Events 720 and Atherstone Exchange

When Events 720 owners Leon and Chloe Mortimer needed staff to service their successful pivot from expos and events to children’s toys and street furniture, they turned to the Atherstone Exchange to help them.

The Atherstone Exchange is a coalition of local jobseekers and training providers who source, train and screen likely candidates for employers.

“Leon and I knew of the Atherstone Exchange from our Western BACE days but until now did recruitment ourselves. However with so many changes to make in a short time to reposition the business, and cash-flow tight, we decided to outsource it and give their free recruitment service a go”, Chloe said.

Chloe called Wendy at the Exchange, and after a conversation to learn about the roles being offered and the attributes of the candidates they were after, Wendy formalised a checklist, pre-screened the jobseekers for suitability and sent her five candidates within days.

“We are now in the process of offering jobs to two new staff, one from Melton and another from a little further north. It was a lot smoother than when we did it ourselves and Wendy and the Exchange will be there to provide both us and our new employees support if required”.

If business continues to grow post COVID-19, there’s every chance they will need the Atherstone Exchange to recruit in the future.

Their manufacturing and wholesaling of unique wooden toys is booming, with orders from over thirty retailers to fill in the lead-up to Christmas.

At the same time they are in full production supplying durable modular street furniture to meet the demand for their outdoor dining kits as Victoria’s restaurants and café’s scramble to reconfigure their dining spaces to maximise patronage in line with COVID-19 restrictions.

2020’s been a wild ride for Events 720

At the start of the year their market was 100% Events and Expos with healthy forward orders before it vanished in March. As they near 2021, Events and Expos are still in single digits, but they found another way, another market, another path to survive then thrive.

We wish Leon, Chloe and the Events 720 team every success.

For information on how The Atherstone Exchange can assist your recruitment and training needs contact manager Wendy Kernan on exchange@youthprojects.org.au