Today, the firm recruits in legal, digital and IT, e-discovery and alternative legal technology, and corporate services, with almost 30 staff recruiting nationally from their offices in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney.

After decades of experience, Michelle understands that she doesn’t have to push as hard as she once did. That being said, she tells Lawyers Weekly: “I love coming to work. I still love the industry. I still get the kick and the buzz out of recruitment 30 years later. We change people’s lives.”

It helps, she points out, that nearly half of her team have been with her for over 10 years – “they are the making of this business”. This includes the partners of empire group, Alison Crowther, Kim Kerrigan and Sherri Hodson, making the agency female-led and operated.

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“I wanted to create a business that, no matter what happened in your personal life as a woman, you’d be up that corporate ladder. You could do whatever you wanted to do. I wanted to make sure that my team felt supported, that they felt heard,” Michelle says.

It’s one reason that she and the empire group are so excited to be partnering with Lawyers Weekly for the upcoming Women in Law Awards.

The journey, however, has not been an easy one.

On top of navigating a global pandemic as a small-business owner, Michelle also had to contend with a cancer diagnosis.

“I’ve travelled a journey that’s been challenging,” she reflects. “It hasn’t been easy. What kept me going was my children. Everything I do in my life is for them.”

Personal and professional lessons

Prior to her health battles, Michelle, like many successful recruiters, was a self-professed workaholic who worked seven days a week with computers in multiple locations around her home.

However, once in remission, she engaged with an executive coach who helped restructure her life in a way that still allowed her to lead a successful business but also prioritised her personal life and time spent with her family.

“Before that, I had no time off work. I would never take a holiday. [What I learnt is that] health is everything in your life. If you don’t have your health, you have nothing. So, you’ve got to make that your priority,” she stresses.

Nowadays, if she isn’t feeling 100 per cent, then she recognises that changes are needed and that she is the only one who can implement such change.

An idea that she has not only instilled into her team but one that she details has seeped through to her children, who are now young adults.

“Their work ethic is exceptional. They’re hard-working kids, but they also know how to balance life and what is important. I think my greatest success has been raising my children as a single mum, and my second greatest success has been running this business,” she says.

“Initially, I thought I [had] to grow a business and be really big to be successful. That’s not my mantra anymore.”

Market reflections

With 2024 right around the corner, Michelle posits the recruitment landscape will look much the same as it did in 2023.

The market, she says, “will stay as it is”.

“I think it’ll be fairly stable. There’s still a lot of movement and also a lot of opportunities. We have a huge number of jobs on our books – it’s still a candidate-short market,” she details.

Candidates are being “very particular”, Michelle explains, about cultural fit.

“They want to know they’re going into an environment that is supportive and offers flexibility,” she notes.

One of the first things candidates want to know, she says, is what their direct report/manager is like, as opposed to broader insights about the business. That day-to-day superior is going to be one of the most significant people in their lives moving forward, Michelle says, and better understanding the support system (or lack thereof) for consequential career growth is essential.

Flexibility goes hand in hand with such accommodations for idiosyncratic needs. Clients that do not offer flexibility in the post-pandemic market, she continues, are “definitely missing out on good talent”.

Some clients remain “not negotiable” on the flexibility piece. She adds that the current reality is such that if legal professionals have the ability to work from home a day or two each week, can drop off and pick up their kids, and be online at a later time, “you’re going to get so much more out of your employee”.

To this end, she outlines, what a firm like empire group does well is get to know its clients so that it can provide candidates with a story and great detail.

“As a result, we don’t have a lot of turnover [with people we’ve placed].”

“We can really share knowledge of the firms to candidates and know that we’re wrapping our arms around them and genuinely caring for them,” she submits.

As her mentor once told her: “We are as important as a brain surgeon or a doctor in that we’re delivering their career, which is their income, their livelihood, their health – everything in their life pivots around that career”.

It’s a lesson she has never forgotten.

“[Our consultants are] very passionate about making long-term moves for candidates. That’s how we’re successful,” Michelle says.

Guidance to candidates

When asked what she would want individual professionals to take away from her journey, Michelle says the number one thing candidates need is a plan for their careers.

As someone who is objective-driven, she muses, her goals are written down every year on the first of January.

“Know what you want to do for the next 12 months and where that takes you, whether it’s personally or professionally,” she advises.

Wellbeing, she adds, must form part of that plan: “Work hard, but make sure there’s a balance.”

Having good mentors – as she has done – is also of the utmost importance, Michelle goes on.

“Such professionals do not have to be in the same industry as you (she has an accountant who advises her, for example). In fact, such varying perspectives can offer a huge amount and can help you wade the choppy waters of not securing a role you want and help you see it as part of your bigger picture – something which, again, comes back to the strength of the plans one sets for one’s self.”

Mentorship is something she loves doing herself these days, having introduced a mentoring program into empire group, ensuring everyone on her team has a mentor.

“I’m now in a position where I’m very comfortable, and I don’t want to [push myself too hard]. So, I’m enjoying giving back to my team and having some fun in the business.”

“We work hard, but I’m also focused on enjoying what we’re doing, what we’re building, and what we’ve built,” she concludes.