PX Spotlight: Sydney Wilms, Communication Consultant

2019 has been a huge year at Peopleconnexion ? we?re pinching ourselves that 2020 is just around the corner. Over the past year, we’ve seen incredible growth across our business, have launched new initiatives, expanded our team and have set new records.

As Peopleconnexion continues to grow and welcome talented new staff, we are continuing our series introducing our newest team members to our network.

This week, we welcome our newest recruit Sydney Wilms to the Peopleconnexion team. With a background in sales, marketing and design, Sydney has joined the team to lead our marketing division as our teams grow across Australia and PNG.

PX: How did you find out that you were first interested in marketing?

I first realised I was interested in marketing when I worked in sales, and my exposure to marketing and ad executives in the company I was working in made me realise that was the avenue I wanted to go down myself. Prior to starting at Peopleconnexion, I worked as a social media marketer and have just completed my Bachelors in Design and Marketing.

PX: What lessons have you learned, what is the real draw for you?

Biggest piece of advice I could give is that the experience you give as a consultant ? no matter what industry you’re working in ? is that providing an excellent piece of customer experience/service matters.

PX: With 2020 just around the corner, what do you think some of the biggest marketing trends in the next few years will be? How do these impact recruitment?

Well, we?re certainly living in a digital age now. Augmented and virtual reality seems to be one of the real trending things coming up, as well as real advancements in SEO and voice search ? your Siri and Alexa, that sort of thing.

For example, 40% of all Internet searches completed through tablets and smart phones are via voice now, so you really now have to ensure your content is optimised for voice search. That includes things like job ads.

With augmented and virtual reality, your communications can now become a lot more personable. Before you know it, you could be talking to a hologram of your Peopleconnexion consultant or experiencing a virtual reality office for your next interview ? who knows?

PX: When you’re not in the office, where can we find you?

At the beach with my dog, riding motorbikes and spending time with my friends.

PX: If you had to give candidates a piece of advice about how they communicate and market themselves, what would you say?

I?d say that you need to be aware of the fact that you have a personal brand, which is built from many things including your online presence, how you come across and how your CV is presented. It all contributes to your personal brand and allows you to stand out as a candidate.

PX Public Service Announcement: Marnie Mommers, Communications Consultant

As 2019 comes to a close, we are beginning to prepare for what we are sure will be another exciting and successful year for the Peopleconnexion team. Unfortunately, with a heavy heart, this week we are saying goodbye to Marnie Mommers. Marnie has been with the company for over three years and has been an integral part of everything that we do since she started with us as a graduate.

We sat down with Marnie this week to ask her some questions about her time at Peopleconnexion, and to get some insight into some of her favourite projects that she has gotten to work on.

PX: So, Marnie, you’ve been with Peopleconnexion for 3 years now, how would you sum up your experience?

It’s been one of a kind really, I came in as a fresh graduate, and I was still finishing of my degree in the first week that I started with the company. My time at Peopleconnexion has been incredibly rewarding; I’ve been mentored by the team, had the ability to launch and create campaigns and have seen the business double in size in the time I’ve been here. That really isn’t an experience you can obtain everywhere in the marketing and communications field, and I?m lucky to have been part of it.

PX: What has been your favourite campaign that you’ve worked on?

My favourite project would have to be our PNG Salary Survey. That was a first for the company and myself. We took that project from an initial idea that Kristine had, then I worked with the team to promote it before running with all of the market research and design elements. It was a lot of work at the time, but it was really rewarding to hear from other organisations on how helpful they found the report and how they hadn’t seen anything like it before. Our hard work really paid off!

PX: What’s it been like working between both the Australian and PNG markets?

Really exciting! And endlessly fascinating. I?m a person who loves to find information and research different markets ? I enjoy finding out as much as I can.

I never thought that I would know so much about mining, roads and rail as I do now in the Australian engineering market. And if you told me earlier on that I would have been writing articles that would be published in PNG’s national newspaper, I would have thought you were joking.

PX: What’s the best piece of advice you have taken from your time at Peopleconnexion?

Focus on relationships! When you focus on people and long-term relationships rather than short term wins, everything else falls into place.

(We wish you all the best!)

It is sad to see Marnie leave, but we are incredibly appreciative for all of her hard work and wish her all the best in her future endeavours. We know she will be great at anything she decides to put her mind to.