CAREERS MEDIA: Online recruiters poised to overtake traditional head-hunters, says IDC survey

Traditional recruiting agencies face the challenge of moving to

"Internet speed" to keep up with online competitors if they are to

survive, according to a report by the IDC.

The Internet has significantly changed the Australian recruitment

landscape and has quickly become an invaluable channel for employers and

job seekers, the report said.

It estimated that spending on online recruitment advertising in

Australia last year totalled Adollars 14.7 million.

That figure is expected to grow to Adollars 329.3 million in 2004.

The figure included not only spending on Internet job listings, but also

on banner, button and other types of ads such as corporate profiles and

microsites that are purchased by recruiters to attract attention to

their recruiting campaigns.

IDC Australia's senior analyst Internet and ecommerce Lisa Shishido said

to survive and thrive, traditional recruiting agencies would have to

adopt technology that could make their business more efficient and be

more "proactive about communicating their value proposition to

clients".

"The days of agencies that are simply resume-shufflers who view

candidates as walking invoices are over," she said.

"The opportunity lies in harnessing the power of Internet technology to

make business more efficient.

"The Internet's impact on the Australian recruitment market to date has

been mainly on the initial stages on the recruiting process - posting

vacancies and identifying and accessing candidates.

"However, a handful of Web-based end-to-end solutions that attempt to

manage the entire process have recently emerged."

He added there was tremendous opportunity in offering business services

related to online recruiting, and vendors that can offer a winning

combination of content, tools and services to employers and job seekers

would prevail.

"For example, the large number of employment sites currently competing

for a limited pool of advertising dollars means that most are finding it

a challenge to make profits as they face the pressing question of when

and how they will reach profitability," Ms Shishido said.

"However, the opportunity lies in beating or outlasting competitors to

become one of a small handful of sites that will eventually dominate the

market, reaching critical mass in users and advertisers and branching

out to create other revenue streams."