It can be a daunting task to try and navigate a recruitment landscape of close to three thousand firms, of varying sizes, reach, specialisation and business models. For employers who are new to the industry and looking to work with recruitment firms, the annual achievers’ list is a good place to start.  Listed below are various awards recognising the best of the best in the recruitment industry for 2008.

SARA (SEEK Annual Recruitment Award) winners, 2008

• Large generalist recruiter: Davidson Recruitment
• Medium generalist recruiter: Westaff
• Small generalist recruiter: Majer Recruitment
• Large specialist recruiter : Hudson
• Medium specialist recruiter: Judd Farris
• Small specialist recruiter: Charterhouse Professional Support
• Large IT recruiter: Talent International
• Small IT recruiter: ITCOM Australia and IT Matters (Joint winners)
• Executive Recruiter - Six Degrees

(Also, check out previous winners of SARA since 2003)

FEMA (Fairfax Employment Marketing Award) winners, 2008

• Recruitment company of the year : Hays
• Executive recruitment company of the year: Talent2
• Best small recruitment company : SG Group
• Best recruitment advertising agency : Adcorp
• Best candidate care : Hays
• Recruiter of the year - Carolyn Ezzy of 2Discover and Erin McLoughlin of Hays (joint winner)
• Executive recruiter of the year : Pat Hart, Hudson
• Rookie of the year :  Rebecca Penning of West Recruitment
• Best recruitment advertising agency employee : Rachel Beable of The Face
• Best employer brand : Connect East
• Best promotion of graduate careers: Sinclair Knight Merz
• Best onsite communications team: Westpac
• TMP Worldwide : Best art direction; best online campaign; best promotion of regional careers; best promotion of public sector and education careers.
• Reagent : Best creative/most innovative campaign; best integrated campaign; best corporate careers website.

(Previous winners of FEMA can be found here)

BRW’s fastest growing companies in 2008

Fourteen recruitment firms made it to the BRW list of fastest growing companies in Australia.

• Judd Farris , 8th place
• Hender Care, 9th place
• Staffrite Recruitment, 19th place
• Profusion Group, 26th place
• Zoom Recruitment, 28th place
• CiT Professionals, 33rd place
• Design & Build Recruitment, 43rd place
• Market U, 46th place
• Johnson Executive Search, 47th place
• West Recruitment, 58th place
• Accel Group, 62nd place
• People in Property, 63rd place
• Salt & Shein, 70th place
• Labour Solutions Australia, 75th place

Telstra Business Awards 2008 Finalist

• Childcare recruitment agency, Expect A Star Education Services, North Sydney
• Contact centre recruitment specialist, FuturePeople Recruitment, Sydney;

Other awards related to the recruitment/human capital industry

Hewitt’s best employers for 2008 (Website)

• Hewitt Best Employer - Bain & Company
• Hewitt Best Employer—Runner Up - SEEK Limited
• Hewitt Best Employer—Highly Commended
  Federal Express Pacific Inc. (FedEx Express New Zealand)
  Inside Mobile
  Medtronic Australasia
  NSW Teachers Credit Union
  The GPT Group
  Vedior Asia Pacific
  Westaff

Great place to work 2008 winners (website)

• Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
• Dow Corning
• Google
• McDonald’s
• Morgan Stanley
• NetApp
• Russell
• SEEK

Other awards which are yet to be announced

• Anthill Cool company awards
• HR Awards 2008
• Smart Company emerging companies 2008

How far are you willing to go to acquire talent? Would you be willing to work with other companies, even competitors, to find talent? Would you commit yourself for three whole days to really get to know candidates (not just interview them)?  Would you be willing to offer free travel, food and accommodation in order to meet talent from other geographic locations? Would you do things differently, even if success cannot be guaranteed?

Some companies do .

Eleanor Roosevelt once said "do one thing everyday that scares you". Why not try something different today? After all, good talent justifies the extra effort.

The Google powered T-Mobile’s G1 smart phone was launched yesterday, heralding what some analysts called a paradigm shift in how we will access and consume information.

A report by Universal McCann found that consumption of content outside of websites has increased by 153% in the last nine months. 53% of online users are consuming content outside of a publisher’s site.

Compared to a year ago, the way I consumed content has changed significantly from visiting websites to getting it delivered through RSS feeds, Twitter, messengers, emails and my mobile phone. I now expect information to come to me wherever I am, whenever I need, delivered through the medium of my choice.

If you are a talent solutions provider whose business model depends solely on candidates visiting your website, it’s time to rethink strategy. Ditto for employers. Recruiting in the brave new world (populated by smart phones) will be more about reaching talent wherever they are, with whatever medium of their choosing.

If you are an employer contemplating using any of the job boards in Australia, I’d ask for data (unique visitors, user demographics etc) first. Linkedin provides fairly detailed data of their users (below). Similar data from job board providers will help you make informed and better targeting decisions.

No surprises, a new study by Maren Rawlings of Swinburne University of Technology  found that humour in the workplace contributes to job satisfaction and is linked to productivity.

After a tumultuous battle with Microsoft, Yahoo invited Matt of ‘where the hell is Matt’ fame to infuse humour in the workplace.  Here’s the question - given a choice would you prefer to work at a company where you can participate in a Matt impersonation gig, or a company where you couldn’t?  It is no coincidence that companies voted the ‘best places to work’ in Australia have fun work environments.

Matt’s video (whose talent is not dancing) is below for those who haven’t seen it yet.

Ployme connects employers and casual workers using mainly SMS.

What’s often forgotten in the hullabaloo over social media is that SMS is an effective and widely used communication tool (refer graph). AIMIA’s recent ‘Australian Mobile Phone Lifestyle Index’ report found 84% of Australians considered SMS an expenditure item. In other words - regular SMS usage is universal. 

A recent US study found 70% of mobile phone users respond to a text message for a product or a service. And yet another survey found 70% of college students (mostly Gen Y) use SMS to communicate. We think Ployme’s use of a proven communication tool to reach out to an age group that thrives on mobile communication is a smart move. 

It may well be that push email will eventually push out SMS. But that is besides the point, currently SMS is the preferred medium for a large number of people who maybe looking for casual opportunities. Ployme seems to clearly know its audience and which communication tool works for them.  It’s worth having a look at Ployme’s service offerings.