Paul Jacobs wears many hats – entrepreneur, social media evangelist, employment branding consultant, community DJ and conversation stirrer – but a common denominator in his work is a passion for, in his own words, “helping employers become stars“. A perennial experimenter, and blessed with an acute eye to spot new trends, Paul is one the most influential recruitment voices in the ANZ region. We caught up with Paul to discuss his current projects and upcoming talk at the Sourcing Summit.  Read more...

Christian LeLoux, currently Oceania Talent Sourcing Leader at Ernst & Young, talks about his initial foray into sourcing, past experiences and what his current sourcing toolbox looks like. He offers a preview of his presentation at the Sourcing Summit where he will speak on ‘sourcing Matrix’ and why highly visible employer brands need to invest in sourcing.  Read more...

How do executive recruiters navigate the evolving sourcing landscape? Paul Jury (Head of Executive Recruitment) sheds light on Talent2’s experience.

Talent2 was founded as a high-touch executive recruitment business focused on middle- and senior-level permanent and contract appointments. It has an experienced team of recruitment consultants who are recognised as leaders in their specialist areas. While our brand proposition might not traditionally be associated with the use of job boards, we strongly believe they can be utilised to greatly compliment high-quality executive level recruitment assignments.  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...

In line with yesterday’s post, Clifford Rosenberg sheds light on the progress of Linkedin in Australia.

The Australian recruitment industry has been rapidly evolving given the dynamic changes in the economic and social environment. In the early days of the Internet, we saw a shift from traditional recruitment mediums, and a rise in adoption of online channels such as job boards. Now we are witnessing another significant shift with the emergence of social media and online professional networks like LinkedIn.  Read more...

Brett Minchington explains the importance of promoting a consistent employment brand message across all touch points

With the increasing fragmentation of communication channels used to express, ‘What it’s like to work for this organisation,’ and ‘What’s in it for you,’ it pays to ensure the employment experience you promote to potential employees through a job board is matched by what you can realistically deliver upon in the employment experience – and in many cases this experience starts at a job board.  Read more...

Starting in 1989, Ross Clennett, APRCSA, worked for 15 years as a recruiter in London, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne. He has been a regular writer about recruitment and the Australian recruitment scene since 2001. He runs Australia’s only online training and professional development membership site for recruitment company owners and managers.

1) Believing the claims that technology vendors make and undertaking few, if any, background checks of these claims with other recruiters who are actively using the vendor’s product  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...

The recruitment industry has been hit hard by the economic downturn. But how deep are the problems? What is the current supply and demand scenario for recruiters? Are recruitment firms still hiring? I explored some of the issues facing the recruitment industry with Clare Barton, Director, at Barton Mills, an international Recruitment to Recruitment (R2R) firm based in Sydney.

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Equipped with a unique perspective gained from years as an agency recruiter and currently as recruitment manger at DWS, a technology consulting firm, Dan Nuroo navigates the rapidly evolving recruitment landscape with aplomb. A regular on industry forums and a prolific user of social media tools, Dan blogs, tweets and shares his experiences and views on recruitment with refreshing openness. One wonders if he represents a new breed of HR/recruitment professionals in Australia. I caught up with Dan to find out more.  Read more...

One cannot talk about the Australian social media landscape and miss the name of Stephen Collins, founder of Acidlabs, a Canberra based consulting firm. A thought leader on everything social media, Stephen is a sought-after speaker, business strategist and writer. An ardent proponent of ‘openness’ and the ‘need to humanise business’, Stephen’s views are refreshing, and at times confronting. I caught up with Stephen to find out more about his latest project JobCAMP, and also discussed employee engagement and recruitment in the bold new world of social media.  Read more...

Currently perched on top of the Job board ladder, SEEK amassed many laurels since it started in 1997.  Of late, in the backdrop of an economic downturn, SEEK’s shares dropped to their nadir. However, SEEK is determined to maintain its #1 spot in the midst of uncertain economic times and ever growing alternatives. I recently spoke to Carey Eaton (CIO), and we discussed a range of issues including the economy, the competitive landscape, aggregators, and SEEK’s approach to social media.

Q. SEEK’s share price has been in a freefall lately. Do you think it will get worse or better? What’s SEEK’s reading on the current recruitment marketplace in Australia. What are job ad numbers at SEEK telling you?
CE: Clearly the entire market has been falling and media stocks generally have been hard hit – there’s certain factors SEEK can control and factors beyond our control, so we’re really focussing on those that we have control over and make sure we position the company as best we can.  Read more...

We explored Gallup’s study on the issue of employee disengagement in an earlier post. The statistics are sobering. 82% of Australians are not actively engaged at work, costing the nation $42 billion in lost productivity annually.  We caught up with Allan Watkinson, Engagement Manager at Gallup Consulting to understand more about their latest study, unhappy workplaces and the likely solutions to employee disengagement.  Read more...