The Everlasting Jobstopper

Here’s a job ad. from CareerOne from 2006 – and still running. Click here.

I hope they’re no applicants out there, on tenterhooks, waiting for news.

Important Information On Your Account At CareerOne.com.au

I received an email from CareerOne today asking:

Dear Careerone Employer,

As a valued customer, you are receiving this email as our records show that you have posted a job ad with CareerOne.com.au and we want to make sure your account remains active.

We are currently updating our records to ensure we continue to offer our advertisers the best service and support. As a result, any accounts that have not been accessed in the last 18 months will be deleted.

To keep your account active, simply login to your account today.

Forgotten your password? We can resend it to you.

I appreciate the need to keep business and sometimes the way to do this is to get customers who have dropped off, back on board.  I have not advertised with CareerOne for over three years.  And I daresay there’d be many others in my position.  Is this email going to inspire me to begin advertising with them again?  Unlikely.

There’s nothing wrong with a phone call.  This seems to be a lazy way of doing a necessary job.  Plus, it looks like one of those bank scam emails and I am not about to click and find out…

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

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)’.

We Do Anything To Get You The Right Candidate

I am excited by what the Monster/CareerOne marketing machines will produce for the Australian market.

Latest Jobs

Seek.com.au
Strategy Analyst – Melbourne

Onrec.com.au
Senior Interactive Producer – Melbourne
Producer – Games Industry – Melbourne
Senior Character Artist – Sydney
Recruitment
Consultant – Brisbane/Sydney/Melbourne
3D Artist – Sydney
Experienced Games Programmer – Melbourne/Brisbane

Dr Hollings On The Monster Mash

Recently I had an opportunity to chuck a few questions in the direction of Dr Stephen Hollings, Chief Executive Officer – CareerOne.

The overall tone of the responses reflect Dr Hollings’ confidence that the merger will have a good shot at competing with Seek.  Many have tried…is it a competition worth entering, though?  The way we recruit is going to change exponentially over the next five years.  Social media is gaining prominence as a means of communication and networking.  If you give individuals and companies a means of dialoguing with one another directly, the need for job boards will be redundant.  And this redundancy of the current way of doing things will alter the landscape of job searching – irrevocably.  I reckon any company trying to claim Seek’s turf is barking up the wrong tree and might end up heading down the same path as my old mate Jimmy.

Online Recruitment News (ORN) – How did the discussions of a deal arise?
Obviously we keep an eye on the industry both locally and internationally, and we have maintained a dialogue with a number of major players. We were aware that Monster’s new management were prioritising international expansion. We could see great synergies between the companies and so had some discussions to look at ways we could work together. The more we talked, the more avenues we explored and both of us realised that a full joint venture made a lot of sense.

What does each party contribute to the deal?
It’s a 50-50 deal, so each side will be contributing equally. In practical terms, as the global leader in online recruitment Monster brings unrivalled expertise and a world-leading technology platform. News has a strong, established brand in C1, expertise of the local market and marketing to it, and the support of News Limited’s print and online operations. Again, during our discussions these synergies became very obvious and CareerOne is looking forward to being able to take advantage of Monster’s strengths to propel our growth further in the Australian market.

In what way will this partnership change the online recruitment space in Australia?
Obviously we don’t want to broadcast the precise details to our competitors, but its safe to say that the combination of Monster and News Limited is going to create an extremely powerful and compelling product that, we believe, will be the only organisation with the power to catch Seek.

We believe – and every indication we have had from the market supports our belief – that the market welcomes more competition in this space. We’ve been delighted to receive messages of support from right across the industry which really wants to see some serious competition to Seek. When I came into this role many senior recruiters asked me whether News was really serious about the online employment marketplace. I think News has demonstrated that it is and this joint venture with Monster firmly reinforces that and takes it to the next level. . Therefore I think it has really reinforced our credentials as a committed competitor to Seek.

How will the News Ltd print folks be integrated into the new offering?
There won’t be a radical difference from what you see now – the offering will be fully integrated and supported  throughout News stable of publications – and that includes all the online properties as well as the newspapers and magazines. We certainly expect to be able to build upon Monster’s experiences with their newspaper alliances in the United States to further develop our integration points. As I stated in my previous answer, News Limited is very serious in its commitment to the market – you only have to see the resources they’ve thrown behind CareerOne over the past couple of years. This joint venture is the next part of News’ plan for growth in the online employment market and it is throwing its full weight behind the joint venture.

What is the exit strategy for both parties?
The terms of the relationship naturally have to remain confidential, but let me assure you that both parties are absolutely committed to this joint venture and to realising its enormous potential. This is a long-term play.

What will be the name of this new offering?
For the foreseeable future the company will retain the CareerOne name and branding. Clearly the Monster name has great worldwide recognition and respect, so we are currently assessing the best way to let people know the business is now a joint venture between the world’s biggest online employment company and Australia’s largest media company.

Anything else to add?
Just that I hope the market is as excited as we are by the possibilities of this joint venture. CareerOne has had a terrific couple of years – we’ve rebranded, launched mySpace jobs and eBay jobs – a world first, posted record numbers of visitors with a new record set in January 2009 and consistently overtaken myCareer.

News Limited has demonstrated their commitment to the careers market over the past few years and the result has been a huge leap in our growth and brand strength. To now add the weight and experience of Monster to the company is a real game changer… watch this space!

Careless Whispers…

Okay.  Looks as though I owe the folks at CareerOne an apology.  Thing is, I totally misinterpreted figures in the article “Careerone Delivers Christmas Price Rise“  This resulted from the fact that the rates I read from were job packs.  Of course, these are higher than contract rates.  The contract rates are not publicly displayed.  However, after communication directly with CareerOne, I need to state this:

CareerOne contract rates are where they should be – lower than Seek’s.

Trumps to CareerOne for alerting me to this error in a very reasonable manner.  I leave the final word to my mate George.  This one goes out to you CareerOne:

CareerOne Job Ads – On Seek

Would you have ever seen a promo for a Who Wants To Be A Millionaire on channel 7?  No.

Would you ever see a CareerOne job ad. on Seek?  Oh hang on.  Yes.

This totally weirds me out – in the same way that the contemplation of incest does.  News Digital has decided to whack a few jobs up on Seek.  Ashamedly.  What, is their job board not up to scratch?  Are they having such a hard time luring job seekers that they have to use the competition to find candidates?

More importantly, what message does this send to recruiters?  Should we be prepared to pay bigger fees to the number two player in the job board stakes who, by voice of their actions, is publicly announcing that their opposition is better suited to the purpose of finding candidates?

I’d also be interested in knowing how Seek feels about C1 pitching a tent in their backyard.  Chances are, I don’t need to phone a friend to know the answer.  Does the $180 odd bucks Seek yields to advertise a C1 job negate the loss of good candidates to their competition?  I doubt it.  They’re so market leader, they don’t need to play butt-boy to their competitor.

By the way, I’m running a tab on how long it takes for these ads. to get pulled…

CareerOne Delivers Christmas Price Rise

Any shenanigans reminding me (even remotely) of our elected w*nkers in Canberra leaves me with a taste in my mouth akin to the tempting flavors of a post-NYE binge.

So you’ll have to excuse me for a moment, while I go rinse, ‘cos CareerOne have been up to some no good that should set the folks there up for fabulous post-corporate careers in gummintal politics.

In true, “kick ‘em while they’re down” form, while recruiters (whose nuts and ovaries are already slightly shriveled due to the impending gloom bought on by lower rates of employment blah blah) folks at C1 got together under the mistletoe and, in between kissing each others’ asses, decided some price hikes were in order.

Merry Bloody Ho Ho.

And if this isn’t bad enough, those that they decided to hit the hardest, were the recruiters on smaller packages.  Folks on a 20-ads a month package will now pay a whopping 32% more than they did pre-Festivus.  What are larger recruiters on 50-ads-a month paying extra?  Not a penny.

There’s equity for ya.

A comparable 20-ads package on Seek is now 35% less expensive than the CareerOne option.  Tell me again why I should shift my business to the distant second-placer in the job board egg and spoon?

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