The FEMA Awards are on again. This year there is a People’s Choice category to select the Best Employer of Choice. In a slight twist a team from Fairfax created videos to showcase the workplace of all the finalists. Public votings ends on 31st August. Vote here

One of the question we asked participants in our recent study is – what name/brand comes to mind when you think of an employer you want to work for in the future?

This is a unaided attempt to gauge who senior executives think are the best employers in Australia. While one question alone does not address all the nuances and complexities of what makes a top employer, it is interesting to note which employer brands stood out in the minds of executives.  Read more...

Is your recruitment ad worth sharing around?

Below is a graduate recruitment video from Dare, a marketing agency based in the UK. Besides being a big fan of infographics, I think Dare’s story telling and presentation of company info is entertaining and useful. In fact, I think it is worth sharing around.

We live in an age of sharing. Social media thrives on sharing. But, it’s usually the good stuff that always gets passed around. Do you noticed that job ads that get retweeted the most are the ones which are either funny, clever or out of the ordinary.  Read more...

When a job board falls sick, who do you call? The Job Board Doctor, of course. We touched base with Jeff Dickey-Chasins (aka The Job Board Doctor) to discuss the challenges faced by job boards.  Read more...

SEEK Limited revenue grew by 35%, registering a net profit of $89.5 million, a 62% increase from FY 2009. 

SEEK Employment’s (the job board business)  revenue grew by 1% from 170.9 in FY09 to  172.8 million in FY10, which is a small percentage, but it’s an impressive performance considering it is generated in the midst of the GFC. Revenue from SEEK Training grew significantly. SEEK Learning, in particular, performed very well with revenue increasing by 45%. Again the GFC has probably a hand in this, with many choosing to retrain and invest in education during the downturn. Overseas investment are also starting to pay dividends too.  Read more...

Online Advertisement Grows
Australian online advertisement has reached $2 billion, according to the latest IAB (Internet Advertising Bureau) report. The figures for employment classifieds are not made public, but the whole classifieds section (which includes motor vehicles, recruitment and real estate) grew by 9% to $470 million.

Online Job Vacancies Increases
Good news on the job board front. The DEEWR’s Internet Vacancy Index (IVI), which measure the number of job vacancies on SEEK, MyCareer, CareerOne and Australia Job Search, grew by 6.2% in July. In annual terms, the index is 13.2% higher than in July 2009.  Read more...

If social media is going to be part of your recruitment game plan, it’s worth noting that it’s currently the least trusted source of information amongst 14 measured by Edelman in Australia (refer chart).

Q. Please tell me how credible you believe each one of them is as a source of information about a company  Read more...

To many observers, job boards are passé; relics of a bygone era. Carey Eaton, CIO of SEEK, Australia’s largest job board, thinks otherwise. Here’s his take on the current challenges and future opportunities for job boards.  Read more...

Frost & Sullivan released new data on the Australian Online Classifieds market.  I asked Phil Harpur, Senior Research Manager, five questions.

Q. Revenue in the Australian employment classifieds market dropped by 21% in 2009.  Why is the drop so drastic?
A maturing market strongly linked to macro-economic factors.  Of the major online classifieds segments, employment has proved most vulnerable to economic conditions, with the volume of adverts directly linked to employers’ willingness to hire staff. Employment was by far the worst hit segment by the GFC.  Read more...

Adam Shay, Managing Director of  The Face answered our query – how relevant are advertising agencies in a rapidly evolving recruitment landscape?.

When I first read this question from Destination Talent I took immediate umbrage to the fact my craft of 15 odd years was seemingly under threat, that its value was being questioned! By the time I’d calmed down and re-read the question I could see its validity (excuse me for seeming dramatic but running an ad agency during a recession is tough, running an ad agency focused on recruitment, during a recession is well, challenging.)  Read more...

SEEK’s share price quietly crossed $8.00; it is no accident.

At a time when naysayers are at their loudest and their future most doubted, job boards appear to hold sway.

For all their limitations, two things worked in job boards’ favour. First, it helps that almost everyone knows how to use a job board. Our recent report revealed that even the most unlikely demographic group – senior executives – overwhelmingly endorsed job boards. Second, the alternatives, real or imagined, to job boards are yet to deliver consistent results.  Read more...

The Australian Public Service Commission (APS) released stage one of a report which evaluated recruitment advertising activities across different agencies.

Some interesting results:  Read more...

• Data collection – Of the 104 FMA agencies only 45 FMA agencies collected source-of-hire data (Only those who collected data were included in the evaluation). Not surprisingly data collection problems exist  – “Response to the evaluation survey suggests that those agencies that utilise an e-recruitment system were able to provide detailed survey responses more efficiently than those agencies that had to manually check through paper files. There was also anecdotal evidence that an e-recruitment system, however, does not ensure accuracy of applicant information. An agency advised that applicants appeared to be selecting the first item on a drop-down list of advertisement sources”

New research claimed that newspapers, combined with their online websites, are more reputable and effective in influencing the views of consumers than other media channels. The report is a fascinating look at how people consume their news and interact with newspapers (figure 1). It paints a rather glowing picture of the Australian newspaper industry at a time when the sector is struggling for relevance in most developed economies.

So, are print classifieds making a comeback? Not really, but they are not completely dead either.  Read more...

Thought for the week

It is time for tougher monitoring and enforcement of the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act, including naming of employers who fail to comply and an enhanced role for the Fair Work Ombudsman to investigate breaches of the Act. – ACTU

Gender Gap
The Global Gender Pay report placed Australia below Sri Lanka and Trinidad in the Gender gap Index (pay inequality). Australia ranked 20th.

 Read more...

Nothing endures but change – Heraclitus (540 BC – 480 BC)

Here’s a reminder that our world is changing rapidly. Version 4.0 of the popular ‘Did You Know’ series.