2009 - India comes to NZ

Now I know this is nothing new but I can see the likes of HCL, Infosys, Satyam and even though smaller Indian organisations doing more and more in the NZ marketplace in 2009.

From conversations I have had in the last two to four weeks it seems that organisations that historically would not entertain such agreements are entering into conversations to get additional information from such suppliers. Even the small software development shops whom develop off-the-shelf type app's are looking at such possibilities.

There have success stories and then there has been stories which make you cringe about outsourcing to India. From what I can ascertain on 'what works', it is key to get some key resource out to NZ to meet the appropriate people, understand the systems, mingle and do some initial work on the product / system and then go back to India where the actual 'do-ers' can do their stuff (for $25 an hour).

BUT I will finish saying that 'it is hard to beat walking over or yelling out to a colleague asking for advice or clarification'! It is amazing what gets lost during many conversations or translations!

Recruiting in Auckland & Wellington before Xmas

An observation that I have seen in the last 6-weeks is that there is noticeable difference between Hiring Managers in Auckland and Wellington.

Wellington - Managers want to make decisions before Xmas and I quote "I’ll hire the right person (if you can find them for me) this side of Xmas" - even Government departments are making decisions before Xmas

Auckland - "we won't have time to get things done so we will hold off making any decisions until late January".

Don't you love recruiting in Wellington!!!

IT Project Management Specialists - Who are they?

Earlier in the week I was having a Coffee with an ex CIO of a relatively large New Zealand bank and the conversation got onto the topic of naming the Top 3 Project Management Services firms. Effectively those organisations whom purely specialise in providing Project Management services to external parties (this might services on setting up a PMO, introducing Project Management methodologies / principles etc).

There are many out in the marketplace that have this as an offering but certainly have it as their absolute specialisation. One that came to mind was Project Plus (a Wellington based outfit whom do some great work), but it was certainly a battle to name my "Top 3".

Many clients use the big vendors for such services, but it does put a smile on my face when they (vendors) come to agencies for people and then throw a rather large margin on the contractor and ship them off to a client. Why doesn't the end user simply come out to the market place and save themselves considerable money? I do know the answer - obviously when they engage a Services firm there is a little more responsiblity and accountability on the Services firm as the person will come with their 'rubberstamp' and will use their methodologies etc. Where if they engage a contractor directly from an agency due to 99% of agencies being 'labour hire' oriented organisations they don't get that same level of accountability.

Anyway feel free to comment on who you think are other well regarded specialist IT Project Management organisations!

Scottish Humour

Please note that the language in this radio prank is rather rich, BUT is one of the funniest radio pranks I have heard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InF9B3rParg

P.S. It isn't recruitment related

The return of Azimuth Consulting?

I read on www.itbrief.co.nz earlier in the week where Azimuth had one a contract to redo the www.gets.govt.nz website (it certain is in need of a revamp as it certainly isn't user friendly).

When I first moved into the IT Recruitment world at Eden Brown, Azimuth was the shining light in the 'management consulting world'. They had the plush offices in the BNZ Centre and were hiring like mad. From memory they were sending people to the Philippines for big Telco related contracts, hiring people via the phone from the UK and paying very good salaries.

Then I think the wheels came off and work dried up, some big projects didn't go as well as they should have and people got tired of travelling throughout Asia for assignments. In saying that I am pleased to see that they have bounced back and winning more local work as they were a client who I enjoyed working with.

I watch with interest what actual field they intend to specialise in

Software Freedom Day

Today I popped my head into the Software Freedom Day - www.softwarefreedomday.org.nz and it was fair to say there weren't a lot of Microsoft fans attending! I was only there for around 15-mins but somehow got engaged in a conversation about this open source CRM called SugarCRM. Unfortunately for me, but probably fortunately for the two other guys I wasn't able to really contribute to the conversation apart from asking some pretty basic questions on it.

I did pick up from my 15-mins that there weren't many people from say Microsoft NZ or other Microsoft shops such as Intergen attending or advertising. The 920 stand and 920 posters were in full flight which was pleasing.

There were many remarks about the SUN Microsystems T-Shirts and how many of them were XXL in size - most of the people I saw were rather skinny white guys, hence there were a huge amount of T-Shirts still lying around.

It was pity we don't have a huge amount of Linux Administration or Ruby on Rails positions going as we would of been in heaven at this event. I believe there was over 200 people that had attended so a good job done by the organising committee.

One other thing that the event highlighted was that there is very, very strong and passionate open source community in Wellington!

TV as a Recruitment Sourcing Tool

There is probably a bloody good reason why it is not being used(possibly due to the cost), but why aren't agencies or even companies using Television to push key positions or an organisatons brand?

I am going to show my ignorance as I don't have an appreciation of what a 20 second advert on primetime TV is worth but for a key position such as a CFO, CEO or CIO it would be extremely interesting to see what results would come. I know that Absolute IT did some advertising around two or three years ago when they promoted their 12-mth gaurantee for placements that were made on a retained basis at 19%. I know that we at Ninetwenty have talked about using TV to promote a particular campaign but due to the timeframes were we given it didn't happen (that is probably another reason why it might be difficult - timeframes involved).

Thinking about it further I am not sure if people would actively respond to a TV ad promoting a job, unless it was for an extremely rear job (possibly CEO of Adidas NZ or when TVNZ seeks a new Sports Reporter for the news at 6 o'clock).

I do know that this type of sourcing strategy does occur in some countries but like I said earlier price could be an issue in little old NZ?

A Latte or a Flat White? A Double or Single Shot? The Cost is....

I do love a good Latte and don't mind paying a reasonable price for one.

What I do find interesting is when you go to a Cafe where all Flat White's / Latte's are a double shot and you might ask for a single shot, but there is no discount in the price.

For those who order Long Blacks and ask for a 'triple shot' I guarantee their is a cost for the additional shot of Coffee, so why don't Cafes reduce the price for single shots?

Did Vodafone plant a "body"

Correct me if I am wrong but I was sure I saw a news article where Vodafone "planted" a guy into the line to buy the new iPhone - in fact he was first in line, which led to hype and news coverage , heightening the 'drama' and 'excitement' regarding the phone.

Some might say 'what a great marketing ploy' and it was, if it is true, but what is starting to rub me up the wrong way is that this, along with other things is starting to turn me away from the brand. The fact that we (Ninetwenty) are a current Vodafone business customer and the service we receive is horrible (Account Managers not returning phone calls or e-mails and broken promises).

The EDS and HP Merger

I am curious what this is going to do on a local front. Whether it is going to mean it is only going to get tougher for other vendors like the Fujitsu's, Datacom's, Unisys's etc or whether in fact it is going to open up opportunities for them?

If EDS and HP can keep the local "look" and "feel" they should be OK, but if they over complicate things, I imagine clients and customers will simply be saying to themselves 'this is to hard', I want to work with an organisation that can keep things simple.

I caught up with an HP staff member about two weeks ago at a local networking event and the feeling was that it did come as a shock and that even though it would take a while to bed down the new structure, they felt there was a lot of nervousness in certain areas (loss of jobs).

I remember talking to a couple of senior managers from HP when the HP and Compaq sale occurred and even after 18-mths since the two entities became one there was still a real "red side" and a "blue side" to the organisation which they didn't really enjoy.

Given the current shortage in the IT & T marketplace I imagine recruiters will be keen to see what will happen and the odd additional person coming onto the marketplace won't be a bad thing.

Blogging Advice

Can someone pass on some advice to a learner blogger on the following please:

- Is there a 'counter' that I can download or 'bolt on' to my blog to measure traffic? FYI - my blog is created through a blogger account

- What is the best way to increase your SEO, is it by 'linking' to other sites or by making comments and refering to your site - in an ethical way of course, rather than just spamming? Any comments or hints would be welcome.

Thanks

Nathan

Opportunity Missed by Employers / Managers?

The Top 10 of the "Who is NZ's IT Rockstar" have been chosen - check out www.itrockstar.co.nz for more information.

While we had a great response to the competition and many nominations I was dissapointed that not as many managers or employers got involved and made nominations for some of their staff. Here was a perfect chance for a manager to do so, it would of cost them nothing (apart from 4 or 5 minutes of their time) and it would of shown their employee "hey my manager thinks I am a bit special".

I can hear the arguement brewing around 'our team make us a great operation not just one person' which is true but I would hope people are not that petty about not being nominated. Managers or employers didn't need to single out their highest paid or most technical person - all we wanted was a good story.

Britian's Got Talent - Connie

I thought this was a bit special:

Recruiters Consolidating??

Recently we have seen a couple of local IT Recruitment businesses get sold / merge. Recently Duncan & Ryan were acquired by Talent2 (an Aussie based, ASX listed recruitment firm) and the word on the street is that some smaller recruiters are looking to merge.

Why is this?

- Is it because people simply find it to hard and want a little more protection by being part of a bigger player?

- Is it that they were simply offered some great money for their business?

- Is it that some people are concerned about the upcoming election and the impact that could have on their business?

- Is there no room for small players (those who have two or three staff) in the marketplace?

Anyway nice work Bruce (from Duncan & Ryan), hopefully you got a good price:)

Lunch with David Farrar

Yesterday I had the pleasure of having a bite to eat with David Farrar (for those who don't know David, he runs and hosts the blog www.kiwiblog.co.nz ). Over a delicious Pizza from Mojo, I learnt a little more about what David does and what he is involved in. David runs a market research / polling organisation but is also involved a couple of IT related industry bodies.

If you haven't read his blog I would recommend having a look or if you get a chance to hear him speak I think it is a "must do". It is largely political commentary with some commentary on IT matters.

Also the Pizza's at Mojo aren't to bad either.

IT Rockstar Campaign

Today we kicked off the "Who's NZ IT Rockstar" campaign which is a light hearted competition to try and find some smart and charismatic IT professionals who want to win an overseas trip - all paid for by ourselves.

For those curious about our role in the competition, we are simply the sponsor and promoter of the event - we are not using any of the information for our own purposes, otherwise I am sure employers wouldn't want to nominate their superstars!!!

For those curious have a look at www.itrockstar.co.nz - Feel free to jump in and nominate yourself or if you know a person doing some neat work feel free to nominate them.

A big thanks has to go to the judges Suri Bartlett, Marie-Claire Andrews and Jon McDonald for their input.

SEEK - is it the only Jobsite in NZ?

The phrase "money for jam" comes to mind with SEEK but to their credit they have managed to secure the NZ Job Board market. We see sites such as www.myjobspace.co.nz, www.jobuniverse.co.nz and many others try and compete with the SEEK but from what I can see the only site that has had any real impact is Trade Me Jobs - http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-me-jobs/index.htm.

A question to ponder:

- Does every agency need to use the like of SEEK and Trade Me? The answer is YES.
Simply I think an agency needs to have an online presence in this current climate and with the use of sites such as Facebook and Bebo, more and more people on online.

BUT from an agency angle, do we simply rely to much on online job boards rather than ensuring we know that there isn't a person within our database who can do the job - which costs us nothing to do (apart from our time)? It is an interesting argument and is an argument which could last many hours. I know that we are looking to alter this ourselves where there is a great focus on actually talking to those candidates we already have, but again I do feel there is the need to advertise online so we can get those candidates new to NZ, to find those who have decided after 10-years it is time to go looking for a job and from a brand perspective

A new niche job board is www.firstinjobs.co.nz which is an offshoot of www.firstin.co.nz - have a look if you haven't seen of it before - great daily deals at a good price. Now their market is "techy" or "geeky" people, well part of their market (I think around 40%) so they have created this other site - see above which is largely tailored for IT jobs - will it work - it will simply come down to whether they can drive traffic to the site, that the traffic are active job seekers and the costs involved for agencies / organisations are decent - I hope it works as they are good bunch of guys.

Anyway it does seem SEEK is money making machine who dominates the NZ marketplace and I would love to see a decent alternative (Trade Me Jobs isn't far away). Or should I just praise SEEK for a job well done or am I bitter as I sold my SEEK shares to early!!!!

Social Networking for Recruiters?

We see it in IT where there are groups such as Unlimited Potential and various User Groups (.NET and Java User Groups) meet often in a relaxed environment. It exists in the online world with sites such as www.facebook.com, www.bebo.com and www.linkedin.com but in the industry where networking is everything, one doesn't exist in Wellington or New Zealand.

We have the RCSA which is an industry body, but the few RCSA meetings I have attended didn't really inspire me to go back.

Why can't the industry or more likely some individuals kick something off, where guest speakers are invited to speak or where simply we put on some drinks and food so we can simply connect with each other. I would like to think that the better we know our competitors, relationships would be formed and standards would certainly lift when it comes to how we recruit / compete in the marketplace. Rather than recruiters and agencies continually dropping their pants on rates etc, maybe we can work together to ensure we achieve the rates / fee we deserve given the tight marketplace we work in.

Do I have my head in the clouds in thinking this could work?

Boomrock on a "nice day"

If you need a venue for a team building event or for entertaining clients, I can highly recommend Boomrock - www.boomrock.co.nz which is out the back of Johnsonville. On a good day (which it was yesterday) it is unbelievable - the views are outstanding and takes you back to why we live in Wellington, the activities which include Clay Bird Shooting, Golf, Archery and Petanque are fantastic.

Both Ninetwenty and Momentum spent the day there yesterday where the outline for the next two years was set out and communicated. A good day had by all.

"UP Bloggers Predict"

Just arrived home from this UP event which was fantastic, good bloggers / presenters, a good crowd (around 75 I think) and the ever present 'crowd heckler' who got a little annoying.

The winner was Philip Fierlinger who works at Xero and runs the blog http://turntablemedia.com/blog/ who 'predicts' that "Robots will rise from the ground and rule the world" but on a more serious note was all for pushing bio fuel given he also 'predicts' the cost of oil will rise to $200 dollars a barrell this year.

One of the more interesting bloggers was Hamish MacEwan whom seemed to come a little under prepared and maybe it was just me but I simply didn't get his 'predictions'. One was simply called "green".

Probably a little unlucky was David Farrar who even though was rather witty and had some clever stuff to talk about probably didn't engage the crowd as well as others. One of his predictions is that Telstra will see TelstraClear to Vodafone NZ - interesting 'prediction' given TelstraClear's relationship with Vodafone in 2007!!

In short a great event and nice work by the Ninetwenty team as they were out in force.

News on Bearing Point New Zealand

I read earlier this week that there might be some upcoming changes at Bearing Point with New Zealand with two key figures, Suri Bartlett and Chris Day having created a new company Cadence New Zealand.



It looks like this will be a management buyout, similar to what the guys did at Cap Gemini, where some key figures bought the NZ operation off the parent company. Now that is a story in itself, where they then got snapped up by Hewlett Packard for a great price and now most of the key people from CG NZ have left HP New Zealand, leaving HP New Zealand with only a handful of the core CG staff!!



I wish Suri and Chris well and will watch with interest what occurs in next few weeks.