Archived News 2002

22 October 2002

New research shows strong support for SEEK

SEEK is overwhelmingly the employment website of choice among top Australian companies, according to research by Catch22 Asia Pacific.

The Australasian Top 500 Internet Recruiting Study released in September found that 91 per cent of the Top 500 companies in Australia have a corporate website and 49 per cent have a careers section.

SEEK increased its market reach by 44 per cent in the six months to June 2002 and was nearly four times more popular than its nearest competitor. Monster's reach went backward during the same period.

Fully 100 per cent of the 24 recruitment agencies sampled in the Catch22 study used SEEK.

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01 October 2002

Unequivocal preference for online job search

Candidates' preference for searching online job ads continues to grow strongly, according to research just completed by seek.com.au.

When asked "What is the primary method you use to search for a job?", 58 per cent of respondents opted for the Internet. Just 9 per cent said the newspaper was their primary job search method.

"The real story is in the trend data," said SEEK ceo Paul Bassat. "Two years ago, more than 25 per cent of candidates said the newspaper was the primary way they searched for a job. Over the same time, the percentage who primarily use online classifieds has grown by 33 per cent.

And as the number preferring the Internet has grown, the percentage who use online and newspaper advertising equally has declined: from 48 per cent 12 months ago to 30 per cent in September 2002."

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06 September 2002

SEEK grows reach to 60%

SEEK has further widened its lead over competing employment sites in August, according to Red Sheriff results released earlier today.

Over 60% of Australian job seekers who visited an internet employment site in August visited SEEK.

SEEK also enjoyed exceptional growth in August. The number of unique visitors attracted by SEEK grew by 8.7% from the previous month to over 742,000. This compares to growth of 1.1% for the second ranked site.

Additionally, SEEK further widened its lead in eyeball minutes which is consistently regarded the most important measure of visitation to internet employment sites. SEEK had more than 27 million eyeball minutes in August 2002 compared to just over 6 million eyeball minutes for its nearest competitor, representing a lead of 345%.

(Eyeball Minutes is equal to the number of unique visitors attracted by each site per month multiplied by the average number of minutes each visitor spends at that site during the month).

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23 August 2002

SEEK's brand wins

More Australians know of SEEK than any other employment website, according to Newspoll research conducted in July. When asked "Can you name an employment website?", one in seven people named SEEK – without prompting. SEEK enjoys an average 41 per cent brand awareness in Australian capital cities; awareness is even higher in Sydney (46 per cent) and Melbourne (49 per cent).

Of the sample contacted in the survey, 17 per cent had already visited SEEK: a 35 per cent lead from the next most visited website, My Career.

July was a good month on all fronts for SEEK, which broke several traffic records according to Red Sheriff. SEEK attracted 69 per cent more unique visitors than its nearest competitor, the largest lead in nearly a year. And it stretched its lead in the "eyeball minutes" measure to 308 per cent, the largest lead ever.

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04 July 2002

Yahoo! Australia & NZ and SEEK Extend Agreement with Enhanced Co-Branded Employment Site and Marketing Deal

JULY 4th 2002, SYDNEY and MELBOURNE. Yahoo! Australia & NZ and SEEK Limited today announced they have signed an extensive marketing and service agreement that will include the enhancement of the current Yahoo! Australia & NZ Careers site, as well as an even greater level of exposure for the SEEK brand on www.yahoo.com.au.

As part of the deal, an enhanced, co-branded employment site will be made available to Yahoo! Australia & NZ's audience. The site will include complete access to SEEK's most up to date database of more than 30,000 jobs.

In addition, SEEK will significantly expand their current advertising efforts across the Yahoo! network and will gain access to pioneering placements and creative opportunities created by Yahoo! for key clients. The marketing agreement will build on an already successful online and offline marketing campaign that has seen SEEK continue to pull ahead of its rivals in the online recruitment space.

"Our two companies have been working together successfully since April 2000 and are building on an already positive alliance that will further benefit Australia's job seekers and employers," said Andrew Bassat, Director, SEEK. "Yahoo! has been a significant source of leads, audience and advertisers for SEEK over the past two years so it's great to take this opportunity to an even higher level."

SEEK, Australia's leading Internet employment site, was recently named Australia's third fastest-growing technology company of the past three years by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and earlier this year exceeded one million registered users for the first time. The deal will see SEEK become even more visible to the more than 4 million Australians plus millions of New Zealanders who use Yahoo! each month.

"The deal is great for our consumers who will have even better access to the quality and quantity of SEEK's job listings, and it's also a testament to the unique marketing solutions we 're able to offer Australian companies, " said Leanne Sheraton, Marketing & Sales Director, Yahoo! Australia & NZ. "We're in the excellent position of being able to provide a unique mix of audience reach with a variety of content and tools to help companies like SEEK gain a true competitive advantage in their space."

About Yahoo! Australia & NZ
Yahoo! Australia & NZ is one of the most recognised Internet brands in the region. www.yahoo.com.au is part of the global network of Yahoo! sites. By working with leading local companies, Yahoo! Australia & NZ provides comprehensive online products and services to over four million Australians and New Zealand consumers and businesses each month. For marketers, government and businesses, the company offers intelligent, innovative and integrated marketing, selling and Internet broadcast solutions for maximum impact. Yahoo! Australia & NZ has offices in Sydney and Melbourne and can be found on the Web at www.yahoo.com.au and www.yahoo.co.nz.

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25 June 2002

Recruiters improve use of online candidate databases

Use of SEEK's online candidate database shot up 38 per cent in May compared to the previous month, driven by a determined sales effort and new pricing for casual use. More than 2.8 million resumes matched searches conducted in May and the number of candidates contacted as a result of resume searches went up 138 per cent.

"We noticed that clients who subscribe to the candidate database received more select matches to their searches than did clients using the database on a casual basis. Evidence suggests 'power users' are creating more complex, tighter search queries that offer a more exact match to their criteria," said ceo Paul Bassat.

The most popular industries to search were IT/communications, accounting, admin/customer service and sales and marketing. However, searches are being conducted in every industry and every location throughout Australia and New Zealand. Searches of industries such as engineering, hospitality and management are also returning large numbers of candidates, according to Paul Bassat.

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28 May 2002

Print's days are numbered

Print classified advertising's days are numbered, says SEEK ceo Paul Bassat. More than three-quarters of SEEK clients recently surveyed say they are cutting their print advertising budget due to the success of online advertising, according to survey results just finalised. Fully 78 per cent of respondents reported they had reduced their newspaper advertising spend, a growth of 11 per cent in 11 months.

In choosing where to list online job ads, respondents said that reach and speed were the most important factors. "On that basis, it's not surprising they choose to advertise with SEEK," says Bassat. Candidate traffic to SEEK grew by 4 per cent in a single month, with 648,236 unique visitors in April and a 264 per cent per cent lead over our nearest competitor in eyeball minutes, according to Red Sheriff.

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13 May 2002

SEEK Executive

SEEK's zone for experienced professionals, SEEK Executive, is proving its worth for both recruiters and top-level candidates. Traffic has increased by 31 per cent in the 12 months to February 2002 and it's delivering twice as many applications per ad as the main SEEK zone.

Senior candidates are attracted by an exclusive area with appropriate content which only lists jobs paying more (usually much more) than $80K and which involve significant managerial responsibilities. "We are vigilant about the type of roles that can be listed on Executive," noted Matthew Rockman, executive director (sales). "At any one time, SEEK Executive offers 300 of the highest calibre, highest paid positions in Australia."

Rockman said that traffic to SEEK Executive is driven primarily by positive word of mouth. He said SEEK has run trials with clients which convinced them of the value of a premium listing. "For instance, we posted a CEO role handled by one national recruiter on both SEEK and SEEK Executive. Of the applications that arrived via SEEK, more than 87% came from SEEK Executive and the quality was impressive."

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07 May 2002

SEEK Limited named as 3rd fastest-growing tech company by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

SEEK Limited, Australia’s leading Internet employment site, is Australia’s third fastest-growing technology company of the past three years, according to Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu’s Technology Fast 50 – 2002 survey.

The survey found SEEK’s revenue growth jumped by a massive 1418 per cent for the three financial years ending 2001.

The survey ranks Australia’s fastest growing technology companies. It is part of a global program conducted by Deloitte across six countries that aims to raise the profile of the technology industry.

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12 Mar 2002

SEEK becomes premier career provider on XtraMSN to help Kiwis find jobs online

Two online leaders join forces to bring tools and resources to New Zealand job seekers

Auckland - XtraMSN (xtramsn.co.nz), New Zealand's favourite Web destination, has signed up SEEK Limited (seek.co.nz), New Zealand's leading Internet employment site, as the premier provider of career content on XtraMSN.

XtraMSN and SEEK will pool their tools, resources and technological expertise at xtramsn.co.nz/careers where the 820,000 Kiwis who visit XtraMSN each month will benefit from SEEK's easy job search functionality, career knowledge and career content.

XtraMSN General Manager Rod Snodgrass says with the expertise of SEEK, the XtraMSN Careers Channel will offer New Zealanders more jobs than any other New Zealand site, a Job Mail service that lets job seekers get a free daily email listing jobs of interest, and a breadth of career-related information including a resume template and interviewing techniques.

"As the job market continues to evolve, people need the most useful career resources available," he says.

"Giving XtraMSN visitors access to the thousands of jobs and the tools available on SEEK means our visitors have the best content available direct from the XtraMSN site," says Snodgrass.

SEEK Limited General Manager Scott Hauswirth says the partnership means SEEK can expand its brand by bringing its rich set of services to an even larger audience and provide broader distribution of its job vacancies.

"By taking advantage of XtraMSN's extensive reach, the new partnership will allow us to expand the services and commitment we deliver to our customers - both jobseekers and those looking to hire them," says Hauswirth.

With around 4,000 New Zealand jobs available, SEEK has the largest jobs database of any online careers site.

It also has nearly 100,000 registered users, 25,000 resumes in its database, over 1,600 registered employers, and allows candidates to search for jobs in Australia, the US, South Africa, Asia and the United Kingdom as well as New Zealand.

The success of SEEK reflects a global trend for job seekers to look to the Internet for jobs and career advice.

A July 2001 study by research firm Salomon Smith Barney called 'Who's been eating my newspaper?' estimated that online recruitment advertising had gone from just 2.7% of the total US recruitment advertising share in 1999 to nearly 12% in 2001.

Meanwhile, a September 2001 survey of New Zealand job seekers by SEEK found 65% said the Internet was the first place they looked when hunting for a job.

About XtraMSN
XtraMSN is New Zealand's most-visited Web site according to online ratings agency Nielsen//Netratings. Over 820,000 at-home Net surfers visited XtraMSN in February 2002.

XtraMSN combines Xtra's New Zealand and international coverage across areas such as entertainment, sport, news, health and travel with world-leading Web services from Microsoft including MSN Messenger and MSN Chat.

About SEEK Limited
SEEK Limited was formed in November 1997, and has operated in New Zealand since August 1999. Shareholders include Yahoo! Inc. and Macquarie Technology Fund.

In addition to a jobs vacancy listing service, the site offers a world-class resume builder, an e-mail based vacancy delivery service, an application tracker and a wealth of other career resources, including a "virtual interviewer" service. SEEK is New Zealand's most-visited Internet employment site according to Nielsen//Netratings.

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21 Feb 2002

SEEK passes magic million

Australia's leading internet employment site, SEEK, has exceeded 1 million current registered users for the first time. This is equivalent to 13% of the Australian workforce. SEEK Executive Director, Andrew Bassat, noted that: "This is an incredibly important milestone for SEEK and for the development of the internet employment market in Australia generally. We are providing employment advertisers with access to a huge proportion of Australia's available talent pool".

(Note: According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics there were 7,715,000 employees aged 15 and over in Australia as at November 2000).

Visitors to the SEEK site are not required to register to take advantage of SEEK functionality such as searching for a job and applying for a job. The main reason for visitors to the SEEK site choosing to register with SEEK is for the purpose of lodging their resume on SEEK or for the purpose of receiving a daily email of matching job vacancies.

Andrew Bassat commented: "The 1 million current registered job seekers that we have on SEEK represents an enormous proportion of Australians who are currently looking for a job. Job seekers are flocking to SEEK in record numbers because of the large volume of current positions, the easy to use functionality and the speed and convenience of applying for jobs via the internet rather than traditional means".

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13 Feb 2002

SEEK attracts record number of job seekers in January

Australia's leading internet employment site, SEEK, attracted over 624,000 unique visitors to its site in January 2002 according to results released by Red Sheriff. This represents over 8% of the Australian workforce. According to SEEK CEO Paul Bassat: "The January Red Sheriff results reflect SEEK's status as the logical destination for Australian job seekers".

(Note: According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics there were 7,715,000 employees aged 15 and over in Australia as at November 2000).

SEEK continued to increase its market share in January by attracting 158,000 additional unique visitors compared to December 2001, which was greater than the increase enjoyed by any other site.

Job seekers spent in excess of 39 million minutes on the SEEK site during January compared to just over 7 million minutes for its nearest competitor. SEEK's 3 major competitors received a total of 16 million eyeball minutes to their sites combined. Eyeball minutes is a critical measure of the popularity of internet employment sites as it reflects not only the number of people visiting a site each month, but how long they are spending on average at the site. The chart below reflects the number of eyeball minutes for SEEK and its three major competitors during January 2002.

Commenting on the January Red Sheriff results Paul Bassat noted that: "During January 2002, we increased the number of eyeball minutes spent on SEEK by an extraordinary 159% compared to the previous month".