Last updated: July 2026
Australian building products is a small industry. The people who make it, specify it, distribute it and sell it tend to know each other, and they have long memories. So a good search here is quiet and deliberate. A well run confidential search has five parts. A clear reason and honest timing. A short prioritised list of companies. Written agreement with any recruiter before your name goes anywhere. One place where you track every conversation. And a clean finish with every person you speak to. Do those five things and you can move without damaging a single relationship.
This guide is for employed salespeople in building products, lighting and A&D who want to test the market without word getting back to their current employer. A&D means the architectural and design community, the architects and interior designers who choose which products get specified.
Are you actually ready to move?
Before you speak to anyone, be honest with yourself about why you are leaving and what would fix it. A pay rise rarely fixes a bad manager, a shrinking area, a dead product line or blocked progression. If one of those is the real reason, no new number will hold you, and you are better off knowing that now than three months into a search. Sort out whether you want a different job or a better version of this one before you put yourself in front of the market. I have written a fuller readiness check for candidates weighing this up. Work through Ready to Move first.
What should your own brief for the move contain?
Write the brief for your own move before you write to anyone. Put down the role you want, your must-haves, your deal-breakers, the route to market you know best, the locations and travel you will accept, and your notice period. Note your bonus dates, because leaving a week before a bonus pays is an expensive accident. If you are under a restraint or a non-compete, get proper advice on what it actually stops you doing. This one page keeps you consistent, so every recruiter and every hiring manager hears the same story from you.
On timing, the Australian building products market slows over Christmas and picks up from February. Worthwhile roles still appear all year. If you want the widest set of options in front of you, the busier first half of the year gives you more to choose from. If you are holding out for one right role, stay open year round and wait for it.
How do you build and tier a target list?
Do not approach every relevant company at once. A specialist market has a limited number of good seats, and if you knock on every door in the same month and nobody is hiring, you have spent your natural timing with all of them at once. Sort your list into three tiers.
- Pursue now. The companies you would genuinely be excited to join. Start here.
- Monitor. Worth watching for the right role or the right manager, but not worth a cold approach today.
- Do not approach. Off limits for now, usually your current employer's closest partners, or anywhere a move would create a problem.
An early approach does not lock you out of a company forever. It just uses up the freshness of a first conversation, so use it where it counts.
How do you keep the search confidential?
Keep the search confidential, but do not confuse confidential with secret. Confidential means your current employer does not find out before you are ready. It does not mean hiding your timing or your other conversations from a recruiter who is working for you. A process still needs honest disclosure to the people running it.
Do not post that you are open to work while you are still employed and have not spoken to your boss. It is not subtle, and a colleague or a manager can see it. Senior moves rarely start with a public signal anyway. I recently had four general managers and sales managers quietly open to the right move, and not one of them was actively applying. If you want the mechanics of using LinkedIn without tipping off your employer, LinkedIn for job seekers covers it.
If you work with a recruiter, set the rules before they send your name anywhere. Tell them which companies are off limits. Tell them if you have already applied somewhere directly, so two people do not put you forward for the same role. Agree that your name and CV go nowhere without your say-so on each company. A good recruiter works this way already. Working with a recruiter explains how the relationship should run.
How do you sequence recruiters, referrals and direct applications?
You will often use three routes into the market at once. A recruiter introducing you, a referral from someone you know, and your own direct applications. Keep them straight so nobody is confused about who introduced you where. A recruiter does not own you. If you hear about the right role through your own network, go for it. What matters is that everyone is honest about who made the introduction. I once had a candidate apologise for applying directly to a manufacturer I had approached for him. There was nothing to apologise for. He was upfront, we sorted out the route in a two-minute conversation, and no relationship took a scratch.
How many processes can you run at once?
Three to four live processes at most. That is my honest ceiling for candidates. More than that and the diaries, the prep and the mixed messages become stressful, and you start making rushed decisions just to relieve the pressure. Keep your options open while you look, and be straight about where you are with each one. You do not need to name the other employers. Telling a hiring manager you are a fortnight from a decision elsewhere is not a threat. It helps everyone manage the pace and set the right expectations.
How should you weigh a counter-offer?
Expect a counter-offer if you are good at your job, but do not treat one as an automatic yes or no. Take it back to the reasons you started looking. If the problem was money and the money is genuinely fixed, that is a real conversation. If the problem was your manager, a shrinking area, a product direction you do not believe in, or blocked progression, a bigger number does not touch any of it. Ask yourself one question. What would actually make you stay, and is this offer that, or just a pay rise stapled over the same problem. A counter-offer that only fixes the money tends to leave the original reason sitting there, waiting.
How do you withdraw, resign and hand over cleanly?
However a process ends, end it cleanly. If you are pulling out, say so early and honestly rather than going quiet. Candidates change their minds for all sorts of good reasons. You might do your own quiet check on a business and learn something that changes the picture, or decide you are happier where you are than you thought. In my experience clients understand that people make the best decision for themselves, as long as you are prompt and honest about it. Do not shop one offer against another to squeeze a number. When you accept, close the other processes yourself with a short, respectful message. Resign properly, hand over well, and hold the professional line right to your last day. On the public side, wait until you have started before you announce the new role. Announcing a new sales role on LinkedIn covers the timing.
Why does your reputation matter more than your reference list?
In building products your real reference check happens long before anyone calls a formal referee. Informal enquiries are common. Someone knows someone who worked with you or managed you, and a quiet question gets asked. You cannot control all of that, so control what you can. Your daily conduct over years is the reference that matters, not the three names you hand over at the end. That is not a reason to be paranoid. It is a reason to run every search in a way you would be happy to have described back to you.
A note on how I work with employed candidates. I try to be as open and transparent as I can, and there is very little I would categorically keep from you. I will not send your name or CV to a company you have not agreed to, and I will tell you honestly where a process really sits. You can see how I support candidates through a move on the candidate hub.
If you are weighing a move and you want it kept quiet and controlled, start with the readiness check, then have a confidential conversation with me. I recruit sales talent across Australian building products, lighting and A&D, and nothing you tell me goes anywhere without your say-so.
James