EVENTS
Pete Watson says the October event at Port Melbourne’s Timberyard will combine BD and LinkedIn training with comedy and music, with profits going to child hunger charity Eat Up Australia.
Pete Watson, founder of recruitment community group Recruitment United and Melbourne rec-to-rec firm Mint Recruitment, says he is launching Recruitment United Live, a one-day industry event billed as a departure from conventional corporate conferences, on Thursday 29 October at The Timberyard in Port Melbourne.
What Watson says
Writing on LinkedIn, Watson described the event as “the antithesis of every corporate event you’ve ever been to,” combining sessions on business development, LinkedIn outreach, AI tools including Claude, personal branding and leadership with comedy, competitions, music and food. He said the event runs from 9am to 4pm, is open to recruiters regardless of Recruitment United membership, and is capped at 200 tickets on a first-come basis. Watson said the event will not be free, but that ticket revenue and profits will go to Eat Up Australia, a charity providing free lunches to disadvantaged school students.
Australian angle
Recruitment United, which Watson founded, describes itself as a membership community for independent recruitment agency leaders, offering learning and development sessions and negotiated supplier discounts; the organisation reported a 92 per cent member retention rate in its first full year, according to its own materials. Eat Up Australia is an ACNC-registered charity that says it delivers more than 40,000 free school lunches a week across Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia. Recruitment United Live adds to a small but growing calendar of recruitment industry social and networking events in Melbourne outside the major conference circuit.
Sources
Pete Watson, LinkedIn post announcing event: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/petewatsonmintrecruitment_like-nothing-the-recruitment-industry-has-share-7485457101188792320-JSjC/
Recruitment United: https://recruitmentunited.com.au/
Eat Up Australia, ACNC charity register: https://www.acnc.gov.au/charity/charities/3213c67f-3aaf-e811-a95e-000d3ad24c60
