The 20 companies most Aussies want to work for

IF you could work anywhere in the country, where would you choose?

The most popular answer for Australians is the ABC, according to recruitment firm Randstad.

It bumped last year's winner Virgin Australia from top spot at the 2013 Randstad Awards, with defence and security company BAE Systems coming in third.

The awards measure the perceived attractiveness of Australia's major employers using a survey of 7000 active job seekers.

The ABC, which won second place last year, ranked highly among Australians for its offer of interesting job content, learning and development opportunities, long term job security, workplace culture and work-life balance.

The most attractive industry according to job seekers is the aviation industry, which often scores highly due to perceived benefits like cheaper flights. Virgin Australia and Qantas both ranked in the top five attractive employers.

Mining and resources is the second most attractive sector, with fast moving consumer goods ranked third.

This year Federal Government departments were included in the research for the first time, with the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, the Department of Health and Ageing, the Department of Defence and Australia Post all making the top 20.

The survey showed the most important factor when considering an employer was competitive salary and benefits (20 per cent), followed by long-term job security (17 per cent), good work-life balance (11 per cent) and interesting job content (9 per cent).

Randstad managing director Deb Loveridge said this year Australian workers wanted to be recognised and rewarded for hard work and loyalty through better salary and benefits, rather than job security which was a major concern in 2012.

"With people increasingly looking for employers who will reward their efforts and contribution to the organisation, being viewed as an employer who cares for and invests in their people has never been more important to secure and retain top talent in the years ahead," Ms Loveridge said.

The research also found men prefer financially healthy organisations with strong management that offer career prospects and learning opportunities, whereas women look more for flexible working arrangements, accessibility and good work-life balance.

Randstad Award winners 2013 (amongst respondents who know the company, the percentage that would like to work for the company):

ABC - 47 per cent
Virgin Australia - 44 per cent
BAE Systems - 42 per cent
Channel Seven - 42 per cent
Qantas - 41 per cent
Department of Immigration & Citizenship - 41 per cent
Department of Health & Ageing - 41 per cent
Newcrest Mining - 40 per cent
Coca-Cola Amatil - 40 per cent
GHD - 40 per cent
Department of Defence - 40 per cent
Australia Post - 39 per cent
Rio Tinto - 39 per cent
Wesfarmers - 39 per cent
WorleyParsons - 38 per cent
BHP - 36 per cent
Nestle - 35 per cent
Lion - 34 per cent
Westfield - 34 per cent
Computershare - 34 per cent

Source  http://www.news.com.au/business/your-business/the-20-companies-most-aussies-want-to-work-for/story-fn9evb64-1226607050479

Is a university degree still relevant?

Earlier this month, Universities Australia released a report from "The Australian Workforce Productivity Agency" warning that the industry demand for people with higher education is set to sky rocket with growth rates of between 3 and 4 per cent every year till 2025.

Yet with so much evolution in the work place and the technologies that are running them, should a degree still be a definitive requirement or has it become more industry specific?

Ten years ago more than 50% of Australians wouldn't have been able to read this article online due to Internet access constraints. Twenty years ago, stories like this were typed on electric typewriters and faxed to editors, while 30 years ago the yellow pages was the number one source to find the phone numbers for people to interview. Times have changed... drastically.

There are still plenty of people in the work force who would have completed their university studies 20 - 30 years ago, a time before tablets, Google and smart phones, a time when you got a bad back from lugging around the fourth edition of a 10 kg textbook or writing your thesis from facts you found in your Encyclopaedia Britannica that took up an entire wall of your house.

According to many employers or if you check out the latest job listings, it's clear, a degree is still a big desire, even though they could have come fresh off the printing press when a mullet was something on your head, not on your plate and a mouse was something that ate cheese.

Of course if your life long dream is to be a scientist or a vet or a lawyer, higher education is not just necessary it's imperative to ensure you learn the knowledge required to execute these types of positions.

But for many other industries where "hard skills" are required to get the job done is university always the right way to go?

Lincoln Crawley, the Managing Director of Manpower Group Australia, New Zealand as well as the President of RSCA (Recruitment and Consultant Services Association) says in the Australian job market a degree is still an advantage.

"This is a complex issue, what is appealing to prospective employers is that a degree gives the impression of a desire for continuous learning" says Crawley.

So if Crawley was presented with two candidates with similar abilities however one has a degree and the other doesn't who usually gets the job? "If two candidates are all things being relatively equal, then it should be the propensity to do the role and add value to the work place that wins the position not the pieces of paper," he says.

At the time this article was written, a number of universities and Universities Australia were approached to comment on this issue from a Tertiary standpoint, but given the current revolving door of Ministers (Chris Bowen's replacement will be the fifth in 15 months) and the aftermath of the spill, no one was available to comment.
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Do those extra letters after your name really get you those extra dollars in your pay packet? Does a degree place you in a position of power and strength in the job market or can it just another form of workplace discrimination?

Most people see the advantage of further education and the pursuit of constant learning, but not everybody believes you always need a piece of paper to prove it.

Source  http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/1389838/is-a-university-degree-still-relevant/?cs=12

Mossad spy Ben Zygier reportedly spilled secrets to Hezbollah leading to his imprisonment

THE Australian-Israeli Mossad agent found hanged in a Tel Aviv jail, Ben Zygier, had passed secrets to Hezbollah before his death, an influential German magazine has reported.

News weekly Der Spiegel said Ben Zygier, a man known as "Prisoner X" who died in 2010 in an allegedly suicide-proof cell, had handed tips to the Lebanese militant group that led to the arrest of at least two people spying for Israel.

After conducting its own "internal investigations", the report found that Zygier had started working for Mossad in 2003, investigating European companies doing business with Iran and Syria.

It said Zygier - who was raised in Melbourne but moved to Israel about a decade before his death - was ordered back to Israel in 2007 because his bosses were unhappy with his work.

In 2008 he took a leave of absence, Spiegel said, and returned to Melbourne to finish his studies after trying to recruit new agents for Israel in a bid to restore his standing with his bosses.

In the process he came in contact with Hezbollah supporters, Spiegel said, and while trying to convince them to work for Mossad, disastrously spilled highly sensitive information.

This included the names of Lebanese nationals Ziad al-Homsi and Mustafa Ali Awadeh, who were arrested in May 2009 on charges of spying for Israel and later sentenced to several years of hard labour.

The report said Israeli security authorities had told Zygier after his arrest that they wanted to make an example of him and demanded a prison sentence of at least 10 years.

Zygier was found dead in his cell in December 2010 at the age of 34.

Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop said the allegations were internal matters of national security for Israel's intelligence agency,

But the coalition still had unresolved questions about how Mr Zygier's case was handled by consular staff in Australia.

Ms Bishop said no effort was made to contact his family or to offer consular assistance to Mr Zygier, an Australian in prison overseas.

It ''beggars belief'' that Stephen Smith could still claim he recalled nothing of the case despite being foreign minister at the time and the matter relating to national security and intelligence.

''This minister Stephen Smith didn't even bother to find out if the family or indeed Mr Zygier required assistance'' she told Sky News on Monday.

It was time for ``frank and honest answers'' from the government about this matter.

Source  http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/failed-recruitment-mission-led-to-ben-zygiers-jailing-and-suicide/story-e6frg6so-1226605062114

Is recruitment really like Facebook?

I have heard it said that the business models of recruitment and Facebook have many parallels, most of them not very complimentary.

 

For example, both service two clients, but only one pays. In recruitment it's the candidate and the client and with facebook it's the user and the advertiser. In both instances it seems to be the objective to gather as much information about the non - paying party in order to secure business from the paying party. In recruitment the client pays and with facebook it's the advertiser. That is why facebook wants to know everything about its users, even when they are not on- line - they pass this information to the advertisers who use it to target specific audiences. In the recruitment industry much of the personal information gathered is used to "sell" the candidate to their clients.

In both cases this can harm the reputation of the brand, because the sharing of information often takes place without the candidate's or user's knowledge. This throws up some ethical questions and while both businesses may deal with well-known brands, it places a question mark over their own.

I can't speak for facebook, but I believe that some recruitment agencies need to take a good, long hard look at how they conduct their business. There is a watchdog organisation, APSO (Federation of African Professional Staffing Organisations), which has prescribed a code of ethics that govern their members' business practice. It specifically states, for example, that agencies may not send clients unsolicited CVs or send CVs without first obtaining the candidate's express permission to do so, by divulging the name of the client and details of the vacancy.

It has become more apparent in recent years that many clients insist that their recruitment suppliers are members of APSO before they will engage with them. It provides a measure of confidence that the recruitment agency they are dealing with subscribes to a regulated code of ethics and that they have some recourse should there be such a need.

Deal with an accredited APSO member and you will be more likely to "Like" their service.

For more information about APSO, their code of ethics and whether your recruitment supplier is a member, go to: www.apso.co.za

Source  http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/22/90555.html

Aggregator's recruitment results surprising

Last July, Vow Financial began ‘aggressively’ targeting recruits around the country in an effort to expand its broker network – and the response has been surprising, says the aggregator’s CEO, Tim Brown.

“In February, 2013, a campaign began promoting our industry-first three different commission models: flat fee, percentage and transaction, which has seen a surge in enquiry into the Vow Financial Group. Add to this, Vow's diversification offer makes overall offer truly unique.The surprising results are that the enquiry for brokers has been much higher than we thought.”

Prior to the campaign, Brown says Vow were expecting a 10% open rate to the email sent to industry professionals, but the actual figure ended up being over 25%.

“We also saw a spike in the website page views from new visitors at over 3,000 for the 24 hours after the campaign, indicating market awareness of our new offerings.”

So far this financial year, Brown says Vow has increased its loan writer numbers by 21% compared to July, 2012.

“During February alone, new accreditations to be processed has more than doubled and our BDM team has been swamped with enquiries from brokers. We have seen a change in the industry with brokers expecting more service, support and products from their aggregator. Brokers expect more than a simple lender plug in with a ‘set and forget’ model.”

Source  http://www.brokernews.com.au/news/breaking-news/aggregators-recruitment-results-surprising-173344.aspx

Controversy surrounding 457 visa crackdown heats up

 The hotel industry has stressed that if the government is going to make it more difficult to employ foreign staff, it must actively promote job vacancies to Australians.

This comes following the government’s decision to crack down on 457 visas that allow Australian employers to sponsor skilled workers from overseas on a temporary basis.

Des Crowe, CEO, Australian Hotels Association (AHA) National said the hotel industry is in desperate need of staff, however the government’s Job Services Australia (JSA) network has failed to fulfil employers' staff quotas.

“Promoting Australian recruitment and cracking down on 457 visas is meaningless unless more is done to connect Australian employers to Australian job seekers.

“The hotel industry would prefer to employ Australians, but we need to be able to find them in order to put them into jobs,” he said.

Crowe said the hotel industry has 36,000 vacancies at present, and he predicts this figure will continue to rise to 56,000 by 2020.

“Tightening restrictions on overseas workers will make it more difficult for employers to fill jobs, so the question now is what will the Government do to get Australian job seekers into Australian job vacancies?” he asked.

He said the JSA network is largely ineffective because it focuses on larger employers, when by nature the hospitality industry is characterised by small business.

“Hospitality is predominantly a small business industry, and we need the JSAs who understand the hospitality industry to connect with local employers not just with big business. Currently the hotel and hospitality sector is being ignored by JSAs,” added Crowe.

He said the AHA promotes hospitality careers, including the current Employ Outside the Box program for disadvantaged job seekers, and highlights the need for the government to similarly demonstrate such support for the industry.

“The AHA is currently providing skills advice to 600 hotels through the Workforce Futures Program.  This presents an ideal opportunity for a tourism and hospitality focused JSA to work with the industry as we roll out the program.

“The previous Employer Broker Program provided funding allowing the AHA to facilitate employment by identifying demand and working with local JSAs to fill vacancies.  It is clear that unless this matching exercise occurs, JSAs will continue to ignore the hospitality sector," he explained.

Crowe said while the JSA system was established with the aim of assisting disadvantaged people find work, many have nevertheless been unable to find meaningful employment because the system simply focuses on directing job seekers to big employers.

“Encouraging employers to maximise the potential of the local workforce by employing workers with a disability, mature-age or disadvantaged workers is nothing more than a gesture unless there are resources available for linking jobs with job seekers.

“As long as employment services fail to recognise the demands of business there will continue to be debate over the need for overseas workers to address labour and skills shortages,” he added.

Source  http://www.hospitalitymagazine.com.au/accommodation/controversy-surrounding-457-visa-crackdown-heats-u

Aussie row over 457 work visa abuse hots up

New Australian immigration supremo Brendan O’Connor’s announcement that temporary work visa 457 was open to widespread abuse has ignited parliamentary confrontations.

Accusations that the 457 visa is being used by Australian companies to employ overseas workers in jobs suitable for Aussie nationals involved claims that jobs were skilled in order to obtain the visas. In fact, the positions were unskilled and were given to cheap foreign labour.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard is taking the stance that a visa system riddled with holes was inherited from the previous government, and believes Australian nationals are missing out on employment as a result. Her opposition counterpart Tony Abbott strongly disagrees, saying that the government is making use of the issue for political reasons and demonizing migrants as a result.

Following Gillard’s Sunday night speech which focused on jobs for nationals, Abbot told the media that her assault on foreigners was insulting to migrants who’d made a significant contribution to the country’s economy. O’Connor, clearly seeking the last word, is now promising changes to the 457 visas which will end the abuse.

Aussie trade unions are in favour of the changes, stating that 70,000 fewer construction jobs are on offer due to a 40 per cent rise in 457 visas issued in 2012. However, Australian businesses, especially in the IT sector, are complaining the new regime will cut the total of available jobs and damage the sector.

Julie Mills, representing an association of IT recruiting companies, believes that Aussie IT jobs may be outsourced to other countries including India as a result of further restrictions, resulting in even fewer jobs for local IT workers. Andy Cross, representing Ambition Recruitment, says that current and future demand is unlikely to be met by home-grown supply, adding that job applications from overseas should be actively encouraged. 

Source  http://www.emigrate.co.uk/news/20130306-6248_oz-row-over-457-visa-fraud

Energy HR: an alternative recruitment solution

Energy Human Resources was founded in 2007 with the aim of providing a commercially viable, honest and transparent recruitment services. With the conviction that ‘there must be a better way’, Founder and Principal Sarah-Jeanne Fraser broke from traditional outsourced recruitment delivery methods and presented industries with an alternative solution.

Ms Fraser has developed a company which is a trusted and respected provider of efficient recruitment services throughout all spectrums of white collar vacancies in the oil and gas, mining and construction industries.

Now with offices in Perth, Brisbane and a newly committed office in Singapore, Energy Human Resources’ (HR) clients have experienced the benefits of an ongoing partnership.

“Energy HR is known for its unique business model, providing a proactive and highly cost-effective recruitment solution to consultancies, engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) firms, and construction contractors around the world,” said Ms Fraser.

“Having ongoing partnerships with organisations within the industries, Energy HR has played a pivotal role in the growth of reputable organisations that have a local and global footprint. Construction and engineering, procurement and construction contractors such as Enerflex, EPCM firms including LogiCamms, and mid-sized consultancies such as Enscope have been partnering with Energy HR for several years.

“Energy HR has thus been instrumental in supporting their growth through recruitment and company development, offering a cost-effective alternative solution to traditional providers.”

Following on from active recruitment throughout all states of Australia, Energy HR opened a Queensland branch early in 2012, allowing the organisation to concentrate on effective recruitment along the east coast of Australia.

Ms Fraser said “Someone once said to me ‘You’re the captain of your ship, so you must always ensure that you’re steering it in the right direction.’ As a result, closely following market and project activity, and networking in areas most relevant to our business has been paramount to Energy HR’s success in the last over five years.

"Understanding the industries we work in, knowing the people in those industries, and being familiar with the relevant projects has allowed us to be successful recruiters. Crossing national and international boundaries has opened many doors that benefit both Energy HR as well as our clients.“

Although Energy HR is known to predominantly operate in the downstream oil and gas and pipeline industries, major contracts have been implemented with companies in the mining and commercial construction sectors, providing successful partnerships with companies such as Macmahon and Brookfield Multiplex.

Ms Fraser said “Energy HR works closely with its clients, offering a solution aligned with their specific business needs that provides long-term successful business partnering. The relationship is intimate, with weekly interaction and integration into the client’s recruitment and HR structures.

“The unique points of difference of Energy HR become evident when the client identifies the reduction of significant costs often incurred when using traditional agency recruitment fee structures. Energy HR delivers consistent results in recruitment, resourcing and consultation. We always maintain high standards of work practices and ensure integrity, respect and confidentiality at all times.”

For more information visit www.energyhr.com.au