Live Recruitment Rumble – May 7th, 11:00am

There’s nothing like a good stoush.

And frankly, while I like nothing better than a good old jab at industry players like job boards and recruiters, I reckon it’s about time I took on one of my own kind.

So, rally around the shelter shed, peoples, it’s gonna be a bewdy. (details here)

Join online recruitment industry leaders Geoff Jennings and Thomas Shaw for a LIVE “Recruitment Rumble” Thursday May 7th, 11:00am – 12:00pm. All gloves will be off as Geoff and Thomas go head to head in a discussion about key topics (Geoff may even wear his shiny purple boxing shorts).

Joining in the live discussion is Diane Lee, founder of Even It Up! providing a perspective from the job seeker point of view and “outsider” to the industry.

Topics for discussion include:

- Future of the traditional Job board?
- SEEK vs. CareerOne/Monster – who will win?
- Fake job adverts?
- RCSA: Soft as a marshmellow?
- Should I use a recruitment agency or go direct?
- Background searching candidates online?

Do you want to listen or join in the discussion? Register here.

Geoff Jennings is the controversial man at the helm of http://www.geoffjennings.com, a site dedicated to keeping the recruitment bastards honest. He has worked for online industry leaders and is currently Managing Director of www.onlinerecruitment.com.au

Thomas Shaw is the “pretty boy” of online recruitment, having established his stranglehold of the industry via his blog www.recruitmentdirectory.com.au/blog By day he works in the recruitment industry, and at night a tweet from Thomas can make or break your organisation.

Diane Lee is the founder of Even It Up! which aims to provide information about recruitment practices for Australian jobseekers. Diane is leading the revolt from frustrated job seekers who want an even playing field www.evenitup.com.au

Michael Harvey Appointed CEO At CareerOne

Michael Harvey has been appointed new CEO of CareerOne. He succeeds Dr Stephen Hollings, who has been appointed director of sales strategy at News Ltd. Both appointments are effective as of May 1.

I had hoped there’d be no casualties. But I guess if you’re gonna fight a war, you want your best people up front, you know, leading the troups and all that.  I’m, not certain Harvey is C1′s MacArthur.  His background is in finance and he spent 11 years at Foxstudios.  A strategy man – no doubt.  But C1 needs more than strategy, it needs leaders who’ll fight on the frontlines.  Will Harvey be a leader with a viable weapon, or a spreadsheet?

Seek’s New Consumer Marketing Campaign

I know ANZAC Day is over, but sound the bugle again anyway.

There’s war on them streets.

Don’t panic.  I’m not talking the terrorist-blowing-the-biggest-building-they-can-find type war.  I’m talking war of the job boards.

This war will be fought with advertising grenades and marketing bullets.

Seek will strike the first blow with their “A New Job Every 30 Seconds” Campaign.  Civilians will become very familiar with this campaign, as it is set to have a heavy presence on billboards, trams* and buses, Hoyts cinemas and major FM stations (and we all know how important radio is during war time). Powered by Monster, CareerOne are set to retaliate with the May launch of their new site and offensive.

Like every good war correspondent, I’ll be donning the fatigues and reporting every strike.  Wish me luck out there, it’s gonna be down and dirty.

Here’s hoping the fatalities are low.

Wifey: Geoff, come here dahl.  You’ve got something on your nose.

Geoff: What?  Where? Here?

Wifey: No. Lower.  Here . I got it.  What is it?  Mud?

Geoff: It’s not mud.  It’s goddamn camouflage, okay? Camouflage. (Exits in a huff, muttering ‘Bloody civilians’).

ZaaBiz Pays Out On Twitter

Twitter’s popularity is surging, with 131% growth reported in March.

Networking site ZaaBiz.com.au is offering Twitters a chance to monetise their followers and turn them into income. Full details here.

For every unique member from Australia or New Zealand that registers on ZaaBiz based on your recommendation, you will receive AUD0.50. All your ( Australia and New Zealand only) followers need to do is sign up, and mention your Twitter ID in the space provided on the registration form. This helps you to be directly connected to him or her and it allows us to track new registrations following you to ZaaBiz.

Amen to those who follow this blog and believe my forecast that social media is the next big thing in recruiting.

For those of you who doubted me, I have nothing to say except – I told you so.

P.s Let ZaaBiz know that @geoffjennings referred you

Monster.com | “Battle”

Monster gathers its troops for the great battle down under.
(Didn’t realise Thomas Shaw could play the keyboards…)

Monster Vs. Seek – The Rumble Down Under

The much-anticipated heavyweight battle between the undefeated champion of the job board space, Seek, and the 400-kilo gorilla, Monster,(who will be powering the new CareerOne site) is just around the corner.

And the word on the street is that the contender is in the best shape it has ever been.

This scenario is not dissimilar to an event, thirty-five years ago, The Rumble In The Jungle, when Muhammad Ali entered the ring to challenge undisputed heavyweight champion George Foreman. The fight with Foreman represented more than just a chance for him to become the second former heavyweight champ to regain the title. A victory over Foreman meant validation and redemption for Ali.

For Monster, beating Seek would signify their redemption after having to leave the Australian market several years ago. Seek is still thought to be so invincible that Monster/CareerOne aren’t given much of a chance against them.

Fight Stats:

How many Unique browsers per month:

SEEK:           3,192,692
CareerOne:  1,620,077

How many job ads on site:

SEEK:           97,869
CareerOne:  31,874

Source: Nielsen NetRatings Australia, March ’09

This sets up for one of the greatest heavyweight battles we have seen since Seek took on print – and won (and don’t start on me about how they haven’t really won, peoples.  You’ll start to sound like the fundey right-wing Christians still trying to suggest that evolution is nothing more than a ‘theory)’.

Global Economic Depression

Mental health is not something we tend to talk about all that often. I mean, if we have the flu, most of us are quite comfortable with ringing in sick, and some will even bring the gory details of their illness into work with them when they recover (please note: I’m not mentioning this by way of endorsement. I don’t like the words “mucous” or “diahorea” and I hate more the anything the phrase, “it was coming out both ends”).

But what about if we’re feeling bad. Emotionally, I mean? Are we happy to give the boss a call and say, “You know, I’m just not coping with life, I feel as though I’d rather die than face people today and really, I’d like a few days off to recover”. Even if this is the truth, I’d be willing to wager most of us would be keen to avoid the stigma attached to being mentally unwell.

So what’s happening in recruitment offices where you are? How are recruiters coping with the decline in revenue, with job losses and with the constant looming threat of job losses? Is morale high? Are you all bonding as a result of the common enemy – lack of income? Or is it every person for themselves out there?

Perhaps a more important question: How are recruitment companies dealing with a workforce who may be suffering higher rates of depression, lack of morale and motivation and an increase in anxiety as a result of economic uncertainty? Are you offering counseling or, at least, support? Or is this something not at all of concern for you – you’re just focused on getting through this thing at minimal cost?

Tell me your stories (gory details and all – just don’t mention the “m” word:)

Friday Funny – Susan Boyle – Britian’s Got Talent

Susan Boyle – Singer – Britain’s Got Talent 2009. 47 Year old Susan Boyle wows the judges with her performance in the auditions for Britain’s Got Talent, singing I Dreamed A Dream from Les Miserables.

Also Susan Boyle’s first ever song release revealed. Cry me River form 1999.

MyCareer Out Of Touch

You may recall that recently, MyCareer moved back home with their parents.  By that I mean that they moved their online operations back into print. And, I dunno about you, but whenever I moved back in with the olds, you know, after the stint overseas or whatever, I always became a little lazy.  Mumsy did the washing for me, Dad fixed up the back lawn just right so I could have my mates over for a barby.  Point is, I found myself sitting around for most of the day, checking out day-time TV and generally kicking back.

And this is kinda what MyCareer has been doing of late.  Too many episodes of Oprah, and too much time spent on the big issues like what flavor of chips to buy from the Night Owl, and they’ve gone from being an innovator in the market to a job board that’s doing nothing much but echoing the brothers and sisters at print.  And by that I mean, they’ve lost their edge-up-to-date content.  Check this out:

Their salary centre features a graph tracking the average Australian salary.  It’s still proferring figures from 2008. (of course, this may be a case of wishful thinking, considering the recent economic situation).

Further, I posted an article in early February Confusion At MyCareer regarding the inconsistent bundle pricing listings.  This has yet to be amended.

If we add to this close to a year it took the folks at MyCareer to a/b test the new search options, we have one job board that really needs to get off its arse and find a new pad…well away from its very daggy and conservative parents.

How to Reduce Your Spend On JobsJobsJobs

I have been married for nearly fourteen years now and one thing I understand is that communication is the corner stone to making a good partnership work.

Imagine my surprise when I called the number on the invitation to the JXT Consulting event on how to ‘reduce my spend on job boards’ and JobsJobsJobs (JJJ) answered.

For those members of the audience who are not following.  Clarification:  JXT is the byproduct of the Jobx/JobsJobsJobs merger, so why would a company owned by a job board tell you how to reduce your spend on job boards?

Prediction: This marriage has some rocky times ahead.

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