I am dabbling with a set of tools to monitor the collective health of the Australian recruitment sector. One of the tools is a time series index to track the progress of recruitment firms listed on the ASX.

To my knowledge, there are about 18 companies listed on the ASX who are either directly or indirectly involved in the business of recruitment. Below is a list of companies whose main business is providing recruitment or related services:    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...

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...

A new report by Ipsos suggested that employees are becoming more loyal. According to the study, the majority (55%) of the 1022 Australians surveyed last month indicated they would remain loyal even if they get offered a higher pay elsewhere.  A similar study by Kelly Services in March (sample size of 20,000) found that 44% percent of respondents are ‘totally committed’ to their current employer.  Read more...

The 2010 Job Board Report is ready for download here. Here are four observations from the report:

The Competitive Landscape
The wrath of the downturn spared no one; industry revenue dipped by 21%.  However, the industry grew in numbers even in the midst of falling revenue. We recorded 270 jobs boards, an increase of 14% from last year, and many more are still in the woodwork (we counted around 50). Convinced that the print industry has no long-term future, job boards are buoyed by the fact that spending on print media still amounts to an estimated $400-600 million every year.  Read more...

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...

Is a recovery heading our way?

Even if there are no immediate proof, as a nation we are becoming more optimistic about the economy. ANU quarterly study found more Australians think the worse is behind us (Full report here). A similar theme is echoed by Nielsen’s Global Confidence Survey which found Australians are one of the most positive about economic recovery. Unemployment stands at 6.8%, but we are way ahead of other developed economies (spare a thought for Zimbabwe where the unemployment rate is 94%)  Read more...

Jessica Booth, senior HR advisor at CSIRO, believes ‘talent management’ is serious business in public sector organisations across Australia, and argues that positive ‘brand experiences’ are the key to attracting and retaining talent.  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...

Money quote

“The leaders of Great Groups love talent and know where to find it. They revel in the talent of others.” – Warren Bennis & Patricia Ward Biederman, Organizing Genius

Skills shortage
It’s never wise to generalise, especially for something as unique and diverse as ‘skills’. Gartner believes a shortage of Business Intelligence Specialist is hampering projects. Not every sector is affected by the downturn.  Meanwhile, a cohort of very smart people are getting together to discuss the long-term skills shortage facing Australia (brochure)  Read more...

State of the recruitment industry
Recruitment firms’ performance is often a good barometer to measure the state of the economy.  Current standing of the industry on the ASK is not flattering. SEEK’s share price, the best performer of the pack, currently stands at $2.53, a far cry from its heydays. However, performances have to be viewed in the background of the Australian share market plummeting as a whole. Australian share price trends since 1900  Read more...

Some nine companies, both local and international, compete in the job aggregation space in Australia. Aggregators, unlike job boards, do not own the jobs listed on their website. Like search engines, they merely act as a platform to redirect job seekers traffic. Some job boards depended on them to increase their own traffic, while some sees them as a threat. Aggregators offers employers another channel to net talent at a very attractive price-point, including the increasingly popular pay-per-click services.  Read more...

The media is relentless with their ‘sky is falling’ reporting.

The good folks at AESC (Association of Executive Search Consultants), a global association of executive search firms, paints a more optimistic picture with their latest membership survey report.  Some of the key findings:  Read more...

• 45% expect the economy to rebound in the second half of 2009, while 40% expect it will be the first half of 2010.
• Healthcare, Government, natural resources and pharmaceuticals/biotech sectors will continue to hire.