Greg Savage
Greg started his career in Executive Search in Australia before he went on to manage the London office of the United Kingdom’s largest accounting recruiter for two years. Then, in the early 80s, he returned to Australia to run the Sydney office of Accountancy Placements (now the Hays Group), where he was invited to join the Board of Directors at age 27.
With two others, Greg founded Recruitment Solutions in 1987. He rapidly built the start-up across Australia and New Zealand, culminating in its successful listing on the Australian Stock Exchange, with Greg as Executive Director and COO.
In April 2001, Greg joined Aquent and, as International CEO, assumed responsibility for all Aquent businesses outside of North America, comprising 25 offices in 17 countries across Europe, Asia, and ANZ.
In 2010 Greg acquired Aquent’s Permanent and Search business in a management buy-out and founded Firebrand Talent Search. He quickly created a global brand for this specialist Digital and Marketing recruiter and successfully sold the company, in 7 countries, in January 2013.
In recognition of his contribution to the Australian recruitment industry, Greg was named Honorary Life Member of the Recruitment and Consulting Services Association (RCSA) in 2004.
In 2011 he was awarded a special commendation by the RCSA for ‘Outstanding Contribution to the Recruitment Industry.’ In addition, he was named the most influential Australian businessperson on Twitter in 2016 and the most influential recruiter in Australia in the past 60 years in 2015.
In 2018 Greg was inducted into the Recruiter International Hall of Fame.
In November 2018, he was named one of LinkedIn’s ‘Top Voices’.
An early adopter of social media for recruiting, Greg’s industry blog – The Savage Truth – attracts over one million visitors annually and is a must-read for the recruitment industry.
Greg’s first book, ‘The Savage Truth’, was instantly successful, selling over 10,000 copies. As a result, the book was made mandatory reading for the first Recruitment degree in the world at the National College of Ireland, which now offers a BA (Honours) in Recruitment Practice.
In 2021 Greg founded the Savage Recruitment Academy, a niche Learning Management System for the recruitment industry, which has seen outstanding success and growth, with thousands of subscribers worldwide
Greg now acts as a Non-Executive Director and Advisor for 16 recruitment and HR Tech companies in Australia, the United Kingdom, Singapore, and New Zealand.
Greg still takes an active interest in founding and growing recruitment businesses, investing in recruitment start-ups in Australia and the UK.