Twelve years. Two of Australia's biggest agencies. One specialty. Here's how it all led to Forgepoint.
I'm Kevin Mankin, founder and director of Forgepoint Recruitment. I started this business because I got tired of watching good clients get let down by agencies more focused on volume than outcomes — and watching good candidates get processed rather than heard. There's a better way to do this, and that's what Forgepoint is built around.
I began my career on the industrial desk at Kelly Services in Wetherill Park, managing over 120 active workers at a time and running site visits multiple times a week. What that taught me — and what I carry into every client relationship today — is that the work happens at ground level. You have to understand the site, the role, the culture, and the person. A placement that looks right on paper but fails on the floor costs everyone.
"A placement that looks right on paper but fails on the floor costs everyone."
— Kevin Mankin, Founder & Director
Spending four years at Randstad placing boilermakers, maintenance fitters, welders and machine operators across Sydney's major industrial sites gave me a deep understanding of what trades employers actually need — not just the right ticket, but the right attitude, the right experience level, and someone who will show up and deliver. For candidates, it taught me how to have an honest conversation about what a role really involves before someone commits to it. That transparency is something I bring to every conversation at Forgepoint.
As Regional Manager at RPR Trades I built a labour hire operation from one consultant to a full team, and grew a client base from scratch across Western Sydney and NSW. The biggest lesson from that period wasn't about numbers — it was about what happens when clients genuinely trust their recruiter. They stop treating every hire as a transaction and start thinking about workforce strategy. That's the relationship I want with every Forgepoint client.
For candidates, that same period reinforced something I already believed: most agencies aren't honest enough. Workers deserve to know exactly what a role involves, what the site is like, what the realistic progression looks like, and what the employer actually expects. I've had too many conversations with people who took a role on incomplete information and were gone in a fortnight. That doesn't serve anyone. At Forgepoint, candidates get the full picture — every time.
Everything I've learned across twelve years and several of Australia's leading agencies has led to one conclusion: the best recruitment happens when the recruiter genuinely cares about the outcome for both sides. That's not a marketing line. That's the reason Forgepoint exists.