About Sean
Sean Johnston – Executive Recruitment Specialist
Sean is an Executive Recruitment Specialist, a proud dad of five, and the human to
a Golden Retriever and a Cavoodle. A lifelong Parramatta Eels supporter, I spend most of my non-working hour’s cooking, chauffeuring kids between activities, or pushing himself to the limit on long-distance trail and road runs. He is very much goal oriented both personally and professionally.
Now, I’ll drop the third person talk - Jimmy from Seinfeld cured me of that years ago.
My journey into recruitment wasn’t exactly planned. After completing an Economics degree at Macquarie University, I built a strong foundation in banking with both HSBC and St George Bank. I was well on my way up the corporate ladder when an ad for
a marketing role caught my attention. It turned out to be something completely different - a front for a recruitment position. Nine interviews later (yes, nine!), I was offered the job - in an industry I knew next to nothing about. Accepting it went against every instinct I had, because the idea of talking to people I’d never met before made me incredibly nervous. But I took the leap, and it turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life.
All these years later, I’m still here, doing what I love: connecting with people, helping shape careers, and partnering with businesses to find the right talent. Those early nerves never fully disappeared, but they’ve evolved into empathy, understanding, and a genuine drive to help people succeed.
About Sean
Sean Johnston is a founding partner of West Recruitment and an “accidental” Recruitment Scientist. He has 5 children, a hard-working wife, a Golden Retriever and is a devoted Parramatta Eels Member.
(Changing tense from the third person to the more unprofessional “me” now because that’s who I am. Jimmy, the character form Seinfeld, killed off the third person in me years ago).
How: I am an “accidental” recruiter because after completing an Economics Degree at Macquarie University, I had good tenure at both the HSBC and St George Bank. Several years later, when well and truly on a career trajectory within banking, I saw an ad for a marketing role that intrigued me. It was of course somewhat of a shop front because as I found out during the first interview, the position was to work in recruitment, not marketing. After nine (yes 9) interviews with an international recruitment firm, they decided to offer me a job to work in something called recruitment, an industry I knew very little about. Accepting the role at the time was very much against every fibre in my body because talking with people I had never met before, filled me with nerves and flight fear impossible to describe. Yet here I am, all these years later, still going, and able to keep these innate emotions in check.
What to expect when dealing with me
I am customer service focused and consultative with a passion for building relationships
I am results driven always aiming to find the best solution for my clients and candidates while remaining authentic
Why work with me?
Working in recruitment has allowed me to become a better person, both professionally and personally. I have learned to listen more intently, become more self-aware, follow peoples body language more instinctively, and understand how to keep my emotions in check. What I know now is that recruitment is craft and a science. Finding the most suitable candidate to fit a role and organisational culture is a science that requires both intellectual and practical activity. I have loved every minute of being an “accidental” recruiter.
What to expect when dealing with me
I am customer service focused and consultative with a passion for building relationships
I am results driven always aiming to find the best solution for my clients and candidates while remaining authentic
Why work with me?
Why: Working in recruitment has allowed me to become a better person, both professionally and personally. I have learned to listen more intently, become more self-aware, follow peoples body language more instinctively, and understand how to keep my emotions in check. What I know now is that recruitment is craft and a science. Finding the most suitable candidate to fit a role and organisational culture is a science that requires both intellectual and practical activity. I have loved every minute of being an “accidental” recruiter.
