They're all bankers

So committed are Macquarrie employees to banking, that some of them can't get banking off their mind.

In fact, they can seemingly bank all day.

Some of them bank while looking at pictures too.

Some of them bank while looking at pictures, while Channel 7 is interviewing your boss. Oops, how embarrassing.

Check it out.

How bad to skills shortages have to get?

Would you want this man driving your helicopter? Because, it might happen if some current trends are to be believed.

According to the newspapers in January, you’d be forgiven for assuming that, for the recruitment advertising industry the worst was over.

On the 17th, the SMH reported that job advertisements rose in November and December, with Robert Olivier, director of the Olivier Group commenting:

This rise rounds off a remarkable recovery over the last six months in the Australian jobs market.

Then you’ve got today’s news, seemingly offering the opposite view. Job ads, according to the ANZ monthly report, have slumped a massive 8.1%.

But the skills shortages (and the corresponding socio-economic trends that put them there) haven't really gone away. So is the recovery over before it even began? Certainly not.

ANZ acting chief economist Warren Hogan reckons there’s fragility, yet expects solid growth moving forward. And Business Day reports that newspaper job ad numbers are only 3.4% lower than they were in January 2009.

Net figures also demonstrate that some 140,000 new jobs were created in the last four months of 2009. Seeing as unemployment has actually decreased in this period, this statistic means that new jobs have actually surpassed population growth.

However, these two variables (unemployment and population growth) are likely, in my opinion, to remain pretty level as the ‘under’ employed take on more hours (bear in mind that 30% of the new jobs above are part-time).

So there's some conservatively optimistic news out there. And it gets better for wannabe helicopter pilots.

Because, coupled with these points, is the (not-so-surprising) news that the labour market is at its tightest for the past six months – with sure signs of a move back toward the skills shortages in areas like IT, engineering, health, and accountancy. The Clarius Skills Index (from December) shows clear evidence of oversupply moving down from 45,000 to 17,000 people.

So the fella in the helicopter might have a job waiting for him after all.

All in all, 2010 is sure to spell slow progress, but I expect the market to have lifted substantially around Easter and beyond.


*** Stop press ***

New positive news from Shortlist:

Average daily browsers on SEEK were up 34% compared with December's figure, at 278,363. Total unique browsers for the month rose 26% to 3.872 million.

At CareerOne, average daily browsers surged by 42% month-on-month to 89,503, while total unique browsers for January grew 36% to 1.748 million.

MyCareer saw daily browsers increase by 39% to 75,338, and total unique browsers rose 33% to 1.448 million.

Even job boards have to advertise on Seek

I've been away a while, so I'm not 100% up to date on the latest stats on the major job board.

But the fact that CareerOne are advertising on Seek Executive says all you need to know about where jobseeking traffic is heading at the start of 2010. CareerOne certainly seem to know.

This also says quite a lot about Seek's rudderless dollar-chasing. They're in such a dominant position, so why do they feel the need to reduce their website traffic and increase that of their competitor?

Thanks to one of my team, Jess, who was the eagle eye who spotted this...

Trends for 2010

Very shortly, I'll be getting married, growing up, and buying a sensible family car. Yeah right.

Not quite true: while I'm getting married, I'm also taking ten weeks off work, travelling through India with my beautiful wife, then spending Christmas on mud island with my parents.

I don't expect I'll much care for my blog during this time, so I'll leave you with this stonker of a post, and encourage you to read through my earlier entries and let me know what you think.

I started this blog with no other view in mind than to contribute my views to the marketing/advertising/recruiting industry I truly enjoy being part of, and collaborate and learn from others. But what do you think I should I write about? What do you enjoy reading? Is it enough to offer opinion or comment, or does it need to be important, current and valuable news pieces?

Or should I just pack it all in because, let's face it, you'd rather pay Rupert Murdoch to hear his tired old hack's views?

2009 has been a year to forget for the recruitment industry, but one that has forced us to do as my dad would to say and 'take a good look at ourselves'. And, during some of the worst months, 'wash your mouth out with soap, you potty-mouthed young advertising exec'.

The future in a nutshell?

1. First: More organisations that choose to 'do it for themselves' with supporting companies developing smarter ways to help this automation approach.
   
2. Second, a significant number of organisations who need to grow, but lacking the experience to do so, and turning to strategic agencies (like my own) to help them close the gaps between perception and reality, current beliefs and ideal beliefs, internally and externally.


3. Third, a return to creativity in recruitment advertising. The demographics of a tight labour market still exist, and it's time for Australian business to recognise that the choices people make about choosing a job are affected by powerful advertising imagery that influences candidate ideas and beliefs. Let's get beyond simply promoting 'benefits'.
   
4. Fourth, a huge growth in employer branding work, due to the need for organisations to understand more about what they stand for and use this to work to produce meaningful bottom-line outcomes.


5. Fifth, consolodation, fewer players, and a trimmed down, more transparent industry offering higher returns and greater value for money for your Average Joe employer.

As for me, I look forward to taking some time out, and getting down to some seriously interesting work in 2010.

Over and out.

Atlassian - if I could critique for a moment

Yesterday, I went to the fantastic Open House at Atlassian (feature pictures are owner-entrepreneurs Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar, both 29).

Atlassian are an amazing growth story. And recently, they have been making waves in the recruitment industry, by taking a firm approach with recruiters, and a word-of-mouth campaign to influence software developers to head their way.

There's no denying this is a very very smart company. Product-wise, culture-wise and peer-wise, it's up there with Google. But it's a very interesting time for Atlassian, since it's starting to reach that size where it stands the risk of losing its close-knit feel. It's gone from one garage to a series of 'international garages'. It's owners are young, innovative and driven, and they're refreshingly informal in communicating what they value.

But, even though this potentially-stellar business is recruiting an extremely sought-after group of people with a $4.5million investment, the one thing they don't seem to have is an advertising strategy.

A glimpse of the future? I for one, hope not.

You see, Google doesn't really appear to have a particularly strong or noticeable recruitment advertising strategy either. But then, they're the seventh biggest brand in the world right now and everyone knows that the hurdles are high to get there - because it's seemingly the best place to work, learn and develop.

(That's not to say that all views about Google are accurate - I'm sure there are many misconceptions out there. But right now those perceptions are not enough to stop Google attracting the best of the best.)

Atlassian are not necessarily wrong in their strategy: it's clearly a choice they've made, a channel they've chosen to avoid, and it may pay-off. I hear they've already attracted a high level of talent, somewhere in the region of 600 shortlisted candidates*, simply by this approach informing people of their benefits, values and culture. Good on 'em I say - much better than the 'post and pray' approach of so many others.

*Please correct me if wrong.

But by not having a clear advertising strategy, they are still only promoting words on a page, as surely as if they tried to sell me a Mars bar by saying it's smooth, chocolatey and sweet. Sure, those are benefits. But that's not enough to give me the impetus to buy it, even less to buy it when a Snickers has nuts in it, and, well I prefer smooth, chocolatey, sweet and nuts.

I digress, but only slightly. What Atlassian appear to be missing is an central 'idea' which leads to a certain ideal set of attitudes, beliefs, and ultimately, behaviours. One thing Google has going for it is a powerful brand identity which is a powerful tool for their recruitment. Ultimately, Atlassian should be aiming to create something similar - when I think of their name, I shouldn't simply be able to list some facts like 'one week's paid holiday before starting'.

Atlassian needs to be assoicated with positive experiences. When I think of Atlassian, I want to feel something about them.

Let's say someone already works at Google (potentially the 'ideal candidate'). What is it about Atlassian that makes them want to leave Google and join them (since surely that must be the aim)? What conscious or sub-conscious drivers tie them so strongly to Atlassian that they'll throw their hat in the ring?

Sure, there are perks at Atlassian. But will the ideal candidate buy the Mars bar, or will they stick with the Snickers because it's got nuts in it?

Once the newspaper has been binned and the last beers from the Open House are drunk, where's the one cruicial touchpoint that acts as a consistent reinforcement of the main messages - a strong employer brand and advertising strategy?

Hey Hey It's Black-up-day!

Maybe I'll never be a sub-editor with that catchy headline, but jeez.

Can anyone in their right mind, who isn't Alf Garnett, or Bernard Manning, or Hitler, or doesn't live in the 1950s, or doesn't agree with the slave trade, or isn't a member of the Ku Klux Klan, please explain how the presenters of the Hey Hey It's Saturday show can possibly think it acceptable to paint their faces black and mimic the Jackson Five.

It's not as if any member of the Jackson Five has ever painted their face white, is it? I mean, at least not in any kind of jokey ironic way, at least.

Seriously though, if you did this in the UK, you'd be shot. If you were the BBC and you did it, you'd be shot in public, and quite possibly have your MBE rescinded.

Special guest on the show, Harry Connick Jr said:

If I knew that was going to be part of the show I definitely wouldn't have done it.

I bet.

And which Hollywood megastars are going to be queuing up to be on the show, after this? Maybe Seinfeld star Michael Richards? After all, it's all in the name of comedy, hey (Hey)! If you don't get it, well, that's not my fault. You obviously don't understand cutting-edge humour. You're not down with it.

Seriously, I hope that Australia is not 'down with it'.

I hope that now everyone's seen the base, juvenile - erm - racist stuff they put on this show, the guests will dry up and the presenters will cry a little, and the audience figures will send Hey Hey back to the graveyard of crap lite entertainment shows.

Hey Hey Good Bye!

FlashForward F*ck off

(There's some swearing in this post, but no one's forcing you to read it.)

Funny story, I start watching Casino Royale on Channel 7 on Sunday night.

The film starts, and I've not noticed a small icon in the bottom right corner of the screen. Mrs AerHead points it out to me, and there, in all its shameless glory, it is.

Oh, f*ck me, FlashForward is on tomorrow night. Wowsers, it's on at 8.30pm. Thank you very much shameless icon. I did not know that. Thanks, and now please vacate my TV screen.

Mrs AerHead is absolutely livid. This little icon, trying desparately to be polite in the bottom right corner, remains there the whole time, during a fight, a chase scene, even during a brilliant scene where Daniel Craig actually runs through a wall. I love that scene, it's just so crap.

Then there's an ad break. And a reminder ad that FlashForward is on tomorrow night. Yes, you've told us. Monday night. 8.30pm. I might watch, I might not. I am not, however, a completely unforgetful goldfish of a pr*ck. F*ck off.

The film starts again. Phew! The icon isn't there. Then I glance over at my cat, Alan, who is doing something cute with a ball of aluminium foil. Pretending it's a mouse from the future, or some such.

Guess what happens next? If you've guessed that Alan starts doing the robot dance, you've guessed wrong (but I love your thinking). What happens next is much, much worse. The polite little shameless f*ck of an icon is back on the screen!

What's that? Oh, FlashForward is on tomorrow night, oh great... useful. 8.30pm, just after tea-time, that's good. Thanks for the tip. Where have I heard that before? Oh yeah - all the f*cking time, that's all. Now, f*ck off shameless little repetitive greaseball of an icon, my cat's more entertaining than you, and she's a girl cat with a boy's name. My cat = my rules.

This continues. There's another ad break, the film returns sans icon, Alan has gone outside for a wee and a bit of a scratch. Now, geez, it will not return will it?

Not the cat, the icon.

Will it return? I will not have to smash the TV through a real wall in an expensive though satisfying pastiche of the crap scene I love in Casino Royale will I? Will the TV smash through the wall, or will it smash against the wall? Will it break? What is it about Daniel Craig's body that enables it to go through walls that my telly couldn't?

Oh, I might have to find out, because there it is again. Sitting there politely is the icon, pointing out its bland information to all those who didn't see it earlier; all those cretins who enjoy joining films half an hour after they've started, and didn't know that FlashForward was on 8.30pm on Monday night. Lot's of those types about you know, normally found sitting on park benches grinning at pigeons, throwing pieces of bread from their snot-crusted wrists.

So I'm a bit annoyed about all this. And it reminded me a bit of the annoyance I felt after reading the crystal ball gazing by Another Advertising W*nker, who postulated on the potential growth of apps on TV. Crap breakfast shows I can cope with. Because I don't watch them.

But films? Jeez, ad breaks are bad enough, so if this is what we can expect I will be getting rid of my TV altogether because the few things I want to watch I will gladly pay for. This is base, stupid, gutless marketing. Repeat ad nauseum. Puke.

So, of course I knew FlashForward was on. And, much like the participants of the Milgram experiment who knew they were administering a fatal electrical shock to someone else, I obeyed authority (the icon) and watched anyway.

But I didn't get beyond the opening ten minutes because I was tired and bored, and I didn't really believe that real people actually speak like that. So I read a good book, had a glass of vino, and picked up Alan from the psychologist.

And you know what else: F*ck FlashForward.

*** Update ***

5 minutes after writing this, FlashForward started following me on Twitter. When is it on again?