Let The Games Begin…

Seek has got the Christmas cards thing off and running for ‘08. Sticking with their theme of ‘SEEK & you shall find’,  Eddie, Santa’s right-hand-elf has been elfnapped and he needs your help to be rescued. Click here to play.

Job Board Price War Shake Up?

I received this letter indirectly. A plea from Recruit Me Now.  I can’t call it a media release.  It’s a confusing piece of communication which flits from third-person to first-person (and I’ve offered in past blogs to write your bloody publicity for you - but continue to be witness to the circulation of shite).

Deep breath, Geoff (see, that’s first-person).

Back to the case in point.  Recruit Me Now has offered free job ads for recruiters (now I’m in third-person.  See the difference, Michael?).  This strategy has been used by several job boards (namely, MyCareer, CareerOne, NowHiring).  This is not a successful strategy as it devalues the service offered.

Now I’m going to offer an alternative.  Don’t you just hate it when folks whine all the time but fail to show how things can be improved?  Here it comes, Mike.  Hold on to your jocks.  What Recruit Me Now needs to do is this:  cut ties with JobX.  They’re doing a crap job anyway (also offering free jobs).  Get your shirt and tie on and have a chat with market leader Hughes Recruitment, which has more recruitment jobs than you do, and present yourself as an affiliate marketer that can send them quality apps.  Charge accordingly.  Next, spend your time marketing your site properly instead of begging for free ads.

Let me know how you go:)

Network Your Way Through Christmas

For the jobseeker and employers, Christmas is a quiet time. Thoughts of changes and restructures (and all those jazzy keywords that mean positions are available) are put on hold until post-festivities. job boards continue to exhibit their wares, of course, but activity tends to slow a little.

Sites like Hoojano and 2vouch will help provide more choice of 24/7 access for the recruitment industry into the future. In the meanwhile, however, there is always LinkMe.

Here’s my suggestion: subscribe to LinkMe over the break. While it is true that movement in the job market is put on ice for a bit, the new year brings with it a bunch of changes to workplaces that recruiters and jobseekers can take advantage of.  So now, more than usual, is the time for networking.  And the opportunities won’t arise from the mitigated job board activity. They’ll come from more passive means like networking sites.

News Limited and Monster Worldwide Announce Joint Venture

“Monster Worldwide, the parent company of Monster.com, the premier global online employment brand, will own 50% of News Limited’s employment website CareerOne.com.au in the new joint venture.”

What does this mean for the Australian job board space? Probably not much. Here’s the reason why - Monster have previously folded in Australia, CareerOne has never been any threat to market leader Seek.  Two wrongs don’t make a right, two positives don’t make a negative.  there’s no reason to suggest that this partnership will achieve any more than either entity achieved separately.

What does this mean for the advertising market?  Big dollars. Monster’ll no doubt be putting truckloads into the promotional needs of this alliance…a bit of a boost in a low ebb.

It’s the job seeker who may receive a nominal benefit from the new lovers.  Monster has created some innovative career mapping tools targeted at the job seeker, probably similar to that of Mycareer’s Headhunter offering.  This might make the process of job seeking a little more efficient.

Things Are Not Always What They Seem…

You might recall my article on the launch of RecruitMeNow.com.au back in April. Also, this article JOBX and Recruitment Academy Plugging Leaky Bucket.

RecruitMeNow claims to be “The first exclusive Recruitment Industry job and candidate board“.  I like that, a niche job board, a job board that knows what it’s about.  Straight to the point.  No nonsense.  This sort of self-knowledge gives me tingles.

I thought I’d do a little update on RecruitMeNow.  It’s been a while, and I’m always interested to see how new sites are progressing.  The site looks good (certainly a relief after my interlude with Groovy Jobs).  Just mucking around, I typed in a search for ‘Accounting’.  This is what I got.

Not one job in the recruitment industry…

I didn’t sleep well last night.  It was one of those hot nights, where the air is steamy.  Plus I went over my coffee quota during the day.  Point is, I’m a bit hazy-brained this morning.  But why would the site claim to be exclusively for jobs in the recruitment industry, but deliver a search result like this one.  Have things changed?

Doncha just get sick of things not being what they seem?

Ridgy ‘Didge’ Blogging

The media is not my area of speciality, but I’m here writing because I know some stuff about online recruitment that I like to share with others. Having said that up front (an intimation about the topic for today), I reckon it’s time we had a little chat about the process of blogging.

Some things don’t require too much expertise to work out. For instance, blogging is like any other form of media in that it offers information and opinion. I don’t always get my facts right, but I endeavor to, and when a reader tells me I’m wrong, I accept the criticism with grace (and gratitude, because it’s not my intention to mislead folks).

Likewise, when I offer an opinion, I do so in an arena where I have stated clearly what my interests are. Readers can then use that information as a bouncing point for the validity of my opinion. In other words, I’ve nothing to hide. You all know who I am and I say what I think and am prepared to back my case if need be. I don’t write anonymously and never would. It takes away from the strength of my claims.

Some bloggers write anonymously and I often wonder what is the point of such an exercise. It doesn’t liberate their opinions. It waters them down because it makes readers suspicious of their intentions.

Astute blog-readers in the industry may have noticed that today I called into question the identity of the writer of “The Didge” blog. I asked the author of the blog if they worked for JobsJobsJobs (JJJ). In response, they asked why I had asked such a question. This was my reply:

# Geoff Says: Your comment is awaiting moderation.
November 23rd, 2008 at 2:55 pm

I was nudging you to declare your interests, Peter (ahem, sorry, I mean “Didge”).

Your comments are skewed against Seek and towards JobsJobsJobs.

You write in the plural “we”, but all your postings have a similar tone (indicating the same writer).

Audience disclosure is important. Everything that’s written in this space is contextual and the readers need a bouncing point from which to view your editorial.

If we are asked to take what you say seriously, it’s about time you told us what your interests are.

After I had replied, these things happened:
1) All previous comments pertaining to this question of identity were taken off the site
2) I received no response from The Didge
3) My reply was not posted

I wanna know if The Didge is ridgydidge…or is this blog a sad attempt by JJJ to disguise advertising as editorial?

Oh groovy baby… yeah…

Seek had better be prepared for some hefty competition. Groovy Jobs is on the scene, man. (Hang ten, dude, I just need to readjust my bandana. Okay, there, that’s better. Bloody thing gets uncomfortable after a while).

Groovy Jobs’ point-of-difference is made clear in their press release: candidates are important (der), so don’t advertise with us unless your job is creatively remunerated, described in terms of it being exciting, challenging and offering a variety of experiences, and set in “an environment where the employee actually looks forward to getting out of bed in the morning.” These criteria, according to Groovy Jobs, are what differentiate a “groovy” job from one that is…”square”? Man. I’m running out of cliched fifties vernacular to whack in here, so I’ll cut to the chase.

Firstly, this is obviously nothing more than a marketing ploy. How the heck are Groovy Jobs really going to monitor a company’s level of groove? And if they’re not going to monitor it, isn’t this simply about companies being required to present a role in terms that it may not be able to fulfill in reality? Isn’t that misleading? And not everyone wants a job that is groovy. And what of the companies that can’t find their groove? What about the ones who are on the dance floor, trying really hard to find the beat, but becoming more and more out of time with each step? Are these nerds of the job market less worthy in terms of their ability to make employees content at work? Moreover, some folks like consistency, solidness. Some people want to be remunerated in terms of cash, and are less interested in so-called “benefits”.

Call me square, but when I look for a job, I want to see that the environment is safe and professional, the company is established and growing, and that there may be a real possibility of growing with it. And I’d prefer not to advertise on a job board that is forcing me to put more time and energy into meeting its requirements for grooviness, and therefore fewer resources into getting acquainted with the right candidate for the position.

I’ll leave you with these thoughts. My kids are laughing at the stupid bandana on my head, and frankly, flares never suited me anyhow. Peace. Man.

No News Is Bad News

Newsletter (def): a small publication (as a leaflet or newspaper) containing news of interest chiefly to a special group (taken from Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary).

This is worth talking about.  I don’t give out my details easily online.  As far as I’m concerned, nobody gets to know stuff about me for free.  It’s a quid pro quo arrangement.  I hand over data in return for a service.  Newsletters are an example of when I’m prepared to enter into this arrangement.  It goes like this: I give over my details, I then receive information about whatever the organisation is offering in the newsletter.  I don’t sign up to receive 100% advertising.  My Latin’s not ace, so perhaps someone out there can help me with this one.  All the same, when I get nothing in return for something, it makes me fume.

Case in point: JobX’s recent “newsletter”:

Read through it.  Please tell me where the “news of interest” is here.  You’ll have no trouble finding the advertising.  It’s manifestus.

Get On Board

Is this where the job market is heading? Get on board…

Sex Insults

Sex sells, I know.  Der.  But I think the marketing folks at MyCareer need to expand their knowledge of Advertising101.  This ad. on MyCareer is puerile.  Belittling, really.  There’s no significant point to it, no funny twist.

And consider this.  The viewers of this site consist principally of people looking for a job.  They may be dissatisfied, underpaid, bored.  How is asking them to compare themselves with the two models in the banner helpful, or encouraging?  It’s not.  And the comparison offers no solution for job seekers in their job hunt.

I hate thoughtless advertising.

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