Cookson & Roberts…setting up a business during a pandemic

Cookson & Roberts is a new Australian recruitment firm whose origins will make for quite the conversation starter in the future - they set up with support from a company on the other side of the planet, in the midst of a pandemic.

Founded by two enterprising and experienced recruitment professionals, Natasha and Anna, whose previous employer was forced to let them go as lockdown began to bite, they decided to use their expertise and new-found free time to bring a new type of recruitment service to the consulting engineering sector.

Operating within a strand of the recruitment industry that is traditionally formal in approach and tone, Cookson & Roberts aim to inject colour, personality and energy into the sector whilst maintaining the highest levels of delivery.

As a new business, founded in the most hostile of times, they enlisted Konductor to help articulate their proposition and vision for the future.

Building bridges

Though it’s the engineers who build the actual bridges Australians use, it’s Natasha and Anna who build the bridges between engineer and engineering company. It was this that they needed to articulate.

On the role Konductor played in bringing Cookson & Roberts’ vision and proposition to life, Director Natasha said, “Setting up a new business was completely new for me and Anna, and we were aware there was so much we just didn’t know in terms of positioning ourselves and communicating the right message and image. Kate and Katharine were just incredible with the way they were able to outline to us what was really important whilst challenging us to think about the business in way we simply hadn’t.

“It was surreal to be speaking with people on the other side of the world, who despite not living in our country, let alone not working in our sector, were able to bring together so many disconnected elements of our general vision and present something that so brilliantly articulated what we are trying to achieve.”

Knowing our business, better

Following an intensive session with Konductor, where the business’ proposition, mission, and success criteria were firmly established, Natasha and Anna were able to approach the launch of Cookson & Roberts with an enhanced confidence, understanding and enthusiasm.

Explaining how, Anna said, “We were excited to be launching our business, but we were also anxious - we weren’t just going to be recruitment consultants anymore, we were going to be business owners. We were experienced with the former, not so much the latter. By the time we had finished our session with Kate and Katharine, that anxiety had evaporated.

“Everything we had wanted to say and aspire to, that we’d had so much difficulty with, was suddenly right there in front of us. We understood our business, how it was going to fit within the sector and what we needed to do to ensure success. Both of us were and still are so excited to get going now.”

Engineering a new future

The proposition, together with a rationale and a roadmap to success, Anna and Natasha have the belief, confidence, and tools to establish their business within the competitive consulting engineering sector.

From a loose dream, Cookson & Roberts emerged from the work with Konductor as a robust, organised, and compelling business proposition. With an unmoving focus on outstanding delivery for client and customer alike, Natasha and Anna have launched a business well-placed to disrupt a traditional sector with a model that values long-standing relationships, transparency, and plenty of positive energy.

If you keep abreast of the goings-on within the niche arena of Australian consulting engineering recruitment, they’re ones to watch.