Maniac Mining

The desire to become self-employed and remedy an apparent industry deficiency outweighed the fact that Ashley Smith and Tanya Read had no experience in the recruitment industry when they started Maniac Mining. The duo say they were faced with two main challenges when starting up – creating the various processes and systems needed for the business from scratch and also funding the venture from savings and family and friends. On the upside, Smith says these hurdles “presented opportunities for us to develop the business model quickly and implement rapid change to take advantage of opportunities”.

“Do it your own way and be a leader not a follower – many times we questioned if what we were doing and how we were doing it would be successful, but by staying true to our original ideas and goals our perseverance has resulted in the success we are experiencing today,” Smith says.

“Share the workload where you can and don’t think that you can do everything – establish realistic timeframes for achieving tasks and regularly monitor your progress towards achieving them.”

Maniac Mining has two main components – permanent recruitment and temporary labour hire, focusing on WA’s resources industry.

The company offers a replacement/regarding guarantee of between three to six months for all candidates, while temporary staff are taken on as if Maniac Mining was the employer, with the business paying all wages and entitlements. The client is then charged an hourly rate for the labour.

Smith says: “Generally, once a candidate has worked for three months on labour hire, we offer for them to transfer to the direct employment of the client at no additional charge. This eventuates for approximately 80% of all labour hire positions.”

This approach has paid off in spades, if you pardon the pun. Revenue has accelerated to nearly $3 million in under three years.