Online Recruitment in Australia

While Australia seems to be ahead of Hong Kong and Singapore in online recruitment race, a recent survey has revealed that it can still considerably improve its online recruitment and thereby its efficiency (http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/AQM19924092007-1.htm).Australian companies need to make better use of web 2.0 features to remain competitive in attracting talent. Top companies not only need to use systems that streamline their recruitment processes behind the career sites, they also need to look at more effective careers sites to attract and engage talent. Web-savvy candidates have high expectations of corporate websites, and want sites to be easy to navigate and personalised to their job hunting needs.

It is believed that intense competition in the current skills shortage is forcing top Asia Pacific companies, particularly Australian companies, to raise the bar when it comes to attracting and recruiting talent. Today’s recruitment market is global, and organisations need to capitalise on best practices in web recruiting to be able to compete effectively for talent. Companies’ careers sites should include features that improve candidate experience, as well as aid efficiency in the recruitment process. Faster response and a better candidate experience help to attract and engage talent, ensuring organisations capture quality candidates before their competitors.

Australian Job Market Surveys Upbeat

Technology seems to be catching up in Australia. A recent news item revealed that according to a new survey (http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/09/03/2021938.htm?section=business) internet job advertisements were up 3 per cent in August to a new record of 360,000. The survey founder Bob Olivier believes that the results show the job market is healthy, despite fears the latest interest rate rise may have dampened it. He discovered that the strongest jobs growth for August was in the health and pharmaceutical industries.

It must be noted here that strong employment figures in Australia have been around for quite some time now. The figures were equally strong last year when another survey conducted by Hudson group found that around 30 per cent of employers expected to increase their permanent staff numbers.  The survey revealed that over a third of Australian employers were planning to increase their employment. The survey had rightly predicted that the trend will be very much upwards in 2007 as there are skill shortages and there are employers very keen to hire.

On the other hand, the ANZ’s index covering job ads in newspapers recorded its biggest monthly fall since April 2003, with the number of positions advertised falling by just more than 4.5 per cent. (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2005/04/04/1337509.htm)

Australian Population Growing at Record Pace

According to the latest news, the national population of Australia grew by 307,100 in the year ended March 31, 2007, to 20,948,900.  The Australian Bureau of Statistics has estimated the total population to be more than 21 million now.  Experts believe that strong growth is set to put more pressure on the state’s tight housing market.

Australia welcomed more than 140,000 migrants last year, according to the Immigration Department report Settler Arrivals 2006-07.  It is believed this is the highest intake since the mass migration of the late 1960s.

Victoria attracted the highest number of 34,698 newcomers, almost double the number a decade ago. The top source nation was India with 4826 arrivals, up from 772 in 1996-97.  Next came New Zealand (4178), China (3976), Britain (3221), the Philippines (1644) and Sri Lanka (1464).

After Victoria, the next biggest migration states were Queensland (28,640), Western Australia (19,783), South Australia (10,061), ACT (1311), Tasmania (968) and NT (843).

The national migrant intake of 140,000 was almost 9000 up on the previous year and a stark contrast to the 85,752 arrivals a decade ago when the Howard Government came to power.

Immigration was responsible for 54 per cent of national population growth, and natural increase was responsible for 46 per cent — the highest birth rate since 1995.

The ABS estimated there were 273,500 births in Australia in the year to March 31, up from 263,500 in the 12 months to March 31.

Preliminary estimates found there was a record number of deaths in the year to March 31 — 135,400.

In another news, it was revealed that New Zealand has now topped Britain as our chief source of permanent residents, followed by India and China. In terms of population growth, Queensland is the fastest growing state, followed by Western Australia. Tasmania, on the other hand, has the slowest growth, followed by New South Wales and South Australia.