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A real estate recruitment specialist will be moving into the newly created role of head of people and culture at Laing+Simmons – completing a full-circle career move for the executive.
Jacqui Barnes has officially joined the executive team at Laing+Simmons, bringing with her two decades of real estate and recruitment experience.
Speaking of what her new role will entail, Ms Barnes said her focus is to “nurture talent into the brand, support people in formulating career path objectives in collaboration with our principals, embed accountability standards to see those objectives achieved, and ultimately ensure that through our culture, the best people remain part of the Laing+Simmons family long-term”.
This means that while she will be tasked with traditional human resources functions, Ms Barnes is also set to adopt a leadership role within the business.
It’s not the recruitment specialist’s first experience at the boutique brand. Originally a scholarship recipient of the Laing+Simmons scholarship program, she had completed a week’s work experience with the network back in 1999.
Looking back on that experience, Ms Barnes said it was “a valuable learning curve”.
“I still remember my experience in 1999. I was fortunate to be one of the finalists at the time but when it came to the final interview, I completely bombed!
“It was before the days of GPS on mobile phones and I had only been driving a short time so wasn’t familiar with the area. I arrived considerably late and completely flustered,” she recalled.
“Thankfully, it didn’t stop me carving out a fulfilling career in real estate,” Ms Barnes continued.
Part of the head of people and culture role will see Ms Barnes “re-energising” the scholarship program after COVID-19 forced a hiatus of the scheme.
“I am very much looking forward to relaunching the program in 2022 and encouraging the next wave of real estate employees into the industry,” she said.
Laing+Simmons chief executive Leanne Pilkington has been the first to welcome Ms Barnes back into the family – describing her return as “a real full circle moment”.
“Having previously been part of our scholarship program, which sets talented young people on the path to a successful real estate career, she now returns as a proven leader to give back to our brand,” she said.
The CEO highlighted that “Jacqui’s vast real estate-specific skills and her understanding of the human resource needs of individual real estate businesses make her the perfect candidate for this unique role in an industry context”.
Picking up on Laing+Simmons’ intention to leverage Ms Barnes’ people and business skills, and also to empower her to work with people within the network, Ms Pilkington also explained the introduction of a head of people and culture at the brand “is another example of our commitment to do things differently through our focus on our people – making them happier and more fulfilled to empower them to reach their personal and professional goals, so we can all grow together”.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Grace Ormsby
Grace is a journalist across Momentum property and investment brands. Grace joined Momentum Media in 2018, bringing with her a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Communication (Journalism) from the University of Newcastle. She’s passionate about delivering easy to digest information and content relevant to her key audiences and stakeholders.
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