Fonda | Living Sector Recruitment & Consultancy, Brisbane

Fonda is a property recruitment and consultancy partner for Queensland’s living sector.

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Talent built for property.

Still hiring from the inside out?

Our approach challenges normal hiring, because we’ve seen it from all sides.  You’re talking to a team who doesn’t just know people, they know property.

Created from a foundation of almost 10 years across talent acquisition, consultancy and sitting on the other side of the table as a candidate.

We’re grounded in the  living sector.

Where we operate

Your community only works if the team does.

Development & Feasibility

Building & Facilities Management

Community & Village Management

Acquisitions

Asset Management

Leadership & Executive Search

Customer/Resident Experience

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Communities are rapidly expanding in SEQ.

National B2R pipeline up 33.22% in 12 months.

58,000 more retirement units needed by 2031.

3 in 4 industry businesses grew by 10% since 2025

You need talent to make that growth possible.

As you grow, exceptional talent in your team should be the priority. You have the assets, the culture, the processes to shape them. But you need someone who knows the market inside out, to bring the right talent and leverage that waiting potential in your organisation.

Fonda is the layer in your business that aligns the talent market directly to you. Someone who knows property, understands your team, and what it needs to get to its goals.

The 4 ways we work with you.

Recruitment is where most partnerships start. It is rarely where they end.

Most start with a single hire. Some come back for a team, a restructure, or a quiet conversation about someone at the top.   

Four ways in, one relationship.

Contingency and retained search for permanent roles. The core of what we do and where most clients begin.

Temporary, contract, and project based workforce solutions for lease-ups, transitions, and peak periods.

Hiring strategy, salary benchmarking, and organisational design. For when the question is bigger than one role.

Executive and leadership appointments, handled discreetly.

Emmalene Bergin, Founder

It begins with the right people.

I started Fonda after eight years working and recruiting in property, because of one clear distinction. Consulting from the outside, versus  being on the inside.

I have watched the wrong hire cost a team its momentum.

I have watched the right one change the direction of a business entirely. That is not something you learn from the outside. You learn it by being part of it.

Every great business is built from the ground up.

6+ years recruiting

8 years property experience

500+ placements made

Reach out to Emmalene

The questions we get asked most.

Whether you are hiring, planning to, or just want to know what the market is doing, the first conversation costs nothing and usually tells you something useful.

What do you charge?

Fonda engages clients on multiple types of recruitment and consultancy. We work with our clients on an individual basis to get clear on what your goal is and how we will support you to get there. From there, we will talk through an individual fee structure that aligns with us both.

We'd rather have the conversation first, rather than fitting you into a fixed model that doesn't achieve what you need.

How quickly can you fill a role? 

We're a specialist in the living sector market, where we can have qualified profiles ready within as little as 24 hours. But doing our job properly to secure the best talent means delivering beyond just available people, actually performing an extensive search or consultancy rather than skimming who's easiest to reach.

On brief, we'll discuss the timeframes you can expect, so you know upfront how we'll work together.

What does working with you look like?

Fonda is a founder led agency backed by working in property. From being a candidate, to consulting, to working internally in property, we've been in it from all sides and created something that reflects the gaps we experienced.

We pride ourselves on being property people first, and turning that into understanding the people within. We embed ourselves into the businesses we work with just as one of your team members would. Understanding the asset, the people behind it and the goal you're working towards, before aligning on what we need to deliver to help you build from the ground up.

What is your process?

Seven phases, twenty steps, and we walk you through all of it at the start.

In short:
‍Brief and alignment. We get under the role, the team it's joining, and where the business is heading. Not just the job description.
‍Market search and selection. We go to the people already doing this work, not just the ones with a CV online.
‍Presentation. A short list, with our read on each person and why they fit.
‍Interview. We manage scheduling, prep on both sides, and feedback.
‍Offer. We handle the negotiation so it lands cleanly.
‍Onboarding. We stay close through the notice period and the first few months.
‍Fonda community. Placed candidates and clients stay part of our network. This is where the long-term relationships come from.

Why Fonda?

Because we've sat in your seat. Fonda was built from inside Living Sector businesses, not from a recruitment desk looking in. We've hired teams, restructured them and worked in the roles ourselves, so we understand what a good hire actually does to a business, and what a bad one costs.

Most of the businesses we work with are owner-led or growing fast, and don't have a talent function of their own. Fonda fills that gap the way an internal person would: someone who knows your market, your competitors and your growth plans, and brings that into every hire.

We're property people first. Recruitment is how we apply it.