recruitment extra July 2013 by Thomson Reuters

July 2013 30172889

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e u s s i The brand

RECRUITMENT SUPER HAS CHANGED TO KINETIC SUPER. Kinetic Super is a specialist industry fund built upon 20 years of experience in the recruitment sector. Our name change reﬂects our focus on the needs of the modern mobile worker: we ensure our members stay connected with their super as they move from job to job. Why choose Kinetic Super? We’re the leading industry fund for the recruitment and job services sector We’re a long-standing supporter of the recruitment industry and a principal partner of the RCSA We have more than 20 years experience managing super for over 350,000 members We have a smartphone-friendly website to make it easy to access your account and key information We offer a choice of eight investment options, including a MySuper option We provide access to a range of insurance options, including Income protection, Death and TPD cover We offer access to one-on-one help with a super specialist at no extra charge.

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KINETIC SUPER. THE SUPER THAT MOvES WITH yOU. Kinetic Superannuation Ltd (KSL) (ABN 14 056 917 303 AFSL 222590 RSE L0000352) is the Trustee of Kinetic Superannuation Fund (KSF) (ABN 78 984 178 687 RSE R1000429) which includes Kinetic Smart Pension (KSP). Before making a decision about Kinetic Super, you should consider your own requirements and read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement and Incorporated Information. For a copy, call us on 1300 304 000 or visit kineticsuper.com.au. Kinetic Super Management Pty Ltd (ABN 53 000 013 276 AFSL 232501) provides general financial advice, marketing and sales services using its AFSL for Kinetic Superannuation Ltd (KSL). Relationship Managers and Member Education & Advice Consultants are employed by Kinetic Financial Services Pty Ltd (ABN 57 103 181 844) and are Authorised Representatives of Kinetic Super Management Pty Ltd.

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GET AHEAD OF THE GAME: SKILLS SHORTAGES STILL EVIDENT IN SELECT AREAS Sixty-three percent of employers believe that skills shortages will affect the operation of their business or department in either a significant (18%) or minor (45%) way, according to the 2013 Hays Salary Guide. Just 37% of employers think skills shortages will have no impact. According to the Guide, the largest area of shortages is at the junior to mid management level in both Operations and Accountancy & Finance, with 19% of employers struggling to fill roles in these areas. This is followed by 12 to 15% of employers in Technical, Engineering, IT and Sales & Marketing areas, who are also finding it difficult to recruit at the junior to mid management level. At the senior management level, 13% of Engineering employers face difficulties. In an effort to combat skill shortages 61% of businesses said they would consider sponsoring candidates from overseas. “Our 2013 Hays Salary Guide shows that skills shortages are still evident within the Accountancy & Finance, Operations, Sales and Marketing, Technical, Engineering and IT sectors of the market. Perhaps this explains why employer branding is still considered vitally important to successful recruitment,” says Nick Deligiannis, Managing Director of Hays in Australia and New Zealand. According to our Hays Salary Guide, employers consider the following factors as having a ‘major’ or ‘significant’ impact on employment branding: • Career path/training and development (81%); • An individual’s ‘fit’ with the company’s vision, culture and values (81%); • Work/life balance (76%); • Salary and benefits (75%); • An individual’s direct or indirect experience with the company (60%). Another Hays survey recently found that the top factor an employee considered when deciding to work for a business was its reputation (91%) ; a further 87% said they wouldn’t work for a business with a bad employer reputation even if they offered a higher salary than the business with a good reputation.

Resumé risks Western Australia’s Local Government (Administration) Regulations have provided the state’s local governments with the authority to impose a $5,000 fine on applicants for CEO roles who provide false or misleading information about their qualifications in the application process. In an effort to crack down on the estimated 25% of applicants guilty of including embellishments and falsehoods in CVs, some employers are establishing fines and penalties when candidates are untruthful. Employment Office Managing Director Tudor Marsden-Huggins says a large percentage of CVs include some form of untruth, overstatement, omission of fact or inaccuracy, however the severity of the false information provided varies considerably. “Sometimes it’s something relatively minor like changing the wording of a job title to make it closer to the role being applied for, but in other instances there are major discrepencies in the skills, experience and qualifications listed in the CV,” he said. “We are seeing a steady rise in the number of employers requesting pre-employment screening, vetting and background checks to uncover any untruths. Employers are definitely becoming more cautious about whom they hire, and with approximately a quarter of candidates putting false or misleading information in their applications, they have good reason to be wary,” he said. Unreliable information in job applications often includes the embellishment of previous job titles and responsibilities, overstating the amount of time employed in previous roles and falsely claiming to have completed qualifications or educational courses that have only been partially undertaken. As a general rule, lying on your CV is not a criminal offence, however if you present false documents to back up claims of qualifications or educational standards, this could be judged as fraud. In one case, a worker in the UK received

“Employers are definitely becoming more cautious about whom they hire, and with approximately a quarter of candidates putting false or misleading information in their applications, they have good reason to be wary." Tudor Marsden-Huggins, Managing Director, Employment Office

a six month suspended prison sentence for lying to her employer about having obtained a university degree, several college certificates and being part way through another course. The worker was ordered to reimburse her employer for paying her fees and time off work to study for courses she was not attending. She was also ordered to carry out 150 hours of community work. “What candidates have to realise is that sooner or later, false information provided at the application stage will be tested against your practical skills and knowledge. If an employer discovers you have lied to get the job, even months or years into the relationship, your employment can be terminated immediately. Losing your job in these circumstances could damage your reputation irreparably, making it impossible to find work in your chosen field or location,” said Marsden-Huggins. “Even if your employer doesn’t fire you, you will still have to endure the embarrassment of your boss and possibly your colleagues knowing you lied. In many cases this makes moving up the ladder exceeding difficult, and often the position can become untenable,” he added.

recruitment extra 2013 July 3

General editor Lesley Horsburgh Tel +61 2 8587 7920 lesley.horsburgh@thomsonreuters.com Production editor Imogen Tear Tel +61 2 8587 7258 imogen.tear@thomsonreuters.com Submissions imogen.tear@thomsonreuters.com Advertising Australia & New Zealand Helen Sykes Tel +61 2 8587 7462 helen.sykes@thomsonreuters.com Enquiries Emily Ings Tel +61 2 8587 7051 emily.ings@thomsonreuters.com Graphic design Michelle D’Souza Printing Ligare http://sites www.thomsonreuters.com.au/recruitment-extra/ www.thomsonreuters.com.au www.recruitmentextra.com.au Customer service and subscription inquiries Tel 1300 304 195 Fax 1300 304 196 Email LTA.Service@thomsonreuters.com Publisher Thomson Reuters (Professional) Australia Limited ABN 64 058 914 668 Head office 100 Harris Street Pyrmont NSW 2009 Tel +61 2 8587 7000 Fax +61 2 8587 7100 © Thomson Reuters (Professional) Australia Limited 2010 ISSN 1835-1395 All information in recruitment extra is copyright. Material is not to be used or reproduced without written permission. No responsibility is taken for unsolicited material. Articles reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily that of the publisher.

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4 July 2013 recruitment extra

from the editor This issue we step into the world of branding and share some of the views and expertise of a whole wealth of industry gurus on the subject. While branding is many things in many arenas the single most important aspect for me is how a business, particularly a recruitment business’ employees do or often don’t promote the brand. The recruitment consultant that doesn’t call you back, the recruitment firm that doesn’t reply to a job application, the interview that led to nowhere – the list goes on. We’ve all heard it before and yet it continues, recruitment firms need to polish up their people skills because it’s exactly this kind of sloppy service that will bit by bit dismantle your brand, undo your investment and ultimately damage the brand of our industry. Come on folks it really isn’t that hard!

News

CEOs sleep rough for Vinnies The 8th Vinnies CEO Sleepout took place in capital cities across Australia on Thursday 20 June, raising over $5.4 million to support Vinnies homeless services across the country. Business leaders from various industries, including the human resources and recruitment sector, braved the cold to raise important funds and awareness about the issue of homelessness in Australia. St Vincent de Paul Society NSW CEO, Michael Perusco said, “We are very grateful and humbled by the continued and increasing support from corporate Australia across multiple industries. “What it says is that there is a growing awareness among Australia's CEOs that homelessness and social inequality are issues that all of us have a responsibility to address.” Bluefin Resources Managing Director James Hone was amongst 1,113 other business leaders from around Australia that joined the CEO Sleepout and raised almost $6,000 for Vinnies Homeless Services.

James Hone, Bluefin Managing Director

Hone said, “abuse, mental illness and unemployment are the three key factors in driving people towards homelessness. From my aspect as a leader of a successful recruitment provider, I felt it essential to take part and see firsthand what can happen to those that do not find employment.” Other CEOs from the HR and

recruitment sector included: Nikki Beaumont, Beaumont Consulting; Ben Wood, Clicks IT Recruitment; Nikki Potter, The Executive Connection; Justine Smetham, CPE Group; Samantha Cotgrave, Gel Group; Cameron Judson, Chandler Macleod Group; Lincoln Crawley, Manpower Group and Henriette Rosthchild, Hay Group.

Business credit decrease reveals lack of confidence Bibby Financial Services has called on the Rudd Government to put small business issues back on the agenda after fresh data shows a lack of business confidence and investment. Gary Green, National Sales Director, Bibby Financial Services, said with a new leader in power, and an election looming, the small business sector was looking for changes. “Statistics clearly show that business lending is decreasing which means they are backing off from investing. The Government needs to listen and provide adequate policies to kick start reinvestment and activity. “SMEs are experiencing rising costs, a falling Australian dollar, stagnant revenues and cash-flow difficulties. Adding to this strain will be the rise in compulsory superannuation contributions to 9.25% from 1 July. More business stimulus is

“SMEs are experiencing rising costs, a falling Australian dollar, stagnant revenues and cash-flow difficulties." Gary Green, National Sales Director, Bibby Financial Services

necessary, otherwise we may see more job losses,” Green said. Bucking the trend of slow credit growth is the rise of debtor finance lending, otherwise known as factoring, in Australia. Debtor finance allows an SME to convert up to 85% of the value of each sales invoice into immediate cash, usually within 24 hours of an application being received. According to recent data from the

Debtor and Invoice Finance Association total debtor finance turnover over the year to March 2013 was $63.1 billion, up 2.1% from March 2012, outpacing overall business credit growth of 1.6% for the same period. The statistics found factoring client numbers rose to 1,646 in the March 2013 quarter, the highest numbers since March 2008. Green said the statistics were encouraging but that more education is required to raise awareness of debtor finance and dispel the myth that it is a lending of last resort. “In Australia, debtor finance is used relatively less than in Europe and the US where it is a considered a more mainstream form of lending. Factoring represents only 5% of GDP in Australia, versus 15% in the UK, indicating the potential for future growth in Australia,” Green added.

recruitment extra 2013 July 5

News

Contents Inside July

Features 18

Online Branding

The New Employer Brand

New Media Attraction Strategies

Media Interviews: A Vital Skill

Branding: A Case Study

26 The Real Value of Employer Brands

ssue i d n The bra

Remunerating Key Managers

Regulars

News

Online Recruitment

The Panel

Social Recruiting

Head to Head

Deal Structures in M&A

Seven Leadership Essentials

HR Report

State Review: NT

On the Move

Directory

23 6 July 2013 recruitment extra

The latest news, events and announcements

Movers and shakers in the industry

Advertising directory

News

25 october 2013

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recruitment extra 2013 July 7

News

A two-speed ICT contract market developing This latest ICT Contractor Movement Snapshot from SkillsMatch (Dec 2012 to May 2013 inclusive) suggests some changes in the ICT contracting landscape over the past six months. “Not surprisingly contracts remain a common form of work in Australia’s ICT marketplace with approximately two thirds of contracts in ICT occurring on the east coast, and 13 plus month contracts are re-emerging in some areas,” said Julie Mills, ITCRA CEO. However the report found evidence of a “two-speed” contract market with strong markets offering many longer-term contracts for roles such as Business Intelligence Consultant contrasting strongly with short duration contracts for roles like Test Analysts. “Going forward I believe this will evolve into a split between high volume entry level generalist roles such as Helpdesk offering short duration contracts and the lower volume specialist or high experience roles such as Business Intelligence which will become permanent or longer duration contracts. This will mean some specialised talent will be out of the market for longer periods - the counter to this is less movement and availability of these specialised skills across the market,” says Mills. Mills added that, “the report indicates 46% of ICT contractors in the ACT are from interstate and ACT ICT contractors also showed the greatest willingness to relocate with 22% of ACT candidates taking contracts from interstate. I would caution that the proximity to NSW might be skewing this data but even so, there is definitely a stronger tendency for ICT contractor movement in and out of the ACT even it is only across the border.

8 July 2013 recruitment extra

"The report indicates 46% of ICT contractors in the ACT are from interstate and ACT ICT contractors also showed the greatest willingness to relocate with 22% of ACT candidates taking contracts from interstate." Julie Mills,CEO, ITCRA

“Most other states indicated that ICT contractors preferred working locally – so my earlier views on the willingness of ICT contractors to relocate have been somewhat refuted in this report. Going forward it is expected the ACT market will lose some ground as the drawn out election process continues and economising will limit business and Government activity. “In contrast, I am not surprised, however, that Queensland has the lowest proportion of longer duration contracts and is indicative of how damaging the chain of issues in ICT contractor and systems management has been to the ICT employment market in that state”, she commented. Mills added that the trend towards longer contracts in most states could suggest that ICT roles were becoming more focussed and the strategic value of ICT and skilled ICT practitioners to business was being recognised.

Thomson Reuters wins WA Tender The WA Government has selected Thomson Reuters as their Online e-Recruitment Solution provider via a rigorous and highly competitive tender process initiated in Q4 2012. Supply under the new agreement commences in September 2013 and runs for an initial three year period.

clear desk, clear mind Is a formal clear desk policy a step too far? Apparently not. A recent survey by Hays found that 81% of respondents supported such a scheme because they believe it would help keep company information secure. Nick Delgiannis, Managing Director of Hays Australia and New Zealand, says the support for a clear desk policy may seem surprising but could just be a sign of the times. “Over the last decade we have seen job tenures shorten and in more recent years we have also seen a surge in the practice of ‘hot desking’ or assigning employees laptops so they can work anywhere around a work space instead of being assigned a particular desk. “Many companies are also moving more and more of their documentation and work processes into the cloud further reducing the need for assigned desks within reach of either a desk top or nearby physical filing system,” he said. However Deligiannis warned that the trend of depersonalised workspaces could have an effect on employee attachment. Having as assigned desk generally promotes a sense of belonging so to alter that arrangement means employers will have to work harder to create a sense of belonging with their organisation.

News

Around the world in 80 days dispute A travel blogger who created the web series “Around the World in 80 Jobs” has accused Adecco Group of stealing his idea in their new recruitment campaign, of the same name, which they have now trademarked. Turner Barr, who set up the website to report on his experiences travelling and working abroad, said he was “astonished and demoralized” to find that Adecco had launched a contest using the name "Around the World in 80 jobs". Barr, who owns the Domain name but not the trademark, wrote a blog post in response to the issue titled: “How I got fired from the job I invented”. Adecco has responded via their facebook page with the following comment:

“We have spoken with Turner and have come to an agreement about how we can make it right with him. Sometimes corporations can make mistakes. We are sorry, Turner. "We will also deliver on our promise to the youngsters who won and deserve a unique job experience. We will make sure that every winner experiences the possibilities and opportunities the world of work brings. We’ve learned a lot in the past few weeks. We will work to make this right. We will do this because we are a company of great people who sometimes make mistakes, learn from them and do better next time.”

IT employers to step up to retain talent Research by Greythorn into Australia’s IT employment landscape has found some of the major challenges to the industry are job insecurity, a need for training, higher salaries and a desire for flexible working conditions. The largest proportion of survey respondents were contractors who had been in their current role for less than 12 months – a significant change from previous years and one which Greythorn suggests could “indicate a strengthening of the technology project landscape and recognition that in the foreseeable future, project-based recruitment will be one of the pillars of growth and activity for our industry.” Job insecurity ranked at a historical high with 33% of respondents feeling insecure or very insecure in their current role. This was particularly evident within the contractor workforce and candidates in the Government sector. Outsourcing was also found to be significant threat to IT workers with 20% worried their job may be lost to outsourcing in the future. Over a third of respondents additionally

A lack of training and career development also proved a significant factor and a reason why some employees left their jobs. felt threatened by the number of skilled overseas workers entering Australia. Flexible working conditions continued to remain a consideration for technology candidates for the third year in a row, with over half of respondents saying they would consider working a four day week for pro rata salary. A lack of training and career development also proved a significant factor in employee satisfaction and a reason why some employees left their jobs. Greythorn suggests companies could improve their retention strategies by having structured career planning and training for employees.

Best places to work Coming first on the 2013 BRW Best Places to Work 2013 was Dutch-owned financial services operator Optiver. Following Optiver were three IT companies: Atlassian, NetApp (its sixth consecutive year) and Salesforce; in fifth place was Melbourne business the Physio Co. Optiver CEO Paul Hilgers said the company has a genuine open door policy and a philosophy that working with “brilliant minds attracts brilliant minds”. PageUp People also made an appearance on the list as a Top 50 Employer. Deborah Mason, Senior Vice President of Talent, said she was thrilled to receive the recognition. “We are proud of our culture because we’re focused on creating an environment where people feel valued and empowered to deliver outstanding results. Our customers are among the key beneficiaries as we strongly believe that customer and employee satisfaction are tightly interconnected,” she added.

Drake diversifies into BPO Swiss Post Solutions has licensed Drake International, in a joint venture with New Zealand based company Office IQ Limited, as its official partner for supplying outsourced business processes, document management services and technology solutions to Australia and New Zealand. The venture, which is aimed at diversifying Drake’s business activities, will be known as Drake Business Logistics and will operate from the Drake offices in Australia and New Zealand, with its head office in Sydney. The company will be headed up by CEO Grant Mackenzie and COO Scott Turner. Commenting on the announcement Mackenzie said: “Swiss Post Solutions is the ideal partner for Drake Business Logistics, as they have been named in the top 100 of global BPO solutions providers and offer technology solutions that are not only unparalleled in Australia and New Zealand, but also leading edge in a global sense”.

recruitment extra 2013 July 9

News

Visa checks ramp up Following the commencement of the Migration Amendment (Reform of Employer Sanctions) Act 2013 on 1 June 2013 the Department of Immigration can now issue infringement notices of $15,300 to businesses employing workers in breach of visa conditions or work rights without needing to prove fault, negligence or intention. The new legislation puts the onus on businesses to thoroughly check the work rights of employees. According to Mark Webster, Founder and CEO of vSure and Acacia Immigration Australia, the people most affected by the new legislation are: • Employers – who are responsible for direct employees as well as any contractors they have working on site. • Recruitment companies – who need to check every candidate before referral to an employer. • Company directors and officers – who may be personally liable if they don’t implement adequate systems and processes to check work rights. If a business is found to have engaged illegal workers, the Department of Immigration can impose an instant fine of $15,300 – for each person in breach of visa conditions. This can rise to $76,500 per worker if they decide to take the business to court. Whilst it is already an offence for businesses to have illegal workers, the new legislation allows the Department of Immigration to levy fines on a strict liability basis, without needing to show any intent, knowledge or recklessness by the business. Webster stresses that to avoid the new fines, employers must check work rights prior to employment and also keep a record of visa expiry dates so that the employee does not continue to work after their visa ceases. Records of visa checks should be kept just in case there is an inquiry from the Department of Immigration.

10 July 2013 recruitment extra

If a business is found to have engaged illegal workers, the Department of Immigration can impose an instant fine of $15,300 – for each person in breach of visa conditions. This can rise to $76,500 per worker if they decide to take the business to court.

Further tips from Webster include checking an employee continues to have work rights on an ongoing basis for instance: • The employee's visa may be cancelled meaning that they no longer have work rights - this is particularly common for international students • For bridging visa holders and temporary partner visa holders, the employee's main visa application may be refused, in which case work rights would generally cease within 28 days • An employee may move onto a visa with less favourable work rights – for instance a working holiday maker may be able to work full time, but can only work for 40 hours per fortnight if they move onto a student visa. Businesses should ensure they conduct visa checks regularly to remain compliant and avoid the hefty fines applicable if they are found in breach of the new legislation.

Employers lack foresight HR professionals in Australia lack awareness of critical leadership needs, according to a recent survey by Right Management. The survey found only 22% of organisations in Australia believe they will have “an ample talent pipeline to cover future business needs” and only 18% of respondents demonstrated concern with facing a lack of high potential leaders in their organisation. Rosemarie Dentesano, Regional Practice Leader for Talent Management in Australia and New Zealand says the results demonstrate employers lack critical awareness of the future pressures they will face from inadequate leadership development. “Business leaders and HR professionals need to evaluate their talent needs more closely to gain a realistic understanding of future talent gaps. In a climate of economic uncertainty, business leaders need to establish a pipeline of high potential talent who hold the skills needed to deliver long term business growth,” Dentesano said. The survey results additionally revealed almost half (45.5%) of organisations in Australia have a “shortage of talent at all levels”. A further 22% indicated “a loss of top talent to other organisations” as one of the most pressing HR challenges faced by their organisation. “Business leaders in Australia face the added pressure of inadequate talent mobility. In order to keep the core talent in an organisation consistently aligned to business needs, employers have to work hard to provide ongoing skill development, employee engagement initiatives and career development opportunities,” Dentesano said. She added that HR professionals should be working towards stronger partnerships with organisational leaders to determine the best way to address rapidly changing business conditions.

News

DAY TO DAY ADMIN STRESS CASH FLOW

is a winning balance for any business. Organisations which promote a blended workforce will not only benefit from the range of experience and ideas which come from various age groups, but will also be in a better position as their workforce transitions, which is increasingly important with the onset of the blended workforce and generational change,” says Shepherd. Shepherd says the high unemployment rate amongst younger workers continues to be a concern and urges organisations to do more to promote diverse hiring strategies. “Australia’s youth unemployment rate is more than twice the national average, and while this is still favourable compared to many other nations, it does show there are opportunities available for organisations willing to invest in developing and training young talent. “In order to retain and attract the best, organisations need to consider the motivating factors for workers across different age groups. As an example, for mature age workers, being offered flexible working arrangements could be an effective way to attract or retain their skills in the business.

INVOICING

- Steve Shepherd, Group Director, Randstad

Work, Health & Safety Laws

"Ensuring Australia remains attractive for the best young and mature age talent will be increasingly important for organisations, especially with the economy exhibiting some uncertainty in recent months."

COMPLIANCE ISSUES

The latest Randstad Workmonitor shows both young and mature age workers continue to face an uphill battle finding a job, with 90% of Australians saying it’s hard for older workers to find a suitable job and 84% forced to take a job below their education level. More than half (56%) of Australians surveyed say it’s difficult for workers aged under 25 to find a job. Just over two-thirds (69%) of Australians also believe those new to the workforce are often forced to take jobs below their education level. The Randstad Workmonitor found that education alone may not be enough to land younger people their first job, with 71% of Australians saying experience is a more important factor in hiring Gen Y employees than education. In response to the difficulties faced by Australia’s younger workforce many are increasingly willing to look elsewhere for employment opportunities with over half saying they would look overseas for a suitable job if one wasn’t available in Australia. This figure is higher than many other surveyed nations, with only 43% of young employees in the USA and Germany, 42% of Dutch employees and 32% of those in Switzerland considering roles overseas. Steve Shepherd, Group Director of Randstad, says it’s important for Australia to remain a viable option for employees of all ages. “Ensuring Australia remains attractive for the best young and mature age talent will be increasingly important for organisations, especially with the economy exhibiting some uncertainty in recent months. “Employers which fail to invest in talented, young employees or embrace experienced and knowledgeable mature age workers will likely find themselves on the back foot. Not only will they be ignoring valuable experience, but they will be hampering the future growth of their business. “Talent is talent, and young, fresh, ambitious employees, combined with more experienced and knowledgeable talent

UES TIMESHEETS TAX ISS

Young and old struggle to find suitable work

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recruitment extra 2013 July 11

News

Hiring sentiment remains subdued: Manpower The latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey results show hiring optimism in Australia will remain weak in quarter three this year, rising only slightly to a Net Employment Outlook of +6%. The survey, which measured the hiring intentions of nearly 1,900 employers in Australia for Q3, found 17% plan to increase their hiring, 12% plan to decrease and 70% will make no changes to their hiring plans. The resulting Net Employment Outlook of +6%, reflects the subdued employer sentiment in Australia. According to Lincoln Crawley, Managing Director ManpowerGroup Australia and New Zealand, job growth in the country has not been steady and the market continues to fluctuate. “Sectors that employ a large number of people, such as manufacturing and tourism, have been affected by falling commodity prices and a high dollar. At the same time, the resource sector investment is moving from exploration to production phase in many companies, and this is less labour-intensive. However, there are key projects in Oil and Gas coming back online, which will drive some growth.

“On the ground we’re hearing that employers are cautious about investing in new talent, especially with the current political and economic uncertainty. The latest Federal Budget revealed a significant drop in revenue and reflects a number of pain points in the economy. And with an election looming, many organisations are looking to later in 2013 to start planning,” he said. The survey found that the Northern Territory and South Australia were the only regions to predict an increase in hiring optimism, with employers reporting a Net Employment Outlook of +14%, up one percentage point from last quarter. Hiring intentions in Queensland had the sharpest fall, dropping six percentage points to a Net Employment Outlook of +5%. Employers in South Australia reported the weakest Net Employment Outlook among the regions, even though increasing by three percentage points to +1%. WA fell two percentage points to a Net Employment Outlook of +8%, continuing a downward trend. In New South Wales employers' hiring outlook fell by two percentage points to a Net Employment Outlook of +6% and in Victoria employers reported a fall of three

percentage points to an Net Employment Outlook of +7%. Hiring intentions in Tasmania will remain the same as last quarter, +1%, while in the ACT employers also predict a fall of two percentage points to +5%. Among the sectors, Mining and Construction fell two percentage points, to a stagnant -1%. The Finance, Insurance and Real Estate sector fell six percentage points to a Net Employment Outlook of +9%. The Services sector fell two percentage points to a Net Employment Outlook of +11%, and employers in the Manufacturing sector predicted a fall on one percentage point to a Net Employment Outlook of 0. Employers in the Public Administration and Education sector expect the largest rise, reporting a Net Employment Outlook of +8% for quarter 3, up six percentage points from last quarter. The Transport and Utilities sector reported an increase of four percentage points to a Net Employment Outlook of +15%, the strongest among the sectors, while the Wholesale and Retail Trade sector also expect a rise in hiring intentions, predicting a Net Employment Outlook of +9%.

Pay still an employee motivator Nearly half of Australian employees surveyed (43%) for Kelly’s Global Workforce Index said they would work harder for performance-based pay and be more productive if they were able to work more from home. Kelly Services Managing Director Australia and New Zealand, Karen Colfer, says Australian employers are looking at the best ways to improve performance – particularly as global trading conditions remain uncertain and local growth becomes more constrained. “It’s clear from the latest Kelly survey that more local businesses could introduce some form of performance-based pay in order to achieve greater levels of productivity,” said Colfer. “With close to

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half of those employees not on a bonus or incentive system saying they would have greater motivation if they were, it’s an area more Australian employers could explore with their staff.” According to the survey, Australia has the lowest level of performance-based pay in the Asia Pacific region, with only 29% of employees having a portion of their pay tied to individual performance or productivity targets. A total of 59% of employees in the Asia Pacific have some form of performance-based pay, with the highest rates in China, Indonesia and Thailand (75%). The issue of remuneration is also important to Australian workers particularly when more than a fifth of

Australian workers believe they are not being paid fairly at the moment. “While we know rates of pay aren’t the only – and often not even the primary – motivator for staff, when it comes to incentivising performance it’s important that employers consider what works for their staff,” said Colfer. “Interestingly, the appeal of the more traditional overtime is still more strong in Australia than it is around the rest of the region.” The survey found that 51% of Australians would prefer to be paid for overtime, while 43% prefer performancebased pay. Across the Asia Pacific, just 28% of employees prefer overtime, while 66% would rather be paid on a performance basis.

News

JobNet Tasmania backs apprenticeship website Australian online website, Apprenticeship Central, has announced JobNet Tasmania as its first state partner. Apprenticeship Central was established to connect apprentices with employers and offers a range of online tools to help select, compare and apply for apprenticeship vacancies. Glen O'Keefe, Manager of JobNet Tasmania, said the website would provide a place that those looking to become an apprentice could go to to search for apprenticeship vacancies. “On a daily basis we are asked by people to either find them an apprenticeship or find them an apprentice,” O’Keefe said. “Apprenticeship

Central now offers that service to Tasmanians for free and helps them find the right one. “We saw this website at the forefront of innovation in the apprenticeship industry in Australia and we wanted Tasmanians to receive that service and be behind its drive and promotion within our community. There are a lot of service holes in the market around apprenticeships and traineeships today, and here was something that is accessible right now which can help people to fill one of the holes. “It creates a niche in the overcrowded recruitment market where apprenticeships can get lost.”

JobNet Tasmania will be the recognised provider and promoter of Apprenticeship Central in Tasmania. Paul Miles, CEO of not-for-profit BUSY At Work and creator of Apprenticeship Central said state partners were essential to creating a consultative and collegial approach to apprenticeships around Australia. “We already can see this service being used by businesses and those seeking apprenticeships and I hope this site will be embraced by all organisations working in the apprenticeships industry to help support the cause for apprenticeships across Australia,” said Miles.

recruitment extra 2013 July 13

News

FastTrack launch FastTrack360

FastTrack360 enables businesses that deliver high volume staffing services to recruit, pay and bill from a single platform. The product is designed for service delivery from either the cloud or via on-premise deployment models. FastTrack CEO, David Page, said: “Our company is very excited about the launch of what will be our flagship solution, FastTrack360. The FastTrack tradition for best in class products & functionality is well documented with FastTrack360 also embracing customer centred design & innovative, world leading technologies including tightly integrated job posting services from world leader

Broadbean Technology. This delivers our FastTrack360 clients the capability to post to thousands of job boards both domestically and globally in addition to seamless connectivity to the ubiquitous networks powered by social media. FastTrack360 also features an intelligent middle office suite accessed via a secure web portal to orchestrate faster, automated processing of candidate payments and more accurate & flexible bill processing for clients. These benefits deliver significant opportunities for enhancing the client experience, improving staff productivity & driving profitable revenue growth,” Page concluded.

Best employers engage employees While all businesses face similar challenges in times of economic uncertainty, the ones that are better prepared are the ones with higher levels of employee engagement, according to the 2013 Aon Hewitt Best Employers study for Australia and New Zealand. “All employers are confronted by the same set of economic circumstances, but our Best Employers are able to do a substantially better job of leading and managing the workforce to create high levels of engagement. This mitigates many of the economic issues they face – leading to better results,” said Stephen Hickey, Employee Engagement Lead at Aon Hewitt. “Best Employers achieve four times higher profit growth than other organisations,” said Hickey. “And, when it comes to total shareholder return, we’re talking 50% above average levels.” Hickey said with organisations trying to achieve more with less the leadership skills needed now are very different from those that applied before the GFC and that businesses that maintain their focus on employee engagement will reap the rewards. “It is the decisions that an organisation’s leaders are making about how to lead when times are tough that can dictate the levels of engagement – which in turn affect how well a company is likely to perform,” explained Hickey. “In essence, while we continue to

14 July 2013 recruitment extra

It is the decisions that an organisation’s leaders are making about how to lead when times are tough that can dictate the levels of engagement... see Best Employers engaging, building leadership and taking a differentiated position in the employment market, the strategy for delivery has evolved over the last few years. Difficult times are not the factor. It’s how we respond to them that counts.” The 2013 Aon Hewitt Best Employers are: Bristol-Myers Squibb, Chorus, Cooper Grace Ward Lawyers, Employment Innovations, Express Data, FedEx Express (New Zealand), Fiat Chrysler Group, Frucor Beverages Australia, Frucor Beverages New Zealand, Hilti (Aust.) Pty Ltd, Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Millward Brown Australia, Peoplebank Australia Limited, Shire Australia Pty Ltd, Silver Chef Ltd, Smartsalary Pty Ltd, STIHL Pty Ltd, The Wrigley Company Limited and Wood & Grieve Engineers. Marriott Hotels & Resorts won the Aon Hewitt 2013 Best of the Best accreditation.

Page blogs Page Personnel have launched a blog ‘EA Life’ that provides career advice and lifestyle editorial for Executive Assistants. “The ‘EA Life’ blog is a porthole to the Executive and Personal Assistant’s way of life. The blog brings together the professional and social aspects of an EA’s life and encourages interaction among our digitally savvy and switched on EAs. This is a fresh new way to communicate with these professionals, especially as online and social media use becomes more prominent,” said Sarah Riley, Director of Page Personnel in Australia. The blog features the ‘Career Lounge’ where career and job related questions are answered by Riley in addition to guest blogs and lifestyle articles.

742 The number of occupations that employers can fill using temporary overseas employees.

Online recruitment News

Year-on-Year market share for Business and Finance Employment and Training, in All Categories Based on market share of visits to the industry. Monthly rankings for the month of May 2013 This category features online job databases, employment classified websites, employment agencies and human resource management services. It also includes any websites related to job seeking, vocational training and career development. Rank

Website

Domain

Visits

Seek Australia

www.seek.com.au

27.49%

www.linkedin.com

17.71%

jobrapido Australia

au.jobrapido.com

4.24%

CareerOne

www.careerone.com.au

4.00%

indeed Australia

www.indeed.com.au

3.71%

MyCareer

www.mycareer.com.au

3.47%

Job Seeker

www.jobseeker.com.au

2.82%

Australian JobSearch

www.jobsearch.gov.au

2.37%

SimplyHired Australia

www.simplyhired.com.au

2.02%

Woolworths - Careers

www.wowcareers.com.au

1.07%

Hays Personnel Services

www.hays.com.au

0.74%

jobsearch.com.au

www.jobsearch.com.au

0.66%

Wiley Job Network

www.wileyjobnetwork.com

0.65%

Jobs.com.au

www.jobs.com.au

0.64%

Star Now Australia

www.starnow.com.au

0.62%

Fair Work Online

www.fairwork.gov.au

0.59%

Jobs.wa.gov.au

www.jobs.wa.gov.au

0.52%

indeed

www.indeed.com

0.51%

Mining Australia

www.australia-mining.com

0.49%

Defence Jobs - Australian Government Department of Defence

www.defencejobs.gov.au

0.49%

Date

Market Share

Date

Market Share

May-12

0.82%

Dec-12

0.69%

Jun-12

0.77%

Jan-13

0.94%

Jul-12

0.78%

Feb-13

0.99%

Aug-12

0.78%

Mar-13

0.95%

Sep-12

0.78%

Apr-13

0.96%

Oct-12

0.84%

May-13

0.99%

Nov-12

0.84%

recruitment extra 2013 July 15

The Panel

Damien Ross Director and General Manager ITCOM Australia

1. Pick a brand from a professional standpoint that you feel the most intimacy with and tells us why you feel such a connection? 2. Considering these points, how do you think they permeate through to your own brand value?

16 July 2013 recruitment extra

For me the brand I feel the greatest connection to currently is LinkedIn. LinkedIn has become an important component of the Itcom sourcing strategy, as recruiters it provides an excellent vehicle for us to expand our network and connect with the client and candidate communities. LinkedIn has created a place where professionals can connect and stay connected. Their core objective is to connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful. LinkedIn has managed to forge success off the back of a leading technology platform and a value proposition that focuses upon matching the right person to the right opportunity at the right time. LinkedIn also has a reputation and brand that reflects integrity and is founded in a members-first mantra. Since our inception Itcom has always strived to match the right people with the right opportunity. This has a clear alignment with LinkedIn’s Talent Solutions Mantra above. Itcom has always seen its place in the IT market as one of leverage. We leverage technologies, strategies and knowledge to consistently bring excellence to the way we work with candidates and clients alike. Further, we know LinkedIn to be a company that places value on integrity and trust – two values without which Itcom would not have remained at the forefront of our specialisation. I have known LinkedIn to place great value in its team and the people that represent the brand are in many ways the primary representation of that brand. Itcom has the exact same focus on ensuring that we hire and retain the people that represent our brand and values exceedingly well. We place great value in the knowledge and experience of our people but we also ensure that they live our values and execute consistently and to a high standard our value proposition to both client and candidate. For Itcom these are some pivotal aspects of ensuring that we have always, and will continue to match, the right people with the right opportunities.

Damien is a Human Resource professional with a 15 year career in recruitment to various business sectors including IT, retail, banking, insurance, telecommunications, transport and distribution. Damien has performed the role of Director and General Manager for national IT recruitment firm Itcom Australia for the past seven years in which time it has grown turnover to $50 million. Itcom has developed an excellent reputation with its national client base and has been the winner the SEEK Sara Legend award (three years in a row), Recruitment Excellence Award and a BRW Fast 100 (two years in a row). Damien is a board member of ITCRA.

The Panel

Ben Fuller Sales Director Bullhorn Australia The brands I feel most connected to are those that are both functional and understand me as a consumer, including how I access services and what would make my job easier. To help me get to client meetings and personal appointments I use UBER, a service which provides an on-demand private driver that can be requested around the clock via a mobile app for smartphones and tablets. I think this company is very clever as it has identified a gap in the market where current cab companies are struggling. UBER’s answer is in the form of three simple messages – ride from anywhere, in style, hassle-free. Mobile technology is increasingly being used to do business, purchase products and access services. UBER makes the process of getting from A to B very easy – from booking to billing – through its mobile app. The brand also appeals to me because it understands that my time is valuable and I can’t leave getting to a meeting on time to chance. The brand strength goes beyond its app and convenience, with drivers who are courteous, knowledgeable and always take the quickest route. 2. Knowing what your client wants is key to building loyalty, and this is the main reason I feel UBER and Bullhorn are complementary brands. As a global brand, Bullhorn makes the recruitment process easier through innovative CRM software that makes the job easier. For us, knowing that today’s recruiter is mobile and timepoor helped us develop a cloud-based system that can be accessed from anywhere, anytime. We also continue to expand compatibility with more devices and browsers and lead trends such as social recruiting. What I like about UBER is that it has understood its audiences’ needs. They created a service that speaks my language and is reliable, convenient and affordable. While we offer different services, we’re working towards the same goal – allowing busy professionals to maximise their time.

Ben is a global expert in online recruiting software systems, and is responsible for launching and growing the company’s operations in Australia. Working with Bullhorn for over 10 years,Ben has gained specialist knowledge in online recruitment software, social recruiting and an indepth understanding of challenges faced by recruiters in Australia. Ben completed a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration at University of Vermont in Burlington, USA.

recruitmentextra.com.au

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THE PANEL We are always looking for people to join our expert panel of professionals. It’s a three month commitment responding to one question each issue. Interested in having your thoughts heard? Drop a line to: imogentear@ thomsonreuters.com

recruitment extra 2013 July 17

Branding

Why aren’t recruiter’s online brands as professional as their offices? By Rick Maré, Founder & CEO, JXT

n the traditional reference to the term ‘Professional Services’, the thought comes to mind of accounting firms or lawyers. What aren’t immediately considered are recruiters. A major anomaly. A point which is validated when you walk into the reception areas of any credible recruitment firm. It feels professional. Slick. It means business. And yet is warm, friendly, helpful. What I can’t help thinking about is this: what if recruiters were as committed to their online brands, as they are to the experience of walking into their offices; of the professional feeling of their reception areas, their meeting rooms, their boardrooms, even their recruiting processes. Imagine if their online brands offered up the same experience? It doesn’t happen. Well, it does. But it’s another anomaly in this scenario: only a few Australian brands come to mind. Which isn’t many in the over-populated world of recruiting. Amidst the scramble to ‘get active’ in social media (which doesn’t always equate to ‘effective participation’ in social media), many recruiter’s are neglecting the homebase of their online brands – the critical ‘owned’ media – their website and (hopefully) blog. This scenario of poor brand representation, in terms of a sound digital recruitment strategy, results in a less-than-compelling experience of the brand wherever it’s found online. The point is, delivering a great experience of the recruiter’s brand online, doesn’t need to be arduous, painful or expensive, if a few fundamentals are applied. Here’s a 15 point checklist for recruiters to get their online brands active, alive, credible and compelling: 1) a visually engaging website that is

18 July 2013 recruitment extra

5) 6) 7)

10)

11)

12) 13)

reflective of the recruiter’s brand: design is important, but not to the detriment of usability and SEO effectiveness a brand that is similarly represented in other online environments (social, mobile, industry websites, blogs) a website that isn’t copy-heavy, but is filled with interesting content presented in a variety of formats (lists, infographics, research, interviews, video, audio, visuals, photos) a website that is easy to navigate, where job search is simple, job alerts are easy, resume submit is clear a responsive website design, optimised for mobile and tablet a website with an intuitive and meaningful search functionality a website that is well optimised for search engines, around keywords relating to the industry or niche expertise of the recruiter a blog that provides recent, relevant and interesting content for all audiences (clients AND candidates) - a major contributing factor to the success of SEO (ie point 7) a social media footprint that isn’t ‘everywhere’ but that fits with the brand and service proposition of the recruiter, and with the online habits of both clients and candidates the provision of added value intel and tools, such as industry research, thought-leader interviews, salary surveys, candidate feedback data a blog that allows for user commentary and feedback: and so starts and/or contributes to conversations around relevant industry news or issues a website with recent data: blog content AND jobs a website that integrates seamlessly

with the candidate management and database system 14) a responsive social media plan - where candidates and clients are responded to in a timely and meaningful manner (ie they’re not left ‘hanging’ online, waiting for you to return!) 15) an email marketing strategy that is supported via the website in terms of content, timing, relevancy and is segmented for both candidates and clients The most important thing to remember is this: the experience of your brand online, should be as professional and engaging as it is offline. AND.... that it needn’t cost the earth. So be judicious with your choice of service providers. Make sure they understand the recruitment industry. They have experience in your field. They know the nuances of the market. As a recruiter, your lifeblood is your network. But this can only be nurtured and amplified if your brand – and the market’s perception of your brand – is truly representative of who you are, and what you offer. Only then, are you really living up to the true meaning of the term ‘Professional Services’.

Rick Maré is the founder and CEO of JXT, Australia’s only integrated digital recruitment solutions business. JXT provides recruitment consultants, corporates and Government - organisations of any size, structure and complexity - with innovative digital solutions that enable them to be seen online.Rick’s background in jobboards, operational strategy, M & A and digital online marketing, gives JXT the commercial and edge and stand-out positioning in today’s complex recruitment environment.

Social recruiting

Your people really are your brand now By Richard Spencer, Director, TWOSocial

ccording to Wikipedia, a brand is a “name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s product as distinct from those of other sellers”, a description which is just a little too rational for my taste. In 2012 Interbrand’s list of the top 100 brands in the world, ordered by value, was topped by Coca Cola, Apple, IBM, Google and Microsoft. I don’t think it is fair to categorise these brands as just an identifying feature. Sure, the etymology of branding may come from burning a distinctive mark into a domesticated animal, but things have moved on and a better definition of a brand has to involve more of an emotional connection. That said, one of the better definitions I heard of a brand just recently was that “a brand leaves an indelible emotional mark”, a nice juxtaposition of brand and identity. Within the context of a product brand, particularly those with a consumer target, the features and benefits of a given product are often outweighed by the emotions that brands seek to spark in their target demographic. Done well, this is very hard to combat. Creating strong emotional connections for service brands is harder, as it is more difficult to control all of the variables, think Qantas or Telstra by way of example. And arguably, creating a brand connection for a b2b service brand, in this instance for a recruitment business, is harder still. Or at least it used to be. From a marketing and branding perspective, a recruitment business used

to be able to rely on three pillars – the strength and depth of its database, the quality of its people and the basic awareness of the business (often derived from press advertising). The rise and rise of the internet has reduced the impact of the internal database, but by contrast, the internet and specifically social media channels, can position the quality and knowledge of your people better and more cost effectively than ever before. Whether you like it or not (and you should really like it) through social media channels, all of your employees are brand ambassadors now. Take IBM for example, which uses the ideas of its people to help illustrate the strength of its brand and seeks to create an emotional and long tail connection with its people through blogging. What IBM does at www.ibm.com/blogs/zz/ en/ is not publishing a corporate blog, but publishing links to a huge range of the personal blogs written by IBM staff. Most are about technology or business and all are prefixed in the IBM web page as not being the views or opinions of the corporate, but what they are doing is putting the thoughts and ideas of their people front and centre. Social media and specifically the major social networks, make it easier than ever to demonstrate the strength of your brand through the quality and the ideas of your staff – provided that, as a business, you espouse a culture which champions communication and encourages your people to broadcast their ideas. This does not have to be through the written word,

as in the IBM example, but could just as easily be through still imagery or video, as access to cost effective content creation is now carried around in most people’s pockets. The first television commercial shot entirely on a smartphone (http:// vimeo.com/12980073) was filmed in mid-2010, and video you produce for social media use does not have to be broadcast quality – in fact it’s often better if is not! Another very effective way of helping your people to position themselves and your brand simultaneously is to create a volume of content which they can use to communicate through their personal LinkedIn profiles. As LinkedIn roles out the application for all users to easily add visual appeal to their profiles through links and files, then your staff could easily communicate corporate thought leadership, case examples, advisory content, or market updates to their contacts. 

Richard Spencer is a Director of TWO Social, a specialist Social Media agency. As well as being a regular media commentator, Richard advises organisations on how to maximise their opportunities across Social channels. Prior to founding TWO Social, Richard was Senior Vice President, Global Marketing and Interactive with TMP Worldwide, Global Head of Marketing for Michael Page and has been working in digital communications since 1996.

recruitment extra 2013 July 19

Branding

Why Talent Brand is the new Employer Brand By Steve Barham, Director, Talent Solutions, LinkedIn APAC

sk any talent acquisition professional what the hottest topics are in their industry at the moment and employer branding will no doubt be at or near the top of their list. Whether or not a company is considered a great place to work can make all the difference in attracting and retaining top talent, so it’s no wonder that employer branding is becoming a significant area of focus. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that 29% of the Australian talent acquisition professionals LinkedIn surveyedi agree that lack of awareness or interest in their brand is their biggest obstacle to attracting talent. When asked to name their biggest competitive threats, the recruiters we spoke to indicated that their second biggest concern was that the competition will invest in their employer brandsi. Almost all (91%) agree that their employer brand has a significant impact on the ability to hire great talent and eight in 10 indicate that employer branding is a top priority for their companyi. And it should be. A strong employer brand has been found to reduce cost per hire by up to 50%, reduce turnover rates by up to 28% and make a company twice as likely to be linked to job considerationii. These numbers are nothing to sneeze at. Yet, despite the high level of awareness and obvious benefits, there is a disconnect between the perceived importance of the employer brand and the action taken. Approximately two-thirds of talent acquisition leaders admit that they don’t consistently and quantifiably measure the

20 July 2013 recruitment extra

“A strong employer brand has been found to reduce cost per hire by up to 50%, reduce turnover rates by up to 28% and make a company twice as likely to be linked to job consideration.” - Steve Barham, Talent Solutions

health of their employer brands and four in 10 say they lack a proactive strategy. Furthermore, over half of the respondents don’t feel they have the resources they need to succeedi. But it’s not all doom and gloom. These results reveal a huge opportunity for companies to take action and develop a comprehensive employer brand strategy. Listening to their audiences and observing how they interact with their employer brand is vital. It is also important to assess how they fare compared to their competitors for talent. Lastly, companies should invest differentially in engaging target candidate populations – where they have the most to gain. This is particularly relevant now as social platforms have changed the game for where and how identities form and evolve. In the past, it was acceptable for talent acquisition professionals and their marketing peers to execute employer branding by pushing

messages to the market. However, times have changed. The shift to an online, digital-savvy society means that those messages are now being digested, amplified and possibly even questioned aloud in real time based on peoples’ experiences with the company. The term ‘talent brand’ has grown to represent this highly social, totally public version of the employer brand that incorporates what talent thinks, feels, and shares about their experience working at that company. Participating in the development of a company’s talent brand is a critical part of developing an overall employer brand strategy. Companies need to recognise that the talent brand will develop with or without their participation. The opportunity to facilitate this development is priceless. There are five steps that companies can take to craft highly social talent brands. 1) Get buy-in: arm yourself with data, start at the top and bring partners to the table eg Marketing, Communications and/or IT teams 2) Listen and Learn: audit your existing materials, monitor official and unofficial online conversations, plan research, decide what information you want to collect, analyse the results 3) Craft your approach: consider what you want people to think about your organisation, set goals and test drive your messaging 4) Promote and engage: update your profile, help your team update their profiles, train your employees to become a global team of brand

Branding

platform to promote their culture internally to improve employee engagement, as well as showcase it externally to attract job candidates 4) Auercon is actively participating in the development of their talent brand by building a presence for their employees on LinkedIn. Insights gained from employee engagement with the company page help the organisation to understand whether staff are using LinkedIn to its full potential, and allows the company to tailor internal communication and engagement 5) The cost of turnover, balanced scorecard analysis and industry benchmarks helps the company to quantify the impact of their employer brand A strong talent brand is vital for the future success of organisations and their ability to recruit high quality talent. It’s time for companies to invest in understanding how their talent brand is developing and recognise the importance of taking action to achieve the results they desire.  Footnotes: i LinkedIn Talent Solutions, Annual Recruitment Trends Survey (Australia), May 2013. ii Eda Gultekin, What’s the Value of Your Employment Brand?, http://lnkd.in/valueofEB (December 1, 2011)

champions, spruce up your company page, launch your career page, brand through LinkedIn job postings and embrace the power of online discussion 5) Measure and adjust: monitor offer acceptance rates, employee retention increases, internal surveys, online traffic and follower counts, and your Talent Brand Index Aurecon, a global engineering, advisory and project delivery company with 7,500 employees and an office network spanning 28 countries, is a terrific example of how a company has invested in building a talent brand. 1) Aurecon’s employer brand is shared between the marketing and human

capital departments with human capital taking the lead on the employee experience and marketing taking the lead on articulating and promoting those experiences 2) Focus groups help the organisation to understand what attracted employees to join and learn why they would or would not recommend Aurecon as an employer. They invest in annual employee surveys, exit interviews and collect feedback via their leadership development program 3) The Aurecon Award, an internal awards program which recognises teams and individuals for achieving excellence in innovation, was developed as a

Steve Barham is Senior Director, Asia Pacific for LinkedIn Talent Solutions. In this role Steve is responsible for leading LinkedIn Talent Solutions¹ expansion throughout Asia Pacific, stretching from Melbourne to Hong Kong, from Tokyo to Mumbai. Steve first joined LinkedIn in 2008, and became LinkedIn’s first expatriate when he relocated to Sydney in 2010 to help launch LinkedIn Australia. As an entrepreneur, Steve is most passionate about building successful and sustainable businesses that provide employees with the opportunity to transform their own careers. LinkedIn’s mission is to help the world¹s professionals become more productive and successful, and thus far LinkedIn Talent Solutions has enabled over 1,000 companies in Australia/New Zealand to transform the way they connect talent with opportunity at massive scale.

recruitment extra 2013 July 21

Advertising

Attraction strategies in the current media landscape By Catherine Hiller, General Manager, The Face

he recruitment advertising landscape has changed dramatically over the past couple of years and raised several new challenges for recruitment companies. Changing jobs is a major decision in anyone’s life, so it is understandable that people thoroughly research potential employers and opportunities. Long before candidates step through a prospective employer’s door, they have already engaged with that employer in some way to find out about its reputation – much the same way consumers research potential purchases before going to the store or buying online. Print advertising still gets good results and is good exposure for your brand, however, it is only part of today’s advertising mix. There are now many online options for recruitment consultants to either attract candidates or promote their brand. Technology is changing the way people research prospective purchases and make decisions for everything from buying a car, booking a holiday, to looking for a new job. Using social media creates a rapport with candidates and is a great way for you to show them what your company is about from culture to personal development to watching your CEO’s latest webinar. We encourage companies to create communities and be a subject matter expert – don’t just post jobs on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn – create groups with compelling content that will be relevant and engaging to the audience. A good starting point is to get your consultants to communicate on social media platforms in a similar tone of voice across a range of subjects. Obviously

22 July 2013 recruitment extra

before embarking on this path it is important you have social media policies and guidelines in place. We understand that for a lot of major companies this can be a huge issue from a risk management perspective. Use social media wisely. Don’t just cold contact people on LinkedIn without a well thought out approach. A lot of recruiters do this and it can be damaging for the company’s brand. To raise your brand profile it is important to refresh your brand regularly. If you are working in the technology space, your brand should reflect this. It is also important that your first port of call, your website, is not only functional but also visually representative of your brand and the market. A recruitment website should have an easy application process and be available across multiple platforms. Mobile devices are tipped to be the first port of call for jobseekers in the near future. Our smartphone is always nearby and 86% of jobseekers will use it to search for a job. Using a smartphone allows you to search anytime, anywhere which is great for a jobseeker as well as a company seeking good candidates – so long as the website functions on mobile devices! iPads are also growing in popularity. We have produced some very effective advertising for recruiters within articles on iPad apps. Typically these ads are getting an average click-through-rate of 1.35% (compared to regular online banner advertising averaging 0.1%). Behavioural targeting is another way to make sure that your message is being seen by the right candidates, whether they are passive or actively searching for a new role. Media networks are developing more and

more powerful tracking tools to be able to establish user’s personal information. They are then able to use this data to serve only relevant advertising to each individual, across all of the websites on that network. Keeping your company, or agency, top of mind to your target market, through continuous but varied branding strategies, is key to establishing a strong and memorable brand presence. If a candidate from your industry is passive but sees your branding come up throughout their day – on social media, while they are reading the news online or as they are waiting for their morning coffee - yours will be the first website they visit once they have made the jump to actively seeking alternative employment.

Catherine Hiller is the General Manager of The Face, part of Havas People, an agency specialising in employer marketing which helps major blue chip clients to develop and communicate their employer brand, as well as devising recruitment advertising and communication strategies for leading recruitment firms. Catherine’s experience in employer marketing spans 15 years across Europe and in Australia.

Interview Skills

media interviews: a vital skill for leaders By Steve Cropper, Author & trainer

ood communication skills are necessary for anyone who wishes to achieve business success, community recognition or high public office. Leaders have to be able to effectively communicate concepts and enthuse people. No matter how good an idea might be, poor communication may sentence it to oblivion. Poor communicators seldom become leaders. An effective media spokesperson can add lots of value to their organisation’s reputation, and indeed their own. At the same time, a bad interview can cause plenty of headaches. Despite criticism and cynicism of reporters in traditional media (TV, radio and press), most of the public still accepts the content because they perceive the media’s role to be an ‘honest broker’. That makes interaction between a spokesperson and a reporter vital in delivering a concise, succinct and positive message. Recruitment organisations sometimes work with the media to talk with their audience (potential recruits or clients) about the latest unemployment figures, research into workplace trends, uptake of new technologies and so on; the media wants this information because their readers are interested. Now, enter the spokesperson, who sees the potential to enhance their organisation’s reputation with a message of importance and interest to their audience. First contact Often spokespeople will take a call from a reporter and just start answering questions, by doing so they grant all power over the interview to the reporter. This is a fundamental mistake. Before answering questions it is important to buy some time to evaluate the opportunity. Consider this approach: • Explain that an interview ‘right this minute’ is not possible and you will call them back. • Ask the reporter what they wish to concentrate on for this interview. They cannot tell the entire story in a short

news item so what is the focal point? • Who else has the reporter spoken to and what did they say? It is useful to know what other opinions might be arranged alongside yours. • What is the deadline? The right message A common error is assuming that what interests us will appeal to the outside world. Audiences are much more interested in what matters to them. Messages must be oriented to the agenda of the audience. Consider: • Who is the primary audience? For the recruitment company the primary audience might be potential clients or potential candidates. The more specific we can be about who we want to reach, the better. • What is/are the main issues, areas of interest on the minds of the priority audience? Our message must specifically address these, or the message will get lost in an increasingly cluttered media landscape. Brevity is the soul of wit (and handy in interviews) People who are new to interviews and have no media training often launch into a monologue in which they recite everything they know. It is another newbie mistake. They are dismayed when they see that their message has either been diluted to meaninglessness or does not appear at all. The instinct is to blame the reporter but in fact the fault lies with the spokesperson. In media interviews it is vital to express the core idea in two short sentences, because that’s how quotes appear in print. In TV or radio, they call quotes ‘grabs’ or ‘soundbites’ and they are only about eight seconds long (roughly 24 words). In two-person interviews on radio or TV, where the audience can hear both the question and the response, while it is your turn to speak, you only have about 20 seconds talk time before the interview jumps in with another question. Come to the point at once - rather like a tweet.

Frequency Obviously people answer questions in interviews and it would be odd if they did not (politicians excepted). However, a spokesperson’s mission is to deliver the message and make sure that the reporter has received and understood it. So it is necessary to say it more than once and draw attention to it with pointer-phrases such as, “...but the main issue here is...” or “...at the same time we must always remember that...” No Comment Never say these two words in this order in the presence of a reporter, because you will have told them that they are really onto something, even if there is nothing there. If you can’t talk about it, say why (it’s the wrong time, I’m the wrong person, it’s a matter for another company). Then default back to your core message. There is a great deal more to this and it requires training and practice with a qualified and experience media trainer to gain mastery. In a nutshell, the approach is to: 1. Remember what you are hoping to achieve from the coverage 2. Couch your message in terms that are relevant and meaningful to the priority audience 3. Say it more than once so it gets noticed and picked up 4. And above all PRACTICE FIRST. Provided spokespeople can follow this policy, they should be able to confidently engage with the media, reach out to important audiences and achieve great things for their organisation - and themselves.

Steve Cropper has trained media spokespeople in corporate, political and business circles for 25 years and is author of Mastering Media Interviews in the 21st Century.

recruitment extra 2013 July 23

Branding

On the brandwagon While a rebrand is often considered a positive time for a business, the challenges that underpin such change can determine the success or failure of the brand in question. Carolyn Hyams, Marketing Director at Aquent, has experienced perhaps more than her fair share of brand launches during the last 12 years. Here she tells Imogen Tear about strategy, delivery and insuring long term brand success. 1. Having been closely involved in the conception and establishment of Firebrand could you explain how you set about developing the brand? Starting Firebrand’s brand from scratch was both challenging and exciting. Challenging because our marketing budget was almost non-existent and exciting because we were in control of the direction we wanted to head with our brand as well as our marketing strategy. We chose to only focus on digital marketing for a couple of reasons. One, it is very cost effective, and two, we specialise in digital, marketing and creative, so we wanted to “practice what we preach”. Once we had determined our business strategy, we brought in brand development agency, AMC Creative to develop our name and branding. We also engaged Richard Sauerman

1986

(aka The Brand Guy) to assist us in determining our brand voice, positioning, value proposition and mission. This was communicated internally to all staff to get them really excited. Once we had our brand assets, we built our website. It wasn’t too long after that I realised that if we really wanted to make an impact, we needed to show that we were thought leaders in our space — a website was not enough. As a result, we launched a blog focusing on digital, marketing, creative, branding and careers, as well as our presence on various social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest).

2. How structured is the process? Is it meticulously planned or organic? Our digital marketing was and always is

1987

Founded Laser Designs Corporation

Launched MacTemps in Cambridge, MA

very strategic, but we grew organically as our knowledge in digital and social marketing grew. You’ve got to start somewhere. After all, it’s better to start something and get it done rather than waiting for it to be perfect first.

3. Did you do things differently when launching Vitamin T than when you oversaw the Firebrand branding? Has the changed media landscape made it easier? Launching Vitamin T was so much easier. It already has a very strong brand presence in the US as well as the UK and had been running for two years already. Plus we have a massive global marketing team supporting us. So when we launched in Australia in April 2013, specialising in digital creative freelance recruitment for agencies — advertising and design, it was very easy to extend their marketing

1991

1995

Launched MacTemps’ 1st non-US location in London, UK

launched three additional specialised staffing divisions—Portfolio, 1-800-NETWORK and WebStaff

timeline: aquent

2004 launched RoboHead and Major Tom, cloud-based marketing project management and digital asset management software tools.

2010 management buy-out of perm business (rebranded as Firebrand Talent)

24 July 2013 recruitment extra

2000

1999

launched Aquent Studios providing marketing collateral project outsourcing to the F500

changed name to Aquent, combined all divisions into one

2013

2011 launched Vitamin T a recruitment company for digital creatives

acquired the Australian operations of Firebrand Talent

Branding

“One of our best digital strategies from a brand awareness and tapping in the passive talent market point of view, was to launch an online, real-time salary comparison website (esalarysurvey.com) specialising in the digital, marketing and creative sectors.” strategy to Australia. We now have one global marketing strategy. It is such an über cool brand and already has a strong digital presence which includes an awesome website, blog, and massive communities on various social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. It’s simply a matter of increasing Vitamin T’s brand awareness in Australia and building that Australian community of advocates through multi-channel marketing and relationship building.

4. How do you build up a strong identity for a new brand? It takes time. And you have to be brave and stand up for what you believe in. Our strategy for Firebrand was to become thought leaders in the digital, marketing and creative industry. The agency that professionals refer others to. A magnet for talent and ‘enemies of average’. From a branding and thought leadership point of view, our blog has really given us a fantastic platform to really excel in this area and our social marketing has resulted in huge communities of talent and advocates to help spread our brand awareness far and wide, even across the globe. Let’s not forget the importance of email marketing. The poor cousin these days, but highly effective. One of our best digital strategies from a brand awareness and tapping in the passive talent market point of view, was to launch an online, real-time salary comparison website (esalarysurvey.com) specialising in the digital, marketing and

creative sectors. It’s a fantastic resource (and value-add) for clients and talent alike and has over 30,000 profiles on the site. The best thing about it is that we list Firebrand’s jobs on the site, and if anyone applies, they go straight into our database. They can also register for job alerts and can stay in touch via email. If you ask what hasn’t worked as well as we were hoping, I’d say that Google+ and even Facebook has been a slow burn. I haven’t seen any benefits in marketing on Google+ and our Facebook community grows steadily and but slowly. What’s also frustrating about Facebook is only up to 16% of fans see your updates, so you need to work very hard on this platform to have an impact. What is also interesting is that we get far more visitors to our blog than our website. Understandable really, since our blog (blog.firebrandtalent.com) is far more interesting. Vitamin T have done some very, very cool campaigns; from interactive, digital infographics, to “Madame Zoltwang” the psychic résumé reader, to a cow called Vera which has its very own Facebook page. It’s such a fun brand and the feedback from talent and clients is that they really enjoy the humour that the brand exudes. Aquent’s philosophy has always been about constantly evolving and innovating. Our latest innovation is called Aquent Gymnasium. It’s a MOOC (massively open online course) and is free to anyone online and focuses on online training for creatives. For example, we offer a course for designers to learn code and another course for developers to learn how to build “responsive” websites. The last course we held had 10,000 enrolments! Of course, those who excel in the free courses have the opportunity to be represented by Aquent for freelance/contract opportunities, so there are huge benefits to building such a great program.

5. What kind of client and candidate feedback have you received regarding Vitamin T? All the ad and design agencies we’ve spoken to so far about Vitamin T have been really impressed with the look and feel of the brand. The brand is still relatively new here, so now it’s about fulfilling our brand promise of being human, resourceful,

experts in digital and being able to source tomorrow’s digital talent, today! Regarding Firebrand, we consistently get feedback that we’re a “connected” brand and thought leaders in digital, marketing, creative. Judging from the number of referrals we get, our strategy seems to be working. We have a bit of work to do to build Aquent’s brand back up to the glory days, but myself and our global marketing team have aggressive plans to do so. Our target market is very different. We’re looking at Tier one corporate companies who hire teams of contractors on a longer term basis. Our marketing strategy is a little different and certainly our brand messaging is a little more conservative.

6. Have people been confused by the fact that the key stakeholders have stayed the same but the brands have changed? Externally to clients, there is minimal impact. Essentially we market ourselves as three separate brands, even though Firebrand and Vitamin T are divisions of Aquent. We are all specialists in digital, marketing and creative. Although Aquent focuses on contract recruitment for corporate companies, Vitamin T focuses on freelance recruitment for agencies and Firebrand specialises in permanent recruitment across all sectors. Internally, we share talent across all three brands. This has not presented an issue yet, but it does mean that we need to clearly communicate the differences between the three brands to the talent that we represent.

7. Any other tips Recruitment agencies really need to be able to add value to clients and prove why they can do the job better than internal recruiters. When it all comes down to it, it’s about tapping into the passive talent market, the talent that internal recruiters can’t find. By building their own communities of advocates and potential talent through digital and social marketing, if done well, they will have the opportunity to tap into the talent who aren’t looking right now, but may do so sometime in the future. This, amongst other business strategies will ensure that they will not only survive, but thrive. 

recruitment extra 2013 July 25

Employer branding

The real value of employer brands By Mike De Vile, Agency Head, Western Australia, Reagent Employer Marketing

’ve lost count how many LinkedIn groups I’ve come across that purport to be the very best thing in employer brand thinking. I’m not complaining. It’s great that there are so many people who want to share their thoughts. And anything we can do to preach the good word is obviously all to the good. But I can’t help feeling that this is a classic area that is in danger of disappearing into an academic black hole, to be swamped by models and theories. Definitions of employer brand abound ranging from the scholarly: “A set of attributes and qualities – often intangible – that makes an organization distinctive and promises a particular kind of employment.” Or “The sum of a company’s efforts to communicate to existing and prospective staff what makes it a desirable place to work, and the active management of a company’s image as seen through the eyes of its associates and potential hires.” ...to a one-off quote attributed to Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s Founder, which is a comment about brands in general, but sums it up nicely – “Your brand is what people say about you when you’ve left the room.” Which goes pretty close to the crux of the issue. In a nutshell, brand is all about reputation. And reputations are hard to build, easy to destroy and, above all, provoke emotional reactions. Best to treat them with respect then. So, when it comes to candidate attraction and retention, it certainly goes far beyond the sphere of influence of the average recruitment department – or their

26 July 2013 recruitment extra

preferred suppliers. Employer brand isn’t something you can dictate, nor can you nail it down simply by creating a fancy website and marketing campaign. It is formed mainly from people’s experience, in this case as candidates and employees, suppliers and members of the community, and that means that everyone in the company has an influence. People are also naturally social animals, so we like to compare notes and share experiences. We always have done – in the pub, over lunch or by the coffee machine. Social media just makes it much easier and quicker now. So, of course the attraction strategy and collateral are important, but the way candidates and employees are treated and communicated with is even more so. A bad experience will do the rounds far quicker than a good one. Never before has it been so important to practice what you preach as an employer. But what are you preaching and how do you make sure it’s believable? We have to start somewhere and there’s a logical place to begin. So, for anyone who is thinking about consigning this whole subject to the ‘too hard’ folder, now is a perfect opportunity to take advantage of the supposed downturn and invest some time in examining your core difference as an employer, or your EVP. This brand health check, when done properly, enables companies to take a good look at themselves from all angles, warts and all and, as a result, present the outside world as well as employees with an employment promise, messages and themes that are consistent, engaging and, above all, true. Crucially, it also encourages all staff from top to bottom to think not

only about what they say and how they communicate, but the actions they take and decisions they make during their everyday working lives. Central to the EVP, of course, is the set of published company values that supposedly underpin its policies. All organisations have them, but so few are very effective at demonstrating them in their everyday behaviours. When was the last time your CEO was seen to tie a decision back to one of the company values? It’s fine when it suits, but typically, as soon as the going gets tough, the values take a hike. And people do notice. When truly integrated, an engaging and well-defined set of values enable everyone to feel empowered and liberated, acting in the best interests both of the company and, of course, the customer. When treated with lip service, they may as well not be there. As marketing and communications consultants, we specialise in ensuring appropriate consistency of theme, message, look and tone – but brand, in its truest sense, is all about walking the walk, not just talking the talk. 

Mike De Vile is Agency Head, Western Australia, for Reagent Employer Marketing. He has spent the last 25 years working with organisations throughout the UK, New Zealand and Australia to identify what makes them unique in the market and helping them to bring this to life at all stages in the employee lifecycle – from initial awarenessbuilding, through recruitment marketing, onboarding and internal communications and utilising all forms of media.

Tax focus

Remunerating key managers - loan funded share plans By Paul Masters, Tax Partner, Deloitte Introduction Many recruitment firm owners find it challenging to retain or attract quality managers in their business and often experience difficulties in deriving a successful strategy to compensate them. These days, across many of the private recruitment firms it is common for top performing managers to request “equity” in the business as a form of incentive when commencing employment. In contrast to purely cash-based performance rewards, the provision of equity provides a longerterm and more tangible outcome for the manager via the receipt of dividends, the motivation to increase the business share price and also the opportunity to participate as an “owner”. Changes over the past few years to the tax legislation, have meant that many firm owners have steered clear of employee share plan arrangements due to the complexity of the tax and compliance requirements associated with such structures. Ordinarily, where shares are issued to employees at a discount to their market value, the employee is taxed upfront on the discount amount which is often a disincentive to both parties entering into a share scheme arrangement. However, despite these tax provisions, there are alternate ways to structure arrangements where both parties can end up with effective tax and commercial outcomes and with no cash exchanged by either party. One such arrangement is via a loan funded share plan. An outline on how this type of arrangement operates is below: What is a Loan Funded Share Plan? A loan funded share plan is a type of “employee share scheme” arrangement which effectively allows the employee to acquire shares in the company via a loan. Under these plans, the employer provides a loan to the employee to purchase shares in the company at their market

value. The provision of the loan and the acquisition of the shares by the employee occur simultaneously so no cash is ever exchanged between the employee and the employer. Over time, if the value of the shares increases, the employee will receive the benefit of the “upside” if the shares are disposed of. Characteristics of loan funded share plan arrangements Generally speaking, the terms of a loan funded share plan may be as follows: • The loan provided by the employer to the employee is typically limited or nonrecourse (and can be interest bearing or interest free). This means the company has no claim against the employee individually, just against the shares issued to the employee. In addition, if the market value of the shares issued to the employee falls to a lower price than what they were originally issued for, the employee will only ever have to “pay back” the loan to that extent. • As the employee continues to hold the shares, over time, the loan they have with their employer may be paid off by offsetting any dividends (or in some cases their bonuses) against the loan balance. No cash is required to be exchanged. • Any remaining portion of the loan is usually repayable if the employee leaves the company or if some form of exit event occurs in relation to the company. At that time, the employer can “buy back” the shares from that employee. • Loan funded share plans are generally based on time or performance vesting criteria. That is, depending on how the loan plan is drafted, the new manager may not necessarily be entitled to the shares until certain performance milestones are met. The criteria can be tailored to suit the relevant employee/ employer.

Tax advantages of establishing a loan funded share plan Under the arrangements described above, many of the tax complexities and disadvantages found under ordinary employee share schemes arrangements will not apply. That is, the “upfront” taxation and employer reporting requirements that can be triggered under certain share scheme structures do not apply to these arrangements as the shares are usually issued to the employee for their market value (and not at a discount).This makes this arrangement very attractive to both the employee and employer. In addition to the above, assuming the loan funded share plan is structured correctly, it will be excluded from the fringe benefit tax provisions and also the Division 7A loan provisions (where the employee is not already an existing shareholder of the company). Conclusion Given the importance of attracting top talent within the recruitment industry, it is worthwhile considering loan funded share plan arrangements when looking for ways to remunerate new managers. The implementation of such arrangements is relatively simple but does require consideration of your existing business structure and the correct implementation documentation to be drafted.

Paul Masters is a tax partner at Deloitte Sydney. He specialises in providing taxation advice to recruitment companies, particularly in the areas of M&A, restructuring and tax planning. He is the tax adviser to four ASX listed recruitment companies and numerous private recruitment companies.

recruitment extra 2013 July 27

Head to Head

Marketing in the Era of the Buyer

My head-to-head partner this month is Chris Fell, founder and Managing Director of G2M Solutions, which helps organisations build sustainable marketing and sales platforms to meet today’s requirements. Rod: Chris, it seems to me that the massive changes that are underway in how buyers find, assess and purchase goods and services has really become apparent since the financial downturn of a few years ago. Chris: The financial crisis certainly helped focus changes that were happening anyway. We have described the changes by saying that we are in the "era of the buyer". As we trend towards "the internet of everything" (a Cisco term), information has become more and more democratised and much easier to find. As a result buyers are continually grazing on information of interest to them and when the business pain from a problem they are facing reaches a tipping point they are able to self-serve increasingly effectively, changing and diminishing a supplier’s ability to influence the sale process via traditional means. Rod: So the way we might purchase consumer goods is spreading to the business-to-business (B2B) world? We don’t go to a restaurant or buy a PC without reading a review. When someone rings us at work we google them while on the call. Now we don’t acquire business services without undertaking these processes? Chris: Exactly. So B2B marketers have to respond and we think the way they must do that is via intelligent and genuinely helpful content delivered to the buyer in a format, on a device and at a time of their choosing. That content must span the buying journey and adapt to serve

28 July 2013 recruitment extra

the buyer's information needs from initial awareness, to consideration to final decision. Rod: The buyer’s journey is not something that is thought about too often. I suppose that is reflected in the old sales mistake of “asking for the order too soon”. Chris: The next action you take must be appropriate for the stage of the buyer’s journey. Therefore we absolutely endorse marketing covering the whole buying cycle. In many B2B markets the time from the very first engagement to being a loyal customer can be 12 to 18 months. Therefore, it is ludicrous to run a marketing campaign for three months! This short-term marketing can only influence initial engagement (top of the funnel) awareness OR can influence short term decisions such as end-of-period product specials. What is needed is consistent messaging through regularly delivered content across the full buying cycle. The job of marketing is to get the buyer to take action and move on to the next stage of the buying journey. Having a content distribution strategy is key to making your content effective. Social media, blogging, email and SEO are some examples of this. Rod: We have spoken to some business owners that get very excited by marketing. Marketing for marketing’s sake would be a valid criticism – they seem to forget that marketing’s sole purpose is to deliver leads to the sale process and you need a targeted and measured process for that activity.

Chris: That is true, no company should invest in these processes without having a way of measuring its effectiveness. If your marketing isn’t delivering the right volume of sales leads, change your marketing. Businesses need to determine the velocity at which they need to run the combined sales and marketing funnel to meet their business’ growth goals and use this as the yardstick to measure their marketing. One additional expectation today is that an organisation must have a “presence” – an organisation needs to be visible online and they need to show proven influence in their area of expertise. Rod: Most organisations are a long way from having the strategy or the skills or the tools to put this in place. I’m guessing it is more than publishing heaps of content. Chris: Much more. As we gather more and more data about a buyer who interacts with us; marketers are able to respond in an increasingly personalised way increasing our ability to sway the buyer to favour our offer. We are heading towards a nirvana of customer segments of one! Although, I think that is an aspirational goal rather than a near term objective. With online/inbound marketing we can garner heaps of data. But that’s not enough. Marketers must have the skills to analyse what the data means and develop a culture of continual improvement. Test analyse - retest. Rod: Are organisations moving to a total online/inbound marketing strategy?

Head to Head

"If your marketing isn’t delivering the right volume of sales leads, change your marketing. Businesses need to determine the velocity at which they need to run the combined sales and marketing funnel to meet their business’ growth goals and use this as the yardstick to measure their marketing." - Chris Fell, founder and Managing Director, G2M Solutions

Chris: Not necessarily, most organisations have some combination of inbound and outbound strategies. For example, firms use email – an outbound tactic – to nurture leads, but only once they have got to know you and you have earned the right to market to them. What we are finding is that expensive outbound tactics are getting dropped for their cheaper inbound cousins.

Reduce the cost of client acquisition There is no doubt the benefits of online/ inbound lead generation is compelling. The cliché of "I know 50% of my marketing works I just don't know which 50%" is dead and buried. Inbound marketing drives down cost per lead significantly. Inbound/online marketing has a 62% lower cost per lead than outbound marketing on average. That alone is a huge reason for the switch to inbound – it’s just cheaper.

The website is critical Rod: All of this must have significant implications for an organisation’s website. Many recruitment agencies that I view have some static information and a job board – and I don’t think the job board is “content” in the way you have been describing it. Chris: These organisations need to think about a refresh. Websites should become interactive destinations for your target buyers. They should have you bookmarked and want to come back to your site. They should be subscribing to your content (eg blogs) downloading your

useful content, watching short videos and so on. Your website should talk about the world of your buyer and your own products or services should not be the first thing people see ... this probably requires a change to your messaging. The good news is that websites are becoming so much easier to build and use. Having a website that either has marketing automation built in or can interact with marketing automation tools is CRITICAL for business to business sales in the future. Rod: How should business owners move from what they do now to where they need to be in the future? It seems that the strategy is hard enough, but the technology is complex and all of that is easy compared to the content development requirement that needs to be regular and ongoing. Chris: We recommend professional service firms take the following steps: 1) Think about your buyers. What’s their behaviour, what are they struggling with, what are their goals? More importantly, what’s holding them back? Figure out which of these challenges you solve better than anyone else. This is your sweet spot. 2) Use your sweet spot to develop content across the entire funnel. This is THE critical step. Content is the fuel for your lead engine. 3) Apply a consistent inbound marketing methodology across your entire marketing and sales cycle to “get found” by buyers, convert them to leads and nurture then until they are sales ready. Measure everything you do.

Chris Fell, founder and Managing Director, G2M Solutions Chris is an experienced senior marketing and business executive, with over 20 years experience across Europe, the US, Asia and Australia. Chris has served clients predominantly in the technology, professional services and financial services sectors. In late 2007 Chris launched g2m solutions. The g2m solutions team offers services with a single purpose, to assist B2B firms generate the right quantity and quality of leads to meet their business goals, via the principles of inbound marketing, underpinned by a strong planning methodology, IP and technology tools. g2m's clients are often small and medium businesses, however he also works with many larger firms, especially from the IT&T sector, spread across Australia and Asia Pacific as well. Chris spent his earlier career working in the IT vendor community before moving to Gartner and IDC, latterly running the local IDC South Pacific operations.

Rod Hore, Executive Director, HHMC Australia Rod was born and educated in Western Australia and works with organisations throughout Australia and New Zealand from his base in Sydney. Rod has 20 years, experience in the Information Technology industry undertaking a range of sales management and leadership roles. Since 1999 Rod has been the Executive Director of HHMC Australia Pty Ltd providing advisory and M&A services to global, locally listed and private organisations in Australia and New Zealand. Much of Rod’s work is with emerging private companies, providing advisory services to owners who are seeking to define and achieve their growth ambitions. Rod is an enthusiastic supporter of the Recruitment Industry and is an accomplished presenter on topics related to small business.

recruitment extra 2013 July 29

Mergers & acquisistions

Deal Structures in M&A By Richard Hayward, Principal at HHMC, Australia

or most SME recruitment companies, business performance is tightly linked to the efforts of the key people who lead it. Systems, processes and technology all play an important part in determining productivity and competitive advantage, but if you lose your best people you may very well lose big parts of your business. Anyone assessing a business to buy will factor in the risks associated with losing key staff post-acquisition. Recruitment company sellers often focus on their history of profitability, however, to a buyer the only thing that matters is producing profits in the coming years. The entire buy/sell negotiation is driven by the assessment of risk and return by both parties. Many sellers try to convince potential buyers that their business is recession-proof and next year is going to be a really great year. Buyers on the other hand emphasise the risks from every possible scenario. It can be an interesting “courtship” to be involved with. Bringing the parties toward more objective assessments of their positions and then agreeing a deal takes time. In an M&A transaction there are two key variables: the price paid and the timing and structure of the payments. Both are very much intertwined as they again relate to issues of risk and return. If you want to sell your business at the best possible price you can’t expect to have that price paid up-front with no contingency on future performance. The price will be less based on the increased risk absorbed by the buyer. The reverse also applies with a stronger negotiating position on price achievable by a seller if they agree to performance targets within a reasonable time-period. Alternative deal structures Contrary to what appears a widely held belief there are no set rules on private business sales as far as what commercial terms and parameters are agreed and how those are negotiated. Each deal is as variable as the people involved. There are recruitment agency sales that

30 July 2013 recruitment extra

are paid as one-time payments, usually at the time of the execution of a sale/ purchase contract. These tend to be for very small agencies and where there are no particular advantages to having an owner stay on for any length of time. The much more common structure includes an earn-out over periods of perhaps six, 12, 18 or 24 months. There are some that stretch longer than this but these are uncommon and in HHMC’s opinion not usually advised. What does an earn-out structure look like? While there is no set formula, it is not uncommon to agree an overall price with an amount paid on completion of the transaction and an amount paid over time based on specific performance criteria. A simple structure is 50% on completion and 50% paid a year later once a profit target is reached. There may be some minimum and over-achievement targets defined for that final payment. An earn-out based on financial performance assumes that the current owners are able to continue to run the business, essentially under normal circumstances, for the required period of the earn-out. If the new owner wants to make changes to the way things operate then that can potentially impact on the ability of the vendors to achieve their earnout. For a buyer who operates a business in a similar geography, recruitment field and with overlapping clients leaving the business alone for twelve months or more may be counter-productive. They may want to gain some cost benefits from integrating back-office functions, colocating and quite possibly change the way the business markets to current clients. Conflicting priorities In some circumstances where there has been an insistence on a profit based earn-out the two companies may find themselves competing actively with each other during that time. For this reason, alternatives to profit or revenue based earn-outs are adopted in order to avoid this type of situation. These can include

performance agreements on retention of clients and staff and other quite innovative measures. Profit based earn-out criteria that are too simply defined can lead to short term thinking by the vendors. For the vendor, short-term thinking is rewarded if it means each dollar saved is then multiplied by the agreed “multiplier” on EBITDA. The obvious down-side is that the vendors cut costs in important areas and doesn’t invest in those things that re-generate the business. By the time the owner is in dayto-day operational control of the business it may be in a lessened state that when they bought it. In some notable cases the failure to agree clear criteria on earn-out criteria and to define the extent of control held by both parties during that period has unfortunately led to legal suits. These uncertainties and potential areas of conflict do not mean that earnouts have no place in successful equity transactions. However, it is important for both parties to a transaction to think through the potential consequences of a deal structure. Given the nature of recruiting and the unpredictability of future results it is likely that earn-outs and similar models will be a continued part of business sales structures. 

Richard Hayward is a principal of HHMC Australia, a specialist Merger & Acquisition consultancy focusing on the recruitment industry. Richard has an extensive background at senior level in the recruitment sector having worked with international, national and smaller local companies for over a decade before joining HHMC. His clients, as either buyers or sellers, include companies ranging from blue collar industrial, ICT, banking & finance, accounting, business support, and operations recruiting businesses.

Legal eye

Seven essential capabilities required by your future leaders By Bruce Watt, PhD, Managing Director, DDI Australia

n DDI’s Global Leadership Forecast (2011), the talent management system ranked as the most critical system for organisational success in the future was leadership selection. Less than a third (31%) of both HR professionals and leaders themselves, reported that their leadership selection systems were actually effective. DDI research has found there are seven essential capabilities that people leaders must master in order to be effective in their jobs. In the table below, we have identified each of the seven capabilities and which

Business need

of those are required to execute on various business needs. When planning your next people leader hire, think about whether the candidate has these seven essential capabilities. Are they included in your success profile? How will you sample if the candidate displays these behaviours? If there is a skill gap with the candidate what will you do to develop the skills they need to be successful in their role? An effective selection system allows you to answer these questions and set your people leaders on the path to effective leadership. 

Bruce Watt, PhD, is Managing Director of DDI Australia. He consults with clients to design and implement integrated talent systems, drawing on his expertise in designing selection systems, executive assessment and development, succession management, and driving organisational change. Bruce also maintains a number of executive coaching relationships with senior executives in a variety of industries, including banking and finance, manufacturing and mining.

Leader behaviours

Leader capability

ACCELERATE NEW LEADER DEVELOPMENT

> Bring out the best in others to enhance engagement and capacity > Help others set performance targets and review performance progress > Provide proactive coaching for success and support for improvement > Successfully delegate the right tasks to the right individuals > Focus yourself and your team on high priority tasks and projects

> Coach for Performance > Make Decisions and Drive Results

BUILD AND MAINTAIN PARTNERSHIPS

> Establish mutually beneficial partnerships that cross organisational boundaries > Collaborate to determine a course of action that achieves mutual goals > Advocate and gain acceptance for new ideas > Seek to understand people’s motivations, needs, and concerns to gain commitment

> Influence, Network and Partner > Inspire Innovation

COACH AND DEVELOP TALENT

> Boost morale and productivity by coaching for peak performance in each person > Manage performance and provide feedback in a fair and consistent manner > Use ongoing coaching and sincere appreciation to engage others > Help others create meaningful development plans

> Coach for Performance > Select, Develop and Retain Talent

CREATE AN ENVIRONMENT OF INNOVATION

> Build a trusting environment where people feel safe to share ideas > Encourage team members to ask provocative questions > Accelerate the process of making change happen to meet client needs > Coach others proactively so they are motivated to test and learn

> Inspire Innovation > Build Engagement and Trust > Manage Change > Coach for Performance

DRIVE PERFORMANCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY

> Help others establish clear goals and connect them to business strategy > Hold team members responsible for monitoring their own performance > Help others take responsibility for resolving their own conflicts > Involve the right people to make and implement high-quality decisions

> Make Decisions and Drive Results > Coach for Performance

LEAD HIGHPERFORMANCE TEAMS

> Help teams establish a clear mission, boundaries, and goals > Promote a culture of trust and mutual respect within the team > Accomplish more by leveraging individual unique talents > Ensure that there is a pay-off for the time spent in meetings > Engage remote team members to achieve team goals

> Build Engagement and Trust > Coach for Peak Performance > Make Decisions and Drive Results

MANAGE RAPID CHANGE

> Foster open communication and trust during times of change > Inspire team members to take ownership of and embrace change > Effectively communicate the business strategies that are driving change > Make decisions confidently when quick action is needed

> Manage Change > Build Engagement and Trust > Make Decisions and Drive Results

MOTIVATE AND RETAIN TALENT

> Create an environment in which employees are motivated to perform at higher levels > Develop retention plans for key employees based on their motivations > Help new hires become more productive quickly

> Select, Develop and Retain Talent > Build Engagement and Trust

recruitment extra 2013 July 31

HR Report

HR REPORT recruitment extra's monthly update on the latest news, reports and opinions on what’s happening in HR nationally, trends from overseas and briefs on the activities of equal opportunity organisations, employers, EO tribunals and agencies and governments. Reporter: Jane Dillon

Illegal worker reforms from June 1

Employers will face a $76,500 fine for employing illegal workers from June 1, under a Federal Government initiative to stamp out the practice. Immigration minister Brendan O’Connor on May 23 unveiled the new measures designed to prohibit “illegal work practices and ensure local jobs for local jobseekers.” O’Connor said the new penalties were part of widespread reforms implemented as a result of the 2010 Howell’s Review into employer sanctions for offences contrary to the Migration Amendment (Employer Sanctions) Act 2007. O’Connor said the introduction of new infringement notices and civil penalties ranging from $3,060 to $76,500 would act as “a real deterrent” to employers who did not conduct necessary visa checks. “Checking whether a potential employee is entitled to work in Australia is a simple process, and businesses doing the right thing have nothing to fear from these regulations,” O’Connor said. He said in 2011, 2,000 illegal workers were uncovered and 1,600 had been uncovered in the first quarter of 2012. He said the government would take a “tough line” against businesses that “wilfully exploit foreign workers.”

Illegal workers found in Hunter On the same day as O’Connor’s announcement, 11 illegal workers and visa over-stayers were located in businesses and residences in NSW’s upper Hunter region. He said some were identified following community information provided to the department’s “dob-in line”.

457 reforms: limits not ‘caps’ Immigration minister Brendan O’Connor has proposed a raft of measures tightening the use of 457 visas including putting a ceiling on the number of 457 visa worker sponsorships made by an employer. The discussion paper prepared for the Ministerial Advisory Council on Skilled Migration said the proposed restrictions were not a “cap” on the scheme but “rather limit[s] to terms of a sponsorship to an approved level, which would be able to be increased through a new application.” O’Connor announced earlier in the year that the scheme would undergo reform from July 1, due to perceived “rorting” by some employers.

Enforceable training benchmarks The discussion paper recommends twelve reforms to legislation, including strengthening enforceability of training benchmarks. Employers of 457 visa workers currently must set aside 2% of

32 July 2013 recruitment extra

gross payroll for training of Australian and permanent residents, in an effort to reduce future reliance on foreign workers. The discussion paper recommends increased enforceability of this requirement, which could see employers barred from sponsorship if they fail to meet the benchmark. A ‘genuineness’ criteria is proposed as a means of eliminating entry level jobs being “dressed up to appear more skilled”.

‘Genuineness’ to weed out inflated roles The criteria will involve assessing whether the skills could be met by a local employee; whether the tasks correspond with the required position, and whether the position is needed in the course of the employer’s business. 457 workers employed in generalist positions must undertake a VETASSESS skills assessment to substantiate their skills under the new reforms. Time limits will be introduced for project workers and start-up businesses. The sponsorship term for an overseas business will be for the term of the project (up to three years) or 12 months, whichever is more, and the sponsorship term for a start-up business will be 12 months.

Foreign workers happy: research A Migration Council of Australia (MCA) survey of 3,800 visa holders and 1,600 businesses found high job satisfaction amongst 457 workers. MCA CEO Carla Wilshire said the survey demonstrated the 457 visa program was critical in keeping Australia competitive. “Temporary migration does not just fill skills shortages, it addresses skills deficits and plays a central part in workplace development at the enterprise level,” she said. “The report confirms 85% of employers are satisfied with the scheme and most are using the program to fill skills shortages,” she said. Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said the report exposed “as baseless the misleading claims the visa program is being widely rorted and large numbers of the visa holders are being underpaid”. He said the results “soundly debunked” objections to the program.

Union puts a face to 457 visa workers The Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) has launched an advertising campaign putting a face to the young Australians potentially denied work due to 457 visas. CFMEU national secretary Dave Noonan said the campaign was designed to encourage MPs to support the government’s proposed reforms aimed at tightening the scheme. He said the campaign would focus on pushing for more domestic apprenticeships and fewer 457 visa approvals.

HR Report

“In the resources sector, as well as in commercial construction, young Australians can’t get a start or can’t get an apprenticeship,” Noonan said. “Yet every year employers sponsor greater numbers of temporary foreign workers because they are too greedy to invest in training opportunities for our kids,” he said.

Data shows 20% jump in 457 visas Data released by immigration minister Brendan O’Connor on June 4 revealed a 20% growth in 457 visa holders in the 12 months to April 2013. O’Connor said an anonymous survey of employers conducted by the Migration Council showed 15% of employers used 457 visas, despite having local labour options. “Increasingly we are seeing the misuse of the system by employers who are not making an effort to find local labour first, or who exploit overseas workers under this scheme.” This “is why the government will take further action to stop employers misusing the program”, he said.

Job market softens further

Employers have tightened their belts a bit more according to the latest ANZ job advertisement figures. Figures released on June 3 showed the number of job ads was down marginally for the third consecutive month, indicating continued weakened conditions. Job ads declined 2.4% month-on-month (m/m) in May after falling 1.7% m/m in April to the lowest level so far this cycle. Ads are now 28% below their most recent peak at the end of 2010. In trend terms, job advertisements declined 0.4% m/m in May to be 17% below year-ago levels. ANZ’s chief economist Ivan Colhoun said the figures were “a reliable signal for the trend in the series and argue[d] the apparent stabilisation in the early months of 2013 ha[d] not been sustained”. NSW held up the best of all states and territories, recording the least severe decline. However, advertising in Victoria and Tasmania was “very weak”, which Colhoun (above) said was “consistent with other indicators suggesting these economies are relatively underperforming at the present time”.

Oversupply of talent up 30,000

The Clarius Group skills indicator for the March quarter 2013 revealed an oversupply of 75,000 skilled job seekers, up from 42,000 in December. However, Clarius CEO Kym Quick told HRR any employer trying to take advantage of that by waiting for the “perfect candidate” would “find it difficult”. Quick said she had noticed “companies have pulled back on learning and development” but expected that would change as employers sought to safeguard against churn when conditions improved. “The cost of helping someone be successful is far, far lower than the cost of churn,” she said. Weakened commodity prices and increased calls for social media skills have resulted in peaks and troughs in the labour market. Clarius found for the first time since the GFC engineering was in oversupply. She attributed the softer demand to weakness in WA’s

mining and resources sector due to lower commodity prices. The oversupply contrasts to an undersupply of 4,100 one year prior. Advertising, communications and social media experts are the winners in Clarius’ research. Clarius said there had been a shortage of skilled job seekers “for some time”, which they attributed to emerging on-line and social media trends. Josh Shein, executive recruiter with Salt and Shein, told HRR he was seeing an increased demand for social media and on-line experience in communications roles. “It’s very difficult to recruit people with real expertise in social media management – there are a lot of people who want to get into the area, but not many who have real expertise. Those people are being offered a lot of opportunities and some very high salaries relative to their level of experience.”

Billions threatened by talent shortage

Skilled talent shortages are putting at risk nearly $730bn of Australian infrastructure projects, according to figures released by the Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA). AMMA group services director Tara Diamond told HRR if all the planned building projects came on line at the same time “the government estimates the construction demand alone will be around 135,000 new positions by 2018”. She said resource rich states such as Queensland and Western Australia would experience “moderate” shortage, while the Northern Territory could face “acute” shortage due to its low employment base. She said education and training was critical to filling the void. “The mining sector spends more on training per employee than most industry sectors and significantly more than the national average, with training spend reaching $1.15bn in 2012,” Diamond said. She said apprentices made up 5% of the mining workforce, and were being trained by employers on the job. A 2012 federal government grant enabled AMMA to develop Skills Connect in 2012. The program provides resource employers a direct link to trade associations to address workforce needs, such as skills assessments, verification of competencies, and apprenticeships. “The partnership of peak industry bodies not only makes it easier for resource companies to employ apprentices and experienced workers, but facilitates their transition between projects and other sectors, depending on demand,” she said. Entity Solutions CEO Matthew Franceschini told HRR political debate centering on overseas workers was counterproductive to progress as “in some cases there are simply no Australians to fill the jobs”. Franceschini said Australia was “struggling” to recruit employees with “appropriate science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills” and employers needed the flexibility of bringing in overseas workers and international consultants to keep projects moving. He said rapid developments in the manufacturing and ICT industries over the last 20 years meant skills now in demand “didn’t exist 20 years ago”. “The best way to overcome those hurdles is to buy in external talent and a contingent workforce,” he said.

HR Report is an independent fortnightly new service published by Thomson Reuters. The service is available in paper and email format. For further details visit: www.thomsonreuters.com.au/hr-report-email.

recruitment extra 2013 July 33

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

TAS State Review

STATE OF THE STATES: Tasmania

NEW SOUTH WALES

VICTORIA

ACT

TASMANIA

Conditions in Tasmania have been surprisingly resilient of late, and are now stronger than in any other state; trend conditions edged up 1 point to -1 index point in March, though care should be taken when interpreting data for Tasmania due to small sample size. Consistent with a solid improvement in (seasonally adjusted) conditions, Tasmanian confidence also strengthened considerably in the month. In trend terms, confidence in Tasmania was unchanged at +7 points (on a small sample). National Australia Bank Monthly Business Survey March 2013

Australian Industry Group States Outlook, Feb 2013

Tasmania: Employment The Tasmanian Treasury and market economists generally expected employment to decline by around 0.5% in 2012/13 before recording growth of around 0.7% in 2013/14. The Tasmanian Treasury has revised down its forecasts for employment growth in 2012/13 since the 2012/13 Budget published in May. In the Half-Yearly Review published in December, the Tasmanian treasury reported that the economy is expected to decline by 0.25% in 2012/13 and by 0.5% in 2013/14. Deloitte Access Economics’ latest forecasts are for a stronger decline in 2012/13 and growth of around 1.1% in 2013/14. The unemployment rate is expected to peak at around 5.9% in 2013/14. The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations produced detailed labour market forecasts by state which can be used to gauge the future growth areas of the Tasmanian labour market. On this basis, a large share of the jobs created in Tasmania over the next few years will be in Health Care and Social Assistance, construction, and professional, scientific and technical services. Source: Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, The Industry Employment Projections - 2012 Report

Tasmanian Budget Report 2013-2014

• Employment is estimated to grow by 1,400 persons in 2013-14 with 9,000 new jobs over the Forward Estimates. • An increase in the payroll tax exemption threshold for the first time in more than a decade.

34 June 2013 recruitment extra

• From 1 July 2013, the payroll tax threshold will increase from $1.01 million to $1.25 million – the most competitive exemption across all states. • Toal relief of $40 million to 2,250 businesses that employ half of the Tasmanian workforce. As a result of this change, around 130 Tasmanian businesses will no longer be charged payroll tax at all. • As part of the Tasmanian Jobs Package, all new employees hired before 30 June 2014 are fully exempt from payroll tax for up to two years. This has already supported 750 new jobs at Vodafone and 70 jobs at OfficeMax. • Continued funding for small business grants through the Tasmanian Government Innovation and Investment Fund to support private sector investment and deliver sustainable job creation. • Major structural reform of Tasmania’s energy supply industry with a focus on minimising price increases for customers and providing full retail competition.

David O’Byrne, Minister for Economic Development

The Minister for Economic Development Tasmania, David O’Byrne, said the third round of the Tasmanian Government Innovation and Investment Fund (TGIIF) announced in the Budget was a “win for Tasmanian jobs and a diverse, modern economy”. O’Bryne said the third round of the program was expected to create up to 200 jobs and leverage about $10 million of private investment. O’Byrne said the first two TGIIF rounds funded 35 projects, and would create about 470 new jobs in the next two years.

On the move

ON THE

MOVE 

Hays has opened an office in Mackay in response to expected jobs growth in the region for qualified, professional and skilled people. Simon Bristow, Senior Regional Director of Hays, Mackay, said: “We are investing in the local area as a vote of confidence in the local job market. The coal industry in Bowen Basin has had a tough year but we are seeing small signs of a recovery and we want to be there to help drive it. “By opening an office locally we will be closer to our clients and candidates and can better service our state-wide client base. Furthermore, we will be able to service a number of markets outside of mining where we have a strong presence, including the construction and finance industries.” The new office will be managed by Alison Burnett and will open with a team of three. The office will be located at Level 3, 45 Victoria St, Mackay QLD 4740.



TP3 makes key appointment TP3 has appointed Christine Wattie as a Facilitator responsible for the delivery of the organisation’s public and closed-course professional development learning such as foundation-toadvanced level programs in leadership, presentation skills, influencing skills and negotiation skills. Wattie has an international background in leadership development and mentoring with senior professionals and business leaders. She was also a facilitator at the 2012 Women & Leadership Symposium in Adelaide and co-facilitator at the Symposium’s Sydney event. Wattie was director of Global Insight, a leading NZbased performance and productivity consulting firm where she also served as the organisation’s senior counsellor, facilitator, coach and corporate mentor, and she has managed a world-class photography business. Wattie joins TP3 from Workplace Training Advisory Australia, the Registered Training Organisation (RTO) arm of the Australian School of Applied Management, where she served as senior facilitator and executive coach working with clients

Hays in Mackay

NZICA SmartMove eyes Auckland

including ANZ, Royal Australian Air Force, Melbourne University and NSW Ministry of Health. Wattie will be based in the Melbourne office and will manage preparation and delivery, customisation, and postcourse support for participants. She will also assist in the company’s pre-sales, solution design and product development activities.

NZICA SmartMove has announced the appointment of Auckland based financial recruitment specialist Jeanette Ross-Smith. With over 14 years in recruitment Ross-Smith additionally has corporate experience in a number of sectors including Financial Services, FMCG, Retail, Manufacturing, IT, Telecommunications and utilities. NZICA SmartMove Recruitment Manager Marie August welcomed the appointment and said greater focus on the Auckland market was integral to growing the business. “In the next 12 months the goal is to raise awareness and continue to offer superior service so that SmartMove is the first port of call for all financial recruitment nationally, having Jeanette in Auckland is an important part of that strategy,” she said.

recruitment extra 2013 July 35

On the move

Astute Payroll’s ‘Dream Team’ Astute Payroll has announced the appointment of Breean Weldrick to its business development team, in charge of Channel Partnerships. Breean previoulsy worked with Sydney Payroll and Contractor Management firm, Job Capital, and in four years assisted and led a team from $5 million to over $40 million in sales. He also brought on board more than 300 new clients. Astute Payroll CEO, Nicholas Beames, said “Marcus Webb (Astute Payroll

Director) and I first met Breean at the RCSA conference in Port Douglas back in 2011 and have kept in contact since. Breean also knows Astute Payroll Business Development Manager Rowan Lalor very well. They worked together for many years and have not only a close trusting bond but a sensational combined record of driving sales. Getting them back together at Astute Payroll definitely is worthy of the title ‘The Dream Team’.”

New board member at Talent Talent International has appointed Jenny Levy to the company’s board as a nonexecutive director. Levy’s most recent roles include Chief Information Officer at Perpetual Limited, General Manager IT at Sydney Ports Corporation, and both Head of Technology and Chief Operating Officer, Corporate Projects and Technology at Westpac Banking Corporation. She has almost two decades’ experience in financial services companies and during her career has influenced direction and delivered programs in IT outsourcing, IT enterprise architecture, system mergers, risk applications, business intelligence and eLearning. Commenting on Levy’s appointment, Talent International Founder and Managing Director, Richard Earl, said: “Along with all my colleagues on the board, I’m delighted to welcome Jenny to Talent. “She brings a wealth of experience and business acumen in IT strategy implementation, and has extremely impressive credentials in driving cultural change, along with building and managing high-performance teams to deliver results.” He added that Levy is also very

36 July 2013 recruitment extra

passionate about women in business and technology and has established a good profile as a speaker and mentor on the topic. “Jenny’s appointment is well-timed for Talent as we embark on an exciting new phase of expansion and innovation around our global network. “She will also provide an invaluable extra level of governance as we undertake a technological transformation,” Earl said.

IIC Partners appoint Keechs IIC Partners have announced the appointment of Mark Keech as the new Global Leader of its Life Sciences Practice Group. Keech, who is a partner at IIC Partners' Sydney-based member firm de JAGER Executive Search, specialises in senior appointments within the Life Sciences sector throughout Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. Prior to joining de JAGER, he was Asia-Pacific Talent Acquisition Director for Johnson & Johnson, responsible for leading the design and implementation of talent acquisition across 15 countries. Keech has previously held positions as Asia-Pacific HR Transformation Director and Australia & NZ HR Director for J&J's Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices businesses. IIC Partners Board Director for Practice Groups Jeff Harris, of Harris Search Associates in Columbus, Ohio, said he was delighted the Life Sciences Practice Group had selected Keech to lead the team to build on its success. "Mark's knowledge of the Life Sciences sector and the talent acquisition and management challenges and trends it faces is unparalleled. I know with his guidance this practice group will continue to set industry benchmarks in the delivery of outstanding client service," said Harris. de JAGER Executive Search is the Australian affiliate of IIC Partners.

On the move

Growth at Bluefin Resources Bluefin Resources saw a significant growth in its Melbourne and Sydney offices in June. Paul Donovan joined the Melbourne office in the newly created position of Regional Director. Donovan will oversee the entire Melbourne operation, as well as working in the Project Services market. Also in Melbourne, Stuart Garland joined as Account Manager for the Analytics Divisions across all the southern regions including Western Australia. In addition, Dallas Beasley, a former financial planner, has been appointed as an Account Manager in the Melbourne Office focusing on Financial Planning and Wealth Management. In Sydney, Chris Murphy has been recruited as Team Manager for IT Sales.

Karen Gregory joins the Sydney office as an Account Manager in the Project Services Division and Graham McConnell has been appointed to the role of Account Manager in the Sydney office working on ERP recruitment. “Some of our competitors are saying that the current market conditions are tough, but as a specialist recruitment provider, our performance is pre-GFC levels and is continuing to grow,” said Duncan Amos, Divisional Director, Technology & Project Services. “Our Technology, Project Services and IT Sales divisions will continue to grow, both in terms of consulting and management levels. There are exciting times ahead,” he added.

Xchanging announces new head of sales procurement Procurement services provider Xchanging has announced the appointment of Norbert Krebs as Head of Sales Procurement, as part of a major move to grow its brand and position in the Australian market. Krebs, who has more than 11 years or experience in Business Process Outsourcing, will be responsible for the company’s go to market strategy and for shaping and leading its sales approach. He comes to Xchanging after more than a decade working in the BPO space for Accenture across the USA, Europe, Asia and Australia. During his tenure at Accenture, Krebs advised clients across a variety of enterprise functions, including procurement, finance and HR. “Xchanging is an established procurement service provider ranked within the top four in analyst reports globally. Here in Australia, we currently have a smaller local team of procurement experts with excellent delivery

experience and the capacity to draw on that global capability. We have all the right ingredients to be a leader in the Australian market and it’s very exciting to be embarking on this growth journey together,” said Krebs. “Australia is lagging behind Europe and the US in regards to embracing the value that end-to-end service providers can bring to our local businesses. Outsourcing typically has a negative connotation and in many cases is equalled to offshoring with negative impacts on domestic work forces. The challenge we are facing as an industry is to overcome these perceptions by providing a flexible set of solutions for our clients,” he added. Xchanging Procurement Services’ Managing Director, Bernadette O’Regan said Krebs would be a great asset as the company moved ahead with an exciting stage of growth and investment. Krebs will be based at Xchanging’s Sydney office.

resignations at Bluestone Bluestone Global has reported the resignation of both Non-Executive Director Andrew Poole and NonExecutive Director Dr Prins Ralston following a string of departures and reshuffles at Bluestone this year. Chairman Baljit Singh acknowledged Poole’s contribution as a director of the Company since joining the Board as part of the integration of the ResCo Group in December 2010: “Andrew’s recruitment industry and public company experience were invaluable assets for our Board. He remains a committed and supportive shareholder as Bluestone continues to be tested by challenging market conditions and weak employment level in core sectors.” He also acknowledged Ralston’s contribution as a director of the company since December 2011 and noted that Ralston had resigned to attend to an increasing workload as part of the Executive Leadership Team of Mission Australia. “Dr Ralston’s comprehensive knowledge of the employment industry in Australia and internationally and his best practice experience in these sectors provided considerable strategic value to Bluestone during his time on the Board,” said Singh.

ITCOM strengthens NSW team Itcom Australia has announced two key appointments to lead their NSW recruitment team. Colin Fannon as General Manger (NSW) and ‘Cilla Arnold – Client Partnerships. “Our aim is to build the strongest leadership team of any ICT recruiter in the market” says Itcom CEO, Damien Ross. “With the appointment of both Colin Fannon and ‘Cilla Arnold we are confident we have the right people in place to deliver excellent outcomes for our New South Wales clients and candidates.”

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