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!

Face The Facts

Whether we like it or not, the workplace is going to evolve into an almost entirely electronic arena.  What I mean by that is individuals will communicate with each other via the web, not face-to-face in an office.  Businesses probably will not even have offices in times to come. All of the consultants from Online Recruitment, for instance, pretty much work from home. We have an office in Melbourne, which we use from time to time to conduct meetings and to meet with candidates, but we aim to be entirely online when the rest of the world catches up with our way of thinking.I don’t want to have a discussion about the pros and cons of this.  Whenever I start to evaluate the costs and benefits of this way of operating, I feel as though I’ve stepped back in time and I’m having a chat to one of my printing colleagues about the evils of the printing press.  I don’t dwell on stuff like this, I like to anticipate future directions and run with them.  So don’t try to engage me on this point, it’ll bore the heck out of me.What does interest me, though, is the consequences of this new type of workspace.  It is on this point that some really fascinating questions concerning the role of social networking arise.  Humans are a social species.  Even the most introverted of us gets a buzz out of having a good chat every now and again.  But with no office; and therefore no water cooler, where are these chats going to take place.  How is that special intimacy that develops between colleagues while they’re sipping their water from inadequately small plastic cups going to arise?The answer, my friends, is blowing in the ether.  Social networking sites, such as Facebook, are going to become the means via which business provide employees with a forum for the all important team-building, for encouraging folks to get to know one another “outside work”; really all this amounts to is developing community.  And whether they know it or not, that’s why companies like Seek have created a Seek Group within the Facebook space with about 6,700 members, even including younger family member Joel Bassat. (Shouldn’t you be doing your homework??) A CareerOne employee has started a  CareerOne Facebook Group without any support. Probably because Myspace, owned by their parent company News Limited, is their focus for now with Myspace Jobs. And companies that have banned the use of Myspace and Facebook during working hours are gonna have to think long and hard about how the heck their people are going to communicate personally with each other when there are no longer four physical walls fencing them in.  Onward and forward, folks.