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PayCheck Plus

Posted By: Thomas Shaw, 1:29pm Monday 05 September 2011    Print Article

The Fair Work Ombudsman has released an online web application which helps you automatically calculate pay and penalty rate entitlements under modern awards.

PayCheck Plus enables you to calculate base pay rates, allowances, overtime, and penalty rates of pay per hour. You can also calculate pay rates for entire shifts worked over a seven day period. You can print, export or save your selections.

There are two different sections of PayCheck Plus - "check my pay" and "check my payroll"

Check my pay

The ‘Check my pay’ option in the tool has been designed for you to search by job title. It calculates rates of pay for an individual classification. ‘Check my pay’ is the default screen when you open the tool. You do not have to know your exact award, but you will be asked a series of questions about the job you are enquiring about.

Check my payroll

The ‘Check my payroll’ option in the tool is more advanced and has been designed to provide you with the ability to match and calculate pay rates for multiple employees. This option can be accessed by selecting it in the tab at the top of the tool. You will be asked for your modern award or industry as well as some other information about yourself.

Try the site out for yourself




Article URL: http://www.recruitmentdirectory.com.au/Blog/paycheck-plus-a436.html

Article Tags: paycheck payroll online recruitment pay rates modern awards fair work ombudsman job titles wage rates salary rates

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Is it time to say farewell to 3rd party application forms?

Posted By: Thomas Shaw, 11:30am Tuesday 19 July 2011    Print Article

At last! SEEK's new application export function (or as I like to call it "job application webservice") is live and ready to go. Kudos to Jobadder for being the first to implement this new function for their clients.

It's quite interesting to find out, that a large percentage of jobs listed on SEEK (NZ ~39% and AU ~49%) link out to 3rd party application forms. This form could be your recruitment website, multi-posting system or directly back into your ATS/recruitment database.

SEEK's linkout % figure was higher than I first expected. It must be increasingly hard for them to explain to clients WHY there is such a discrepancy in metrics from application form views > linkout clicks and THEN provided with some unverified application metrics through the clients own system.

"You said I had 40 linkouts to my providers application form, but I only received 14 applications! Where did the other 26 go?"


If it was my job board, I would want the advertiser to know the exact metrics my site was achieving: ad views > application form views > successful applications!

But there has also always been a number of technical problem linking out to 3rd party forms. Not to mention 20 page application forms are so 2005 (yes, talking about you PageUp, Taleo, NGA, etc.).

It's not the first job board to recognise this problem. JobG8 and a number of other job boards and solution providers have had this function available for a number of years.

The question you should be asking yourself is... Can you put a $ figure on the number of candidates you may be loosing through a 3rd party application form?


5 reasons why you should reconsider 3rd party application forms

  1. If you have a popup blocker installed on your browser, there is a very small chance the application form may be blocked, unable to load, or unable to render for your device.

  2. Duty of care. You could be referring users to insecure, unresponsive websites (ie TurboRecruit's DDoS attack in 2009) or expired forms. Perhaps even redirecting users to identity thieves.

  3. Candidates are unable to use stored candidate profile/resumes on an existing job board to apply for jobs using the 3rd party form.

  4. Pop up forms don't work on mobile devices.

  5. But most of all, this slight change in process will improve the candidates application experience!

On the flip side, the solution provider that needs to receive the candidates application is still receiving the application, but through a different medium. ie, the webservice.

Solution providers should embrace this move. In the end the candidate will have a better experience and the client will see an improved job application process!


Article URL: http://www.recruitmentdirectory.com.au/Blog/is-it-time-to-say-farewell-to-3rd-party-application-forms-a435.html

Article Tags: seek jobadder application form linkout ats application tracking systems multiposter ddos candidate experience job board recruitment systems user experience

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XSS is a serious problem

Posted By: Thomas Shaw, 7:00am Tuesday 19 July 2011    Print Article

I've written about XSS (cross-site scripting) numerous times on this blog. If you run a job board, or manage your recruitment website take note... XSS is a very serious problem!

For more information about XSS, see a previous blog post titled: How secure is your Recruitment website? Part 5 - Cross-site scripting (XSS)

In this episode below, they specifically talk about XSS attacks on employment websites. The XSS example on job boards starts from 3:40





Article URL: http://www.recruitmentdirectory.com.au/Blog/xss-is-a-serious-problem-a434.html

Article Tags: recruitment software job boards job board software xss owasp security hacking javascript

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How much do I charge candidates for work experience?

Posted By: Thomas Shaw, 12:11pm Wednesday 08 June 2011    Print Article

Oh boy, what another shit storm this will turn out to be. Recruiters charging candidates "work experience placement" fees. What I love most are the terms and conditions. Great reading.



_____________ TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1). The Industry Experience Program is defined as a period of volunteer work with a host employer for a period of but not limited to 6 weeks. Any intention to extend this period of time will be mutually agreed upon through discussion between yourself and ___________. The number of
hours to be worked each week during the program is to be agreed upon at the beginning of the program and not altered unless it is discussed with the employer and ___________.

2). Each candidate will be entitled to an initial 3 interviews with host employers. _____________ is obligated to give 24hrs prior notice before an interview. In the event that is not possible the candidate does not have to accept that interview if he/she cannot attend. Once 3 interviews have taken place and failed due to host employers not being satisfied the candidate, _____________ will charge an extra $500.00 incl. GST to the candidate in order to continue working on their case and secure a further 3 interviews with host employers. This scenario will be the case for every third interview that is failed by the candidate subsequent to the initial 3 permitted.  

3). Once a work experience placement is deemed to have commenced, the candidate is no longer eligible for any form of refund from _____________. “Commenced” can be defined as having had a shift/start time and date arranged with the host employer for the start of the work experience placement.     

4). If a candidate wishes to change his/her employment field before being placed a fee of $300 will apply. If a placement has commenced then a further $1000 will need to be paid to find another appropriate placement in the new field.  

5). Failure of a candidate to attend an arranged interview without 24 hours prior notice will result in voiding his/her eligibility for any refund. An appearance fee of $150 will be directly debited from the client’s nominated account. This clause may become irrelevant if a valid medical certificate is provided to _____________ by the candidate.  

6). _____________ commits to providing the first industry experience interview within 24 weeks. Failure to achieve this will result in a FULL refund of the amount paid (Less Application fee and work completed as per clause 8). No full refund will be issued before this period of time if no interview is arranged. Failure to accept interviews continually will result in the candidate being removed from the program and will void any request for a refund.   

7). Once the candidate attends at least one interview with a _____________ host employer they are no longer eligible for a full refund.

8). If a change in the candidates circumstances results in the candidate wanting a refund they will receive the full amount paid to _____________ less a $300 administration fee plus whichever is a greater amount, a $350 fee per job interview arranged or $40 per hour for work undertaken at our office, $80 per hour for work undertaken in the field and $60 per consultation at or away from our office with any of our staff members. Note that the first consultation attracts no fee. Plus $0.88 cents per kilometre travelled via car for meetings/interview.

8a). _____________ reserves the right to invoice and expect payment from a candidate at any stage throughout the relationship. We will provide you with a review of your case once we have completed 15 hours of work if no interview has been arranged at that stage. You may terminate the program at any stage provided you make full payment of all invoices issued by _____________.                                                
8b). No request for a refund will be reviewed or acted upon until all outstanding invoices owed to _____________ by the candidate have been paid in full.

9). If a candidate has lied or been deceptive about himself/herself to _____________ or the Host employer they automatically disqualify themselves from ANY refund and are liable for any perceived damage to any business relationship as a result of their dishonesty.

10). Candidates must be upfront about any work/study commitments outside of the industry experience program and commit to a roster that is mutually beneficial to both employer and candidate. Failure to inform _____________ of these commitments will be considered a breach of this agreement and will disqualify the candidate from any form of refund.

11). It is expected that candidates will arrive at each scheduled shift 15 minutes early and notify employers 24hrs prior to any leave of absence unless a medical certificate is provided to the employer and _____________. Failure to comply will void and refund request. Notice of sickness must be given no later than 2 hours before the scheduled start time. Failure to do so will void any refund request.

12). Cancellation of the Direct Debit arrangement by the candidate will be deemed to terminate the relationship with _____________ immediately and by doing so the Candidate will forfeit any right to any refund amount. By signing this agreement you acknowledge that _____________ Pty Ltd will use all resources at its disposal to collect the money owed to it as per the direct debit agreement.

13). If _____________ cannot communicate with the Candidate for a period of time greater than 10 days without prior notification by the candidate they will void their eligibility for ANY refund. Failure to get hold of our Candidates can result in letting down the host employer and is not tolerated.

14). If a Host employer terminates the program for any reason other than poor candidate performance, _____________ agrees to provide one more industry experience opportunity for the candidate at a cost of $300. Poor performance in the first placement will be considered the end of the relationship. _____________ conducts employee reviews and assesses performance with the help of the employer.

15). _____________ agrees to provide the candidate with a letter of reference from _____________ following each work experience period with a host employer.  

16). If a candidate attempts to act deceptively to gain an unfair advantage, a refund or anything else by deceiving or extorting their host employer or _____________; whether successful or not will result in _____________ terminating the relationship with the candidate immediately. _____________ deems such behaviour to be extremely damaging to our vital relationships with participating host employers and discourages such behaviour. _____________ may recuperate lost potential future earnings from the relationship with that employer. A charge will be calculated depending on the capacity of that employer, over the space of a one-year period, to take work experience candidates for the six-twelve week program. It should be noted that the fee calculated is be based on prices at the time of that offending action. These charges will be recovered through use of a solicitor or debt collection agency if necessary and all associated costs will be added to the charge 

17). If a candidate’s payment is declined, each time the payment is declined by the candidate’s bank/credit card provider, _____________ reserves the right to charge $30.00 per declined transaction (including manual and automatic retries by _____________). Retries will automatically take place one day after a failed payment unless the candidate makes alternative arrangements with _____________
management.

18). If a candidate does not follow the instructions given to them by _____________, a representative or their agent, they run the risk of voiding their eligibility for a refund. Similarly, if the candidate makes contact with an employer before his/her interview (as arranged by _____________), they will void any eligibility for a refund and will have to pay out the remainder of his/her contract.

19). All requests for refunds must be submitted in written form and mailed to _____________ at ______________________ and is to explain the circumstances and to be signed and dated by the candidate.  All decisions made by _____________ in relation to refunds are final.

20). If a client is “paying-on-interview”, the payment/instalment should be made at least 24 hours in advance on the invoice distributed by _____________ or it’s nominated agent. Failure to do so will result in the interview with the host employer being voided and an additional fee of $150 incl. GST to be charged to the candidate to reschedule the interview. This will only occur once payment has been made/instalments have been successfully commenced. 

21). _____________ reserves the right to change this policy without prior notice and all alterations will be final. 

22). I permit _____________ to record meetings held between both parties. Yes [] No [] This recording shall only be used in accordance with Privacy Regulations and will not be shared to a third party unless in relation to a dispute in which case the recording shall be treated with utmost respect and shared only with legal representatives. Failure to tick yes implies that you agree this written contract will supersede any verbal discussion had between you and _____________ or its representatives. 

23). Cancellation of the Direct Debit arrangement by the candidate will be deemed to terminate the relationship with _____________ immediately and by doing so the Candidate will forfeit any right to any refund amount. By signing this agreement you acknowledge that _____________ Pty Ltd will use all resources at its disposal to collect the money owed to it as per the direct debit agreement, if the candidate requests a refund, Clause 8b will apply.

24). If a candidate’s payment is declined, each time the payment is declined by the candidate’s bank/credit card provider, _____________ reserves the right to charge $30.00 per declined transaction (including manual and automatic retries by _____________) 

25.) _____________ may employ the services of a Debt Collection firm or solicitor to help recover any monies owed to it. If a debt collection firm is used on you as a candidate then _____________ will add the deemed recovery costs to the outstanding balance owed to by the candidate to _____________.

I signing this agreement you hereby agree that _____________ is not responsible for your workplace safety. That responsibility rests with the host employer and only the host employer. By signing this agreement you waive the right to commence legal action against _____________ or any of its representatives for compensation or damages of any kind. I hereby declare that the information provided by me is 100% correct and accurate as far as I am aware. I have been explained the _____________ ‘Industry Experience’ program as well as these, the _____________ Terms and Conditions.

I hereby declare and acknowledge that I have thoroughly understood and accepted the program offerings, refund policy and general terms and conditions outlined in this document by ____________



Article URL: http://www.recruitmentdirectory.com.au/Blog/how-much-do-i-charge-candidates-for-work-experience-a433.html

Article Tags: charging candidates work experience rouge recruiters work experience terms and conditions recruitment terms and conditions

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Applying for jobs using your mobile phone

Posted By: Thomas Shaw, 7:30am Monday 30 May 2011    Print Article

Mobile job sites are so hot right now. But one of the problems that we all identified in the early stages of designing mobile job sites, was how the job seeker could apply for jobs?

  • Can the mobile device store files - resume/cover letter? iPhone - No, Android - Yes.
  • Would you save your resume to a mobile device? Most likely no.
  • Would the job seeker have saved their resume on an online database? Maybe on a job board or the user may have a LinkedIn profile.
Let's have a look at 2 different ways job seekers can apply for jobs on their mobile phones.

In the latest SEEK release over the weekend; they have added the ability to apply for jobs on the mobile phone. But there is still the small problem of 3rd party application forms!

Until link out application forms are 100% banished (sorry PageUp, NGA & Taleo with your 20 page application forms) job seekers will find it hard to apply for jobs on their mobile. I'm sure advertisers will notice the % drop off rate in the next few months.

The SEEK application process is very simple. You can either manually enter all the fields or sign in to your SEEK account to pre fill the application form fields and use your stored resume.

PS: Those advertisers who use pre screening questions haven't been left out. This has also been included to the mobile application process




In this second example (disclaimer: I built the Adlogic mobile/LinkedIn app form scripts), Adlogic mobile clients have the ability for job seekers with a LinkedIn profile to apply for a job in a few easy steps.

All you need to do is sign into your LinkedIn account, authorise the application and your profile will be converted into a PDF. The application form will use your contact details to pre fill the application form saving you time and hassle on a mobile device.

Now, who else can say job seekers can apply using their LinkedIn profile on a mobile device?










Article URL: http://www.recruitmentdirectory.com.au/Blog/applying-for-jobs-using-your-mobile-phone-a432.html

Article Tags: mobile recruitment job search adlogic mobile mobile job search linkedin mobile application form linkedin profile seek mobile seek mobile application form iphone job search log in with linkedin

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RIP TheBigChair, MyCareer Head Hunter

Posted By: Thomas Shaw, 7:00am Tuesday 10 May 2011    Print Article

Thank you for visiting TheBigChair - unfortunately we’ve shut down! It's no surprise there was no mention of the future of TheBigChair or MyCareer Head Hunter in last years Fairfax investors presentation. Both sites will now be laid to rest in the ever increasing job board cemetery.

TheBigChair was launched in April 2007 as a job board dedicated to senior/executive roles. I always preferred TheBigChair's front end job board software compared to the MyCareer platform.

In early 2008, MyCareer Head Hunter was born as a result of a co-branding alliance between Fairfax Digital's MyCareer and Jobfox. In it's early years Jobfox raised MILLIONS of $ to "intelligently match jobs, candidates and employers". Adoption of the product was quite slow in Australia and then the US founder & CEO of Jobfox spent 9mths recovering in hospital after a very serious car crash.

It was quite interesting to read the official announcement to all users via email, and then reading the article in Shortlist

Email to users: The decision to retire Head Hunter has been made after listening to feedback from both employers and jobseekers. The online recruitment landscape is continually changing and the team at MyCareer look forward to bringing you exciting new tools to help in your search for careers moving forward.

Shortlist: MyCareer is winding up its Head Hunter resume database, launched three years ago, in response to a lack of uptake from advertisers.

Odd... Lack of uptake from advertisers? Can’t convert online sales? SEEK & LinkedIn must be a real threat to MyCareers online advertising revenue. Both are achieving significant “resume database” revenue sales!




Article URL: http://www.recruitmentdirectory.com.au/Blog/rip-thebigchair-mycareer-head-hunter-a431.html

Article Tags: jobfox mycareer thebigchair rip job boards online recruitment fairfax seek linkedin resume database

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CareerOne and the cookie monster

Posted By: Thomas Shaw, 7:30am Friday 25 March 2011    Print Article

CareerOne has finally launched a local version of the Monster Career Ad Network (CAN) called CareerOne Ad Network. This would have to be one of the products I am most excited about. I remember being blown away by the technology during a Monster CAN product demo in 2008.

For those of you who don't understand, there is this patented tracking cookie that saves itself to your web browsing history while visiting partner sites.

An easier way of explaining CAN is to think of it as a targeted Google AdWords campaign. You may have seen a number of job ads that look like PPC ads across News Digital Media, Adconion and Post Click network sites. Each time you visit one of these sites, it will display targeted jobs matching your recent search behaviour (ie. by accessing the browsers cookie).

There has been much discussion of late on behavioral targeting. Proposed legislation in the USA has made a number of web browsers introduce "do not track" standards. It is too early to predict how this will affect the product going forward and I will try and cover this at a later stage.

The next phase being developed by Monster is what they describe as post-impression response tracking. This is a set of enhanced analytics that can tell you where a candidate saw your CAN ad, how they came to your career site, and what they did when they got there.



On the outset it looks very promising, but I am in two minds on actual implementation with existing recruitment websites and application tracking systems. 

Post-impression action occurs when a user is served an ad but does not click on it; then, at a later time, visits a career site and completes an expression of interest, such as a job apply.  In post-impression tracking, the impression can be credited for influencing that action even if it occurred at a later date.

The theory behind indirect response is that the seeker will remember a well-designed recruitment ad and may visit an employer’s career site at a later time.  These indirect responses can represent a large portion of the ‘total response’ to a recruitment media impression.  Measuring direct click-based response alone really only provides employers with the tip of the iceberg in recruitment effectiveness measurement.



Article URL: http://www.recruitmentdirectory.com.au/Blog/careerone-and-the-cookie-monster-a430.html

Article Tags: careerone monster can careerone ad network tracking cookie recruitment metrics behavioural tracking do not track candidate application process metrics analytics post impression tracking

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5 tips to stop your recruitment database walking out the door

Posted By: Thomas Shaw, 8:41am Thursday 24 March 2011    Print Article

How many times have I heard stories of Recruitment Consultants walking out the door with a database of client or candidate records. I doubt you would even know if it has happened to you!

It's too late trying to recover stolen data from ex employees once they leave. Sure you could peruse them in the courts but unless there is hard evidence data has been access and removed what chances do you have?

Here are 5 tips to tighten up access to your data
  • Ensure your employees do not have administration access to your system and change database administration passwords periodically.
  • Ensure your database provider/vendor has the ability to "log" user activity. As a minimum you should require login, record access and file download logs. Take the time to go through these logs, you will be surprised.
  • Modify the outgoing email file size limit. 4mb should be more than sufficient for most recruitment activities.
  • Restrict access to shared drives and folders. No point in implementing the above suggestions if the user can bypass the system and access the files via the hard drive.
  • Disable USB storage devices and port access.
It's important to understand that technology alone is not going to solve the problem.

This is your business walking out the door.


Article URL: http://www.recruitmentdirectory.com.au/Blog/5-tips-to-stop-your-recruitment-database-walking-out-the-door-a429.html

Article Tags: recruitment database database management recruitment security database logs data leakage prevention

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What should you build first - mobile website or native app?

Posted By: Thomas Shaw, 7:57am Thursday 24 March 2011    Print Article

All 3 major job boards here in Australia are dabbling in mobile, and there are 2 distinct strategies adopted. Only 1 site has won. It should be a no brainer, but should you be building a mobile optimised website or native application for your recruitment website?

SEEK built an easy to use mobile website allowing users most of the functionality of their existing website on the phone. Whereas, CareerOne & MyCareer have ventured on the app path, having build native iPhone/iPad applications. (see related articles)

Who won?

SEEK has clearly won the first round. Why?

You can't underestimate the effort required to find, purchase (doubt FXJ/News would go down that path, but who knows), download and use an app. Add on the need to download updates and the feature rich app experience doesn't look so fantastic after all.

  • There has been very little, if not $0 marketing effort from SEEK to promote the mobile app compared to pages and pages of ads in the paper for MyCareer. Users have simply "discovered" the mobile site on their own. I wonder how much more money MyCareer & CareerOne can afford to waste.
  • I don't need to download anything onto my phone. All I need to do is type in the URL and I am presented with a mobile optimised site.
  • Any URL I click on from search engines, email job alerts, or referral email on my phone will go straight to the job on the mobile site. No need to resize the screen. Traffic is not lost!
  • Internal figures show high usage and high engagement from visitors. These figures can be reported, audited and presented in a clear way to advertisers compared to wish-wash app metrics. (I doubt any job site will report on app open and un-installation rates! Ask them yourself)
  • They built for the majority of mobile users, not the minority.

Update 5pm
, Shortlist reported the following: Visits to SEEK via mobile devices are currently running at more than 1 million visits per month with almost 900,000 of those visits opting to directly use the SEEK optimised mobile site.


Build for the majority, not for the minority

The first thing to consider when choosing to create a mobile website or native app for your website is your audience. Take the time to analyse your website statistics to find out where your traffic is coming from and on what devices. Don't forget about search traffic. This is an important factor to consider when choosing to replicate existing URL paths on mobile devices.

The future of mobile is likely to be dominated by cross platform browser based mobile web sites rather than native apps.

Although native apps can be a richer experience with more integrated functionality on the users mobile device. Will the user actually need this to interact with your site?

The cost for building & maintaining native apps for many platforms (and versions thereof) is expensive and very hard to justify ROI. If the required features can be delivered by a web app, it should be the first choice. Let's face it. There are only a few screens needed - search form, search results, job details and some sort of save/shortlist/application form and all these can be served via the browser.






Article URL: http://www.recruitmentdirectory.com.au/Blog/what-should-you-build-first-mobile-website-or-native-app-a428.html

Article Tags: mobile recruitment mobile job sites careerone seek mycareer iphone apps native apps job search mobile job search cross platform recruitment websites mobile career sites

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Online Recruitment 101

Posted By: admin, 7:54pm Sunday 27 February 2011    Print Article

Short video about online recruitment for anyone new to the industry. Stick men are cool.




Article URL: http://www.recruitmentdirectory.com.au/Blog/online-recruitment-101-a427.html

Article Tags: online recruitment video job boards applicant tracking system

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