Posts by Ross Clennett

You have to hand it to Andrew Bassat and the SEEK board. For the past two years they have been trodden their own path, seemingly unencumbered by any doubts, dismissive of criticism and impervious to any potential backlash against the contentious decisions they were making, or the business activities they were endorsing. The verdict from…

The original purpose of the office was simple – as a knowledge worker, it was the place you had to attend in order to do your job. For (almost) every employee not out ‘in the field’ selling, building, fixing, cleaning, or transporting something, all the resources you needed to do your job were only available…

Recruiters quickly understand the realities of a changing labour market because we are immersed in that market each day. Employers who aren’t in the labour market every day (and even many of those that are) don’t want to hear that the labour market has changed in a way that creates more challenges for them. Unfortunately,…

On the Monday immediately before the Melbourne Cup public holiday my wife and I decided to buy some new outdoor furniture (two couches and an umbrella), for use the next day when we were having guests around. We drove to our closest outdoor furniture store and were served by the store’s manager. After finding out…

To finish 2020 here’s a quick summary of good news, not-so-good news, the same old story and, to conclude, I offer a few things to think about as you contemplate 2021. The good news Australia is officially out of recession, with the economy expanding 3.3 per cent in the September quarter as restrictions eased and…

The WorkPac v Rossato ‘double dipping’ has recently reached the next stage when, four weeks ago, the High Court granted special leave to appeal the original decision, handed down in May this year. WorkPac was ordered to pay Mr Rossato his full leave entitlements that are owed to him as a permanent employee. The court…

It’s been a difficult year for agency recruiters with the economic impact of the COVID-19 restrictions wreaking a level of havoc that nobody could have foreseen this time last year. However, SEEK’s co-founder and CEO, Andrew Bassat, provided us all with a good belly laugh when, as reported by industry news service ShortList, he told…

After Recruit Holdings released its results yesterday afternoon, fourteen global recruitment agencies have now released quarterly updates for trading results to 30 September 2020. The September 2020 quarter median gross profit decline was 16 per cent, compared to the same quarter in 2019, a substantial improvement on the June 2020 quarter median decline of 30…

This morning, while the eyes of the world were watching the US election count enter its third evening, the New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, was sworn in for a second three-year term in office. New Zealanders were certainly keen to participate in the democratic process with the official turn out for the 17 October…

The cat was well and truly thrown among the pigeons yesterday when SEEK was the subject of a report by activist shareholder Blue Orca that its legacy job board business is stagnating, its Chinese online recruitment platform Zhaopin is inundated with false and fraudulent postings and it is carrying increasingly toxic levels of debt. “Zhaopin’s…