Recruitment Directory's Blog

What are you doing to make your job ads stand out from the crowd?

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:14:52 +1000

There have been a number of innovative and creative IT job ads recently. Unless you have been snooping on the source code of Trade Me Jobs, you would not have noticed the hidden comment.

Posting Jobs to the Facebook Marketplace via Oodle

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:29:18 +1000

Earlier in the year I informed readers about the Facebook Marketplace now being powered by Oodle. Now I want to show you how to automatically post your jobs into Oodle for inclusion in the Facebook Marketplace. I recommend Recruiters/Employers use a Multi Posting provider, but if you are technical capable of doing it yourself, here are some instructions.

Gone in 60 seconds. The Candidate Registration Process

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:28:22 +1000

Most sites make it very hard for a job seeker to register for an account. The first problem they face is being redirected from the initial page they were viewing to a separate registration page. Secondly, there are often required fields like username, email address or password which require validation of some sorts.

96% of Recruiters source Candidates through mainstream Job Boards

Thomas Shaw — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:30:00 +1000

The RCSA has just released the latest Quarterly Business Manager Survey results for the 3rd Quarter 2009. Contained within the past 2 surveys, is a question regarding the "media used to source candidates". Although the survey is only a small sample of Recruitment Agencies across Australia & New Zealand, I have grouped together the past 2 survey results, to better represent any trends over the past 6 months.

Job Board Statistics - Oct 09

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:55:27 +1000

Australian Job Board Statistics measuring the total unique browsers between October 2008 and October 2009. Data source - Nielsen NetRatings. SEEK 3.829m, CareerOne 1.578m, MyCareer 1.249m

Rejecting Candidates based on IP Address

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:50:53 +1000

We now rely on using technology in the recruitment process more than ever. But should we place 100% of our trust in rejecting candidates based solely on their IP address?

Recruitment Directory closes MySpace job search applications

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:29:20 +1000

Over the past few months, in consultation with all of our affected clients. We have decided to remove all of our MySpace job search applications from use. This decision was based on the fact that the social networking site is no longer a valuable source of candidate traffic and becoming a detriment to the employer brand.

Cut the fat. I have no idea what you are talking about

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:34:59 +1000

At first, I thought users were giving a score to each job advert. But then I realised the "score" is the relevance of your keyword to each job search result. Would the common job seeker have realised this? It's time to cut the fat.

HR-XML 3.0 Released

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:50:57 +1000

HR-XML standard is a set of XML specifications that allows e-business and data-exchange automation in the human resources area.� This new version (HR-XML 3.0) of the HR-XML standards aligns its schemas for human resources interoperability applications with the Open Applications Group implementation of UN/CEFACT (United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business) core components, making them more universal than ever.

Cut the fat. Goodbye job reference field

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:27:19 +1000

Why do job sites waste space making the job reference id so prominent? Do job seekers really care about the id while browsing job search results?

SEEK Play Room

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:20:13 +1000

Do you need some fun at work today? SEEK has released a new game called Cannon Tester. What is your highest score?

Your job alert subscription will expire in 26 days

Thomas Shaw — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:34:15 +1000

Email is a very effective way of attracting candidates and clients to your website. This morning, I received an email job alert reminder notifying me that unless I renew my subscription, it will expire in 26 days. Why didn't I think of this function earlier? What an effective way to keep your database up to date!

Job Board Statistics - Sep 09

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:44:35 +1000

Australian Job Board Statistics measuring the total unique browsers between September 2008 and September 2009. Data source - Nielsen NetRatings. SEEK 3.636m, CareerOne 1.601m, MyCareer 1.189m

jobs.NSW Goverment job board now powered by Taleo

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:00:00 +1000

After 9 months of splash pages and redirecting visitors to a number of different job boards. Taleo has released the new job board and career portal for NSW Government called jobs.NSW

ITJobs, powered by MyCareer

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:20:00 +1000

IT job boards must be all the rage at the moment. If you have been observing the marketplace over the past few months, you may have noticed a number of changes. Gurus had a makeover. JobNet (one of the first job board in Australia owned by JobServe) re-launches. IT2 (owned by ITCRA) re-launched and changed technology platforms from MyCareer to CareerOne/turboRECRUIT. And now, MyCareer will re-launch ITJobs in conjunction with CBS Interactive.

Translating Recruitment Software

Thomas Shaw — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:30:00 +1000

With a combination of automatic translation software and the power of mass collaboration, Google Translator Toolkit is helping an Australian recruitment software vendor the ability to translate their software into Arabic. Previously, we discussed the possibility of translating recruitment websites into other languages, but what if you could translate your promotions and products for free?

Importing Contact Lists from Social Networking sites

Thomas Shaw — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +1000

How many times have you joined a social networking site and wished that your friends would be there with you? Most of us have established friends/contact lists on sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook or MySpace. So how can we make it easy for the user to invite their network to your website?

Kan je vertalen?

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:29:54 +1000

Can you speak another language besides English? I know I can't. So what happens when you view a recruitment website in another language?

No one wants to follow your Recruitment Agency on Twitter

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:56:44 +1000

I had an interesting call from a Recruiter today. He was complaining about the fact that no one wants to follow his Recruitment Agency on Twitter. I spent some time talking about the ways you can use Twitter in the Recruitment process. But he didn't care.

Is your Job Site redirecting Candidates to insecure websites?

Thomas Shaw — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:45:35 +1000

Have you ever clicked on what you thought was a safe website URL and then all of a sudden your browser/antivirus software blocks the webpage? Every day, I am alerted to yet another recruitment website falling victim to some sort of security incident. If you own or manage a website, YOU are responsible for your website�s security and have an implied "duty of care" to provide safe 3rd party links.

Can your job site translate HTML code?

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 18:53:15 +1000

This may seem like a no brainer - do you check EVERY job advert that is posted from your organisation? If your job advert contains HTML or special characters you need to ensure your listings on a job board/recruitment website can interrupt the HTML code/tags.

Constructing Effective Job Advertisements

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 15:40:47 +1000

Despite readily available research, statistics and recruitment training, many Recruitment Consultants are still not representing their clients correctly. Luke Carolan, Rec to Rec Specialist from Aspire Solutions International explains how Recruiters can construct effective job adverts.

Improving your Recruitment Website - jQuery Modal Boxes

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:56:46 +1000

How many times have you been redirected away from the webpage you were viewing and then unable to find that webpage again?

Creating a Google Gadget

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 23:00:00 +1000

With the ever increasing number of job boards, social networking sites, RSS feeds etc. We need to make it easier for users to discover and subscribe to your content. Google Gadgets (aka widget, plugin, module) can be a great way to present and share information to your website users across multiple platforms.

It's all about the numbers

Thomas Shaw — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:14:54 +1000

Have you ever been to a job site where you looked at the hit counter and just scratched your head?

Creating a Job Search Widget

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 19:40:18 +1000

One of the easiest way to create, and distribute your own job search widget is through a simple JavaScript. Within this JavaScript, we can specify the widgets size and content that will be displayed to the end user.

RecruitTECH 2009 - Twitter, Facebook, Recruitment & Integration

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 12:32:21 +1000

Last week, I was fortunate enough to be one of the presenters at RecruitTECH 2009 - Australian Recruitment and Technology Conference in Canberra ACT. Below is my presentation titled "Twitter, Facebook, Recruitment & Integration".

Charging Job Seekers to View or Apply for Jobs

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:00:00 +1000

Charging job seekers to help them find work is a very touchy subject. Yes there may be some laws and the RCSA will say it is unethical for Recruiters to double dip etc. Except in the real world, there is nothing stopping a online job site from charging job seekers a fee to access premium content.

Examples of Job Search Widgets

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:00:00 +1000

A widget is a small application that runs either on your desktop or embedded within a web page. A widget adds content to a page provided by another site. Generally widgets are provided by third parties sites, eg. A job board providing the ability for you to display job search functions on your own website.

Facebook Lite - Goodbye Facebook Applications

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 20:49:38 +1000

Facebook has released a new version of the website called Facebook Lite. The new site has been designed for users on slow connection speeds and is simply a stripped down, "bare" version of the social networking website. All non-core components including applications have been removed.

SMS Job Alerts

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:00:00 +1000

SMS is an excellent communication tool - fast, cheap, easy to send and easy to receive. But, are SMS job alerts that effective in the recruitment process?

Should you post jobs to Google Base?

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 11:00:00 +1000

Last week, I was drawn into an discussion regarding Google Base. It was a simple question... Should you post jobs to Google Base?

Social Graphs. How are you connected?

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 19:42:17 +1000

Most of us have a profile on social networking websites such as Facebook or LinkedIn.� But have you ever considered graphing your contacts interconnectivity? Before creating a social graph, we need to understand more about social graph theory and types of social graphs.

Creating an Effective Social Media Strategy, Part 9 - Evaluate Impact, Don�t Continue Blindly

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:12:20 +1000

As with all your marketing campaigns, value is determined by the contribution you�ve made to the goals of the company. While it is important to generate an �online buzz�, the quality of the postings and impact on the company is still the ultimate judge.

Recruitment Marketing Analytics

Thomas Shaw — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:00:00 +1000

It puzzles me how recruiters are not making informed and calculated decisions on their recruitment marketing spend. Are you measuring the performance of each job advert via each source? Which sources are the best performing, provide the largest volume and have the lowest candidate acquisition cost?

Complicated Application Form Processes

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:13:47 +1000

I am not a fan of long and complicated job application forms. Do you really need a candidate to register for an account before they can apply for a job? No. Registration details can be automatically generated after a form is submitted by using the candidates email address (as the primary id) and a randomly generated password.

Sharing Jobs on Social Networks using JobGenie

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:00:00 +1000

Last week, I decided to test drive a new referral system called JobGenie, brainchild of Riges Younan. JobGenie is a candidate referral platform which takes the hassle out of managing a referral program. The platform can manage, track and monitor candidates that are referred for a job.

When will Print die? Online vs Print

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 07:00:00 +1000

79% of jobs advertised in Australia are online, 73% of job seekers prefer online compared with print. But that only equates to 39% of the overall $$ advertising spend in the marketplace. Clearly, the structural shift in how people look for work proves that using print media is a waste.

Creating an Effective Social Media Strategy, Part 8 - Be Prepared for Success, Don�t Forget to Plan

Thomas Shaw — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:30:00 +1000

Social media�s ability to spread your message or promote a campaign can be very powerful. Be prepared for your social media campaigns to succeed and plan for a greater response than you are used to.

Segmenting Data using Google Analytics

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:00:00 +1000

One of the most underrated website statistical tools is Google Analytics. Not only is the service free, but many people would not be familiar with the advanced tool set. Google Analytics offers excellent reporting and traffic analysis that can help you assess how well (or bad) your recruitment website is tracking.

Share on LinkedIn

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:30:00 +1000

Have you ever shared content on LinkedIn? According to statistics released last month by AddToAny, LinkedIn was one of the least popular places to share content, with only 0.4% of users using the AddToAny widget. Facebook dominated the list with 24%, followed by email 11.1% and Twitter 10.8%

Email Marketing Tips for Recruiters, Part 2 - Metrics

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 20:00:00 +1000

Are you wasting your time sending email auto-responders to candidate or marketing campaigns or clients? In my previous blog post Email Marketing Tips for Recruiters, I provided some basic tips for recruiters on creating an effective email marketing campaign.

Bing & SEO

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:27:14 +1000

A few months ago, Microsoft launched their new search engine called Bing replacing MSN Live. Actually, it�s now called a �search decision engine�. Is Bing a real threat to Google? Maybe, maybe not. It will all depend on the user uptake and search relevance. How well does your recruitment website rank in Bing?

Don�t be a mule

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 01:00:00 +1000

They say things happen in three�s. Over the past 24 hours, there has been a number of scam emails (phishing) circulating saying they have found your resume from various Australian job boards and need your help. One of these was even sent to me.

How secure is your Recruitment website? Part 4 - SQL Injection

Thomas Shaw — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 11:19:03 +1000

Database security is a huge issue at the moment - imaging having your whole database stolen and distributed to your competitors or being used for identity theft? SQL Injection attacks present a serious threat to the security of a recruitment website and it is essential that adequate countermeasures are taken to prevent such an attack from being successful.

Creating an iphone enabled job site

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 01:00:00 +1000

Last week, we released our white label iphone job search applications and since then, we have had a number of queries as to how you can create an iphone enabled job site without creating an application.

Creating an Effective Social Media Strategy, Part 7 - Find Quality Followers to Engage, Don�t Worry About Numbers

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 15:14:10 +1000

We all want thousands of followers on Twitter, but the number is not as important as the quality of your network. If half of your Twitter followers are there simply to boost your numbers, you will not be reaching the right people with your message. Providing quality content and engaging in discussion is more beneficial.

Email your interviewer and tell them they suck!

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:03:02 +1000

So you think you have the upper hand when in the recruitment process? Think again. A new service called Anonymously email your interviewer and tell them they suck! Allows candidates to send you a anonymous email telling you that you suck. We tried the service and have attached the email below.

What's up .docx?

Thomas Shaw — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 08:00:00 +1000

Have you ever received a resume in .docx format and were unable to open it? I have, but that was back in 2007! I was polite enough to email the candidate and ask them to resend the resume in .doc format. Unfortunately, not all recruiters/employers will do the same.

Creating an Effective Social Media Strategy, Part 6 - Provide Consistent Content, Don�t Simply Dabble

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 08:00:00 +1000

Now that you�ve got spokespeople, guidelines and an understanding of the landscape, you are ready to engage in social media. Social media is about contributing to the conversation, not just selling your product or service.

Post-n-Pray vs Pay for Performance

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 08:00:00 +1000

Is the Australian online recruitment market ever going to see a shift away from the traditional 'pay-to-post' model to a 'pay for performance' (P4P) revenue model? Pay for performance is also commonly referred to as pay-per-application (PPA) or pay-per-placement (PPP).

Recruitment Directory releases white label iPhone job search applications

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 11:25:33 +1000

Recruitment Directory has continued its dominance in developing recruiting products for emerging technologies and social media sites. Recruitment Directory has developed a white label job search applications for the Apple iPhone. (see media release)

Creating an Effective Social Media Strategy, Part 5 - Set Priorities and Goals, Don�t Try To Do It All

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 07:00:00 +1000

Not all online conversations carry the same weight. Many will have no impact on your company and not every mention of your company or brand will require the same amount of attention. The trick is to understand what does and does not matter. While a discussion on the latest product release or customer feedback may be worth engaging in, other discussions may be trivial and will not require your participation.

Mobile Enabled Job Sites

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 23:17:50 +1000

Continuing on from the previous article on Problems with Mobile Recruiting. One of the problems in having 2 different versions of your website, is deciding whether you should automatically redirect or allow the user to choose between viewing in mobile or original version.

Problems with Mobile Recruiting

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 23:30:00 +1000

I have been working hard over the past few months developing product ideas for mobile devices and we are very close to releasing an iphone job search application. Most people would argue with me that having a dedicated mobile application is a waste, and sometimes I would agree with them except...

Creating an Effective Social Media Strategy, Part 4 - Communicate the Strategy, Don�t Allow for Confusion

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 22:53:57 +1000

While you may have created a strategy and identified the spokespeople who will participate in online conversations, if you do not share that strategy with the rest of the organization it will lead to confusion. Social media turns everyone associated with your brand into a potential company representative. Whether you are a large or small company, the nature of social media requires specific guidelines for conduct.

Creating an Effective Social Media Strategy, Part 3 - Identify Spokespeople, Don�t Dilute the Message

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:47:32 +1000

As with traditional media strategies, you must also determine spokespeople for your social media strategy. You wouldn�t pull just any employee to speak to the media and social media should be no different. Despite the informal nature of the conversations on some platforms, the person responding is still a company representative and the image of the company is reflected in those discussions.

Are you adding value to your database? Effective database management tips

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:30:00 +1000

Every recruitment agency has some sort of database to store candidate/client contact information, notes, conversations, jobs, resumes, files, invoices etc. A properly designed and well maintained database can help improve internal efficiencies, provide accurate data, cut costs and speed up the recruitment lifecycle.

Creating an Effective Social Media Strategy, Part 2 - Take Time to Listen, Don�t Just Jump In

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 08:00:00 +1000

The first step in putting together an effective social media strategy is to understand the dynamics of the landscape. With social media, it is more important than ever to listen to what is being said before participating. What are people saying, how is it being said and where are they saying it?

Creating an Effective Social Media Strategy, Part 1 - Overview

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:43:16 +1000

It�s undeniable that the new world of social media can have a dramatic impact on your organisation. All it takes is a quick scan of today�s headlines to learn the effects of successful (and not so successful) social media campaigns. While it seems that social media presents an endless amount of opportunities to build awareness, it also presents risk, which means that creating an effective strategy isn�t just nice to have � it�s an absolute must.

Give your resume the FLICK

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 11:43:49 +1000

This morning, I spoke with Annemarie Cross & Keith Keller on their weekly radio show, discussing how job seekers can give their resume the "FLICK" (Format, Layout, Image, Consistency & Keywords).

Search Engine Friendly URLs

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 16:09:56 +1000

Job aggregation sites were one of the fist to fully embraced the search engine friendly (SEF) URL structure, as it generates high organic traffic from the search engines. Over the past few years, other job boards have been envious of MyCareer's SEF URL structure and now SEEK has implemented a SEF URL structure for each job advert.

Hijacking Competitors Job Adverts

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:21:55 +1000

Do you want your competitors to work for you? Easy. Redirect candidate traffic and visitors away from the competitor by hijacking their job advert.

CareerOne. Now powered by Monster

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 15:39:06 +1000

One of the biggest changes to the job board landscape this year would have to be the new CareerOne platform which is now powered by it's partner (and 50% owner) Monster. How much this platform update will help the job board is yet to be known. Can they gain a further hold on the number 2 position and increase market share? All jobs advertised on CareerOne will now be syndicated across Monster powered sites and job seekers will also be able to search for international jobs on CareerOne.

SEEK updates search function

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 14:05:22 +1000

SEEK NZ has released an updated search function to include expanded classifications and search by salary range. I am not a fan of searching by salary brackets as it does not properly accommodate hourly contractor rates, commission or non financial extras.

Need a fake job reference?

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 13:39:42 +1000

A new website in the US is offering fake job references. CareerExcuse offers both written and verbal references for a fee. As recruiters, we should be aware that these services do exist and we have processes in place to properly verify candidate employment history, qualifications and other details.

Recruitment Blogs

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 01:14:19 +1000

What started out as a small project in Nov 2008, Recruitment Blogs has grown to syndicate over 2,600 recruitment blog/news articles from 23 leading industry sources across Australia & New Zealand. The site keeps growing and growing! Remember to sign up for the FREE daily email, or follow the site on Twitter to receive the latest news.

Why Job Boards Share Postings

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 00:35:31 +1000

It's not uncommon to find the same job adverts appearing on multiple job sites. In Australia, the practice of job boards sharing "job content" has increased dramatically in these economic times. Are your job adverts appearing on other sites without your knowledge?

Guidelines on Recruitment Advertising

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:46:44 +1000

The Australian Government has introduced a whole-of-government approach to recruitment advertising. These guidelines took affect from 1 July 2009 and apply to all government agencies/department subject to the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997.

With or without www?

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 20:43:24 +1000

Some people are very anal about whether URLs should have a www prefix or not. I personally think domains look naked without them, and there is a reason why we use the www in the first place.

Use of Google Maps in a Job Search

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:22:38 +1000

The idea of mashing together Google Maps with a job search has been around since early 2006. But does it help a job seeker with their job search?

Job Seekers should use a Recruitment Agency

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:43:10 +1000

There are lots of things to take into account when choosing which Recruitment Agency you should use. In response to the 10 Things We Hate About Recruitment Companies article, let's take a look at why job seekers should use a Recruitment Agency. Looking for a job can be a time consuming and frustrating experience... Searching for jobs, telephone interviews, responding to selection criteria, in-person interviews, psychometric profiles, waiting for a call that sometimes doesn't arrive can all add up to stress, that makes it hard to focus and find that job you want!

10 Things We Hate About Recruitment Companies

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:00:33 +1000

I wanted to provide this article from a job seekers point of view. Like it or not, recruitment companies are firmly entrenched as part of the hiring landscape. However, all the evidence collected by Even It Up! seems to point to the fact that they notoriously over-promise and under-deliver?

Job Site Updates

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:53:24 +1000

A number of new job sites have recently launched in Australia. These include Lifestyle Careers, My Job Wizard, and mUmBRELLA has added a jobs section.

My job site has been hacked. What do I do?

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 22:23:26 +1000

If you think your website is safe, think again. Over the weekend 6 job sites were hacked and defaced. One of the first things that comes to my mind when I see that horrible �You�ve been hacked� message is� I wonder what information has been stolen? passwords, contact details, resumes, credit card/banking details, etc.

Where did you hear about this job? Tracking Candidate Sources

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:34:45 +1000

Do you track where your candidates have come from? If you are using some sort of application tracking system (ATS) in your recruitment process; more than likely you have the ability to automatically track where the candidate has come from.

Changes to Employment Law, What this means for Employers

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:21:00 +1000

As of the 1st of July 2009 a number of changes have come into effect relating to employment under the new Fair Work Regulations. The following blog post has been provided by LawLive.

Shut Up and Get Back to Work

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:40:16 +1000

When Frank the Foreman shouts, you must do exactly what he says within the set amount of time (in time with the music). Shut Up and Get Back to Work is an interactive application designed for the iphone. It has four commands - you must pinch, slide, press or swipe the appropriate controls in the correct order Frank tells you.

Top Job Search Logos

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:14:30 +1000

JobMob released a list of the Top 105 Beautiful Job Search Company Logos. On the list were a number of Australian HR/Recruiting logos that made the top 105. I am still waiting to hear how the list was chosen. Congratulations to the following Australian companies...

Social Software in the Enterprise

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:58:31 +1000

A simple and well done presentation on Social Software in the Enterprise by Lidia Vikulova

Sneak peek of CareerOne/Monster

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:29:25 +1000

Everyone has been asking me the same questions recently: Thomas, what is happening with CareerOne & Monster? What�s the goss? blah blah blah.... Simple answer - I don't know.

Creating a RSS Job Feed

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:18:28 +1000

Creating a RSS job feed can be a complex process and is best left to a programmer. So...what data should you include in your RSS job feeds? There are standard RSS specifications available, but we want to include extra data fields specifically for job aggregators to correctly index our data.

Using RSS feeds in your Job Search

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:05:44 +1000

A RSS feed can compliment your other job hunting methods by bringing you instant and targeted jobs directly to your computer screen or inbox. RSS is an acronym for Really Simple Syndication. RSS delivers information (in this case, jobs) in a simple web language called XML.

Australian Job Outlook

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 17:17:08 +1000

The Australian Government's Job Outlook careers and labour market research information website has recently been upgraded and� helps you decide on your future career. It now include a suite of charts that compare information for specific occupations within that occupational cluster.

How secure is your Recruitment website? Part 3 - Hidden iframe injection

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:12:01 +1000

A new malware attack has been making the rounds recently. It has infected a number of recruitment web sites, job boards and hosting servers. If you suddenly find that your website is triggering your anti-virus software and flagging it as a �dangerous site�, the culprit may be the hidden iframe injection hack.

Find a Job on Twitter

Thomas Shaw — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:56:33 +1000

Jobsite UK has launched the first personalised, targeted and integrated method for job seekers to receive automatic job alerts on Twitter. Job seekers will no longer have to sift through pages and pages of irrelevant tweets. Well done!

Has your job expired?

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:20:17 +1000

You must be curious. What's with the dandruff-farm-turned-ski-resort in this video? At first I thought it was new marketing campaign for SEEK, but I was wrong. This recruitment marketing campaign is actually for international VoIP provider Skype.

MyCareer OTP Advertising

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:13:25 +1000

It looks like MyCareer has followed in the footsteps of sister sites including The Age and SMH in implementing OTP Advertising. Last month, Fairfax Digital Media slashed advertising rates across all publications in a recent stimulus offer.Over the Page (OTP) Advertising works by loading an overlay over the website when the website is fully loaded. Typically the over the page advertising usually plays for between 10-15 seconds, then disappears, reverting to the usual website.

Dilbert - Job Interview

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:49:06 +1000

Dilbert 14th June 2009

Social Recruiting 101

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:06:12 +1000

Below are the presentation slides and live recording of the latest webinar - Social Recruiting 101. There is a lot of buzz surrounding the use of Social Networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn. But have you actually mastered the use of basic web 2.0 tools? Most recruiters are confused on how to integrate these tools into their recruiting strategy in a scalable fashion!

Is SEO important for individual job adverts?

Thomas Shaw — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:37:57 +1000

This blog post has evolved from a lengthy debate with an industry colleague today. While we agree that SEO is important for all recruitment sites - should we rank the individual job ads higher than the rest of the site?

Using Facebook for Recruitment

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:46:39 +1000

Below are the presentation slides and live recording of the latest webinar - Using Twitter for Recruitment. Have you tried recruiting on Facebook? Do you manually click through profiles and post messages on group profiles? Guess what, you have already created your first mistake! If you are like most online recruiters, then more than likely you are concerned about how to grow traffic to your website and increase sales and placements.

Consultancy Agreement or Contractor Agreement?

Thomas Shaw — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 20:42:13 +1000

Are you unsure whether you need a Consultancy Agreement or Contractor Agreement? This depends on whether you are engaging the services of a consultant or a contractor. Sometimes the difference between a consultant and a contractor is not always clear. The following blog post has been provided by LawLive

MyCareer.com for sale

Thomas Shaw — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 15:48:10 +1000

Domain name mycareer.com is currently listed for sale at the Sedo Careers Auction. The auction finishes 12pm, 10th June 2009 (EST) and the reserve price range is between USD $100,000 - $249,999. This may be one of the last opportunities MyCareer has to purchase this top level domain name.

How secure is your Recruitment website? Part 2 - URL Manipulation

Thomas Shaw — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 13:47:37 +1000

URL manipulation is a common issue faced in all database driven sites such as job boards, resume databases, blogs or any other site where parameters are passed via the URL. By manipulating certain parts of a URL, users may be able to access files they are not supposed to have access to.

Ask who? Ask Hugo

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 01:39:08 +1000

A new premium SMS information line is currently seeking casual textoligists to answer customer questions. Candidates have been asked to complete an online knowledge test, and successful smarty-pants will be sent further application information. We have managed to obtain a list of pre-application questions.

Maximising the use of Social Networking sites for HR

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 23:26:09 +1000

Because of the effectiveness of online communities in disseminating information, social media/networking websites have become indispensable tools for HR professionals. HR can use these sites for recruitment, employee engagement, increasing retention, management, monitoring and more.

Grants for Young Entrepreneurs

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:36:33 +1000

Well done to Mark Tayar from Recruitment Systems, who has set up a social enterprise called Hire Marks Consulting. They are currently offering financial grants to teach young people about entrepreurship in the community.

Wotnews now monitoring Twitter

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:31:09 +1000

News aggregation service Wotnews, has updated the monitoring service to search conversations on Twitter. This is great news if you are trying to monitor your brand or keywords in the marketplace. The searched content can be grouped into topics, themes and trends for further analysis. Are you monitoring what people are saying about your brand in the marketplace?

Ethical Considerations when Drug Testing in the Workplace

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 19:23:38 +1000

Most people don't realise that I have a background in HR. While studying at university, I undertook a number of business ethics units, to focus on behaviour in the workplace. This is a snippet from a report I wrote titled "Ethical Considerations when Drug Testing in the Workplace" from 2002.

Monster.com Test Ads

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:56:04 +1000

I have always thought Monster was a good job board platform. But while I was searching Monster today, I came across 123 test adverts (approx) listed in Australia. Not sure whose fault this was - CareerOne? Monster? Advertiser? But it dose intrigue me as why they do not have a "report job" function?

RCSA needs your help

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 31 May 2009 23:17:44 +1000

It's great to see the RCSA has (not) fixed all the website issues it has been having. For the past 6 Sunday's in a row it has failed like clockwork. So how do they fix the issues?

How secure is your Recruitment website? Part 1 - Server Directory Listings

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 28 May 2009 21:11:04 +1000

Every day, I am informed of another insecure recruitment website. How could this still be possible? The economic downturn has lead to an increase in data theft, with recruitment agencies one of the easiest targets. Information is an asset that, like other important business assets, has value.

Upcoming Webinar - Social Recruiting 101

Thomas Shaw — Wed, 27 May 2009 17:42:45 +1000

There is a lot of buzz surrounding the use of Social Networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn. But have you actually mastered the use of basic web 2.0 tools? Most recruiters are confused on how to integrate these tools into their recruiting strategy in a scalable fashion!

SEO Glossary

Thomas Shaw — Wed, 27 May 2009 17:23:17 +1000

With all the hype around search engine optimisation (SEO) for recruitment websites and job boards. I thought it was important that you first understood a number of the common words that have been thrown around.

Advanced Twitter use for Recruitment

Thomas Shaw — Wed, 27 May 2009 17:01:19 +1000

If you missed out on attending the Advanced Twitter use for Recruitment webinar dont despair. You can still purchase the webinar recording, presentation slides and twitter resources sheet for $45.00 To purchase the webinar recording and resources, please use the online payment form and you will be able to download the documents.

SEO Meta Tags

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 24 May 2009 17:00:00 +1000

Meta Tags are a Key strategy to Optimizing a website and individual web pages for the search engines, especially the "title tag". The "title tag" is what Search Engines use to determine what a site is about. In this blog post we will also look at the description, keywords and robots tag.

Brand Identity Guidelines

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 21 May 2009 21:02:42 +1000

Establishing and developing your Recruitment brand and image is a process which takes a great deal of time, energy and money. A brand identity creates loyalty, inspires trust, and allows for ease of recognition of you and your services.

Tapping into the Hidden Job Market - Essential Online/Offline Networking Strategies

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 21 May 2009 15:08:58 +1000

Sending out numerous applications but never seem to get any responses? Still waiting for that perfect job opportunity, which never seems to be advertised? Limited job opportunities presenting themselves? Studies have shown that between 70% to 80% of job opportunities are never advertised - termed the 'hidden job market'.

Upcoming Webinar - Using Facebook for Recruitment

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 21 May 2009 12:20:19 +1000

Have you tried recruiting on Facebook? Do you manually click through profiles and post messages on group profiles? Guess what, you have already created your first mistake! If you are like most online recruiters, then more than likely you are concerned about how to grow traffic to your website and increase sales and placements.

Surviving a Redundancy - 10 strategies to get yourself and your career back on track

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 19 May 2009 15:40:41 +1000

Below is a live recording of today�s webinar with Keith Keller and Annemarie Cross on �Surviving a Redundancy: 10 strategies to get yourself and your career back on track� You can register for other upcoming webinars here

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 19 May 2009 00:38:24 +1000

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is term that describes marketing a website using various techniques to make it more visible on search engines. Search Engine Marketing techniques include search engine optimization (SEO), buying Pay Per Click (PPC) ads or using a combination of both of these options.

Upcoming Webinar - Advanced Twitter use for Recruitment

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 18 May 2009 23:17:18 +1000

Following up from our previous webinar "Using Twitter for Recruitment", Recruitment Directory is proud to present an advanced training session presented by leading Online Recruitment Specialist, Thomas Shaw. Nearly 800 people have listened to Thomas teach Recruiters the basic principles and techniques on how to use Twitter.

Recruitment Genome Report 2009

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 17 May 2009 22:11:44 +1000

The first installment of the Recruitment Genome Report 2009 titled "Act While Others Wait: Savvy Recruitment Marketing Strategies Now Ensure Success While Others Wait for Better Times" was released yesterday by Arbita. The reports authors are leading US industry figures who compiled the survey data between Jan 23 - Mar 16 2009.

SEEK increases job advert expiry to 45 days

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 17 May 2009 18:03:34 +1000

Great news for all SEEK advertisers. They have changed the default job advert expiry length from 30 days to 45 days! Oh no, hang on... on second look, this only applies for jobs posted under the SEEK Ltd advertiser account.

HTML Special Character #39 - The Apostrophe

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 15 May 2009 11:21:08 +1000

If you do not encode special characters in web forms, you run the risk of breaking the search query or the ability to insert malicious code into the database. Hackers can infiltrate your website, potentially stealing confidential data or deleting the database.� I am not going to go into the technical reasons why this happens, but in most cases it is a very easy fix.

Is your username available?

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:55:43 +1000

It is becoming more difficult to maintain the same username across a growing list of social networking sites. In such a situation where you are unable to obtain the desired username, you will have to settle for your 2nd preference which may hurt your identity and social network presence.By entering only a username, NameChk can instantly show you if your desired/branded username is available at various social networking sites.

URL Shortening

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:17:31 +1000

Popular URL shortening service http://tr.im was offline for a number of hours today. Millions of URL links were broken and users were redirected to a error page (image below). It begs the question - should you host/manage your own URL shortening service or rely on a 3rd party?

Ooops tips - May 2009

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 12 May 2009 19:40:31 +1000

First off, I must thank all the blog/twitter followers who send me emails pointing out these issues. Following on from The ooops tips for job adverts Feb 2009 here are some more slip-ups.

Radio Interview - Online Recruitment in a web 2.0 world

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 11 May 2009 21:35:24 +1000

Tonight I was interviews on Joy 94.9 a community radio station in Melbourne. I was the special guest of the weekly 7pm show called "Technogaze - gazing into the past, present and future of technology". I spoke on various topics such as Social Networking, Job Boards, Online Recruitment, Background Searching and job seeker tips. You can download the full podcast or listen to the full show below (the interview starts at around the 9m mark)

Radio Interview - Twitter for Job Seekers

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 11 May 2009 10:49:53 +1000

This morning I was interviewed on Career Communique Radio - Your Career Catalyst with Annemarie Cross and Keith Keller titled "Twitter for Job Seekers". Social media and social networking is rapidly becoming an important tool and strategy in a job seekers job search. If you�re not familiar with social networking or are not using this as part of your job search, then this show is a must listen.

Recruitment Rumble

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 07 May 2009 14:22:31 +1000

Below is the live recording of "Recruitment Rumble" 7th May 2009 with Thomas Shaw, Geoff Jennings and Diane Lee. The topics covered in the rumble included:

TwitterJobSearch mashup with Google Maps

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 03 May 2009 18:38:30 +1000

TwitterJobSearch has created a widget with the Google Maps API to provide a geographical representation of the jobs posted. One of the main problems with this mashup is that users are not specifying the job's location in the tweet.

Upcoming Webinar - Recruitment Rumble

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 21:15:31 +1000

There's nothing like a good stoush. Join online recruitment industry leaders Geoff Jennings and Thomas Shaw for a LIVE "Recruitment Rumble". All gloves will be off as Geoff and Thomas go head to head in a discussion about key topics (Geoff may even wear his shiny purple boxing shorts).

Using Twitter for Recruitment

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 01:15:53 +1000

Below is the recording from last week�s webinar on "Using Twitter for Recruitment" You can register for other upcoming webinars here.

Adding keyword tags to your job adverts

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 22:05:09 +1000

Most recruiters would be unaware about this little tweak you can add into your job adverts. By adding a list of keywords, it can slightly improve the search results position. Is this true...? We will never know all the secrets to the complex search algorithm used by the job boards.

Why should I create a social networking profile?

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 17:42:35 +1000

Social networking sites allow you to know and to be known to multitudes of people throughout the world. Through the sites you can meet many influential individuals and organizations who can get you referrals, new collaborations, more business and ultimately greater profits. Any person big or small, can become successful with the help of social networking sites.

Taking your job search to the next level with Social Networking

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:34:42 +1000

Below is a live recording with Keith Keller and Annemarie Cross for yesterdays �Taking your job search to the next level with Social Networking� You can register for other upcoming webinars here.

MyCareer: suspicious or annoying?

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 11:41:03 +1000

While I was visiting MyCareer this morning, an alert popped up on my computer telling me that the "Site is Unsafe".Being the vigilant person that I am. I proceeded to read the full report. Although Norton has identified MyCareer of having a potential adware threat. Norton has added various "social functions" including user reviews and ratings on the right hand panel.What is the community buzz on your website?

Using Twitter for Recruitment presentation slides

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:33:25 +1000

The presentation slides from yesterday�s webinar "Using Twitter for Recruitment" are now available online. A big thanks to all those who joined us for the live session, and also Recruiter Daily and Adlogic for sponsoring the event.

Great Australian Pay Check

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:15:07 +1000

SEEK has just released the Great Australian Pay Check (aka salary survey results) it started compiling from users 12 months ago. The reports contain a wealth of information for job seekers, recruiters and HR to compare salary packages. SEEK's survey data size and report contents squash all rivals.

Typosquatting

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 18:55:59 +1000

You've probably noticed this yourself - You quickly type a URL into the browsers address bar, hit enter and arrive at a site that doesn't look like the one you were expecting. Then you notice that you entered a typo in the domain name.Typosquatting (also called URL hijacking), is a form of cybersquatting which relies on mistakes such as typographical errors made by users when inputting a website address into the web browser. Should a user accidentally enter an incorrect website address, they may be led to an alternative website owned by a cybersquatter.

Please select your gender

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 18:04:54 +1000

Last week, a mid-size Australian company updated the job application form with an extra gender selection. The company specialises in Accounting, Insolvency and Financial Planning.It got me thinking... Do we really need to know what the gender of the candidate when they apply for a job? Certainly for some roles it may be necessary and the employer should clarify the job advertisement with an exemption notice from the relevant authority.But it dose open the possibility of discrimination towards the job seeker.

LinkMe in bed with CareerOne

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 02:05:35 +1000

Did you know that LinkMe is now aggregating job adverts from CareerOne? At the bottom of those aggregated job adverts you will see this statement "Applications for this job are via CareerOne". First comes love, then comes marriage....

Using Twitter for Recruitment

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:09:37 +1000

I will be presenting a webinar on "Using Twitter for Recruitment" with Recruiter Daily and Adlogic. Attached below is the email flyer that was sent out. You can register for the event online. This is a great initiative, and thanks to everyone that has signed up! I look forward to sharing my wisdom.

Recruitment and Social Media

Thomas Shaw — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 19:02:09 +1000

Great short and sharp slide show by Daemon Digital titled "Recruitment and Social Media"

Look out CareerOne here comes NewCareerOne

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 00:34:50 +1000

Look out CareerOne here comes NewCareerOne. Registered last week, NewCareerOne is nothing more than a sponsored links farm, displaying ads from Yahoo. Another one of these sites is JobsGuruOnline which can be traced back to an Australian Company.

What do you think of the SEEK site?

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:00:37 +1000

It's friday, let's have some fun.

Job contest lets bloggers become pilots

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 03:55:42 +1000

Malaysian airline AirAsia recently launched the "So You Wanna Be a Pilot?" contest, by which it's offering 10 people the chance to become a pilot. No experience or training is necessary; all contestants must do is submit a blog entry between 1 April and 15 May explaining why they deserve the opportunity.

ShortShorts Jobs launches

Thomas Shaw — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 10:57:13 +1000

Earlier this week, a new niche fashion and rag trade job site ShortShorts launched. ShortShorts is a revolution for employers and job seekers in the fashion and rag trade industry. The site currently lists over 250 jobs across Australia and has just integrated with job posting software Jobadder. Job seekers have the ability to create their own profile, allowing them to upload and attach photos when applying for a job. All advertisers who mention it is a requirement to wear short shorts in the workplace will receive a 20% discount on the job listing. It only takes three short steps to get up and running. Write the details of what you want your advertisement to say. Enter your company's contact details. Fill out your method of payment.

Google Keyboard Shortcuts

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:33:19 +1000

Google is always experimenting with new features aimed at improving the search experience. Everyone loves keyboard shortcuts, but only if we could remember all of them. This experimental search function is not new, but interesting to let readers know about ongoing development.

Keyword Trends & Research Tools

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:42:05 +1000

Are you tired of reading articles and books on SEO, Search Engine Marketing and Internet Marketing? By now you will know that keyword selection and optimization is essential for driving traffic to your website and the way to improve your search engine ranking.

LinkedIn Job Referrals BETA

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:50:32 +1000

LinkedIn are currently beta testing a further refinement to the job referral function. If you are �not interested in this job� you can forward it to someone in your 1st or 2nd connection network. The list is automatically populated against your connections job function & industry to get the best match.

Share your LinkedIn profile

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 21:47:50 +1000

Since its launch, LinkedIn has been a thriving success and continues to improve the site for all types of users. While looking into the jobs available at Twitter (No, I am not moving to the USA) I noticed that they are using JobScore as their ATS.

Do not "Auto Approve" job adverts

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 20:25:15 +1000

It amazes me how job boards (and other classifieds sites) continue to allow adverts to be posted live without checking the job advert or advertiser. Checking to see if the advertiser is legit is one step you can take to stop scams (and fake ads) appearing on your site.

Print Advert Pointers

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 16:08:52 +1000

Readers would be aware of my Saturday morning routine - get up and read The Age's MyCareer section. A few weeks ago we pointed out the wasted print space and this week the paper is inundated with ad pointers. It's a no-brainer that the number of job adverts appearing in the paper is drying up - so now each page is filled up with these stupid pointers.If I worked at either Victoria University or RMIT I would check the invoice to see why you paid for the double-up of pointers on the same page.

There have been 2 Applications for this job

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:04:56 +1000

Did you know that some of the job adverts on JobsJobsJobs display the number of people that apply for a job? Surprised... So am I. Today we noticed a BDM role with JobX posted on JobsJobsJobs. Are they only just "sharing content" or is the merger announcement delayed due to another merger process still under discussion?

Prepare yourself for the job searching process

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:06:22 +1000

Finding a job used to be a very slow process, but this has drastically changed with the advent of online job boards and social networking sites. Rather than watch the Saturday morning paper shrink in size - you can supercharge your job search by setting up an account with a multitude of online job boards and have hundreds of leads delivered to you inbox daily. You can also create an online profiles on social networking sites, where you can increase the chances of being found (or finding a job).

Believe it or not

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 23:06:33 +1000

I had to look twice at the splash page for Randstad. It couldn�t be the Therese Rein (PM�s Wife) could it? I doubt it is, but a good look-a-like.

Hippo Jobs appoints Administrators

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 21:02:16 +1000

Hippo filled Form 505 - "Notification of Appointment or Cessation of an External Administrator" with ASIC today. In layman�s terms this means they have appointed Administrators to run/wind up/liquidate the company. The Gen-Y job board is said to have around 100k registered and profiled candidates, 80% under 25 years old. The site attracts 100k visitors each month.

Integrating Facebook Connect with your Job Board

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 11:45:55 +1000

Facebook Connect is part of the sites API platform released late last year. With Facebook the number 1 social networking site in the world, who wouldn't want to leverage off the success of this site?

What is an API

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 22:37:46 +1000

You may have heard the acronym "API" before, so what is it, and how it is used in recruitment. An application programming interface (API) is a set of programming instructions and standards for accessing a Web-based software application or tools. Software providers can release their own API to developers/clients/users, so they can develop and design products powered by the remote service.

Job Searching via Twitter

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 19:45:30 +1000

Job searching has evolved from newspapers to job boards, and now evolving from job boards into social networking sites including Twitter. Job seekers can use this medium thanks to new content aggregation sites such as TwitterJobSearch, HashJobs and various other sites.

Recruitment Directory launches live Technology Webinars

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:02:57 +1000

Recruitment Directory will be the first to launch various live recruitment technology webinars later this month in an effort to maximise recruiter�s knowledge in these areas.

Taking the Job Board to the people

Thomas Shaw — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:21:42 +1000

While having drinks with Kelly and Karen from Six Figures last Friday afternoon, I suggested numerous marketing ideas, to which they took one of them up. I spent this morning out on the street, with the Six Figures team outside Telstra/ANZ towers in Collins Street, Melbourne.

Proof read your job ads

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:51:23 +1000

Have a look at this job advert posted on Seek yesterday. Are recruiters using the spellchecker or proof reading the job adverts? It's quite easy to spot all the errors.

Customer satisfaction the JobAdder way

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:10:03 +1000

Promotional items are more important than ever in a tight economy. You want every edge you can get, and many of these items will reap rewards way beyond their cost. I was so excited to receive some promotional snakes from JobAdder in the mail today.

Radio Interview - Great jobs and where to find them

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 12:37:54 +1000

Earlier today, I was interviewed on a radio show called Career Communique Radio - Your Career Catalyst co-hosted by multi award-winning Career Management, Personal Branding Strategist and Author of "10 key steps to Ace that Interview" - Annemarie Cross and Career Coach - Keith Keller.

Facebook Marketplace now powered by Oodle

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 23:30:41 +1000

Facebook Marketplace was re-launched last week powered by Oodle. Unfortunately you are only able to search and list items within the US, Canada, UK and Ireland. Previously, the Marketplace was not used extensively for jobs. I anticipate over time that Facebook Marketplace will integrate with job posting software (Broadbean, JobAdder, Adlogic) and create a leading job board to deliver the jobs directly to the users profile.

Monash Uni 2009 Graduate Careers Fair

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 18:11:34 +1000

I ventured down to Monash Uni for their Graduate Career Fair earlier this week to visit various clients and reviewed their efforts on Employer Branding. Besides the plethora of uni students, free pens and lollies, not much has changed.

Wasted print space in MyCareer

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 16:41:18 +1000

Is it just me or was there a stuff up in Saturday's edition of MyCareer in The Age on Sat 14th March 2009? Why are the category titles repeated over and over in these 7 examples?

Favicon used with Google Sponsored Links

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 15:46:25 +1000

It seems Google has recently updated the sponsored links display to add small images or as we like to call them Favicon to its sponsored links. I can�t seem to find anymore information about the changes to the sponsored links or how to add your image via Google Adwords.

Thomas wins $50,000 from MyCareer!

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:47:17 +1000

Did Thomas really win $50,000 from MyCareer? No. But I did have you there for a second thinking I had won. I first wrote about the competition MyCareer were running on 29th January 2009, Sell your friends emails to MyCareer.

How do you get ahead at work?

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:03:45 +1000

MyspaceJobs (aka CareerOne) is currently running a survey when you log into your account on MySpace "How do you get ahead at work". I assume it would be targeting the Gen Y demographics on the website with these sorts of options - Kiss Ass, Study, Back Stab or Sexy Clothes.�

National Harvest Guide 2009 - Buy Now or Download Free?

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:58:40 +1000

I like to save job seekers money, and ensure they are not ripped off. So when I heard about someone trying to sell a FREE book/download and sold via eBay (printed by our taxes), I decided to look into this. Although the eBay user states it is a free guide, they have blanked out the website where you can download it for free.��

Fun and Games working for Domino's Pizza

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 20:39:31 +1000

Domino's Pizza launched a dedicated career site to fill over 2,500 current vacancies in Australia last week http://www.dominosjobs.com.au The site is interactive, informative and has various social aspects to it. We enjoyed exploring the site and playing with the "Sling Shot Scooters". It reminded me of CareerOne's game called "Tackle Your Boss"

Olivier Job Index - Job Ads Plummet

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 16:38:17 +1000

The Olivier Job Index fell a further 9.08% seasonally adjusted in February, with an average weekly count of 247,800 jobs on the major Australian job boards. The biggest losses were in Trades and Services (down 20.33%), Administration which fell 16.86% and Building and Construction dropped 15.15%. Transport was down 13.36%, and Engineering 13.03%.

Even It Up! issues challenge to SA Recruitment Companies

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 16:01:37 +1000

South Australian jobseeker website Even It Up! is challenging South Australian recruitment companies to lift their standards.

10 quick tips to help you find a job

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 15:09:57 +1000

During these tough economic times, it is incredibly stressful when unemployed. Now with more job seekers in the workforce, the so called "skills shortage" has decreased in most industries. Here are 10 quick tips to help you on your way.

Hunting The (Hidden) Hunters Report by CareerOne

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:09:01 +1000

CareerOne released a report last week titled "Hunting The (Hidden) Hunters" which reveals how almost anyone can be turned into a job hunter and changes the way we think about active and passive candidates. Well done to CareerOne for producing a well thought out report.

Graduate Program Wizard

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:10:38 +1000

GradConnection have just launched an online wizard which will help University Graduates select the best Graduate program. It compares the various programs on offer from employers and ranks them accordingly by an algorithm based on your search query called the �Grad Rank�

Employer Branding - A Quick Overview

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:35:18 +1000

When planning your employer brand strategy, it is helpful to determine where your brand is in the minds of the job seeker (or potential job seeker) and adjust your messaging strategy accordingly. Visualize each stage of the recruitment process in their shoes and how would your brand stack up against a competitor - who would you choose?

Branding Terminology and Jargon

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:11:45 +1000

Here is a quick overview of some branding terminology and jargon that is thrown around by marketers and branding consultants. These definitions will provide a valuable reference list for future marketing and branding activities.

Web 2.0 in Recruitment

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:29:33 +1000

Social media is amazing � let me give you a real example from yesterday. I uploaded my presentation for the Inspecht HR Futures conference on Web 2.0 in Recruitment to SlideShare

Ambulance Chasers

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 19:11:09 +1000

I read an interesting article in today�s Recruiter Daily called "Hone your ad chasing skills", and it got me quite ruffled up. The article refers to recruiter�s ambulance chasing job adverts. Surely Recruiters would have built strong relationships over the years with clients and understand their business?

Chat and IM use for Recruiters

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 07:00:00 +1000

There are several ways you can talk to people in person, on the phone, via e-mail, and instant messaging (IM). What is instant messenger? It's basically like sending a SMS to a person on a mobile phone (and we all know people who love to SMS). So instant messaging is a way to talk to your colleagues, candidates, clients, bosses or whoever you might want to talk to.

2009 Graduate Career Fairs

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 14:42:12 +1000

It's that time of the year when Universities and TAFE's are holding their Graduate Career Fairs. Recruiters should think about attending these events - not only for candidates, but for market intelligence.

Linkme infestation

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:31:57 +1000

It seems that the Linkme blog section needs some cleaning up. Are these blogs physically verified by humans to check the contents? Whoops, just forgot about the retrenchments last week.

Inspecht HR Futures Conference only days away

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 21:47:58 +1000

If you are living under a rock and haven�t heard about the upcoming Inspecht HR Futures Conference in Melbourne on Feb 26, you are running out of time to buy tickets! If you are interested in coming along make sure you register soon so you don't miss out.

MyCareer has a wee problem

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 15:39:04 +1000

It seems the folks at MyCareer are still having trouble with integrating the print and online divisions. I've noticed for a while now that job adverts posted from the print publications to mycareer.com.au online cut the job title to 21 characters. Seems a bit of a poo

We REALLY need a Recruitment Consultant

Thomas Shaw — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 15:13:13 +1000

Yesterday, this Recruitment Agency posted 85 identical job adverts in the SAME category, and SAME locations within a few hours. Was this mistake made by the Recruitment Consultant, 3rd party posting provider or the job board? How much money did they just waste? Estimate $45 per advert (approx $ rate for agency of that size) x 85 = $3,825

Optimising your job site for mobile devices

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:27:48 +1000

Have you ever tested your job board/recruitment website to see how what it looks like on a mobile device?

Hopeless romantic seeking Valentines date

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:37:47 +1000

The title says it all, really. I'm Thomas, a self-confessed SNAG, I'm the soppy romantic type of guy. Yes, we do exist. Looking for a hyper-romanticised like-minded to hang with on Valentine's Day, maybe it could lead to something beautiful. I'm 25, tall, fit, intelligent, respectful, and genuine. Pageup will you be my belated Valentine? (shhh.. don't tell my partner)

Name and Shame

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 23:51:10 +1000

Lately, I have been inundated from frustrated job seekers pointing me to negative threads on some message boards/forums. These threads have been started by users to vent their frustration with certain Recruitment Agencies, Employers and problems with the recruitment process.

Green Collar Jobs

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:11:30 +1000

The market for Green Collar Jobs is growing despite the credit crunch and financial turmoil that is hitting markets around the globe. There are plenty of green job opportunities in Australia, and I recently listed to a podcast on BTalk Australia where Phil Freeman from the Australian Conservation Foundation says that 500,000 new jobs can be created in the next two decades.

Hide and Seek

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 16:02:16 +1000

How do you know that your competitors are better than you? You are using them. I noticed this job advert today appearing on SEEK. I was keen to see who the advertiser was, so I used google to see that the role is at JobsJobsJobs.

Conducting free background checks on search engines and social networking sites

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 11:16:52 +1000

There are many ways to conduct a background check on someone and you can gather a lot of free information by using search engines and social networking sites. This dangerous practice is becoming very common among Recruiters and Employers. It is as easy as typing a name into Google.

Using LinkedIn Answers to become an expert in your niche

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 20:52:15 +1000

LinkedIn Answers http://www.linkedin.com/answers?trk=msitejobseek is very powerful tool on LinkedIn as it can help you establish yourself as an expert in your niche. LinkedIn Answers is one of the best places on the web to share business knowledge - you can ask and answer questions on specific subject matter.

The ooops tips for job adverts Feb 2009

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 18:52:41 +1000

How often do you check the adverts you, or your consultants post to the job boards? What are they saying about your company and brand?

Interview with Paul Jacobs on the launch of TribeHQ

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 13:22:07 +1000

Paul Jacobs and Tim de Jardine launched TribeHQ http://www.tribehq.com (we have covered TribeHQ previously) last month and I was keen to find out more about Paul and TribeHQ. For those of you who don�t know who he is have a look at his company http://www.engageonline.co.nz as well as the Recruitment 2.0 community site http://thoughtleaders.ning.com You could say that Paul is the �go to� person and a leader in Online Recruitment and Employer Branding in New Zealand.

RCSA website security will become an industry nightmare

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 15:52:06 +1000

We have uncovered various security errors with the new RCSA http://www.web.rcsa.com.au website within 5 minutes of playing with it. Originally set for release in Oct 2008, the question is now - when, if ever it is to be released? We reported on finding the test site back in Dec 2008 "Reminder to all... Do not put your test website online" http://www.recruitmentdirectory.com.au/Blog/reminder-to-all-do-not-put-your-test-website-online-a27.html

You are the dickhead

Thomas Shaw — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 13:50:34 +1000

Sometimes I ponder late at night thinking "Why are Recruiters given such a bad rap?" Ahh.. hang on, I think I just found out why. This job advert on Seek http://www.seek.com.au explains why - This is a fair dinkum opportunity to become our business partner not a franchisee and for you to be in control of your own income without having to deal with dickhead bosses, wanker unions or have to suffer bludging work mates. You will need background in HR, Recruitment, Sales or Training to succeed.

What really grinds my gears

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 14:09:24 +1000

You know what grinds my gears, scam job adverts, MLM (multi level marketing) roles, work from home jobs, "the secret", etc!

Using Google Analytics

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 23:26:51 +1000

Google Analytics http://www.google.com/analytics is a leading free service which is offered by Google. This service generates detailed statistics about the visitors to a website. The main highlight is that the product is aimed at marketers as opposed to IT nerds.�Google Analytics can track visitors from all referrers such as search engines, job boards, display advertising, pay-per-click networks, email marketing and other digital media.

What is OpenID and how can we use it

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 23:43:51 +1000

OpenID http://www.openid.net is a decentralized, lightweight protocol for single sign-on and portable identity that is causing a massive transformation in today's internet. More than 25,000 Web sites currently accept OpenID, with double digit month over month growth. If you know of any recruitment sites that are accepting OpenID please let me know.

Qualifying your Salary in these Economic times

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 19:55:19 +1000

Are you worth more than you are currently paid? Of course everyone would say Yes, but how do you know? Do you compare with your friends/colleagues/industry benchmarks? I thought I would compile a list of reference sites with salary surveys details.

Maximise the Value of Your Recruitment Database

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 14:38:39 +1000

Recruitment Systems http://www.recruitmentsystems.com.au aims to make recruiters more effective through intuitive technology and great advice. Each week the recruiters and technology experts that make up their team and client-base will post some clear and simple tips to help you become a remarkable recruiter. I was recently quoted in the latest newsletter below on "Maximise the Value of Your Recruitment Database". You can sign up to the weekly free newsletter here http://www.recruitmentsystems.com.au/effective-recruitment-tips.aspx

In Plain English please

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 22:40:53 +1000

Sometimes it�s hard to explain technology using words. Many people enjoy watching short, interactive videos. I have stumbled across the makers of these videos a number of times, and I thought I would share their cool videos http://au.youtube.com/user/leelefever RSS, Social Networking, Social Media, Twitter and Phishing Scams in plain English.

Chit-chat with Alison Monroe from Adage

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 13:39:03 +1000

Earlier this week, I received a media release from the niche job board Adage http://www.adage.com.au that the Directors have decided to put the job board up for sale, and concentrate on their other businesses. I spoke with Alison Monroe, one of the Directors of Adage, offering some advice (having gone through a sale of my own recently) and here is the summary from our discussions.

Sell your friends emails to MyCareer

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 11:09:45 +1000

MyCareer http://game.mycareer.com.au have followed Careerone and SEEK http://www.seek.com.au/seasonsgreetings in creating interactive games for the job seeker. The concept is good, but I doubt that it will really take off. My initial reaction was WOW, then I actually started playing the game (it really should be called - sell us your friends to win 50k). It must have cost $$ HEAPS to create this game, and then the cost to advertise the promotion.

Monster hacked again plus information on security terminology

Thomas Shaw — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 20:58:38 +1000

It has been widely reported online and readers would have known by now that Monster http://www.monster.com websites have been hacked. Confidential information has been downloaded, maybe malicious scripts have been uploaded, who knows what else has been done. But the question is... WHY? Why has the site been hacked in the first place. We understand that Monster has recently undergone a site upgrade - but still, that�s NO EXCUSE for not protecting confidential information. Let�s look at common terminology on the types of computer security incidents, and computer security evaluation methods.

TribeHQ is coming

Thomas Shaw — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:08:24 +1000

TribeHQ http://www.tribehq.com is set to breathe social networking life into the static world of job boards. It is currently gearing up for the public beta release next week (2nd Feb 2009). I was lucky enough to be sent some screenshots and pre release information from Tim de Jardine & Paul Jacobs co-founders of TribeHQ (Tim is also the founder of Hirewall ATS I interviewed a few weeks ago).

Interview with Jane Damon from Chameleon-i

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 13:25:30 +1000

Chameleon-i http://www.chameleoni.com is a leading web-based recruitment software solution for SME recruitment agencies worldwide. I spoke with Jane Damon from Chameleon-i about their software and plans for their new venture in recruitment website design. Recently they launched the new recruitment website for HSEQ One http://www.hseq-one.asia

Was the NSW Government Job Board Hacked?

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 21:06:42 +1000

The news is currently reporting that the NSW Government's Job Board http://jobs.nsw.gov.au website has been hacked. The site is currently offline and undergoing security testing and maintenance. Am I surprised by the lack of security around job boards and recruitment websites? No, no, no!!!

Spot the Difference

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 15:03:46 +1000

Let's play a game called Spot the Difference... Do you know any other stock images on recruitment websites?

Identity Theft on Social Networking Sites

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 13:23:11 +1000

Identity theft is becoming a serious problems across the world, and with the innovation of technology, there are new ways to steal your identity being found every day. It is becoming harder and harder to protect yourself from this crime and ensuring your personal data is safe is becoming a constant struggle. You wouldn't want to give your personal details to a complete stranger, but the reality is you are doing this every time you sign up to a social networking site.

Use of Flash Animations in Recruitment Sites

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 14:55:11 +1000

Website designers are always trying to imbibe creative designing skills into the site in order to allure the customers. Flash applications in design makes a site better looking, interactive and appealing. Their usage is done in various ways depending upon the design requirement. The idea is to make the website more customer friendly and enjoyable for them.

Review of Oracle Recruiter

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:12:16 +1000

I met David Talamelli from Oracle (Principal Recruiter, Asia Pacific Region) back in Dec 2008 and we had quite an in-depth discussion about online recruitment, in-house recruitment as well as blogging and social networking. David runs the Oracle Corporation Recruitment Blog here http://oraclerecruiter.blogspot.com/ and has asked me to critique the blog and provide advice taking it to the next level.

Time Management - Tips to become more productive

Thomas Shaw — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:01:32 +1000

Those people, who are using their time management skills effectively are found to be more creative and better performers. Whenever I meet with a client, not only am I trying to establish a good rapport with the person but also evaluating their time management skills. Time management is the "foundation" to getting organised, and staying organised.

Recruitment Directory sells LocalCouncilJobs.com

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 20:26:18 +1000

Melbourne based company Recruitment Directory http://www.recruitmentdirectory.com.au has sold the niche job board Local Council Jobs http://www.localcounciljobs.com to Council Jobs http://www.counciljobs.com for an undisclosed price. Local Council Jobs was set up in August 2008 to cater for job posting in the Local Government sector across Australia and New Zealand. It has rapidly grown to become a leading provider of jobs and career advice relating to this sector.

Incorporating Web 2.0 into your Recruitment Strategy

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 23:35:55 +1000

What is Web 2.0? Many recruiters are still confused as to what Web 2.0 really is and how they can incorporate it into their recruitment process. Yet once recruiters understand the new Web 2.0 world, they can leverage emerging social media tools and gain a competitive advantage in an increasingly competitive business world. So let's step back from a previous article I wrote on "Web 2.0 Recruitment Sites" and find out about the terms and application of these tools.

Interview with Clayton Wehner from CapitalJobs.com.au

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 17:22:41 +1000

In this current economic climate, running an online job board is a hard gig. I spoke with Clayton Wehner, Managing Director of CapitalJobs.com.au about his transformation from working in a Recruitment Agency to operating a geographical niche job board.

Monitoring your business or competitors using Google Alerts

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 20:24:44 +1000

Google Alerts http://www.google.com.au/alerts is a free service that sends search results directly to your email box or feed reader. Many people use Google Alerts to track keywords related to their business, their name, corporate identity or anything else that they might want to be notified of when a page using the keywords are spidered by Google. This kind of service is usually refered to as "Media Monitoring" and there are many different types of companies and products available in the market.

From a Harvard Idea to the YouTube of Recruiting

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 17:59:51 +1000

From a student/teacher conversation at Harvard University about "identifying top talent" emerged an intelligent online video services company that believes it can change the face of the Recruiting 2.0 industry. I spoke with Dane Disimino from iViioo http://www.iviioo.com about the benefits for both candidates and recruiters/employers using videos in the recruitment process (Dane is featured in the product video below) Plus a special offer for friends and clients of Recruitment Directory.

Facebook Ad Credits

Thomas Shaw — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 15:40:05 +1000

Facebook http://www.facebook.com have been nice enough to send through a number of advertising credits for friends and clients of Recruitment Directory. They have offered a $25 USD worth of advertising credits. Only new accounts created in the last 24 hours are eligible for the $25 USD offer. Enter coupon code: 6MYH-2RV3-2CE2-F63C or HPET-2FWW-4YEJ-X5K1 at checkout to redeem. Offer expires 31/3/2009. Please let me know if you are having any trouble with this offer.

Interview with Simon Appleton from Workcircle

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 19:12:30 +1000

I first blogged about Workcircle in late Dec 2008 as they prepared to enter the Australian marketplace see related post here http://www.recruitmentdirectory.com.au/Blog/workcircle-launches-australian-site-a43.html I spoke with Simon Appleton, CEO and Co-Founder of Workcircle to find out more information.

Interview with Mike Wilkinson from HooJano

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 00:29:41 +1000

HooJano http://www.hoojano.com.au is a new player in the referral marketplace which launched http://www.staffsearcher.com.au in partnership with MYOB earlier this week.� I spoke with CEO Mike Wilkinson about HooJano as well as asking his advice for other entrepreneurs

Protecting Your Business Brand and Employment Issues

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:38:34 +1000

All businesses invest a lot of time and money to create a brand that appeals to their customers and sets them apart from competitors. As a business becomes more successful, the importance of taking steps to avoid brand exploitation from competitors increases. I am not an expert on legal issues and with the number of layoffs and redundancies in the marketplace, we have asked the experts at LawLive http://www.lawlive.com.au to help us on these topics.

Become an expert on your competitors

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:53:25 +1000

In business, having competitors goes with the territory. There�s almost always someone selling the same product or service you are selling, or at least trying to solve the same customer problem you solve.

Email Marketing Tips for Recruiters

Thomas Shaw — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:01:52 +1000

Email Marketing provides powerful solutions to businesses which save time, reduce expenses, increase efficiencies, and boost profits. Recruiters need to constantly adjust their campaigns in these market conditions and technology enhancements to stay ahead of the competition.

Interview with Tim de Jardine from Hirewall

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:45:05 +1000

I was first introduced to Tim de Jardine and Hirewall through the "NZ Recruitment 2.0" online networking group and since then have built a good rapport with him. Hirewall http://www.hirewall.com is a new web-based hiring system for SME's. See previous blog article here http://www.recruitmentdirectory.com.au/Blog/hirewall-beta-release-a38.html I spoke with Tim de Jardine about his new venture.

Job Site Traffic Jan 2009

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 15:36:44 +1000

I was talking to an owner of a national Recruitment Agency last night and he mentioned that applications have increased. Anyone know why? I am not going to regurgitate all the news articles and media reports on job losses around the world. But let�s look at some graphs and statistics on job site traffic.

Is Just Be heading for the RIP list?

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 20:35:08 +1000

I was notified by a client of Just Be http://www.justbe.com.au that the job board was offline in early Dec 2008. On inspection the whole sever; including email, was not working. We did tried sending a number of emails, as well as calling the office to find out what was wrong...but no responses. My first thoughts were that the site was undergoing a makeover or have left the building. But it soon appeared online again (early Jan 2009).

Corporate Social Networking Trends

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 15:41:21 +1000

I read an interesting article about Corporate Social Networking Trends in Talent Management just before Christmas, and only just remembered I had the link saved in my folder. Score!

The difference between a Video Interview and Video Resume

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 14:22:26 +1000

Lately I have heard recruiters talk about video resumes, including myself here http://www.recruitmentdirectory.com.au/Blog/2009-year-of-the-recruitment-videos-a59.html but are you talking about the correct �video�. The most notable difference between video interviews and video resumes is who begins the video process.

Integrated Social Media Solutions for Recruitment

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 13:29:01 +1000

A fellow twitter friend of mine Ryan Chartrand http://twitter.com/glassesgeek from the US has produced a short video & podcast on social networking and recruitment. Ryan's rants and ideas echo my own advice and consulting I am provide to clients. Create a strategy, integrate, target and socialise.

Bluetooth Marketing for Career Expos/Job Fairs

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 13:58:49 +1000

Have you ever used bluetooth for marketing purposes? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth Nearly all mobile phones and laptops have bluetooth installed by default, and we use it to transfer images, ringtones, documents, connect to one another or to other hardware. Feb/March is always around the time Universities and organisations hold Career Expos or Job Fairs. But did you know you can use it as a marketing medium to attract candidates?

Using SMS in Recruitment

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:58:57 +1000

SMS is an important marketing medium, but has limited application in Recruitment/Job Search. Most of the messages you could send are transactional. The key to a successful SMS marketing campaign relies on the 3 pillars - planning, content and execution. In this blog post I have just summarised my thoughts and ideas into various groups - Uses in Recruitment, Advantages, Disadvantages, Measuring SMS, Questions to ask yourself before sending SMS, Tips and Common mistakes I hear from recruiters.

2009 - Year of the Recruitment Videos

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 11:51:08 +1000

Many clients have asked me for my 2009 predictions, and I have been quite reluctant to give many at this stage. 2009 will see the rise of videos as well as other web 2.0 tools. Recruitment software and job posting providers will partner more with organisations, they will be gatekeeper as well as leaders in the industry. Consolidation and collaboration will increase dramatically.

The real Job Genie

Thomas Shaw — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:30:00 +1000

Protecting your brand identity is a must for any business. Last night while I was checking up on my own IP, I came across a new site logo and name which looks a bit familiar to a friend of ours 2vouch.

10 tips to avoid PowerPoint disasters

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:13:55 +1000

I have been preparing my presentation for the Inspecht HR Futures Conference in late Feb. Oh my... that�s less than 2 months away. But I came across an interesting article on SmartCompany - 10 tips to avoid PowerPoint disasters

Moving Domain Names

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 13:56:56 +1000

It's straight forward right? Change the website address, inform clients, generate as much buzz as possible, stock the printers with new stationery and copy and paste the website to the new domain name. Well, let�s just go over that last bit.

Recruitment Agency Websites

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:20:27 +1000

In this ever competitive recruitment marketplace attracting the best candidates (and clients) is paramount to your company's continued success. Ask yourself these questions.

Did I forget the job advert?

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:45:56 +1000

Someone forwarded this to me today. They say bad things happen in three's. 3rd mistake by Hippo in the past few weeks http://hippo.com.au/JobSearch/JobDetails.aspx?id=17544 PS your test site is still online here http://hippo.dev.areeba.com.au whoops. Hey gen Y, g8 fkin jobs 4u, mad. aply now :)

How much would you charge?

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 20:54:01 +1000

I have been searching the internet looking to see if there are any Recruitment Agencies in Australia passing on any charges for advertising a role on social networks or using them as a database for clients. I have found an example (not that good) but still it's an example.

Facebook Advertising - Part 2

Thomas Shaw — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 13:58:28 +1000

Following on from my previous post on Facebook Advertising Part 1 http://www.recruitmentdirectory.com.au/Blog/facebook-advertising-part-1-a51.html I have collected a number of adverts that are currently showing on Facebook related to recruitment. These are only a small example of adverts targeting my profile.

Facebook Advertising - Part 1

Thomas Shaw — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 13:32:47 +1000

If you are like most online recruiters, then more than likely, you are concerned about how to grow traffic to your site and increase sales or placements. There are actually ways to do this that are easy and affordable. By simply taking advantage of the social networking site craze, you just might catapult your business to the next level.

Web 2.0 Recruitment Sites

Thomas Shaw — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 11:49:08 +1000

I am involved in online strategy for a number of recruitment businesses and they are finally starting to learn about web 2.0. The key difficulty here is actually agreeing a definition of what Web 2.0 actually means and what it might offer a recruiter.

Destination Talent

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 19:40:35 +1000

Where is the best "Destination Talent" for outsourcing in the world? We discuss some of the hot countries for talent - Russia, Philippines, India, Ukraine, China & the Gulf.

Google Adsense tips

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 13:42:05 +1000

Recently with the downturn in recruitment advertising, we are noticing various online recruitment sites using Google Adsense http://www.google.com/adsense to fill up banner and white space. It is a small revenue generator from page impressions and ppc (pay per click) streams. LinkMe competitors take note... advertise your brand without them knowing

Hungry for new staff

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 18:48:38 +1000

Last night, while preparing for New Years celebrations, I ventured down to my friends local pizza shop in St Kilda East called Wise Guys (awesome pizza) and noticed they are looking for some new staff? Creative! I didn�t get a very good photo of the advert, but text is below.

Eat Your Own Dog Food

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:40:15 +1000

I know what you are thinking... what is with the title? Its actually the name of an employers career site http://www.eatyourowndogfood.com.au Ireckon is an Information Services / Digital Agency who provide a wide range of products and services based on web technologies. Its certinaly a refreshing change from other boring career sites I have seen previously.

Merry Christmas

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 10:22:51 +1000

Merry Christmas to everyone. I hope you have a great day.

Sandwich Board = Job

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 11:07:40 +1000

A job seeker in NT resorted to using a sandwich board to get 3 new jobs in 45 mins. Although after accepting one offer, he failed to show the following day after injuring his back.

Workcircle launches Australian site

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 21:51:07 +1000

Workcircle (UK based job aggregator) have just released an Australian portal site http://www.workcircle.com.au Workcircle is an international vertical job search engine, aggregating content from job boards, recruitment agencies and employer websites. Currently they are only aggregating content from Jobg8 during this pre release phase, but will launch the full service in the New Year

Jobx vs Seek videos

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:05:41 +1000

JobX must be given credit for trying. I don�t actually remember ever seeing these videos, but a user has forwarded the link to share with everyone. The concept is based on the old Apple vs PC videos. Enjoy.

What Thomas is reading - 19 Dec 2008

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 01:58:44 +1000

This week has been quite big for online recruitment. Most HR/Recruitment would not have even noticed the technology updates to job boards and a variety of small improvements across the major ATS's. In between playing with the updates and preparing for the full launch of Recruitment Directory. I have found a number of interesting documents on e-marketing and social networks which users may find interesting

Inspecht releases 21st Century Recruiting eBook

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:46:14 +1000

Inspecht http://www.inspecht.com.au has released the much anticipated 21st Century Recruiting eBook. Michael sent me a copy of the book earlier today and WOW was I impressed. The wealth of information contained in the book is relevant NOW! This is certainly one of those books you must have. If you had to source this information yourself it would cost more than $15 - online trends, social networking, social media strategies, online recruitment tools, etc.

Hide recruiter job adverts? No thanks

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:35:31 +1000

Hippo http://www.hippo.com.au sneaked in this update to the search function about a month ago. You can exclude adverts from recruiters and your advert is highlighted in the search results. I will let readers and the recruitment industry make up their own mind about this and I believe this will turn off recruitment agencies from advertising on Hippo. What do you think? Recruitment Agency Discrimination?

Hirewall beta release

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:10:00 +1000

Hirewall http://www.hirewall.com is a new web-based hiring system for SME's and is currently inviting organisations for Beta release testing. Based in NZ and run by Tim de Jardine - Tech Guru, Entrepreneur, ex Recruitment. (I think I have found a brother). He created Hirewall to provide SME's a non-bloated hiring system that will meet there needs.

New SEEK website design released

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:26:11 +1000

SEEK http://www.seek.com.au has released its long awaited new home page design and some site updates. Most notable is the horizontal search bar, and the web2.0 look. Kudos to the UX team who have delivered a rich and fresh design. Well done Carey & Team

Concept testing iphone recruitment apps

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:00:00 +1000

I am very fortunate enough to be informed daily about new products, innovations and technology from job boards, recruitment agencies and ATS providers - some of that information can be publically talked about, but most (approx 80%) can't be divulged due to various confidentiality agreements. Today I was sent a number of screen shots of an iphone recruitment application in concept development for a [company] in the Australian market. It was very flash, web2.0... but I am not really sure if it will take off (10,000 apps already created for the iphone)

SCAM - Job Seekers beware

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 21:44:32 +1000

It occured to me that this blog has been very negative recently. But honestly, I am a really fun, sociable and entertaining person! Seriously ask anyone :)But, its hard not to be critical when I come across these job posts on SEEK http://www.seek.com.au (Yes, I have reported them) and on the surface the job adverts all looks legit.

Secure your website!!!

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 20:21:53 +1000

How many times do you have to tell people that your website MUST BE SECURE?? I have reported this previously to the owner of this leading Recruitment Agency, but it has STILL not been fixed. LISTEN...this is very important and MUST be a top priority, no matter what the cost is. Not only is your directory listings turned on, but you have exposed your server and databases username/password!!!

This job has been sourced from...

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 09:00:00 +1000

Strange behaviour is starting to emerge from niche job boards. Who would have thought we would see the day when a job board states that a job has been sourced from another job board? This example below is one of 100 or more jobs currently appearing on Teen Jobs http://www.teenjobs.com.au sourced from JobsJobsJobs http://www.jobsjobsjobs.com.au

Sydney Talent - Experience is the difference

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 09:00:00 +1000

A new initative launched by the University of Sydney aims to bridge the gap between university studies and employment http://www.sydneytalent.com.au I am impressed by the marketing documents, clear and easy to use website as well as reasons behind forging industry and academic relationships.

Saturday fun - Wordle yourself

Thomas Shaw — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 09:00:00 +1000

This site has been around for a while, but I decided to give it a go on my blog http://www.wordle.net

Communication within the HR community

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 17:39:28 +1000

There are 2 main HR community forums in Australia - HR Buzz http://www.hrbuzz.com.au and AHRI's HR Connect http://www.ahri.com.au/hrconnect These forums are a great chance to have your say on subjects, or talk about a problem you are facing.� I have used both forums in the past, and would recommend users to try both. AHRI's is very limited - as there are no "social" functions for profiles, connecting users, email follow ups etc. Where as, HR Buzz is a community driven site built on a forum platform with integrated social tools.

Job Board Updates - MyCareer jobs on CareerOne

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 11:00:00 +1000

It must be a very hard time for the job board industry at the moment. I don't want to focus or pick on just one job board, it's just the industry needs a bit of cleaning up. So this week... Hippo are advertising for staff on SEEK, unconfirmed closure of JustBe, free job adverts at RecruitMeNow, 2 for 1 deals at JobServe, restructure at MyCareer. Eeeekkkk.... here is another soft kick for the staff at MyCareer moving from Melbourne to Sydney.

Are you looking for the perfect role this Christmas

Thomas Shaw — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:08:26 +1000

Kudos to Time Recruitment and Hahn Healthcare for these good laughs. Do you know anyone quirky?... On the second day of Christmas, Hahn Healthcare sent to me. Two GP roles,�And a job for a pharma company!

Reminder to all... Do not put your test website online

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 18:40:45 +1000

It amazes me how many organisations put a test website online, without the necessary security protocols - anyone can find it. Today we were notified about the new RCSA website http://www.web.rcsa.com.au The site design is very modulated. There are obviously still errors with the search functions, and missing content. Oh no.... they have chosen Drupal as the CMS http://drupal.org/security I hope my membership data is safe!

Something smells a bit fishy

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:40:00 +1000

I received this media release from Recruit Me Now http://www.recruitmenow.com.au (not once, twice, but three times!), at first I was not going to publish it, but I thought I would add my own comments. I have shut my mouth for too long on this site's misleading statements:

Has MyCareer closed it's Melbourne office?

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 09:04:34 +1000

News was creaping around the blog-o-sphere about some redundancies at MyCareer http://www.mycareer.com.au MyCareer have aparently closed their Melbourne office with staff offered roles in Sydney. Are you one of the affected staff?

Are you about to loose your job?

Thomas Shaw — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 15:21:06 +1000

Over the past few weeks, you would have seen a dramatic rise in organisations firing staff. In the news yesterday, there was an article about Mission Australia and the Salvation Army cutting staff numbers to the Job Network Agencies - but have not told the affected staff... If you are currently work in a IT Help Desk role, maybe you could find a job as a phone sex operator? JobX can help you find that new job.

SEEK'ing help on a new home page design

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 12:10:35 +1000

I have come across SEEK's new home page designs today, and was quite suprised by the new look. Have a look at the screen shots I was able to get. The only difference between the 2 designs I was presented with is the colour scheme. Note: These are currently undergoing extensive market research - designs can change! Participate in the survey today http://www.seek.com.au/survey/

Social Media Optimisation (SMO) Say What...?

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 22:03:59 +1000

So you may have heard about Seach Engine Optimisation (SEO) but do you know what Social Media Optimisation (SMO) is?

Recruitment Agencies on YouTube

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 18:51:10 +1000

I have been following a number of Recruitment Agencies who have been creating and publishing videos for youtube. Consultive http://consultive.com.au has stood out from the rest, and have used this new medium to produce a number of effective recruitment videos.

What Thomas is reading - 7th Dec 2008

Thomas Shaw — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 15:06:37 +1000

Jobs ads fall for fifth successive month... Sydney Talent... Recruiting and Restructuring in a Downturn... Start-up wonders... Are your job advertising dollars well spent?... Does Social Networking = LinkedIn for Most Recruiters?...

What Thomas is reading - 4th Dec 2008

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 20:39:33 +1000

IT employees work hard to keep their jobs... FREE job ads to rec2rec's on Recruit Me Now... ACCC to authorise recruitment code... Sailing ship not a recruitment tool, says navy... 52 ideas on using social media within HR... How important is your career site in 2009?... Social networking etiquette...

How to choose a Job Board

Thomas Shaw — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 23:12:44 +1000

This time last year, I wrote an article in AHRI�s HR Monthly magazine (Nov 2007 issue) on Job Boards. The article was based on trends, as well as emerging players in the industry. Also included in the article was tips for employers and recruiters for choosing a job board.

HR Futures Conference 2009

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:57:44 +1000

I have been asked by a industry colleague of mine Michael Specht, to speak at the upcoming HR Futures Conference in Feb 2009. The Inspecht HR Futures Conference brings together speakers covering all areas of HR, Recruiting and Technology to discuss how social media, innovation, culture and technology empower, attract, engage and evolve employees.

2discover Facebook Application

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:07:38 +1000

This is another one of my favourite applications I created for a client earier this year. 2discover is a executive recruitment agency based in Sydney. The brief was quite simple - create a Facebook application that enhanced the 2discover brand which is visually apealing, easy to use, and non intrusive to users

Recruitment Blogs

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:10:54 +1000

It started with an small idea, and has suddenly grown into a syndication machine... Last week, I was thinking about a way I can subscribe to all blogs/news sources - organised by the time they were posted, easy to find, as well as the ability to share the information with other colleagues as easy as possible. Recruitment Blogs was born.

Sheelagh McKenzie Facebook Application

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 20:45:39 +1000

It's not often I brag or show off work I have completed for a client, but I couldn't resist this one. I was engaged by a allied health recruitment agency called Sheelagh McKenzie earlier this year to create a Facebook Application as well as a social networking strategy.

Twitter and Recruitment

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:14:36 +1000

A few weeks ago, I resigned up for Twitter to see how much it has changed since I was last actively "tweeting" on the website. There has been a lot of discussion about whether Twitter is useful, fun or just a fad.

The Monster is back! Monster to puchase 50% of Careerone.com.au

Thomas Shaw — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 10:07:30 +1000

There was speculation back in June 2008, that Monster was set to return into the Australian market. Today Monster/News Ltd announed they have entered into a joint venture partnership for online recruitment. Watch out SEEK, the Monster is back!

Recruitment related Domain Names For Sale

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 22:28:32 +1000

As the demand for Australian domain names continues to grow, the availability of quality domain names becomes less and less. What domain names relating to recruitment, HR, jobs, careers and talent are currently up for sale?

What is an Applicant Tracking System? Who are the main providers?

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 19:44:51 +1000

What is an Application Tracking System (ATS) ? You may have heard the ATS called many different things such as a �Recruitment Database System�, �e-recruitment System�, "Jobmatch", "Talent Management System" etc. For the purpose of this post, I will refer to it as simply an ATS. If I have left any sites or products out, please contact me or leave a comment.

Q&A about SimplyHired launcing in Australia & LinkedIn applications

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:34:33 +1000

SimplyHired launces into new markets, LinkedIn API launches with a number of 3rd party applications. I started this self question & answer a number of weeks ago when I was starting to generate content for the blog.

Federal Government adopts Gershom Review

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:00:47 +1000

It�s hard enough to find skilled candidates for IT roles in Canberra, but the Federal Governments adoption of the Gershom Review doesn�t make much sense. Canberra is a nice place. But... I couldn't live there permanently.

HR Daily launches

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:39:35 +1000

HR Daily a daily email publication was launched last week, and has already taken off with over 3000 email subscribers!

Deloitte Technology Fast 50

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:14:07 +1000

The "Deloitte Technology Fast 50" results for 2008 have been released, and it seems only 2 Recruitment/HR service providers have made it into the top 50

RCSA releases Quarterly Research report Nov 2008

Thomas Shaw — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:18:31 +1000

The RCSA has released the findings for its latest "Quarterly Research" report Nov 2008. "Demand for healthcare workers appears recession-proof but business professionals are facing a significant slump in their job prospects, according to the latest recruitment industry research."

The Blog is back!

Thomas Shaw — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 22:46:06 +1000

I thought it was about time I bought back the blog. So here it is in a new format http://www.recruitmentdirectory.com.au/blog