projects, where she has taken a lead role in assisting organisations through change and the challenges they face to come out successfully on the other side.     

Simone's other experience includes competency based assessments, selection panels, generating Statement of Duties and Selection Criteria, position classifications and selection reports. She has also provided HR consulting support to a number of local businesses and government departments.

Simone has recently managed the change and restructure project at Cadbury, designing and delivering workshops and one-on-one programs for over 230 employees affected by the production changes at the Claremont site.  She had an integral role to play in creating the vital networks required for these employees to move away from Cadbury and assist them in creating a new pathway.  The relationship created between Donington and Cadbury was hugely positive and productive and the key to a very successful project.  Other significant clients that Simone has worked with include, MyState, Tasmanian Audit Office, DHHS, Federal Group, TasRacing, Hobart City Council and Nyrstar.

QUOTATIONS

From Cadbury, HR Manager

Taking away the fear of the unknown with the support through the change process and strategies to deal with the transition helped our staff enormously.

From Victoria Newton, HR Nyrstar

It was integral to Nyrstar that we supported those workers who were affected by the company changes…    Donington provided this assistance in a professional and empathetic way.  Each participant was provided with their own consultant who worked with them over a period of time to achieve outcomes that supported their career direction once they left Nyrstar. 

Alexis works in the Hobart Office of the Tasmanian Donington Team delivering programs to a range of participants from varied backgrounds and industries.

With 30 plus years in the workforce in a variety of roles spanning the private, public and union sectors across three Australian states, Alexis brings a diverse range of skills and experience in human resource management and general management. These talents are also utilised by Searson Buck internally to ensure their HR practices and services are supportive of their staff and culture. Alexis also provides a range of HR locum services to small Tasmanian businesses.

Prior to becoming a Consultant, Alexis spent 13 years as a Senior Executive Manager for a Superannuation Fund responsible for the Corporate Services Business Unit encompassing all aspects of Human Resources, Information and Communications Technology, Information Management and Facilities Management. Working to a Board of Directors, this role required a strong client service and compliance focus in a dynamic environment, during a period the financial services sector saw unprecedented growth.

Alexis now brings all her HR and corporate expertise to her Donington role - working one on-one with people, assisting them to grow and realise their potential and passions. It is something she herself is passionate and excited to be involved in having undertaken a Donington program herself.

She is a member of the Australian Human Resource Institute (AHRI) and was Tasmanian Representative on the National AHRI Mentoring Committee when the initial program was offered in Tasmania.

QUOTES FROM PROGRAMME PARTICIPANTS

 "I feel enormously fortunate to have had the friendly professional experience given to me by Alexis. She made all the difference." (Roz)

"Whilst partners, friends and colleagues are a great support, it was simply wonderful to have my very own "Donington lady". Alexis really understood my roller coaster of feelings through this transition period. I thought I had marketable skills but after all those years believing my next career change would hopefully be early or part time retirement, the big wide world suddenly held so many choices and, as I began to realise, many opportunities which Alexis helped me explore. She also helped me build my confidence and today I'm in a very different world and loving every minute." (Kerry)

 "Alexis, thank you so much for all your help and support over the past 5 months. I could not have achieved this without you". (Petah)

Richard has spent almost all of his working life recruiting into the Northern Tasmanian labour market. This equates to more than 10 000 employment interviews and he's still going strong!

In early 2009 Richard completed 10 years as Recruitment Manager for Tasmania's leading tourism, hospitality and gaming provider. This involved hundreds of new recruits annually into occupations as diverse as you could imagine, from train drivers to kitchen stewards and from restaurant managers to accounts clerks.

Since then he has gained Training and Assessment qualifications, is currently being trained in psychometric assessments by global organisation SHL and has launched himself into Donington consulting work which he combines with a fledgling family retail business.

Richard's specialisation in recruitment is combined with a commitment to Tasmania and an engaging approach. Having represented Tasmania at cricket in the 80 and 90s Richard maintains strong links with the Launceston sporting community.  

QUOTES FROM PROGRAMME PARTICIPANTS

'I'd like to acknowledge the work of Richard during the program - great listener, excellent mentor and a really likeable bloke to work with.''Richard was fantastic throughout. He knew exactly when I needed persuasion or encouragement and was an extremely calming influence throughout in what could have been a quite stressful period.'

Anna joined Searson Buck's Temporary staff division as a Consultant in 2003 and was promoted to Senior Consultant in 2006. Prior to taking maternity leave in 2009 she added Donington Outplacement services to her skills.

Holding an MBA from Charles Sturt University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Tasmania, Anna spent a number of years working in the tourism and hospitality sectors in the United Kingdom and in Tasmania.  She was employed as Senior Consultant at Tas Vacations where she worked for three years before discovering a passion for HR and joining Searson Buck.

Anna specialised in Government recruitment for temporary/fixed term positions and managed fixed-term contract registers for the Department of Primary Industries and Water, the Department of Police and Emergency Management and the Department of Tourism, Arts and the Environment. Anna also recruited for many other organisations across Local, State and Federal Government sectors.

Anna believes it is important to provide clients with the highest quality candidates, as well as provide the highest quality service to the temporary employees in her care.  She also enjoys working one-to-one with Donington participants as they transition from one employer to another or move into other areas of endeavour.