Why We Started Vivid Recruitment: Keeping Recruitment Simple
About the Authors
Nick Koop
Director
(Building Services Engineering)
Nick specialises in building services recruitment across Australia, with a focus on mechanical, electrical, and fire engineering. He works closely with consultancies delivering major healthcare, infrastructure, and commercial projects, and has a strong track record placing senior engineers into technically demanding roles. Known for being straight-up and reliable, Nick spends most of his time in the detail, not the sales pitch.
Lee Stevens
Director
(Architecture & Design)
Lee is one of the founders of Vivid Recruitment and focuses on architecture and design studios across Australia. With years of experience working closely with directors and senior hires, he’s built long-term relationships based on trust and consistency. Lee’s approach is simple: understand what a business actually needs, cut out the noise, and get the right people in place without the usual recruitment carry-on.
Contact Nick and Lee
Nicholas Koop, Principal Recruitment Consultant, Engineering & Planning -
📧 nick@vividrecruitment.com.au
Lee Stevens, Principal Recruitment Consultant, Architecture & Design -
You can also connect with Lee on LinkedIn and Nick on LinkedIn or follow the Vivid Recruitment LinkedIn page for more industry insights, news, jobs and general chit chat and tips!
Quick Summary
Vivid Recruitment was built on a simple idea: recruitment doesn't need to be complicated. After years working across Architecture, Engineering, Planning and Design, we saw too many candidates treated like numbers and too many clients receiving CVs instead of genuine advice. So we built a specialist recruitment business focused on honest conversations, long-term relationships and understanding the industries we recruit in.
Why We Started Vivid Recruitment: Keeping Recruitment Simple
A few years ago, we found ourselves having the same conversation we'd had dozens of times before.
Not with a client.
Not with a candidate.
With each other.
Talking about recruitment.
More specifically, talking about all the things that frustrated us about it.
The architect being approached about a role that had absolutely nothing to do with their experience.
The engineering manager receiving twenty CVs and still not having a suitable candidate.
The feeling that specialist industries were increasingly being recruited by people who didn't really understand them.
The more we talked about it, the more we came back to the same conclusion.
Recruitment had become far more complicated than it needed to be.
Too much noise.
Too much jargon.
Too many people trying to sound impressive instead of being useful.
That conversation became Vivid.
Not because we thought we'd discovered some revolutionary way to recruit.
Quite the opposite.
We thought recruitment needed less.
Less fluff.
Less salesmanship.
Less nonsense.
Just honest advice, strong relationships and a genuine understanding of the industries we work in.
That was the idea then.
It's still the idea now.
The Industry We Saw
Between us, we've spent more than 27 years recruiting across Architecture, Engineering, Planning and Design.
That's thousands of conversations.
Thousands of interviews.
Thousands of discussions about careers, projects, hiring challenges and market conditions.
And after all that time, one thing became pretty obvious.
Specialist recruitment only works when it's genuinely specialist.
Sounds obvious, right?
You'd be surprised.
We've lost count of the number of times we've spoken to candidates who felt like they were being treated as keywords on a CV rather than actual people.
Architects being contacted about roles that didn't match their experience.
Engineers receiving opportunities outside their discipline.
Planning professionals spending half the conversation explaining what planning actually involves.
Clients weren't always having a great experience either.
One hiring manager told us they'd received so many CVs from another agency that they stopped reading them altogether.
Not because they didn't need staff.
Because none of the candidates were remotely relevant.
That's not recruitment.
That's just creating more work for everyone involved.
The reality is that architecture recruitment, engineering recruitment, planning recruitment and interior design recruitment all require genuine market knowledge.
Not surface-level knowledge.
Real understanding.
The kind that comes from spending years speaking to the people who work in those industries every day.
Why We Started Vivid
Vivid started with a pretty simple belief.
Specialist recruitment should actually be specialist.
We wanted to build a business where candidates could have honest conversations about their careers without feeling like they were being sold to.
Where clients could get genuine advice, even if it wasn't always what they wanted to hear.
And where relationships mattered more than hitting a monthly target.
One of the things we've learned over the years is that recruitment is actually quite a small world.
People remember who gave them good advice.
They also remember who didn't.
That's why we've never been particularly interested in quick wins.
We've advised candidates not to take jobs.
We've encouraged people to stay where they are.
We've told clients when their salary expectations don't match reality.
Not because it's the easiest conversation to have.
Because it's usually the right one.
The funny thing is that when you're honest with people, they tend to stick around.
That's how a lot of our best relationships have started.
Not from a placement.
From a conversation.
Building Vivid Our Way
One thing we're particularly proud of is how we've grown.
Not quickly.
Not aggressively.
Just steadily.
As the business has evolved, we've brought good people into the team when we've needed them.
We've been fortunate to build a support network around the business that includes part-time specialists across marketing and operations, administration and finance.
Some are parents balancing work around school pickups, family commitments and everything else life throws at you.
Others work quietly behind the scenes keeping the wheels turning.
All of them have helped shape Vivid into what it is today.
There's a lot of talk in business about scaling.
We've never been especially interested in growth for growth's sake.
We're more interested in building something sustainable.
A business that does good work.
A business people enjoy working with.
A business that's still here in ten years because it was built on solid foundations rather than hype.
The Part That Keeps Us Going
Let's be honest.
Recruitment can be frustrating.
Candidates accept counteroffers.
Projects get delayed.
Hiring freezes appear out of nowhere.
Months of work can disappear overnight.
That's part of the job.
Anyone who tells you recruitment is easy probably hasn't been doing it very long.
But there are also moments that remind you why the work matters.
Helping a graduate secure their first role.
Seeing someone you've worked with for years become a Director.
Watching a candidate build a team of their own.
Driving past a project and knowing someone you've placed helped make it happen.
Those moments never get old.
And because we recruit across Architecture, Engineering, Planning and Design, you get to see the impact of those careers everywhere.
The buildings people work in.
The communities people live in.
The infrastructure people rely on every day.
The projects are tangible.
The careers are real.
That's something we've never lost appreciation for.
Looking Ahead
The market will keep changing.
That's a given.
Hiring demand will rise and fall.
Technology will continue to evolve.
Candidate expectations will shift.
The industries we recruit in will keep changing too.
What won't change are the principles we've built Vivid around.
Know your market.
Be honest.
Work hard.
Do what you say you're going to do.
Treat people properly.
They're not revolutionary ideas.
But they've served us pretty well so far.
Final Thoughts
When we started Vivid Recruitment, we weren't trying to build the biggest recruitment agency in Australia.
We wanted to build a business we'd be proud of.
One that genuinely understands Architecture, Engineering, Planning and Design.
One that gives straightforward advice.
One that values relationships over transactions.
One that keeps recruitment simple.
Years later, that's still the plan.
