Look no further, join
The Downing Network
Why The Downing Network?
After 50 years in the recruitment consultancy business, I thought long and hard about what the new venture should be. As a joint founder of Downing Teal, I am proud of the reputation the company built. We were always respected for our capability, integrity, professionalism and industry knowledge.
I worked for years in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne and specialised in the Construction & Mining industries. In my time in Sydney between 1983 and 1991, I met many Project Managers in the construction contracting industry. Several of those people became senior managers – some of them are now, or have been, Managing Directors, or Board members. I kept in touch with them and as they became more senior, the assignments we operated also became more senior. We now have completed many assignments to search for CEOs, EGMs, CFOs, etc. We know the Construction Contractor Industry better than any other recruitment consultancy.
Despite the seniority of the positions involved, we don’t adhere to the needlessly long durations of these assignments. With the best group of contacts in the industry, we can very efficiently produce longlists of potential candidates- we have a NETWORK assisted by research. We also don’t need hours and hours of briefings before an assignment. We understand where the client company fits in the industry. We have KNOWLEDGE!
No matter what the position, the client will have an excellent shortlist within six weeks of our briefing, fully interviewed and assessed. A measure of our success is that few shortlisted candidates do not get considered closely by the client.
Reference checking is done, using the NETWORK as an assistance. We have been a strong influence in assisting clients recover from poor financial positions to develop into respected and profitable organisations. They have also developed very strong cultures as a result of our selection processes.
Some people think, because we work with engineering related clients, that we don’t recruit for non-engineering roles. CFOs, Human Resources Managers, legal counsels, Commercial Managers, are all in our comfort zone. Our NETWORK is industry wide.
Climate Change is an issue for the Mining Industry and an opportunity for Construction contractors and engineers. Both Clients and innovative Engineers should join the NETWORK.
The Downing Network Pty Ltd is planned to be a small company, with senior consultants who will be appreciated by our Construction and Mining NETWORK.
The construction and mining industries have two major concerns currently – shortage of suitable candidates and the advantages and necessity of diversity. Come to The Downing Network for assistance in recruiting Project Managers and Engineers. In an ever-changing marketplace the NETWORK is very aware of the importance of an inclusive, diverse and equitable recruitment process.
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Meet the team
John Downing
Managing Director
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His clients and candidates would be horrified to learn that John is a qualified accountant! Fortunately, he got bored recording money and decided to make it by recruiting for engineering related businesses.
John has been a recruitment consultant since 1971 and progressively recruited more senior people as his network became more senior. An excellent example is Rio Tinto’s Koodaideri (now Gudai-Darri) iron ore mine. John’s first assignment, back in 1971, was to find a Drill Sampler for the exploration team. Then, in 2017, Rio retained Downing Teal to find the Project Director to build the project.
While his early background was mainly working for mining clients in Western Australia, John worked in Sydney from 1983 to 1991. The economy was slow in 1983, but John recognised that construction was going to lead the economy out of recession. He was fortunate to develop lasting relationships with Concrete Constructions and Baulderstone. The company quickly became recognised as having expertise in recruitment for construction contractors. In those days, seniority of positions was around project teams. However, many of the candidates with whom John dealt became senior managers and the seniority of our assignments grew as the contacts grew. John now recruits predominantly in the C-Suite.
Downing Teal was acquired by CGH Group in 2019. After several years as a senior consultant in Perth, John formulated a plan to develop The Downing Network and parted from CGH on an amicable basis. His mission now is to develop a small, but nationally targeted team, to assist Construction and Mining clients in these times of talent shortage.
61 (0) 417 631 653
jdowning@thedowningnetwork.com.au
Michael Freis
General Manager
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Michael specialises in Construction, Engineering and Property recruitment across 1st, 2nd & 3rd tier Construction, Engineering firms and Property Developers. His overall experience as Group Manager Talent/GM/National Operations/State Manager has seen his responsibilities include overall business operations, client development and management, recruitment and training of internal staff and financial control to meet P&L targets. Since 2000 Michael has developed and maintained an extensive network of construction, engineering and property professionals, these relationships are largely based on trust, integrity, specific industry knowledge and high level human resource management skills. He has extensive Internal & External Talent/Recruitment experience, responsible for developing and delivering the full suite of Talent & Recruitment services across large scale clients and projects within Construction and Engineering and managing our existing relationships with National engineering and construction clients.
Michael has built a portfolio of skills and experiences within Executive Search, Talent Acquisition, Recruitment and Resourcing over a number of years in key leadership roles. He has a high level of expertise throughout the full recruitment cycle that covers market mapping, industry research, advertising campaigns, direct approaches (search and executive search) interviews, offer process, counter offers and conversion of an offer through to acceptance and on boarding.
61 (0) 438 579 476
Mfreis@thedowningnetwork.com.au
