Former Y&R Group talent acquisition manager Craig Letham launches new creative + digital recruitment agency Luminiso in Sydney

Former national talent acquisition manager for Y&R Group Australia, Craig Letham, has launched Luminoso, a new recruitment agency in Sydney focused on the creative and digital agency markets. A former agency suit, Letham moved into recruitment five years ago and held the role at Y&R Group for the past year after a stint at M&C Saatchi.

Dubbed ‘Luminoso’ to evoke the idea of connecting the brightest talent through transparency in the recruitment process, the new agency has got off to a fast start with digital briefs for several creative agency roles in Sydney and Brisbane.

“One of the things I found while sourcing for talent in my previous roles was that the experience most candidates have when job hunting in the agency space is pretty crap. A big part of my motivation to launch Luminoso is to help both agencies and candidates navigate the hiring process which can throw up so many curveballs and too often leads to missed opportunities on both sides.”

Letham describes a lack of communication, limited interviewing skills on the part of the hiring manager and lack of urgency in the early stages of the recruitment process as the biggest downfalls: “While a lot of client-side teams have woken up to the importance of their employer brand and have evolved their talent acquisition processes with a focus on attracting and engaging high calibre candidates rather than just managing applicants, many agencies are just going through the motions the way they always used to do it.”

Letham says that of the more than 150 hires made at Y&R during the past year, two examples in particular stand out: “In both cases, the individuals we were talking to were on second or third round interviews for other fairly senior roles but luckily for us, they had no idea when or even if they would receive an offer from the other agencies. We were able to capitalise on the communications failure in the other recruitment processes, and by moving quickly and decisively we were able to complete the interview process and due diligence, securing two exceptional hires who have made a significant impact in their respective new roles.”

“The plan now is to help others lift the bar in terms of new talent.”