Combination Expands International Opportunity by Entering Recruitment for the Energy Industry

Dice Holdings, a leading provider of specialized career websites for professional communities, today announced it has completed the purchase of the online and career events-related businesses of WorldwideWorker, a global leader in recruitment for the energy industry.

“The acquisition of WorldwideWorker delivers on two important parts of our growth strategy: international growth and new vertical expansion,” said Scot Melland, Chairman, President & CEO of Dice Holdings, Inc. “WorldwideWorker is a well-regarded player in the highly-attractive energy sector. The global nature of the energy business allows us to leverage both our cross-border recruiting expertise and our international infrastructure.”

Based in Dubai, WorldwideWorker is widely known for its extensive international resume database and its recruitment events held at industry-leading conferences. More than 400,000 energy professionals have registered with WorldwideWorker and two-thirds of those are based in Asia, Africa or the Middle East.  Nearly half of WorldwideWorker’s candidates have at least ten years experience.

“Our common goal is to help hiring managers and recruiters find the best possible talent most efficiently. Speed-to-hire is critical in the energy industry,” said Frederik Rengers, CEO of WorldwideWorker.  ”Pairing the experienced Dice team with our extensive energy-industry knowledge will drive the growth of WorldwideWorker and deliver significant value to our customers.”

The purchase price consists of initial consideration of $6.0 million in cash.  Additional consideration to a maximum of $3.0 million in cash is payable upon the achievement of certain operating and financial goals over the next two years.

Article Sourced From : Press Release

Upskill Your Employees

The Need To Upskill

In recent times employers have really felt the sqeeze in company budget, a good chunk of which is spent on employee wages. Recently relealed figures from the RBA indicate that the market is again starting to pickup and the employment rate is going up with it. But in many cases Employers still can’t afford to employ new staff to fill roles that were made redundant during the “GFC”. See an article previously posted on Australian Job News regarding the True Cost of Employment. But someone still has to do the work… so what’s the answer? Upskilling.

In a recent survey 70% of surveyed companies reported that they had saved money by upskilling current employees rather than hire new ones. It’s also a well known fact in the HR industry that it costs 150% to hire someone in their first year of employment. So if you hire them for a position paying $50,000, by the time you train them and they settle in it would have cost you around $75,000.

Benefits Of Upskilling Staff As An Employer

• Increase Staff Productivity – A busy worker is a productive one. By training your staff membersto be able to do more you will be keeping them busy with all the additional tasks they can now perform.
• Increased Staff Loyalty – By training your staff to perform new tasks they are more likely to feel a mutual obligation to use those skills to improve comapny performance.
• Build Company Reputation – In most cases the courses completed will come with Industry recognised certifications which can be used to promote your comapny’s high quality staff and work.

What Training Courses Can Be Done Online?

There really is no limit to the courses that can completed online. In a world that is getting busier everyday, there is a need to be able to deliver training via the online medium. Here’s an example of some of the online courses that are available:

• Certificate Of Journalism

• Privacy and Health Records – 100 user licence

• Advanced Diploma Of Photography

• Advanced Diploma Of Travel And Tourism

• Accounting Basics

• Bookeeping – Executive Diploma

Browse Courses by Industry

• Arts & Design courses(6)
• Career Development(4)
• Business & Management courses(24)
• Construction & Buliding courses(1)
• Customer Service(2)
• English Language & TESOL(3)
• Education(1)
• Event Management Courses(3)
• Government Courses(1)
• Floristry(3)
• Health & Medicine(3)
• Hospitality(6)
• IT – Technical(105)
• IT – Desktop Applications(149)
• Legal courses(3)
• Journalism(2)
• Photography courses(3)
• OH&S(5)
• Psychology courses(3)
• Retail(3)
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• Wedding Planner Courses(3)
• Accounting Finance & Bookkeeping courses Architecture(6)
• Management & Leaders(2)
• Personal Development(8)
• Project Management(4)
• HR & Recruitment(3)

Sydney Jobs Confidence Boost

Jobs on the Rise:

On the back of  a terrible year on all counts thanks to the “GFC” it seems that Jobs in Sydney have really picked up, this is great news for Job Seekers in Sydney and even better news for a struggling economy. Traditionally the job market expects a rise in job ads just prior to Christmas followed bby a lull in late December and into the early months of the new year. As it has played out we saw a rise in job ads placed in Novemeber of 7.5%, this was to be expected. However job ad placement continued to grow throught the month of December by a further 2.5%

The Winners of the Job Vacancies:

An increase in vacant positions is obviously going to be a win for the job seekers of NSW amongst others. Many faced the problem of job loss last year as the Global Economy fell in to turmoil and the amount of job seekers rose steadily with the unemployment rate in our state. This boost in market confidence is a breath of fresh air for all those who were affected by the fallout of this downturn.

Employers are also going to benefit from this upturn. As the ‘Job Seeking’ population start preparing themselves for interviews and their future employment the HR departments placing these job ads are going to see a new level of applicant and a lot more of them. Thus HR have their work cut out selecting the right person for the job.

Employment Web Sites are also a clear winner from these figures, although it would seem that the sites like AussieEmployment and JobsJobsJobs knew about this and were realising the benefits long before your average punter did.

The Politicians will also get something out of this, just recently NSW was appointed a new premier Kristina Keneally who also made a promise to focus on the rising unemployment rate in NSW. Given these recent figures it’s safe to assume that the unemployment rate will come close to, if not fall below, 6% for the first time in a year when the official figures are released at the end of this month. It’s also safe to say that our new premier probably had nothing to do with this increase in Job Ads but someone has to take the credit.

Where To From Here:

• Job Seekrs:

  • Get out there and apply for as many jobs as possible (assuming you haven’t already been doing this). Just because the market has ben flooded with new jobs doesn’t mean you can be picky, once you have 3 different job offeres you can afford to be picky. But now is the best time to be looking for work. Don’t know where to start? Try this site: Job Search Australia.

• Employers / HR:

  • Get on the boat while you can. 2.5% increase in a market like this is nothing to turn your nose up at, alot of quality applicants will soon be out of the race and sitting behind a desk at a competing firm or business. If you have a vacancy within the office then fill it! Try using a site like Aussie Employment, they are sydney based and hence have a firm grasp of what this increase in job ads is all about.

Good luck with the hunt people and happy new year.

Workers giving bosses $72bn in overtime

Article found at news.com.au

Job ads rise by 5.2 per cent in November

Article obtained from ninemsn.com.au

What Is The True Cost Of Employment?

Most job seekers often think that the key to securing a good job is having as many qualifications as possible that relate to the job. While certifications may play a significant role in getting to the interview it is often the experience you have behind you that will interest the employer more, but why?

Recently I attended a “Professionals in HR” conference in Sydney Australia run by Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI) where I had the opportunity to speak with many HR professionals across a range of companies. Some worked in banks, some in engineering firms, and some in recruiting agencies. One of the very interesting points that they all seemed to have plenty to say about was the fact that employers are looking for staff who have experience in the programs, products and general work ethic and procedure that is experienced in day to day operations. For example, a company who sell a particular suite of software products would want to hire a sales person who is already familiar with this product and competing products in the same channel, they wouldn’t want a car salesman who knows nothing about computer software.

Over the years management and HR staff have worked together very closely to determine just how much it costs to train an untrained staff member to the point where they are profitable to the company. The Cost Of Employment has been pinned at 150% This means that if you are a salesman in a new market, earning $80 000 a year, it will cost the company $40 000 to in time and resources to train you up to a point where you are actually performing efficiently for the company. So even though they are paying a salary of $80 000, the cost of employment to the company is $120 000.

So it becomes quite obvious that if an employer can find an applicant who is familiar with the product, or daily operations of the company then that applicant will have an edge over the competition even if they aren’t as qualified, experience counts for alot in such a “cut throat” market.

What can you do to gain this edge? Well the answer is simple… When you are applying for a job, be selective and familiarise yourself with the products you will be working with. When you make it to the interview make it known to the interviewer that you are familiar with the products you will be working with, as such you will require only a small amount of training on the job. This will certainly appeal to the employer as it is potentially going to save them tens of thousands of dollars by employing you, and saving money is music to the boss’ ears.

With readily available access to the Internet almost anywhere you go these days, there’s no excuse not to know as much as is published about a company and it’s products before you go into the interview. This method can be employed across a range of professions:

• Help desk jobs
• Sales jobs
• Receptionist roles
• Media Roles
• Graphic Design
• Health Care Positions
• Management Roles Across the Board

The next time you apply for a job just remember that the more cost effective you are to the employer the better your chances at getting the job, it’s just the edge you might need to get over the line in front of the competition.