Tag Archives: employment in Australia

Best Practices For Career Growth

Posted on March 3, 2015 by Kristy Bishop

Walking the line between best and worst practice in terms of career growth is a very fine one. Some people try too hard while others don’t try hard enough. Here are some tips on getting the balance right.

When it comes to the workplace, good relationships are often as important as being good at what you do. It’s not uncommon for some to become so involved in excelling and surpassing, they fail to realise they’re neglecting the human element which exists in all industries.

Some may deny it, but it’s largely true that being liked as a person has significant relevance to your success as an employee. Put it this way, if you are disliked because you’re anti-social, unhelpful, rude or perhaps cocky or arrogant, people will very quickly know about it.

You might be brilliant at your job and smarter than all your colleagues put together, but if the questionable reputation of your personality precedes you, you don’t stand a chance.

However, before you head out and start trying to become besties with the boss, remember the keyword balance.

First of all, it’s important to be liked for the right reasons such as warm greetings, a friendly smile, occasional banter and willingness to help, and learn from, your colleagues. Baking the boss his or her favourite treats, brown nosing and boasting every chance you get are a sure fire way to get on others’ nerves and an indication you’ve gone overboard.

Of course, vital to the recipe of ‘please like me’ is being a decent employee. Popularity will actually get you nowhere if you don’t have your work ethic also in check.

Some employees become so caught up in the social aspect of the workplace they start neglecting their positions, taking liberties and becoming lazy and careless.

So again, that keyword is balance. In addition to being great at what you do, you’ll need diligence, punctuality and a strong work ethic.

If you can combine these things with maintaining healthy public relations, you are well on the way to career growth. Just remember not to go too far in any given direction.

4 Habits of Unsuccessful Event Managers

Posted on February 24, 2015 by Kristy Bishop

Everyone has bad habits; it’s part of being human. If you’ve been working in the events industry for a while then you’ve probably developed some bad habits you find yourself repeating at every event you run.

If you are looking to make 2015 your best year yet then why not consider cutting some of the bad habits out of your work life?

It can help to make you more efficient at work and your events more successful. Here are 4 common habits of unsuccessful event managers to kick out for the New Year:

1. Forgetting about first impressions

There are so many components that go into running a successful event that it is too easy to get caught up in the small granular details of the event, in the meantime forgetting to make sure people are totally sold on buying tickets to your event.

Whether you are organising a music festival, gala dinner or charity fundraiser – selling enough tickets is the no. 1 show stopper (pun intended) in measuring success for your event.

Enhance the look and reputation of your event by using online event management software. A professional online ticketing solution will deliver you an attractive event webpage (which you can use in your social media & marketing) that will support your brand, and make it super easy for your customers to buy their tickets 24/7 from their phone or computer.

It will also save you time (e.g. no more rushing around to be at the kiosk/desk to sell tickets at the allotted time) and also money (e.g. no more base ticket stocks to have to have printed up). While always knowing exactly how many tickets you have sold will not only help you sleep at night in the knowledge people are coming, but it will empower you to be able focus you marketing messages in the lead up to your event.

2. Not taking the time to create an emergency communication plan

You’re hosting a music festival, people are travelling for hours to experience the event you’ve spent most of this year planning and then you find out your worst nightmare has come true – one of the main acts has been delayed and isn’t going to make it in time.

Sometimes things go wrong, acts cancel at the last minute, there are delays to opening the doors, or you find out you have to change the event venue at the last minute.

As an event manager how often do you take the time out to put together a clear emergency communication plan?

Sure, it’s another thing to add to your to do list and it’s extra paperwork (that fingers crossed you won’t need to look at again) but don’t take a short cut on this task – it’s important.

Take the time to work out how you would get in touch with everyone who is attending your event as quickly and efficiently as possible. Here are some things to consider:

If you have sold your tickets online, do you have easy access to the list of attendees and their contact details?
What key information would you need to include in an email when notifying people of event changes?
What social media channels would you use to communicate the changes?

If something does go wrong and you are working under pressure it can be helpful to refer to a pre-written checklist.

3. Not embracing event technology

Technology has evolved at a rapid pace. With the rise of smartphones and tablets, social media and wearable technology the relationship between technology and events is becoming ever more important. Technology provides event managers with the opportunity to connect with their customers and make their events more efficient.

Are you embracing online ticket sales or do you still find yourself ordering expensive base tickets stubs to sell in person?

Are you still checking in guests by hand or have you switched to using online ticketing software that streamlines the process of checking guests in?

Is Wi-Fi a mandatory component at all of the events you run or just something that is nice to have if you can get it?

Dependent on how you answer these questions – is it time for you to update your approach to event technology?

4. Not using social media to your full advantage

Social media has been a game changer for event managers. If you think social media is just about creating a Facebook event page or sending out a couple of tweets to promote your event, then think again. Social media has changed the way event managers engage with event attendees.

Social media for your event should be frequently updated and regularly monitored. When used correctly it can be a useful customer service tool. Put your social media channels to work at every event and use them to:

Create buzz before the event with teasers
Engage directly with your attendees,
Gather all important event feedback (during and after the event).

If you are interested in learning more about how an online event booking system can help you to work more efficiently and help with the success of your next event, then get in touch with the team at Ticketebo today.

The Right Way To Apply For A Job

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Kristy Bishop

Once upon a time, applying for a job was a reasonably straight-forward process.

Submit your cover letter and resume in response to an advertised position and wait by the phone in hopes of an interview.

These days, however, constantly increasing competition has forced job seekers to adopt additional tactics to stand out and be seen, some of which have subsequently become standard expectation.

As such, the so-called right way to apply for a job should now, more often than not, also include the following practice.

Find a lead. With job networking site LinkedIn now at our disposal, establishing and getting in touch with company contacts has never been easier. Some quick research and perusing through the site can reveal which of your own contacts are loosely or perhaps even closely connected to other helpful contacts.

From there, you can ideally ask to be introduced, or otherwise introduce yourself, to appropriate sources in relation to your target position. You can ask questions, seek advice, request feedback on your resume and most importantly, find out more about the role and the company itself. You might even find some contacts are happy to meet in person to chat.

This practice also affords you the opportunity to confirm with company contacts that your resume has been received, which may prompt them to take particular note of it. If you’ve really struck a bond via LinkedIn, you might be lucky enough for them to pass your resume on personally.

Having done plenty of homework and gained an inside perspective prior to being interviewed, you’re already ahead of the game, able to drop names and discuss whatever relevant inside knowledge you have throughout the course of your interview.

It is essential to follow your interview with a message of thanks a day or so later, which reiterates your interest and enthusiasm for the position.

It is also important to send a personal message of thanks to anyone on LinkedIn or other networking hubs who assisted or advised you.

The entire process is more or less an exercise in public relations. Be sure to always express your gratitude and remain professional and courteous at every turn, and don’t take anyone or anything for granted. You will soon find that, even if you don’t always get the job, your own networks will steadily grow in very positive and helpful ways.

Adzuna Australia is Hiring!

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Kristy Bishop

About Adzuna

Adzuna is a search engine for classified ads used by over 1 million visitors per month, which makes it easier to find the right job for you. We search thousands of websites so you don’t have to and bring together millions of ads so you can find them all in one place. We add powerful search, insightful market data and social connections, so you can find your perfect job with a little help from your friends.
Adzuna was originally launched in the UK in 2011 and now operates in 11 countries. Adzuna Australia launched in January 2014 as a joint venture between Fairfax Media and Adzuna.

You can read more here: http://www.adzuna.com.au/about-us.html

Digital Marketing Manager

The Digital Marketing Manager will be responsible for developing and growing Adzuna’s job search engine through SEM & Partner Marketing. Adzuna is a Wired Magazine ‘Top 10 Startup’ and one of the fastest growing web businesses in Australia. For the right candidate, this is an excellent opportunity to work with a well-funded start up (backed by Fairfax in Australia) and make a major contribution to this high growth, global site.

You’ll be responsible for growing our paid traffic aggressively, managing Google Adwords, Bing, Display advertising, partner / affiliate marketing and all other online marketing channels. The Fairfax partnership presents large and unique advertising and integration opportunities. You’ll be managing a large budget and will be charged with scaling Adzuna’s job seeker audience into the millions.

We offer a fun, entrepreneurial working environment within an exciting high-growth business where you can make a huge difference.

Candidate requirements

The ideal candidate will have a minimum of 4-5 years online marketing experience, and should be an expert in search engine marketing. You’ll also need a solid understanding of SEO and the ability to think both creatively and analytically

This role is critical is to the success of the overall business, so the right candidate will have a proven track record of growing profitable marketing campaigns. They’ll have experience working on large scale, long tail search marketing campaigns and ideally worked in a start-up environment before. They should be highly analytical, an excel whizz and have a numeric degree from a top university. Google Adwords certification would be a positive, but is not essential. Great communication skills are a must in this role.

Key responsibilities

Pay per Click Marketing:

Manage & scale SEM activity to achieve high volumes of traffic and highest possible ROI & meet customer traffic targets in Australia.
Owner of all CPC channels (display advertising, retargeting etc)
Work with our sales and account management team on the paid search performance, strategy & plans to satisfy client budgets and user growth
Build out all new campaigns to target high ROI keywords
Daily optimisation of all campaigns (bid optimisation, ad copy / quality score optimisation & experiments) and work with our data science team to develop automation of bid management
Develop own initiatives to increase efficiency and growth of paid traffic
Ensure correct tracking, optimisation processes and reporting is in place.

Partners:

Owner of traffic driving partnerships and responsible for growth of this channel
Manage existing (paid and organic) partnerships to deliver on targets and at the highest ROI possible
Develop own initiatives for new partnerships + traffic driving initiatives and work with our management team to fuel growth

Apply: email raife@adzuna.com.au

How To Stay Positive When You Hate Your Job

Posted on September 16, 2014 by Kristy Bishop

Hating your job is not overly unusual. In fact, it’s quite common.

The question is how you deal with it and make the best of what you’ve got.

Perhaps it’s your boss or your colleagues, or maybe the job itself. Whatever the reason, there is always a way to rise above it and stay positive, no matter how much you might feel you hate your job.

A nasty boss is enough to turn anyone away from a position. They could be undermining, disrespectful or just downright rude. At any rate, nobody should have to put up with that kind of treatment, but challenging them on it will only escalate issues further and make work life even more uncomfortable.

The trick is to let it roll off your back and be mentally armed with the necessary internal ammunition so as for it not to scar or wound you. Remind yourself that it’s less about you and more about them.

Consequently, you’ll come across as brave and strong as opposed to defensive and sensitive.

Likewise, if you have similar problems with rude, disrespectful colleagues, rather than make an outwardly, snowball-building scene, learn to laugh at any put downs or snide remarks as it will give you the immediate upper hand and re-shape you in their image.

Perhaps you hate the job itself. Is it boring? Repetitive? Stressful? Predictable? How can you put your own personal touch into things? How can you make it your own? Adding your flavour can not only be personally satisfying, it can also enhance the work and score you brownie points. It’s definitely worth a shot to see how you can make improvements and relieve some of the monotony at the same time.

There are many other potential reasons which might contribute to hating your work environment. Perhaps the geography of the place, or the decor. However, there are just some things we cannot change or if we try to, we will end up making matters worse and probably need to leave.

Staying positive even when you hate your job is the key to surviving in such an environment, and learning to react in ways that dampen, not fuel, the potential fires will mean the difference between a short lived career and a long one.

Adzuna Australia is hiring!

Posted on August 6, 2014 by Kristy Bishop

Join Australia’s most exciting recruitment start-up and change the way Australians find their next job!

Adzuna.com.au is a young, hungry start-up on an exciting growth journey to disrupt the online recruitment sector (backed by Fairfax in Australia). Launched in the UK in 2011 we are now live in 11 countries around the world! Adzuna is now Fairfax Media’s primary digital job listing offering and has deep integration links across the Fairfax sites driving awareness and traffic.

We are already growing the business by over 100% each month and our ambitions are to become the premier destination for Australian job-seekers. Adzuna.com.au is a search engine for job ads which makes it easier for you to find the right job. We search thousands of websites so you don’t have to and bring together millions of ads so you can find them all in one place. We add powerful search, insightful market data and social connections, so

you can find your perfect ad with a little help from your friends.

Sales Executive

Based at our office in The Rocks, we have an exciting opportunity for a Sales Executive who will be responsible for winning new business and building profitable relationships with large and mid-tier recruitment agencies by selling cost-per-click (CPC) services to support Adzuna’s rapid growth.

Key responsibilities include;

Researching the recruitment agency market and generating a list of leads
Reaching out and acquiring new business across Australia
Responsible for selling, promoting and demonstrating the value of Adzuna’s services to the recruitment industry
Manage the entire sales process from prospecting to close, including setting up the campaign and account management
Record all sales activity in the CRM and meet all monthly targets and KPI’s
Grow share of wallet with customers over time, both budgets and pricing
Month end analysis and reporting back to client and management
Selling via face-face and over the phone

We are seeking a person who has a minimum of 2 years proven sales and account development experience in online cost-per-click advertising or the recruitment agency or technology/digital agency arena.

The ideal candidate will have a good understanding of the online jobs/classifieds market and recruitment agencies and will be experienced in handling client’s accounts over the phone and face to face along with excellent communication skills and presentation.

We offer a fun, entrepreneurial working environment within an exciting high-growth start up. If you enjoy making a difference and working directly with the business heads, if you are focused and aspire to grow your career – apply now!

Get in touch at careers@adzuna.com.au

Check out our new Adzuna video

Resume Writing Tips

Posted on July 22, 2014 by Kristy Bishop

By Ross Larkin

Certain aspects of writing a good resume are debatable, like maximum number of pages, style or design.

These three keys to a steadfast resume, however, are essentially non-negotiable.

Catching your reader’s eye
Communicating quickly
Selling yourself

The first two points are actually tools to enable the third. In fact, any element from design to length are all working towards the selling of oneself.

This may sound obvious, yet many job seekers forget they are selling something.

How do you catch your reader’s eye?

The key is not to go overboard. Don’t choose a fancy, hard to read font. Go with a conservative standard like Arial and ensure the size isn’t too small or large.

Your spacing must also be appropriate so your resume isn’t cluttered and difficult to read.

You should have clear sections such as education and employment, so be sure to make your headings slightly larger and well spaced.

Employers are generally busy people with hundreds of applicants to peruse. Hence, you need to communicate a lot in a little amount of time.

Bullet points can be useful but be wary of writing long lists which are irrelevant or unimpressive. Choose the best and ditch the rest.

Highlight your specific skills so they stand out. Many companies nowadays use digital databases to search for keywords, so sometimes it’s also a case of catching the computer’s eye.

Common buzzwords include “strategic” or “proactive”, but it depends on the industry you’re in, so do your research first.

Now, what are you selling?

Don’t just state your skills, state the benefit of them.

For example, “Strong interpersonal skills, helpful when dealing with sensitive topics”.

Aim for achievements over responsibilities. Every job has responsibilities. Specific achievements are far more impressive and memorable to the reader. Sometimes using numbers is also effective.

For example, “I was jointly responsible for saving the organisation more than $5000 during the budget”.

Just remember, your resume is your chance to sell yourself whether the design, the format or the content – it must be slick, easy to read and full of great buzz words.

How to write a cover letter

Posted on July 9, 2014 by Kristy Bishop

By Ross Larkin

Writing a cover letter can be one of the most difficult aspects of job searching – even more than the dreaded job interview.

Sure, you might possess the most impressive, skill-laden resume in the world, yet it won’t mean a thing if your cover letter isn’t right.

Why? You need to communicate and summarise your relevant skill set, previous experience, reasons for your interest and why you are the right person all within the confines of a single page, using the perfect tone and just the right amount of personality.

It’s easy to see why so many get it wrong.

The first golden rule is never recycle a cover letter. Each one must be tailored according to the specifics of the particular company and role you’re applying for. Blanket letters are obvious to any trained eye, so you will only waste your own time.

The second is to address a real person and never “whom it may concern”. The preference being, of course, to use the correct person’s name, which you should be able to ascertain with a quick telephone call.

Refer to the job title within the first paragraph. There’s no need to keep your reader guessing and you have very little time to get to the point.

Now jump straight in and make your enthusiasm and appropriateness for this opportunity clear by matching your specific skills and experience with the particulars of the job.

“For the past three years I have worked in a similar role primarily as an administrator”,

“My training in this area has given me the relevant skills required.”

A little research on the company and the position will go a long way in addressing each area with the most relevance.

Remember – you’ve only got one page. Nobody has time to kick back and read your biography, no matter how intriguing it may be.

Finally, wrap up your letter with a summary about why you are right for the job and encourage the reader to peruse your resume, making it clear you would love the opportunity to meet and discuss your application further.

Adzuna announces next stage in international expansion!

Posted on January 17, 2014 by Andrew Hunter

Adzuna and Fairfax join forces!

This week we announced an exciting partnership with Fairfax Media Limited, which will help grow your favourite job search engine even faster Happy Days!

Adzuna.com.au will be linked right across the Fairfax network including Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Australian Financial Review.

To consolidate it’s global presence, Adzuna also launched in France, Russia, India, Poland and The Netherlands this week. This is an exciting phase in Adzuna’s journey to become the world’s leading job search engine.

These launches mark the growth of Adzuna’s global footprint to 11 markets, helping job seekers in no fewer than 7 languages. With 4 million monthly visitors, the site aims to arm jobseekers worldwide with real-time employment market data and social job hunting tools – ultimately hoping to help people make better career decisions.

Adzuna Australia will now become Fairfax Media’s primary online job listings vehicle and will be actively promoted across Fairfax’s network of over 200 leading mastheads and digital brands including The Sydney Morning Herald and The Melbourne Age.

Welcome to Adzuna Australia!

Posted on March 25, 2013 by James

We’re delighted to announce the launch of Adzuna Australia today! Adzuna is a nifty little search engine and we aim to make it easier for you to find your perfect job. We search thousands of sites so you don’t have to, bring together millions of job ads so you can find them all in one place, and organize them with awesome features which we know you’ll love.

Sounds Great. Where do I begin?

To help you get started with your job search, we’ve put together our top tips for making the most of Adzuna depending on the stage you are at in your job search. We hope you find them useful!

1. Get hired with a little help from your friends

Our power users love Adzuna Connect. Plug in your existing LinkedIn or Facebook network, and we’ll show you all the companies you’re connected to and all the live vacancies at them. You can then message your connections to get the inside track on what it’s like to work there, or ask them to put in a good word for you.

Once you’re plugged in to Adzuna Connect, you’ll automatically start to see images of your friends next to relevant vacancies as you search around Adzuna. Users tell us it gives them a huge leg up in both the research and application stages. We believe it’s the future of job hunting in Australia – taking networking to find a job to a new level. We’re continually upgrading this tool, so if you have any feedback at all, please let us know!

2. Research your market value

If you’re researching the job market, check out Adzuna’s stats on the right hand side of almost every search results page. These give you comprehensive data on what the market is currently paying in Australia, as well as other useful facts. Users find this information incredibly useful before applying for a job or when considering a career change. Knowing market pay rates also empowers you at the salary negotiation stage, either with your current employer or a new one. And we’re expanding this data soon … watch this space.

3. Find the perfect vacancy

Searching for vacancies is the meat of the job hunt.

We bring together thousands vacancies from every major job board, which means we list nearly every job ad in Australia. Being able to search everything in one place is a huge leap forward for users.

But it can also make for a daunting search experience, as there may be hundreds or even thousands of results for a common search like “Marketing jobs in Sydney”. Our top tips on search are all around narrowing that search experience.

Choose your what and where carefully to specify the job title and location you are interested in.

Use the filters on the left to narrow by salary band or location.

Use your search history which we store further down on the left hand side of the page to quickly navigate back to your recent searches.

And don’t forget to use our awesome advanced search tool to really refine your search.

4. Be the first to know

Once you’ve found the right search criteria for you, you’ll want to keep track of new jobs coming up that match. The best way to do this is to sign up for an email alert via the box at the top of every search result. Adzuna indexes literally thousands of new opportunities every day, and we send you a simple, handy email listing the most recent jobs that have come up. We don’t give anyone else your email address and you can cancel with one click.

Active jobseekers find these incredibly useful so they can be the first to respond to new opportunities that come up – and we also hear that alerts are good for people who are currently employed but interested in something very particular.

That concludes our top tips, we hope you find them useful. We’re always adding more features, so watch our blog for further updates and send us your feedback and ideas. And if you’ve found a great job via Adzuna, please do tell us your story!

Adzuna.com.au blog

The blog of Adzuna, Australia's job search engine.