Maxwell Forbes

Prior Experience
Growing up across the Middle East, Africa, and the Far East, and educated in the UK, I am currently enjoying my third (and final!) stint in New Zealand with my family. New Zealand is very much home and in particualr the South Island where I have the great fortune of being based in Wanaka; this allows us at RWA to further our commitment to all of New Zealand and in this role, I spend 1-2 weeks a month traveling across our main cities and towns in the mainland spending time with clients.

I am a career agency side recruiter and one that’s loved it!

Starting my career in Executive Search in London focussed on Corporate & Financial Communications, I made the move to New Zealand in 2008 to be part of the team launching the NZ office of one of the largest UK listed recruitment businesses. In this role I managed the Sales & Marketing function and we quickly grew to be one of the largest and key players in this space, focussing on mid to senior level placements across permanent and contracting.

Seeking another overseas challenge, I moved to Shanghai (briefly) before moving to Hong Kong where I spent 5 years. The first part of this was as a Director in the Executive Search practice of Asias leading recruitment business where I partnered with MNC clients helping them hire across all C-suite functions into Asia. The second half of my time was with a major US recruitment business that went through an MBO and a significant turnaround challenge, completely overhauling the business and operations and rebuilding teams across our Sales, Marketing, Technology, HR, Supply Chain Operations, and Executive Search practices.

By 2018 we had a young family and decided to return to NZ. Upon returning I headed AsiaPac for a UK-based Corporate Governance Consulting business, a brief stint in Technology focussed sales, and now my dream role with RWA Technology South Island.

Role at RWA
At RWA I am responsible for continuing to grow our South Island business. RWA is one of the leading technology recruitment businesses in the North Island, with access to a substantial pool of technology candidates across permanent and contracting, and uniquely we can offer South Island employers access to these professionals, as well as candidates on the ground here already.
Given my experience in managing Governance and Search campaigns across all functions, I will also manage critical Search processes for clients across the full C Suite.

About me
Living in Wanaka allows me to do all the fun things in life – river and lake swimming, skiing, fishing, hunting, biking, hiking, and so on and on; it’s truly endless! I am particularly passionate about Rugby and Cricket and am involved in that community as well, often seen shouting at and chasing children on the weekend as part of my coaching role at the youth level.