Kerosene for Metspacer Spotlight

MetSpacer Spotlight sat down with Anthony Petrone and Alain Blanchette to talk about their accounting and finance recruiting firm Kerosene West Island. Kerosene established itself twelve years ago in the province of Quebec. The company itself creates an honest and fulfilling experience for both their clients and their candidates. “We pride ourself in our slogan ‘Kerosene recrutement responsable’. That’s what we stand by. Whenever we place a candidate, we are confident in that placement we make. We won’t go and try to push candidates to our clients, in which we feel won’t fit the client’s culture and technical needs. We are built on honesty” said Blanchette. “We partnered with Kerosene in March of 2020. I started my career in the recruitment world 9 years ago with a multinational company, it was a great opportunity to learn a lot about the business, but I thought it was lacking a more personal approach to doing things. Alain and I decided to partner with the Kerosene Group and open a West Island branch to build a stronger relationship with our contacts and clients. What differentiates us from big corporate competitors is that we like to support local initiatives and become winning partners with our candidates and clients. Having been surrounded by entrepreneur parents since my young age, that drive has always been in me to build my own successful business” reflected Petrone. Both Anthony and Alain have spent years in the finance world. “I spent 26 years of my career in accounting and finance” said Blanchette. “I started in a CPA firm for 3 years and then I got recruited by a client. I worked my way up from Controller to CFO of that company. With the accounting skills and knowledge, I have acquired throughout the years it helps me figure out what the client needs and what the candidates can offer that employer”. When we asked Alain why he made the switch he simply stated “I didn’t have a passion for my job when I was in accounting and finance. I made the switch because I’m more of a people person, day to day accounting isn’t in my DNA.” With their combined knowledge these two have adopted skills and techniques to help make Kerosene stand out from the rest. “Resilience is a vital skill you need to adopt when you come into the recruiting world” Petrone chimed. When we asked the team about what drives them Blanchette stated “We’re always focusing on what’s coming, we won’t pay too much attention on the past. Of course, we’ll celebrate when something good happens but if something negative happens we don’t dwell on it. We learn from it and move on”. When it comes to its future there will always be a need for recruitment firms. “The recruitment industry is a billion-dollar industry. If we focus on just Quebec alone, hundreds of million dollars were invested into talent acquisition. I think it’s only going to get better and more competitive. There will always be that need for talent. Sometimes we have a lot of leeway when it comes to searching for a candidate and other times the need is urgent and the client needs us to present candidates the same day. We can have a client come to us and say we have 6 months to find someone and another needing a candidate yesterday” Petrone stated. “I see the business really expanding in the artificial intelligence world” interjected Blanchette. “I believe the recruiting world will become more automated. One good aspect of that is that there won’t be any candidate discrimination. The computer will not judge you on appearance or your background. It will solely critique you on your technical answers. That’s when the recruiter would come in and further process the file and make sure you’re a personality and values match those your future employer.” Recruitment is an industry that ebbs and flows, which both Alain and Anthony have experienced during the start of the pandemic. “During the pandemic it was important we kept in touch with all our clients and candidates. We reached out and focused on them and their families to show them that we truly care about them as people” said Blanchette. “While we spoke with them, we tried to go a step further by working on their resume and how to better present themselves in an interview” added Petrone. For them every opportunity is different from the next. “In this industry you’re as good as your last success or failure. One minute you can make a great placement and then the next you may have had a bad placement with a client. There are a lot of ups and downs in this industry as you are not dealing with a manufactured good you are dealing with people and people either change or can be perceived in different ways. You need be strong and keep your emotions in check and not take anything personally” said Blanchette. We asked both Alain and Anthony why they love being one of MetSpace’s tenants. “I love the culture here. Originally, we weren’t coming to MetSpace; we were looking at different offices in the area. We were planning on building our space from scratch but we just couldn’t find the perfect location. MetSpace was supposed to be a temporary solution but given the opportunity to do some networking with different companies while you’re already at work was the best fit. The location is great and the services that are included accommodate all our needs. Networking your business with like minded individuals in a nice environment is part of the whole package. I felt safe as soon as we walked back into the space after the first lockdown. The space is always clean. The social distancing practices that are in place make me feel comfortable working here” Blanchette praised. “I’m happy with our decision to come to MetSpace” added Petrone. “If you feel like you’re having a down or off day, you have an opportunity to speak to the people and staff. They can help you change your perspective and attitude. The community that Metspace has created is one where others can actually help you think of ideas and give you new outlooks on a problem or situation you may find challenging. Oh, and let’s not forget the coffee is pretty good”. [:]