Last night, I attended an excellent event organised by University of Sydney on the theme of ‘Global Talent Search & Challenge’.  Overall, for me, two things stood out. First, while everyone else is preoccupied with short-term issues related to the downturn, in the long-term Australia face major workforce challenges, many dictated by global forces. Secondly, the movement of talent across national borders is happening with gusto.

Dr Michael Spence, Vice-Chancellor, opened the night proceedings with a declaration on how Australia can be a smart country by attracting the best talent from all over the world. Commenting on the mobility of talent, Dr Michael illustrated how fifteen years ago, law graduates have to first prove their mettle locally before they can hope for an overseas posting. Today, 30% of university law students are directly hired by overseas firms. “It is no longer enough to be the best in Sydney or Australia. Competition for talent is global and employers need to wake up to the new reality”, he added. Citing the University’s own example, Dr Michael talked about how important it is to have a flexible employment arrangement to compete for talent.

The keynote speaker of the night, Andrew Banks, MD, Talent2, offered a big picture view of the global trends contributing to the movement of talent.  Drawing on the experiences of Talent2, Andrew illustrated the challenges faced by countries, employers, educators and individuals in a rapidly evolving global work environment. He believes that the Australian workforce is increasingly separated into two  – those supporting the local economy and a growing group who are part of the global supply chain. He concluded with a note on talent  “it is easy to find, hard to land”.

Professor Lesleyanne Hawthorne, Associate Dean International & Director, University of Melbourne presented data upon data around the flow of talent in and out of Australia. An authority on migration with particular emphasis on health professionals, professor Lesleyanne succinctly illustrated the drivers of cross border talent flow, and where Australia stands in the scheme of things. Drawing from her research, Lesleyanne presented eye-opening statistics on the changing make-up of the Australian workforce. As high as 52% of the engineering workforce in Australia are born overseas. Similar trend runs in white collared sectors like computing, accountancy and medicine.  I met professor Lesleyanne briefly, and I will try and get hold of her presentation slides.

Professor Bruce Robinson, Dean, Faculty of Medicine is in charge of recruiting faculty members. Australia’s policies, he believes, borders on ‘arrogance and protectionism’ when it comes to recognising overseas trained talent. He also cites the unique example of losing out on talent because the university was ill equipped to recruit couples (e.g A North American professor will only relocate if the university can find a job for his wife, a musician).

SydneyTalent (Co sponsors of the event) offers an interesting business model, possibly a threat to traditional recruitment service providers. Whereas traditional recruiters concentrate on the fee paying clients, SydneyTalent seems to give equal weight to both the clients and the candidates. By facilitating deeper connection, SydneyTalent assists students (a move highly attractive to future students) and at the same time offer a screened talent pool to employers. Manned and operated like any other recruitment firm, SydneyTalent offers a compelling story. I met CEO Anne Moore briefly and I hope to explore more about their model in the coming days.

Lots of new insights, rich data, new perspectives on offer, a very fruitful night. Hopefully the organisers will put up the presentation slides for public access.

Last week, I attended an information session for post-graduate students held by my alma mater UTS, exploring if a PHD is a mountain I dare climb.

Information sessions conducted by universities are often slick marketing affairs aimed at winning new students. And UTS didn’t disappoint. From the day I received an invitation as part of my alumni club membership (How universities capitalise from their alumni network is a story for another day) to being entertained with drinks and food on the night of the event, the whole affair to recruit new students is a well oiled operation.

The evening event unfolded on time. Hundreds of potential students who turned up were herded into a conference room where an intense period of selling ensued. One by one, distinguished academics and current students took turns extolling the worth of a post-graduate education, mainly the UTS kind. Soon after, potential students were separated into different rooms where more intense one-on-one discussions took place. All staff were on hand to answer any queries attendees may have. All in all it was a pleasant experience; a useful platform for any new student to understand how life as a post-graduate student at UTS would be like.

I believe there are many recruiting lessons to learn from universities. Four points comes to mind.

First, I was impressed, not only by the smooth running of the event, but by the enthusiasm, cajoling and helpfulness of the UTS staff and faculty members. Years ago, a Director at my former workplace said something in the line of – ‘regardless of whether we hire someone or not, we ought to make everyone we encounter wished they’d work with us’. UTS did such a good job at canoodling and selling their story that I ended up wishing to enroll in a course, even though I found out a PHD is too steep a mountain to climb, for now.

Secondly, universities approach recruitment with deep respect for the fact that potential students have other options. UTS is acutely aware that it’s in a fight to win the hearts and minds of potential students. When was the last time your company felt this way? Alas, most companies have little respect for the fact that talented people have options. Much of UTS recruitment strategy is based on the fear that they could lose students at the drop of a hat. Fear makes one to have a sharp focus.

Thirdly, how often does your company organize one-on-one information sessions to engage potential new recruits? This is what escapes me. Companies poured money, time and resources to conjure a favourable employment brand. Most mediums – websites, newspapers, radio, TV and lately social media are utlised to attract talent. And yet, the most simple and powerful tenet of attraction – people to people interaction – is ignored. Universities go to great lengths to arranged face-to -face information sessions, because there is no medium more effective than human interaction.

Finally, armed with the knowledge that survival depends on maintaining a steady supply of new students, universities seldom rest on past laurels. UTS have over 32,000 enrolled students, and can be forgiven for complacency. Yet every semester, they up the ante, often trialing new strategies to reach out to new potential students. When the best institute of learning in the world, Harvard University, hardly rest on its laurels there is little excuse for employers to be complacent, or not try new things.

Of course, universities are far from perfect. The point is, doing the same in an increasingly tumultuous recruitment environment will not produce results. Reaching out is key. For a start, why not invite 100 local Twitterers to attend your company’s Friday night drinks.

A new report by Staffing.org  reveals why job seekers do not apply to a particular company.  Time to have a relook at your career portal?

There is a lot of buzz on the best job in the world. The fact that the job ad really is a larger marketing campaign to promote tourism in QLD is besides the point.

The question is -  why aren’t your job ads brilliant (no I am not talking about the graphics or flashy site)?

If you are after remarkable talent, who can make a difference to your company, why should any of your job ads be average? Why settle for less? For the vast majority of viewers your job ad is their first experience with your brand.  Why not choose to make a good first impression?

The past often reveals what the future holds. I looked back at some of the major job board related trends in the Australian marketplace.

1. Vibrant but volatile industry
In 2008, some 150-170 job boards exist in Australia. The number increases five folds if the definition of a job board is expanded to include online destinations that list employment opportunities. With off-the shelve software and free job board technology easily available, starting a job board has never been easier. On the flip side, running a successful job board proves to be difficult. For every new job board that opened its doors, another closed shop. Besides the challenge of getting noticed in a crowded market, many of the new entrants seems unwilling or incapable of navigating the difficult task of serving two masters – candidates and advertisers. However, high failure rate does not seem to deter new entrants.

2. Big players dominate, grew at the expense of print
Accounting for roughly 80% of the market share, the big generalist players continue to hold sway over the landscape. Much of the growth comes at the expense of print media. The shift of advertising dollars to online platforms is permanent, with spending on online classifieds rising to around $390 million. SEEK’s share price dropped to a nadir of $2.45 but continues to dominate a three way boxing match. Second-tier generalists aren’t making much of a dent either. Acquisitions and alliances formed part of the strategy to win larger market share. Monster re-entered the market with a local partner, a job matching product was imported and overseas job boards were acquired.

3. Niche players comes of age
Many of them barely registering noise at the national level, every conceivable niche – geographic, regional, professional and industry sector is represented by one or more job board. The likely market scenario is 90% of job boards scramble for 20% of the revenue pie. While the big players dominate the space, nimble and well run niche players with a sharp focus on audience and advertisers are thriving. By offering domain expertise and providing an intimate relationship to a selective audience, a clear value demarcation exists between niche players and generalist. Given advertisers penchant to be on multiple sites, the success of niche players will increase the industry’s revenue pie, rather than eat into the market share of existing players.

4. Technology reversal
While a range of new technology were introduced (RSS feeds, Job matching technology, Social network applications, VIDEO etc), it is the humble SMS that showed the most promise. VIDEO browsing is almost universal in Australia, yet its use in job search and recruitment is still limited. Most job boards flirtations with social networks aren’t providing results either. Job matching technology is gaining little traction. A few players successfully cashed in on the ubiquity of SMS. With a flurry of new smart phones entering the market, it is easy to be bullish on mobile. Mobile channels are highly likely to be the new frontier for job distribution and access.

5. ‘Associations’, a sleeping giant slowly waking up.
4,200 industry and professional associations exists in Australia. Each of them communicate regularly with a focused talent pool. Driven more by a sense of service to their members than commercial interests, the vast majority of associations are yet to discover their unique position and potential. In 2008, many of the larger, mainly white collared associations run impressive job boards and are fast becoming important outlets to reach candidates. We will see a flurry of alliances between job boards and associations in the coming days.

6. Aggregators sided with candidates and filled a gap
Free from the burden of having to win clients, aggregators positioned themselves on the side of the candidates and offers convenience and a wide range of jobs not available on traditional job boards. Often front runners in embracing new technology, aggregators offers employers another channel to net candidates at a very attractive price-point, including using Google style pay-per-click services. Some job boards depended on them to increase their own traffic, while some sees them as a threat. In 2008, some ten players, both local and international, compete in this space. Consolidation is likely; momentum will be with established overseas based players whose fortunes are not entirely dictated by happenings in Australia. Aggregators gains from candidates’ lack of loyalty to any particular job board, but overall awareness is still low.

7. Job posting solutions (JPS) become gatekeepers
By positioning themselves as gatekeepers to hundreds of job boards, job posting services (JPS) are cementing their position as a critical pathway to talent. One of the big success stories of 2008, job posting solutions (pure plays and ATS players with job posting modules) lessen administrative burden, increase market reach and provides measureable metrics. Ironically, advertisers most likely to gain from JPS services, SMEs, remains largely oblivious. Alliance or integration with job posting service providers becomes an essential strategy of job board operators. Overseas players are eyeing the market, but pesky local players armed with deep market knowledge and powerful alliances will be difficult to dislodge. Prepare to see a flurry of innovations in this space.

8. Resume database and CV services stake their claims
“We have a talent pool that no one else have”, seems to be the main selling point of resume database providers. Typically armed with free services (free job postings) and charging for database access, resume database providers flirted with a range of business models. While offering employers and recruiters access to a ready talent pool at an attractive price-point, there are little immediate benefits for candidates. As new services to build CVs and maintain online profiles proliferates, options for candidates to announce their availability increases. Only a few players gained any real traction in 2008, this trend is likely to continue.

9. Search engines becomes gateway to talent
Search engines quietly but steadily became an integral part of recruitment strategy. Each month close to 2.3 million searches, with the keyword ‘jobs’, are performed on Google. Most job boards invested in search optimisation strategies simply because a lot of candidates started their job search on Google. SEO/SEM forms the biggest component of job board advertising budgets, this trend is unlikely to change.

10. Communities, content sites and the blogosphere
Where a community thrives, a job board exists. From internet forums to blogs, from user groups to news sites, pockets of communities exist all over the Internet. Many of the popular blogs launched their own job boards, and the largest forums maintain listings rivalling traditional job boards. Content rich destinations (including online version of print publications) also jumped on the job board wagon. Meanwhile blogging and micro-blogging is rampant, job listings are appearing on Twitter. The capability to hold intimate conversation with a small audience is within the reach of everyone. Attempts at presenting job opportunities to small pockets of communities are where lots of experiments are happening. Results of what works and does not work will be clearer in 2009.

11. Online referrals make noise, shows promise.
Online referral sites make their mark, but real results remains largely unknown. Long the domain of professional recruiters, online referral providers shows immense potential by automating a proven recruiting tactic and involving anyone who knows someone. Paying ‘education tax’ will be a major part of the front runners’ investment, before the model goes mainstream. Meanwhile, with ½ a million professionals registered, LinkedIn reached critical mass in Australia. A favourite jaunt of recruiters, LinkedIn is fast becoming a preferred resume database, without all the problems present in traditional resume databases. Referrals in various forms will dominate conversations in 2009.

12. Alternatives abounds but job boards delivers
Serving a workforce of 10 million, a large number of job boards exists and thrived, largely because they do a good job. For all their limitations and the potential (and talk) offered by alternatives, Job boards remains a proven tool and are one of the most cost-effective channels to reach out to job seekers. For many, it is cheaper and easier to buy candidate traffic from a third party than build on their own. Given that a vast majority of employers and recruiters fail to invest in building their own traffic, job boards will continue to have an important place in the talent acquisition space.

Looming is the great test of an economic downturn. Already, 2008 saw many advertisers cutting down on job board numbers, and are becoming more discerning about results, while being more open to alternatives. The downturn will sort out the grains from the chaff.  In a future post I’ll hone in on the road ahead.

Also see my presentation on the Australian job board landscape.