Posts by Ross Clennett
Care robots in Japan can’t reduce human labour (so far)
Picture credit: Asian Scientist Magazine Almost anybody with even a cursory knowledge of demographics and global labour markets can tell you that Japan is the canary in the coal mine for the developed world’s rapidly aging population, below-replacement fertility rate, and labour supply. Japan has the second-highest median age (just under 49 years), and one…
Read MoreWhat recruiters need to know about the WGEA pay gap data
The Australian Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) last week published base salary and total remuneration median gender pay gaps for private sector employers in Australia with 100 or more employees. This release caused an enormous amount of commentary. Here’s a summary of what I have read (in Q&A form.): How big is the gender pay…
Read MoreWill the SEEK Recruiter Network succeed in a market that’s rife with failure?
Whenever jobs board behemoth SEEK launches a new product or makes a public pronouncement that impacts the local recruitment industry it generates immediate interest. Whether it’s their ventures into adjacent marketplaces, controversial use of candidate data, price rises, subsidiaries doing sneaky stuff, or foot-in-mouth clangers from co-founder Andrew Bassat, there’s headline-generating material reliably flowing every…
Read MoreCan Collar’s phenomenal growth continue? Ephram Stephenson sure thinks so
Picture credit: CEO Magazine Collar Group and its founder, Ephram Stephenson, continue to be the highest-profile success story of the post-pandemic era in Australian recruitment. Since commencing operations in July 2021, Collar Group has grown to 140 recruiters with nine offices (3 in Perth, two in Queensland, and one each in Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra and…
Read MoreAdecco put on notice by Minister as new ADF recruitment contract has “teething issues”
Manpower won the first Australian Defence Force (ADF) recruitment contract in 2002 after collaborating with the ADF in a pilot program conducted over the previous two years. Manpower lost the contract in 2008 to Chandler Macleod, regaining it less than a year later (and subsequently was awarded contract extensions in 2012, 2016 and 2019) after…
Read MoreFeedback matters (it really, really does)….. but it has to be meaningful
On Sunday my youngest son’s soccer team opened their 2024 season with a 0 – 3 defeat. The new coach was very instructive from the sidelines throughout the game, in contrast to the team’s most recent previous coach. Last night the coach had the players watch the entire game on the big screen at the…
Read MoreRemote lives on (strongly) despite the obituaries high-profile firms want to write
If you were just paying attention to headlines in the mainstream media you would be forgiven for thinking that the bosses have won and remote work is declining and on its way to being the blip on the radar it was pre-pandemic. In London The Financial Times reported professional services firm EY has started monitoring…
Read MoreMother’s Day Classic donates $2.5 million to NBCF (and will fund ovarian cancer research from 2024)
My sons, my wife and I (pictured above) were privileged to be guests of The Mother’s Day Classic Foundation (MDCF) donation announcement at The Langham in late October. In 2023, the Mother’s Day Classic recorded incredible growth, with participation up 30 per cent on 2022 with 65,000 Australians participating in 73 locations. The donation to…
Read MoreRecruitment consulting is officially a misunderstood job
The perennial misunderstanding of the key skills and core competencies that make up the job of a recruitment consultant is formalised in the Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) website. JSA is the Albanese government’s replacement for the Morrison government’s National Skills Commission. Its mission “is to be a catalyst in activating the potential of Australia’s…
Read MoreSMAART co-founder goes clean and comes clean about his rollercoaster life
One of the highlights of the recent ATC was an on-stage interview between SMAART Recruitment Director, James Witcombe and SMAART Recruitment co-founder, Stu Holmes (pictured above). Holmes was Witcombe’s boss for ten years before Holmes left SMAART in 2015. Holmes left SMAART because his substance abuse led to untenable behavioural problems at work. Following his…
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