David's Journal on Tap

edited using aviary.com

After my last blog post, I started to have a look at programs I could use to help edit my photos and modify the composition of them.

I had a quick look from Apple and found Aperture 2.0. After downloading the trial version ($199 to purchase full program) I found the program hard to use and not very user friendly. The program was ok but not worth buying for $199. So I continued to look around at other options.

I put the question out to my Twitter connections and @dannuroo suggested trying aviary.com . I found using the programs on Aviary relatively easy to use and they also allowed me much more flexibility in manipulating my photos.  The programs on aviary.com are free to use  and as mentioned on the aviary website:

“You own the full rights to all works you create. Aviary only retains a license to display any works you make viewable to the public within Aviary and in any external publication provided it’s in a way that promotes Aviary. For example, this means your work may be used to accompany a third-party newspaper article about Aviary.”

I created this photo above just playing around with some of the tutorials on Aviary. Some of the examples of work that I noticed on the website were really innovative and quite interesting (I especially liked the cat unzipped).

I hope you like the outcome of the photo I have taken, I thought it would be good to draw the bird to the front and have the bird appear to be coming out of the photo (original idea taken from tutorial).

I have been invited to speak at a round table panel discussion with the Australian Computer Society on Wednesday June 17th. The topic of the discussion is “The Pros and Cons of Social Networking in a Business Context”.

An overview of the Guest Panellists and Details of the event can be found on the ACS Website and if anyone has any enquiries they can contact Ksenija Catic at ksenija.catic@acs.org.au

This should be an interesting discussion and it will be good to hear different perspectives of social networking from different viewpoints in the industry.

The other night I found myself on a conference call talking to colleagues from across the APAC region which was being headed up by someone from our EMEA offices who is based in Ireland. This got me to thinking about just how much the traditional workplace has changed over the last 50 years. No longer are most of the work relationships we have based on location or the office that you work in.

My father comes from a different generation and did like many of his friends and colleagues did in their time. That was he worked for the same company for almost his whole working career. The people he worked with were the people in his office location and the work he did mainly was Monday to Friday between 9:00 and 5:00 (I think it was actually more like 8:00-4:00 from memory).

This type of workplace is still prevalent in many organisations, however over the past number of years I believe we have seen a shift in the traditional workplace. As many positions become more information based or service oriented, we find what used to constitute traditional workplace boundaries changing.

I am based in Australia, however I have many relationships with colleagues and managers who are based elsewhere. Working with people in different locations in turn changes the hours that we work and I think we are finding a blending of work life/personal life where as once the two were very separate. VOIP and Web Technologies help us connect with people more easily than ever before and the world becomes a much smaller and connected place.

It is still important to have and develop local relationships and contacts, sometimes nothing beats talking to someone then being able to do it face to face. The great thing about the changing workplace is the chance to learn and meet so many new people with different perspectives and ideas. This was not always the case and it was limited with the technology that was available.

The changing workforce and demographics associated with it is too big a topic to cover off in one blog entry but after this conference call that I was on it got me thinking how much workplace relationships have changed and how easy it now is to work with a global workforce larger than just the physical office you work in.

Like many other parents (especially with newborn children) most of our photo books over the past few years have been filled up with pictures of the kids. This includes pictures of the kids in the bath, eating dinner, sleeping and in most any other position or location you can think of. Having a look at our photos on Facebook will reflect this.

I love the fact we have taken so many pictures of Marissa, Grace and Joshua. It is good to look and see how much they have grown in such time and look back on so many fun times. However, I am almost positive we have not taken full advantage of many of the functions on the Canon SLR Digital Camera that we have. Many of the functions and creative uses you can use a SLR camera for have not been fully realised.

This afternoon I had the rare opportunity of having some time on my own. Melinda and Marissa had gone out for a drive and Grace and Joshua both had fallen asleep after some play time. I decided to dust off our camera and try it our in the backyard.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on these pictures. The one thing I learned is that I need to learn a lot about what and how to take pictures with our SLR camera. I was hoping to take some macro photos, but was not confident enough to switch to manual focus. There were many pictures I wanted to take today but I could not because I was not sure of how to change the exposure or shutter speed, etc….

I get the funny feeling most of the pictures I take will be of the kids but hopefully I can find the time to take a few creative based photos (or better yet combine the two) and find the time to learn how take them as well. Stay tuned for more to come.

Who knew Blogging could be this addictive??? I have been blogging for just over a year now and I find myself now creating and writing my first new blog entry on my second blog. The first few blog entries I created about this time last year took a lot of thought and effort. Fast forward 12 months and I find writing to be a great outlet and way to unwind (wouldn’t my English Teachers from High School be surprised to hear me say that).

The first blog I created last year is Oracle’s Recruitment Blog. This blog actually began on the blogspot platform but after six months we moved it over to blogs.oracle.com. The Oracle blog was created to share with people some of the interesting things happening at Oracle and share with readers the thoughts, ideas and stories from Oracle’s Global Recruitment Team. The success of the blog is far greater than I ever could have imagined. From August 2008 to now (May 2009) the blog has had over 40 000 hits and has 1400+ subscribers.

I have set up this blog (David’s Journal on Tap) to be able to share more about the things that happen outside of work. Life can be quite busy sometimes, maybe a bit suburban at times, but with 3 young children it certainly keeps each day interesting.

I am not sure what this blog holds in store or what direction it could end up taking, but I hope you enjoy the entries.

Generalist Job Boards have come under pressure over the past few years with the increased usage of Web 2.0 Technologies and Social Networking Tools by companies to source and recruit candidates. Many observers note that Generalist Job Boards only offer a one way dialogue for candidates at a time when candidates want more than to just look at a job advertisement.

Unlike some of the larger Job Boards in Australia, I think sixfigures.com.au offers greater value to candidates and employers than just a job posting service. I think using sixfigures.com.au allows candidates to better understand a company and the role they are looking to fill.

Niche Job Boards have stepped in to fill this gap left in the market by the larger Job Boards and I had the chance to talk to Kelly Magowan from Sixfigures.com.au about how they are shaking up the job board market in Australia.

1) How long has sixfigures.com.au been in operation, what makes it different/unique from other traditional Job Boards?

Six Figures launched in March 2008, as the only stand alone executive job site in the Australian marketplace for $100K+ package jobs and contracts across all industries and professions.

Our focus is on connecting top talent with great job opportunities in a professional and transparent fashion. We have a fantastic membership of talented people who come to our site to source relevant job opportunities and access great job and career resources that are pertinent to a professional or executive. We have a membership model more than other job boards, which is a part of our point of difference.

So rather than being in the high-volume classifieds business such as the generalist job sites, we focus on a niche market – the top 10% of salary earners and advertisers looking to connect with this target market – via this new platform where they can effectively build a relationship with one another.

2) We are hearing from many “Web 2.0″ experts about the demise of the Job Board in its current form, do you believe this to be the case? Do Job Boards need to offer a different experience than traditional job advertising?

I suspect that there is some truth in these statements about the demise of current job boards in their traditional form, particularly generalist job boards that reflect the old print classified model transfered online. Ultimately, this model has not changed in the 12+ years since job boards launched in Australia.

Job boards serve a great purpose in that they aggregate a lot of job opportunities in one place to make it easier for the job seeker to search and apply; likewise they provide an application funnel for advertisers.

Job seekers and advertisers will always require a number of channels in which to connect with each other, from generalist sites, to niche, to social networking, referrals, etc. So these channels will not disappear but the way in which they are executed will certainly evolve. People are already becoming more discerning, particularly overseas where you see a lot more niche job board offerings that are very successful. People do like to interact in relevant communities and more and more we are seeing that they like to control and customize what and how they take in information, including job ads.

On Six Figures we enable members to give a star rating to ads, as well as having a blog, online Q&A and also the impending launch of a facility for members (job seekers) to subscribe to advertisers profiles to be notified of when they are next advertising. These functions enable our members to have ownership over the site, to rate the quality of what they like and to build a relationship with prospective employers. Transactional, low quality and touch? short term approaches job board models will not survive. Job seekers are clever and want substance and service rather than a gambling ‘pokies’ like experience.

3) You are a regular blogger and Web advocate, is there any blogs, websites that you follow or make an effort to read regularly?

I enjoy blogging and reading many other blogs and sites, as well as finding great articles and information via Twitter. There is so much great information, ideas and opinions available that I only wish there were more hours in the day. I like to keep up to speed with what is going on in Australia as well as overseas, with my core interests being around HR, Recruitment, Social Media, IT and Marketing. I regularly enjoy Destination Talent, ERE, OnRec, Tech Crunch, Springwise, Oracle Blog, Recruitment Directory, Seths Blog, MarketingProfs, Silkcharm Blog, HR Magazine, Recruiting Blogs, Job Board Blogs aggregator and Career Hub to name a few.

4) The staff at sixfigures.com.au are not afraid to try new things, what can we expect from sixfigures.com.au over the next 6-12 months?

On the surface Six Figures could appear to be just another job board, however our advertisers and members who use the site do so because of the value that it delivers them, be it for securing quality talent or accessing great jobs and careers information. We are always innovating and finding out what our members and advertisers want to see from the site, as it is important to be delivering value and innovating in areas where the market needs it. We have an ongoing R&D program that is integral to our business and will continue to build on the work we have done to date to “lift the bar” in talent attraction. TalentReach™ has been a big initiative for us more recently and we will be working on extensions of this service over time. In addition, we will introduce more innovations around the member profiles and advertiser profiles being more interactive, plus other executive-oriented features.

Over the past few months in talking with many people in the IT industry, there seems to be a general misconception that because of all of the layoffs and redundancies in the IT industry that there should be hundreds of candidates to choose from for any vacancy that is open regardless of the specialisation or seniority of the role. While there are more “Active Job-Seekers” in the market looking for work we need to remember that companies look at both “Active” and “Passive” candidates when hiring not just one or the other.

A Manager may believe that because of the state of the economy there should be a long list of available people for an open role available immediately who are waiting by the phone for a role. While it may be easy to create a long list of Active Candidates who are available for a role, it does not mean that they are best suited for the position or that the position is best suited for them. Depending on the scope of search that we may work to, many Job-Seekers may not have the specific Oracle product experience, level of seniority, industry specialisation, etc…. that we may be looking for. That is not a knock on candidates who do not fit our scope of search, it just means that we need to look at other opportunities that may better fit their skills/experience and career plans.

Regardless of what stage of the cycle the economy is in (boom or bust), I think Recruitment should always be about quality of service and that means getting the right role for the right candidate and vice versa not just about getting X amount of resumes for Y number of open roles. From a candidates perspective this means finding the next ideal opportunity for a candidate, whether that means increased job responsibility, salary, location, etc… From a company perspective this means finding the ideal candidate who fits the scope of search that we need to work to (technical skills, seniority, location, etc….)

Out of 100% of the workforce, traditionally 15% of that workforce are actively looking for a new role, 40% are not looking for to move job/company and 45% are passive candidates who would move if the right opportunity presented itself to them.

There may be more Active Job Seekers in today’s environment, but in my experience it is not just about whether a person is an Active or Passive Candidate, it is about finding the best person for the role. The people who may be best suited for a specific type of role may not necessarily be “Active Job Seekers”. Companies often do not let their All-Star Performers go (although it does happen) and when we look to hire we want to hire All-Stars where their skills/experience and career plans fit the open role and the role we have fits what that person is looking for.

Whether you are an Active or Passive Candidate, if you are an All-Star and are thinking about whether an opportunity at Oracle may be the next step in your career, feel free to contact David Talamelli at david.talamelli@oracle.com to look at potential job opportunities with us.