About James

I recruit sales talent for Australia's building products sector. That's it. No generalist dabbling, no "we cover everything from accounting to engineering." Just sales roles in building products, lighting, and A&D.

BDMs, Specification Managers, Account Managers, Sales Managers. Across building envelope, interiors, civil and infrastructure, and lighting. If it goes into a building or specifies what does, I've probably placed someone who sells it.

Routes to market I understand: architects, designers, engineers, builders, contractors, developers, end users, and distributors. The conversations I have aren't generic. They're specific to how your product gets specified, sold, and installed.

I started in hospitality, moved into recruitment, and landed in building products in 2017. Haven't left. The niche is deep enough that I know which companies are growing, which sales cultures actually work, and which roles are going to be a nightmare to fill before the client does.

250+ placements across Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. 4.95 on Sourcr. Repeat clients who come back because it's faster and less painful than doing it themselves.

If you're hiring: I'll give you a shortlist of people who actually fit, not a pile of CVs to sort through. If you're a candidate: I'll tell you whether the role is worth your time before you waste an afternoon on it.

Why I do this

I live just outside Melbourne with my wife and our three-year-old son. They're the why. Everything else is the how.

I built this site because I wanted somewhere I could actually help people, not just place them. I can't put everyone into a role. But if I can point you at the right company, tell you a role isn't worth your time, or share something useful about the market, that's still a win. I'd rather you remember me as useful than forget me as just another recruiter who didn't call back.

I love this job. I want to do it well, which means being honest with you whether or not it suits me commercially. There's no bad call in recruitment when you're honest about what's happening. I'd rather tell you a role isn't right, or that I can't help, than dress something up to win the fee.

And look, let's not muck around. I get paid to make placements. I want to make placements. I want to work with you, and then I want you to call me again when the next role opens up. That's the whole game.

I don't work alone

I run a one-person desk but I'm not a one-person operation. I sit inside a small specialist team at Specified Select Group. That means there's always someone mapping this market, sourcing candidates, and tracking who's about to move. The work doesn't stop when I'm on a call.

So when you brief me a role, you're not relying on one person's network. You're tapping into a specialist team that knows this market.

Everything on this site is written by me. The recruitment itself happens through Specified Select Group, where I place sales talent across building products, lighting and architectural and design.