2008 The Year That Was…

With the close of 2008 in our midst, I can’t help but think of Michael Jackson.  You’re wondering about the link, I know.  I’m not pondering Jackson’s music, rest assured.  Yeah, I s’pose  I could draw some corny comparison here between some of his song titles, and my views on certain players in the online recruitment market (”Beat It”, for dodgy job boards like Groovy Jobs and Oral Jobs, for instance).

But I’m above these kinds of shenanigans.  What you’re about to read is, (take it from me) much more highbrow.

There wouldn’t be too many GenXers out there who wouldn’t have held MJ in pretty high esteem.  Didn’t we all marvel at the Thriller video?  Weren’t we all saving for a sparkly single glove (so achievable from an economic perspective, so much cheaper than a pair).  And don’t some of us still practise our moonwalk when all the kids are in bed, and the wife is transfixed by Sex And The City, and it’s a hot night, too hot for writing a blog…or sleeping?  Anyways, Jackson did things in music that no one else had done.  And we all had such high hopes for him; before his fall…

And I guess that’s my point.  2008 was the year that’ll be remembered as the turning point for the online world.  Finally, print has bowed to the dominance of online’s capacity for disseminating information (ferk knows, you wouldn’t be reading this right now if the print reigned) – pretty much in the same way that music video producers went out and bought themselves a bunch of new equipment after watching “Thriller”.

Activity in the market was rife, indicative of a market that’s moving up and readjusting to its new status.  Here are some of the highlights:

- Start-up NotchUp offers payment for interviews

- Seek takes the lead on adding video to its job ads

- JobX and Recruitment Academy launch RecruitMeNow

- Social networking is on fire

- MyCareer does deal with Jobfox and launches Headhunter

- Nowhiring sells to Counting Jobs

- MyCareer starts A/B testing a new search box

- CareerOne powers eBay jobs JobX powers everyone else

- New job sites launch. Capital Jobs, Jobspeed, Jobreel and OralJobs.

- Seek buys two leading employment websites in Brazil and one in Asia.

- Next generation job sites, Hoojano and 2Vouch launch

- Jobs aggregator Simplyhired launches in Australia

- CareerOne and Monster announce partnership.

- MyCareer’s Melbourne layoffs.

Cripes.  I’m tired just looking at it (or perhaps I’ve just overdosed on Christmas carbs).

Unfortunately, despite inroads that have been generated this year, like Michael Jackson’s career, we’re only going to remember degradation.  Let’s face it, that whole Machauley Culkin thing was freakin’ disturbing, and so is this: even the unflappable market leader Seek’s share price closed at $2.85 on Friday – down from a 52-week high of $8.77.

Blame whatever you want – but don’t blame it on the boogy (sorry, couldn’t help that one).

The World’s Greatest Business Mind Announced

I know I thanked a bunch of people on the night, but I just wanted to take this chance to reiterate: thank you to all who voted for me, as well as to colleagues who helped me achieve this award (you know who you are), and finally, friends and family who held my faith for me in a little bucket when I was willing to let it all flush down the dunny.

In case you didn’t catch the announcement, watch it here:

Seek’s New Look. Share Price Up…

Seek has gone to see the plastic surgeon and given the tired old site a face lift (see also Thomas Shaw’s blog). Very Sam Newman-esk with its dramatic horizontal stretch. Like Sam’s new look, it may take a while to get used to…

The new image for Seek has coincided with an increase in their share price. And who said image doesn’t matter?

Social Networks Black Day…

Social networks are in the news today. First up, lawyers have been permitted to serve debtors with default judgments through Facebook. Article here. This is timely considering my plea yesterday for the online world to be viewed with more validity than it has been in the past (I’m on the phone to my web-estate agent as we speak.  “Buy up!”.  Sorry, did I say that out loud?)

Also some 1.3 million users will stage a ‘blackout’ protest tonight and turn off Facebook to draw attention to their dissatisfaction about recent changes to the site.

And to top it all off, LinkedIn is offline because it is upgrading the site.  I hope that LinkedIn users will like the changes the folks there have made.  I’d hate to see a candlelight vigil or hunger strike over its alterations.  Who knows, the 1.3million Facebook protesters could have another gig on their hands.

Social networking sites like Facebook are integrating into the fabric of our careers and personal lives.  No longer can they be viewed as a Gen Y distraction.  They are an essential tool for communication, both formal and informal.  Next time you get a Facebook invitation, do not toss it away with an OldManScrooge-like Hmmmph & Phooey…or else you may be all alone in Christmasses to come.

Seek Jobs Never Expire…

This job ad for a Solutions Architect at Seek Ltd was posted on October 20. Today is December 16.  Even my ten-year-old can work out that the ad is now almost 60 days alive.

Seek states on its site that “ads appear on SEEK for 30 days, unless you fill the position earlier and elect to ‘expire’ it.”  Why does this not apply to Seek’s own advertising?  A stale ad is a stale ad, it makes no matter which company posted it.

Latest Jobs

Seek
Strategy Analyst- Melbourne (New)
Solutions Architect – Melbourne
Commercial Partner Manager – Melbourne

Online Recruitment
Senior Character Artist – Sydney
Recruitment
Consultant – Brisbane/Sydney/Melbourne
3D Artist – Sydney
Experienced Games Programmer – Melbourne/Brisbane

Funny – Employer and Employee

Are you a shareholder?

Boost Your Professional Profile And Personal Brand – Online.

This morning, I had the pleasure of being a special guest on ‘Your Career Catalyst‘ Blogtalkradio with hosts Annemarie Cross and Keith Keller from Advanced Employment Concepts.

Listen to the show here.

One of the more pleasurable aspects of my work is disseminating ideas about the online sphere and things like radio interviews (and another upcoming event is the Inspecht HR Futures Conference on 26 February 2009 in Melbourne. I will be one of the speakers in the (the panel discussion with Michael Specht) are a fantastic opportunity to do this.

The broad topic of the show was regulating your professional brand online.  Once upon a time, preening one’s image was a matter of ducking out and grabbing a new pair of shoes, having a haircut; you know, physical stuff.

With the prevalence of online communication, making sure your online profile is in tip top shape is also important.  Don’t publish photos of yourself on the P15S.  Don’t make ridiculous sexist or racist comments on your profiles in Facebook and MySpace.  And while we’re on that, don’t join Facebook groups whose views may prove politically unsavory.  Make comments on blog sites (especially mine).  This is an excellent and subtle way of building your reputation as a person of knowledge in your field.

Point is, each of us should take control of our online branding.  Here I’m reminded of the story about Steve Irwin.  When he died, he didn’t own SteveIrwin.com.au.  Someone else did.  But Steve Irwin was a man with a very successful publicity network.  Why didn’t he own himself virtually?  One of the reasons is it’s taken a long time for the Internet to shed its reputation as a shady medium dealing mainly in porn.

Like the suburb you all have in your states, in Melbourne, for instance, it’s St Kilda, that used to be a hub for dodgy enterprises like prostitution and drugs, but makes good due to an influx of investment, the net’s still being forced to prove itself as viable contender in the publicity stakes.  There are those who remain wary of walking its streets for fear of how they’d say “no thanks, but I appreciate the offer” to a hooker.

As a person who was hanging out in the net’s streets when it was a metropolis for the exploited and mentally unwell, I can assure you of its rise to blue chip status.  It is already the primary tool for communication and for personal promotion.  Get ye to a real estate office and make a down payment today.

MyCareer – Take It Or Leave It

Here’s an update from the MyCareer Melbourne layoffs report of a few days ago.

Fairfax Digital COO Nic Cola, in a Shortlist article, avoided using the words “redundancy” or “closure” when describing the changes at MyCareer – changes that affect eighteen staff from product, technology and marketing roles.

Instead, Nic attempted in a nice little shot at politics, to highlight the benefits to staff of the cuts to the Melbourne positions.  He claimed that staff who had the freedom of lifestyle to haul their arses to Sydney would have “better work flexibility and career progression”.  He denied that their roles were being made redundant.

Okay.  Soooo, let me get this right, Nic.  I go home and announce to my partner that I have been given a “opportunity” to transfer to Sydney.  She and I contemplate the move and discuss that a) the children are settled in school b) our youngest finally has the childcare we have waited for for the past year and c) she cannot possibly consider moving because her employer doesn’t even have an office in Sydney and because of all of these factors, we cannot relocate.  I go to the office to do my job on Monday morning (or, you know, whenever the non-closure closure is happening) and there is no job.  My job is gone.  I know that Nic said I have not been made redundant.  But I DO. NOT. HAVE. A. JOB.

Same outcome, Nic.  Jeeeeez…I hate corporate-speak.

Friday Funny – The Office Xmas

I love this episode of David Brent in a dating show. I met my missus on a dating show, Perfect Match with Greg Evans. I am too scared to look back at the tape and see all that 80’s hair and thin ties again.

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