Opportunities Workshop

We created OW because we believe that there's straightforward way to help local people take advantage of the opportunities available in the local economy and because we don't believe skills shortages should constrain local business. So we're glass half full kind of people.

On a practical level neither of us would claim to have been fed from a silver spoon, we can look back at days snipping parsnips (David) or serving burgers (Chris) to know the value of a days hard work; and also to look back at the opportunities that have proven pivotal in our careers.

We've both earned our spurs repeatedly over the past 15 years or so with a number of businesses, witnessing the highs and lows, working with some super people and experiencing our fair share of corporate stupidity in the mix. So there's a large dose of pragmatism with a decent shot of principle in the way we work.

We bring varied careers in recruitment, training and management consulting; working for blue chips, private success stories, start ups and not for profits over the years. We've spent our fair share of time in places not typically considered glamorous as well as time on international assignment which was great.

So we've decided to create in OppWorks an organisation that we believe individuals and local businesses can put their trust in, which builds on our personal beliefs and experiences, those of the team of specialists we've put together and one which stands out from our contemporaries because of the passion we bring to how we do business.

Our objective is simple. We want to be the partner of choice to businesses as they hire new people, train them to become more productive and build their workforce capabilities (and should the worst come to pass, provide a decent outplacement service to help people find their their next assignment); we also want to be first choice for school leavers, career changers and those building their skills sets in the communities where we work.