Episode 45 - Michael King, Why We Need to Drive R&D

Playing things safe will rarely get you to where you intend to go, especially if you are in the tech industry. Canadians tend to want to play it safe and squirrel away money when really in the long run that's not the safest plan. A tech company must continue to evolve and that means extensively investing in R&D.

Key Moments:

• How Michael went from being a diplomat in South Africa to technical recruitment in Canada

• What motivated Michael to leave a well-known staffing industry to a company relatively unknown in Canada

• Why Michael feels some tech companies are abandoning the Canadian market

• How driving R&D will help keep tech companies who are operating in Canada

• Some of the things Michael things we can do to retain skilled tech workers in Canada

• Why Michael feels that recruitment is a linchpin in any economy

• Why being transactional with clients will only hurt you in the long run

• Where Michael's optimism for the future of Canada's economy comes from

Favorite Quote:

"We are responsible for people's lives. We are responsible for families, and we need to take that very seriously."

• Michael King

Connect with Michael:

Michael started his career as a diplomat for the democratically elected government of South Africa, responsible for engagement and negotiations with multilateral agencies such as the United Nations, World Bank, and IMF. In this role Michael had the good fortune of briefly working with former president Nelson Mandela during South Africa's return to the General Assembly. He then advanced to manage donor funding for NORAD and the establishment of a Venture Capital fund to advance collaboration between Norwegian and Sub-Saharan businesses in Africa. Michael's subsequent executive roles were in Asset Management, building asset management businesses from the ground up in Africa and the Middle East.

Upon immigrating to Canada, Michael was responsible for advancing institutional sales for RBC Global Asset Management in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and Scandinavia. His technical experience includes building and managing new Data Analytics business in North America and providing data analytics solutions for companies globally. More recently Michael has over seven years of experience in the recruitment industry, having advanced enterprise sales for global recruitment companies. More recently Michael was appointed as the Vice President of Sales for Spruce Infotech in Canada, a dynamic privately owned company headquartered in the United States providing technical recruitment and managed services. Michael holds a B.A Hons. degree in International Relations and has also completed various courses including Managing Cross Cultural organizations at the University of Berkley, California.

Connect with Suky:

I'm Suky an adrenaline junkie who celebrates every single win. I believe we must celebrate and collect all our wins along the way as it fuels forward momentum to ensure we exceed our goals. When we fuel forward momentum, complacency simply can not settle in.

With over 25 years of experience working in the staffing industry, 16 of those working with global recruitment companies, I bring the knowledge and experience of working in 18 countries and successfully navigating through numerous "recession" cycles.

Companies often get so focused on the bottom line that they forget that we are in the "people business". For me, the magic happens when my clients recognize the best way to create a truly sustainable high-performance sales culture is to align both.

LinkedIn

Canadian Staffing Industry Summit

www.eliteglobalrecruiters.com

www.professionalselection.com