Stawell Gift 2025 Case Study: Regional Recruitment and Workforce Partner

Delivering Recruitment Solutions for Regional Victoria’s Iconic Sporting Event

The Stawell Gift is Australia’s oldest and most prestigious professional footrace, held each Easter in the town of Stawell, Victoria. In 2025, the event attracted more than 12,500 spectators across three days, creating significant demand for skilled staff to deliver a seamless visitor experience.

McArthur partnered with Ticketek to provide a complete regional recruitment and workforce solution, ensuring professional staffing and efficient administration in one of Victoria’s most important sporting events.

A Trusted Recruitment Partner Since 2022

Since 2022, McArthur has worked side by side with Ticketek as a long-term recruitment partner for the Stawell Gift. What began as a focus on team recruitment and training for ticketing staff has grown into a comprehensive workforce partnership.

Every year we learn, improve and expand our services. We now operate as a genuine extension of Ticketek, with a shared commitment to delivering the best possible Stawell Gift experience for all visitors.

Our solutions are built on:

• Experience: Decades of delivering staffing solutions for cultural, civic and sporting events across Australia.
• Agility: The ability to respond quickly to last-minute changes and regional workforce challenges.
• Innovation: Creative recruitment strategies to attract talent from both metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria.
• Partnership: A genuine collaboration with Ticketek to continuously enhance workforce delivery.

Regional Recruitment Challenges at the Stawell Gift

Running a large-scale event in regional Victoria requires thoughtful workforce planning. Challenges in 2025 included:

• Recruiting skilled staff from limited local talent pools
• Coordinating travel and accommodation for staff during the busy Easter period
• Managing complex allowances across multiple industrial awards
• Maintaining consistent customer service standards for a diverse audience

Team Recruitment and Administrative Support in Action

McArthur designed a tailored workforce model to meet the demands of the Stawell Gift, going beyond traditional recruitment to include full administrative support:

• Regional Team Recruitment: Deployed six skilled staff, including two supervisors and four customer service professionals, balancing metropolitan and local talent.
• Comprehensive Administration: Managed payroll, allowances, travel and accommodation to simplify client workload.
• Proactive Workforce Management: Delivered structured supervision and clear reporting to ensure consistency across all event operations.

Results from Our Workforce Partnership

The outcomes of McArthur’s recruitment and workforce support included:

• Over 120 staffing hours delivered across three days with 100% shift coverage
• Seamless visitor interactions for more than 12,500 attendees
• Simplified financial administration through consolidated invoicing and payroll management
• Consistently professional service that enhanced the reputation of the Stawell Gift
• A strengthened partnership with Ticketek, positioning McArthur as a trusted extension of their team

Why Employers Across Australia Choose McArthur

The Stawell Gift 2025 demonstrates McArthur’s expertise in regional recruitment, team recruitment, and workforce partnership. Employers across Australia choose McArthur for:

• Tailored recruitment solutions that address the challenges of regional and metropolitan locations
• Skilled and reliable team recruitment for customer service, ticketing, and operations roles
• Administrative support that streamlines payroll, travel, allowances and compliance
• A proven track record of delivering workforce solutions for government, cultural, sporting and community programs