Meet our awesome team
Meet our team of experts, we look forward to hearing from you.
Senior Talent Partner
Amanda Barker
Amanda is the Director of Pillar Consulting - founded in 2016 after moving back to New Zealand from Australia. With experience working in the coal mining sector in Central Queensland, Amanda has worked with several organisations across New Zealand since starting Pillar six years ago.
Currently engaging with more than twenty businesses across New Zealand, Amanda has experience working in tough environments such as Ports, Farms, Orchards and Construction sites. She often engages with boards and senior staff to ensure they understand their duties concerning NZ Health and Safety and Employment legislation. Additionally, Amanda ensures best practice systems and processes are implemented to build a strong culture.
She thrives on having robust, educational conversations with people about their business and providing training and coaching sessions to staff, empowering them with the skills to do their jobs safely. Amanda extends her expertise and passion for seeing small businesses in New Zealand thrive through her commitment to the Business Women’s Network Committee and the Bay of Plenty Kiwifruit and Avocado Safety Liaison Forum. As a catalyst for change, Amanda was also the first Premium Partner in New Zealand to sign up to use the NZ owned ‘Safe365 - Intelligent Health and Safety Software System’. This online tool has been named one of the Top 50 Enterprise Start-Ups in 2018 by APAC CIO Outlook.
Senior Talent Partner
Mariska Carlson-Smit
Mariska started her career in her country of origin South Africa before relocating to the United Kingdom. In London, she worked for a couple of large Recruitment Agencies, both of which have global footprints as a brand.
After falling in love with New Zealand on a working holiday, Mariska decided to make it her home. She has worked with three major Recruitment Agencies over the last thirteen years with a variety of successes and challenges as a senior consultant and senior manager. As a recruitment professional, Mariska operates with an innovative lens to effectively land significant clients and train/develop high performing teams.
In her last role as the Group General Manager for one of Wellington's major recruitment players, Mariska led a team of Consultants and Administration staff, driving sales and ensuring the right culture was in place. Her work enabled excellent continuity across the company's operations.
Mariska gained accreditation on psychometric assessment interpretation and facilitation through OPRA Consulting. This is a powerful tool to ensure clients and candidates find the right fit, improving employee retention by making educated hiring decisions. In this role, she was also the Human Resource and Health and Safety Manager across Wellington and Auckland, growing a passion that led to her next journey with us here at Pillar Recruitment.
Talent Partner
Heather Mackay
Heather joined the Pillar Consulting team in August of 2019. After recently returning to New Zealand after living in Seattle with her husband and three children, she is excited at the opportunity to help local organisations achieve safer working environments.
Heather’s work history includes fifteen years of retail, Account Management and Sales in the Pharmaceutical Industry. Heather also worked in the Aviation Industry for four years, where health and safety standards and procedures are paramount to every aspect of operations.
In Wellington, Heather's role as Client Relationship Coordinator is to ensure our clients gain ultimate value and are entirely satisfied with the services we provide.
Heather is excited at how she can help clients achieve their best across the Health and Safety landscape by working with the highly talented and experienced team at Pillar Consulting.
Office Manager
Elaine Harrison
Elaine is a career Office Manager and joined the Pillar team after returning from Sydney, Australia where she worked for a large FMCG organisation.
With a great eye for detail, organisation skills that are second to none, a passion for communicating effectively with our clients and a strong desire to continuously develop her own skillset, Elaine is a key part of our team and we’re not sure how we ever managed without her!
Elaine will often be the first point of contact for new clients and with such a friendly, professional manner, everyone really enjoys engaging with her.