Recruitmenow.com.au Launched

There is no stopping the team at JobX. As promised they have let the recruitmenow beast out of the cage, meyow.

First impressions are it’s a pretty busy looking landing page. The goal should be to get first timers to register. However by the time you click on the distractions that blend in like they are content such as Rec Juice and watch a video of some guy picking his nose, then locate and click on the first candidate box which rewards you by sending you to PAGE NOT FOUND, I am confused. Why am I here again?? (and I don’t mean that in the esoteric sense)

As previously stated in my article, JOBX and Recruitment Academy Plugging Leaky Bucket. I still can’t see how it will gain the support of recruitment agencies, who won’t be too keen on their staff advertising themselves on the site. Needless to say it won’t help JobX with attracting the recruiters to advertise on their job board if they are losing consultants to this site.

However, its revenue model seems pretty simple. If you find a profile you like and offer employment then Recruit Me Now will then invoice you a placement fee of $2,500.00 excluding GST.

Buyer beware, - no guarantee period applies. You can also post a job ad for $69 on Recruit Me Now and wait for applicant to apply to you. No recruitment fee applies if the applicant applies to you.

Certainly not the cat’s meow…

Upgrade To The SEEK Learning Site

April has been a good month to launch some site enhancements. The Big Chair launched some improvements to its job search. The team at Seek have been busy little bees over the long weekend. Today Seek launched an upgraded user interface for their SEEK Learning site, and, in partnership with IT certification training partner, SkillSoft, the UK counterpart.

Version 2 looks to have a better layout than the last with more strongly backed career content - in the form of both “career facts” and real-person interviews. Also, as expected there is better integration with Seek’s job search.

Before:

After:

This week might also see a glimpse of the new MyCareer - JobFox initiative called Head Hunter and the JobX Recruitmenow site promises a launch by May 1st.

MyCareer The Head Hunter

I reported on the Jobfox and MyCareer technology deal back in early January.

At the recent Australian Talent Conference, the fruits of this partnership were revealed. MyCareer is set to launch a new product called Head Hunter. Here’s how it works:

Candidates complete an online interview that captures skills, desires and competencies. Head Hunter then matches these with available jobs. Employers can access the information and rate the matching candidates. They then get a shortlist of candidates for a particular role.
By MyCareer’s own admission, resume databases just don’t work (Taken from MyCareer’s presentation at the Australian Talent Conference, 2008).

And as I see it, there ain’t much difference between the Head Hunter concept and a resume database. The only difference is that, provided the technology being used is adequately assessing the suitability of candidates (and I am skeptical about this. It’s really difficult to design valid questionnaires for testing skills etc. and the whole idea of such flimsy concepts being reliant on the self-reporting of candidates makes me cringe), as a recruiter I get the most suitable candidates in my Head Hunter backend, rather than a bunch who I have to sort through.

Frankly, with the ‘manageable’ number of apps. I get from MyCareer (usually about 3 per job), sorting through the applicants is not really a big deal. Why would I want to pay for the service.

This brings me to wondering about the strategy behind the introduction of Head Hunter. Was it to provide a service to recruiters? I doubt it, recruiters aren’t too interested in being cut out of the recruiting process in this way, and paying extra for it.

Was it to cut out the role of the recruiter and offer a method of recruiting for employers? If yes, PageUp People already does this.

When a company devises a strategy for a new product, it needs to have some area of the market that it plugs; it needs to give it something that it’s longed for - or that you can convince it it longs for.

This ones just all flailing around with its arms in the air like it’s lost out at sea - and there’s no life jacket anywhere close by.

Recruitment 2020

I’m all inspired by Rudd’s 20/20 Conference. As most of you have heard my anti-meeting rants, this might seem surprising - as this was really just one huge meeting.

But I also reckon it’s great to be future-focussed, and to map out some sort of inspired plan for how we want to shape things. I can’t guarantee the likes of Cate Blanchet - I look crap in a skirt…this should prove interesting all the same.

I’ve got my ideas, but today I’d like to chuck a Rudd and throw it out there to you. What do you see are the major issues for recruitment in the coming years and how can we as an industry adapt and overcome some of the forseeable obstacles.

And in case you’re sitting there like a lump of lard, staring at the screen with not even one heck of an idea by way of response in your head, here are some questions to spur some internal thoughts. If you come up with anything decent, be sure to share…

What will the recruitment industry look like in 20/20? Will it be regulated, for instance?

What role will technology play in finding staff? Will everything be automated or will the ‘human touch’ of recruitment consultants still be required.

What measures do recruiters need to take to deal with the shortage of skilled labor? And will the shortage get worse or are we taking adequate steps to deal with it?

Will Job-boards exist or will jobs be found via aggregation from the sites of individual companies?

Friday Funny

Is China really ready for the 2008 Olympics??

Don’t Worry, Be Happy :-)

I’ve coped a bit of flak of late for not being positive in my blogs. Folks, it’s not as though I set about to be a knocker or put people down. My vision for this blog is to provide a critical analysis of the online recruitment workspace. I want to improve it - really, I do. But not one thing will change unless we discuss what we do in an open and productive way…and sometimes that means proffering opinion that makes me - well- let’s just say a bit less than popular.

Let’s put it another way - I ain’t gonna win a Logie this year…and I certainly wouldn’t stand a chance in the Big Brother house.

So…in the interests of keeping a balance, and being “nice”, I thought I’d pay a little visit to The Happiness Institute. This is an organisation whose aim is to increase the status of happiness as a social construct. Positive psychology is a sexy topic at the moment and it’s set to have a pretty big impact on how we organise our work life. Anyways, whilst I was having a browse of the website, I ran into an old friend of mine…Job X.

Seems job X is jumping aboard the happiness train by sponsoring a happiness at work index. This will be provided in conjunction with the Happiness Institute, and will allow companies to measure the happiness of their employees, and also to “quantify the connection between happiness and the bottom line”.

Great stuff and kudos to Job X for sponsoring such an initiative - news of it certainly put a smile on my face.

MyCareer latest Ad Campaign

This is MyCareer, it’s the TV campaign you’ve been waiting for.

(AND YOU WON’T EVEN REMEMBER IT EXISTED)

Jobs.com.au Powered By Jobx

Another win by the team at Jobx who are powering the entire jobs.com.au site. Perhaps the Jobs.com.au domain name will have better success this time around…

JJJ Coming To An Elevator Near You

In an effort to “lift” its application rates, Jobs Jobs Jobs, is offering job advertisements in elevators in Sydney and Melbourne, starting next week.

Why stop there? Why not “raise” the bar and whack the job advertisements on the back of public toilet doors or on toilet rolls?

This is pun city. And I apologise for such. From a recruiter perspective, and this I will not apologise for, this seems like a ploy to make advertisers pay for JJJ branding. Who’s gonna read a job ad whilst standing alongside their colleagues and bosses in a lift?

(Toilet roll image, R.I.P.)

.Asia Update

I managed to get hold of my .asia domains and some…

Looks like Careerone.asia has gone to someone else besides News Ltd, Oops! On the whois look up it is registered to a logistics company in Australia. (Be careful Mr Whoever you are, news have big pockets and good lawyers if you infringe their trademark).

Linkme.asia has been registered to someone in San Pablo City.

It’s auction time for mycareer.asia. It will be interesting to see what amount they are willing to pay. Check here for auction updates.

Safe are seek.asia, Jobx.asia, nowhiring.asia and jobsjobsjobs.asia ,well done.

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