Nationwide Recruiting and Nationwide Food Services
Henry Ksiazek runs one of Victoria’s major event staffing agencies in the hospitality industry – Nationwide Recruiting. It’s a far cry from his humble start in 2005 as a NEIS business with a couple of chefs on his books.
Henry had a long history in hospitality, being a chef by trade. When Henry found himself unemployed and at Centrelink for the first time his 23 years of working, he felt very down and took some time to consider his options. It was at Centrelink he saw the opportunity to be his own boss with the New Enterprise Incentive Scheme and since that time has never looked back.
Drawing on his extensive experience, Henry looked to open a recruitment business specialising in the hospitality industry. He applied to and was accepted into Kangan Batman’s TAFE program.
“NEIS gave a great overview of how to run a business – which I had no idea about,” said Henry. “The lecturers were fantastic…they gave you their time. If you had a problem they were there and the mentoring really helped.”
Henry further attributes great mentoring and the great staff from Kangan’s NEIS team for assisting him to get the right strategies for marketing the business and attracting good staff. These have obviously worked as now Henry has eight full time staff and 230 casual staff on his books.
Henry has also been flexible in his approach and has adapted the business over time. When it commenced, Nationwide Recruiting specialised in providing labour for major events – which amounted in total to around six weeks work per year that occurred in ‘dribs and drabs’. Looking for a constant and consistent work (and income), Henry started Nationwide Food Services, providing catering to various sites around Victoria. He still draws on the business basics that were taught as part of his NEIS training.
When asked if he would recommend the NEIS program to people thinking of starting a business, Henry is emphatic. “No doubt”, he says. “There’s no doubt.”