December 11, 2019
From the moment Craig Coady met Nick Misener, he immediately identified his potential as a recruiter – even if it was long before Nick identified it within himself.
“As soon as I met Nick, I saw that he could become a good recruiter, but unfortunately, he came to us still wanting to do human resource work. But, I liked the cut of his jib and what he was all about, so we decided to stay in touch,” Craig said.
Craig is a co-partner at Venor, a talent recruitment firm in Halifax.
Venor was founded in February 2012. They work with entrepreneurs and businesses in Halifax, Atlantic Canada, and across the country, to help fill talent gaps with qualified and professional candidates. Venor leverages their business relationships to pinpoint exactly what their clients are seeking, and then dives into their candidate pool to find a fit that is perfect for both parties.
Though Craig could already see Venor Recruiter Nick’s skillset and talents clearly, it took Nick himself many years to figure it out.
Nick graduated from Saint Mary’s University with a Bachelor of Arts with the aspirations of becoming a school teacher, and even travelled to Korea to teach English to locals. This all changed when he arrived back in Halifax, as the jobs available for teachers were limited, so Nick changed careers in order to stay home. Nick began to pursue a career in human resources, which he came to really enjoy.
After working at a couple of companies, Nick was hired on at a tech start up in Halifax, where he was able to gain his first exposure to the city’s growing tech sector.
“It was so dramatically different from when I left, but in the best way possible – there were so many fast growing and maturing start ups that were already doing business on a global scale. I knew that it was vibrant before, but now it was evolving into something bigger than I ever could’ve expected,” Nick said.
Not only did he quickly get exposed to the tech sector, but to recruiting as well. At the tech-based company he was working at, he helped the company grow from 15 employees to 45. This was the moment that Nick realized he knew what he wanted to do with his career – be a recruiter.
Once Nick realized his passion, he began working at a recruiting firm in Halifax, but it wasn’t with Venor. As they worked in the same industry and kept in touch over the years, Nick and Craig would constantly see each other at events and meetups, and chat. Craig was still pursuing Nick, and would often talk to him about the work that Venor was currently doing, and how he would fit in with their team and their company as a whole.
The two found that they had a lot of shared values about the industry, and were both highly passionate about the tech and start-up ecosystem growing rapidly around them in Halifax. Before they knew it, the dynamic duo were working together at Venor!
Today, Nick has been with Venor for about a year, and is a senior consultant. He handles the majority of the tech recruiting for their tech-based clients, while also providing their clients with research, branding expertise, and talent consulting to ensure that all clients find the perfect match for their needs. With Nick taking care of this, it allows Craig to lead the day-to-day operations at Venor, as well as strategizing for the future.
Currently, Venor has an office in Halifax, Dartmouth, and Moncton, but wants to expand to outside of Atlantic Canada. They have worked with clients outside of these regions in the past, and know that’s where they’ll have to look to in order to grow.
“If we want to grow, which we very much do, then we have to start looking at other avenues and opportunities outside of Atlantic Canada, and maybe even outside of Canada as a whole,” Craig said.
Even though Venor is not exclusively a tech-based recruiting firm, as they work with companies all of industries, they have worked closely with tech companies throughout the province over the years. Due to this, Craig has gained a lot of knowledge about the sector, and said right now is the best he’s ever seen it.
“Halifax’s tech sector just keeps getting hotter and hotter. There are plenty of brilliant young minds that keep coming up with cool, innovative ideas, as well as a lot of seasoned vets still in the industry who are still around working on a lot of amazing stuff,” Craig said.
Now that he has been working alongside tech-based companies for a number of years now, Nick finds the sector is gaining more, and more, momentum every day, which is making things more competitive between the companies working within it.
“Competition for talent is only growing here in Halifax – employers across the board are having to step up their recruiting game in terms of what salary, benefits, work-life balance, and whatever else they can offer candidates to get them to work for their company,” Nick said.
Interested in learning more about Craig, Nick, and Venor? Visit them online!