1. Louise is running UK rec blog of the year again (i was shortlisted last year) so vote here. When i look at the blogs - i thought that Digital Recruiting should have won last year but this year (the DigRec Collective have lost a bit of blogging motivation) i think that Peter Gold's blog is the one i find most interesting and relevant stuff on.
2. Had a very important re-tender last week which went successfully. Although - we were up against an individual and an organisation that i massively respect so my natural pessimism was partly preparing me for the worst. It has made me think that we have to a) keep innovating and progressing and b) keep the very high customer service/satisfaction levels in order to retain our competitive advantage. I think its fair to say the competition is coming - the bad news for them is that we will make sure we have moved it on again next year.
3. Have decided to have a massive blow out for company xmas do - everyone has worked so hard this year in difficult circumstances - we are going to Arbutus for lunch on Dec 10th and then onwards and upwards from there. There will be talk of going to a club and being out till 3 am - although i expect i will be a broken man and in a cab by 10.30.
4. Our most satisfied customer at moment is MinistryofWaxing - who have been quoted in Mail and interviewed on radio today related to Simon Cowell waxing story. The media found their details via our rather super SEM campaign. Have booked myself in for a pre-wedding treatment - probably not the Boyzilian though.
5. Presenting award tomorrow at IPAC awards - its a gentle re-entry into what was a large revenue stream of ours - where we advised media owners on their digital classified products (mainly launches such as key103jobs, supplychainonline etc). Its at Vinopolis - so have a feeling it might get messy - but then its December tomorrow isn't it....
Monday, 30 November 2009
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Making Money out of Digital Recruitment
Its been a month of meetings, proposals and tendering. If i looked at the money in as opposed to effort out - it probably does not tally but we have added 2 new clients (welcome PGC and Dixons) and it feels better out there even if feelings don't pay the bills. Overall we are still up year on year so the team deserve a very nice blow out for the Xmas bash this year. But 4-5 more good weeks to go before any let up.
Anyway - in this process of meetings i have been able to see many other proposals from other agencies both traditional recruitment and digital specialists (non recruitment) and some interesting ways of making money seem to get slipped in to the deals. Most common listed below.
1. Campaign Management - these costs generally are far too high - either the agency is getting a bad deal from a 3rd party or they are trying to make the margin here. Reporting is incredibly important and a key part of any campaign we run but the costs need to be proportionate - i don't think there is any justification for 20% of media bills for this service - discuss....
2. Appalling media buying - again 2 possible reasons a)cant negotiate with media or more likely b) marking it up massively. Now in the interests of full disclosure - when we have achieved huge discount on certain deals i am sure on certain occasions we have kept part of it (with agreement from client) but its silly when you are trying to charge a big Monster 12 month deal out at 10% discount for instance.
3. Production charges. You absolutely need to charge a rate for work you do - but its silly to charge occasionally v high prices for 30 seconds work.
Interestingly - what i don't tend to see is proper charging out for the expertise involved in planning buying managing a digital campaign - that is the real value but the industry still seems shy to price accordingly.
Anyway - in this process of meetings i have been able to see many other proposals from other agencies both traditional recruitment and digital specialists (non recruitment) and some interesting ways of making money seem to get slipped in to the deals. Most common listed below.
1. Campaign Management - these costs generally are far too high - either the agency is getting a bad deal from a 3rd party or they are trying to make the margin here. Reporting is incredibly important and a key part of any campaign we run but the costs need to be proportionate - i don't think there is any justification for 20% of media bills for this service - discuss....
2. Appalling media buying - again 2 possible reasons a)cant negotiate with media or more likely b) marking it up massively. Now in the interests of full disclosure - when we have achieved huge discount on certain deals i am sure on certain occasions we have kept part of it (with agreement from client) but its silly when you are trying to charge a big Monster 12 month deal out at 10% discount for instance.
3. Production charges. You absolutely need to charge a rate for work you do - but its silly to charge occasionally v high prices for 30 seconds work.
Interestingly - what i don't tend to see is proper charging out for the expertise involved in planning buying managing a digital campaign - that is the real value but the industry still seems shy to price accordingly.
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
OME News
So we are expanding!
As of Monday our newest member of staff Bethan Trezise joined. She is ex Golley Slater and will be a great asset to the team - by accident rather than design we had become rather male oriented so i also hope she may bring a more civilised air to the office too!
We have added new clients in form of Ping Pong, Cote Restaurants (i can't work out how you put a circumflex over the o) and DSGi too in last month so this post catches me in a happy mood.
Also delivered a breakfast seminar on social media and recruitment (is there any other seminar topic at moment) to 5o retail HR managers recently which seems to have gone down really well and has generated some very exciting enquiries)
But the last 10 weeks of year are absolutely crucial in us having a good year compared to just an OK one. So one more big push for us all (we have pitches/re-tenders/large proposals aplenty - not all necessarily good things to be doing) and we can put this "interesting" year to bed.
As of Monday our newest member of staff Bethan Trezise joined. She is ex Golley Slater and will be a great asset to the team - by accident rather than design we had become rather male oriented so i also hope she may bring a more civilised air to the office too!
We have added new clients in form of Ping Pong, Cote Restaurants (i can't work out how you put a circumflex over the o) and DSGi too in last month so this post catches me in a happy mood.
Also delivered a breakfast seminar on social media and recruitment (is there any other seminar topic at moment) to 5o retail HR managers recently which seems to have gone down really well and has generated some very exciting enquiries)
But the last 10 weeks of year are absolutely crucial in us having a good year compared to just an OK one. So one more big push for us all (we have pitches/re-tenders/large proposals aplenty - not all necessarily good things to be doing) and we can put this "interesting" year to bed.
Friday, 2 October 2009
Dodgy Online Stats Part 73
Yesterday, they revised the statistic to 4% down year on year - a miscalculation apparently...
Thursday, 1 October 2009
Dodgy Online Stats Part 72
Everyone in our industry has rightly been getting very excited about recent IAB/PwC market stats . The most exciting top line figure being Internet has overtaken TV as biggest single ad sector.
However less trumpeted but possibly more remarkable is the following
"Online classified advertising grew by 10.6% year on year to £385m" - this figure relates to H1 2009 (vs H1 2008)
I just don't believe that stat.
Lets assume online classifieds consist of listings (banners/MPUs etc are counted as display) for
Jobs, cars, homes, travel
Which of these sectors was up year on year in 2009?
Most media owner MDs i speak to say that they are down +20% year on year (and i think that is a decent performance - there is much worse out there)
I think we need some clarification from IAB/PwC as it would be a hell of a performance to out perform the UK economy in such a startling way
However less trumpeted but possibly more remarkable is the following
"Online classified advertising grew by 10.6% year on year to £385m" - this figure relates to H1 2009 (vs H1 2008)
I just don't believe that stat.
Lets assume online classifieds consist of listings (banners/MPUs etc are counted as display) for
Jobs, cars, homes, travel
Which of these sectors was up year on year in 2009?
Most media owner MDs i speak to say that they are down +20% year on year (and i think that is a decent performance - there is much worse out there)
I think we need some clarification from IAB/PwC as it would be a hell of a performance to out perform the UK economy in such a startling way
Thursday, 24 September 2009
State of the OME Nation - Sep 2009
Just had biggest gap in my blogging career of 1 month - due to
- nothing much to say
- writing tweets is quicker and easier
- first decent foreign holiday in too long a time
But back in the chair now and just an update on us - the market and places in between
First the good stuff
1. May June July 2009 - was OME's best ever quarter in our 3 years of trading. That is more a testament to the hard work of our staff - the good performance of our clients and client acquisition (and retention) than any macro economic factors.
2. It is clear that any upturn will be in digital rather than non digital recruitment. The ROI argument has been largely won.
3. We are expanding - added one person to team (details to follow) with one more to follow in Jan i think now - lets be cautious...
4. Some dormant clients are re-emerging blinking from the dark recesses of recruitment freezes and lay offs and wanting to get some jobs out there and wanting to at least talk about social/bus networks etc
5. Really pleased with how we seem to be positioned in the market as results oriented - innovative - practical - no bull shit - great customer service ( i realise that this may be rather biased but it seems to be true)
The not so good stuff
1. What a hard year - it really has been running like a nutter in order to stand still - only on holiday did i realise how bone tired i was. Its good for the soul and nothing wrong with hard work but ideally it would be great if that work paid off in similar amounts of revenue and profit
2. The last 5-6 weeks have been quiet - perhaps a punishment for thinking we were doing so well and soon i would be lighting my cigars with £20 notes. The truth is as we all know deep down its going to be a long hard slog back to UK Plc prosperity.
3. I still know a number of people out of work and i really feel for them in current market - it is not easy getting back in to our business sector at moment - and i imagine a down ward pressure of remuneration has accompanied this.
Finally - 3 houses on my road have sold in last month - so housing market is back or i should close the curtains when performing naked yoga at night
- nothing much to say
- writing tweets is quicker and easier
- first decent foreign holiday in too long a time
But back in the chair now and just an update on us - the market and places in between
First the good stuff
1. May June July 2009 - was OME's best ever quarter in our 3 years of trading. That is more a testament to the hard work of our staff - the good performance of our clients and client acquisition (and retention) than any macro economic factors.
2. It is clear that any upturn will be in digital rather than non digital recruitment. The ROI argument has been largely won.
3. We are expanding - added one person to team (details to follow) with one more to follow in Jan i think now - lets be cautious...
4. Some dormant clients are re-emerging blinking from the dark recesses of recruitment freezes and lay offs and wanting to get some jobs out there and wanting to at least talk about social/bus networks etc
5. Really pleased with how we seem to be positioned in the market as results oriented - innovative - practical - no bull shit - great customer service ( i realise that this may be rather biased but it seems to be true)
The not so good stuff
1. What a hard year - it really has been running like a nutter in order to stand still - only on holiday did i realise how bone tired i was. Its good for the soul and nothing wrong with hard work but ideally it would be great if that work paid off in similar amounts of revenue and profit
2. The last 5-6 weeks have been quiet - perhaps a punishment for thinking we were doing so well and soon i would be lighting my cigars with £20 notes. The truth is as we all know deep down its going to be a long hard slog back to UK Plc prosperity.
3. I still know a number of people out of work and i really feel for them in current market - it is not easy getting back in to our business sector at moment - and i imagine a down ward pressure of remuneration has accompanied this.
Finally - 3 houses on my road have sold in last month - so housing market is back or i should close the curtains when performing naked yoga at night
Friday, 21 August 2009
Social Media - Recruitment - Sep 2009
Speaking at a Business Forum in next few weeks and have landed topic of social media and recruitment.
Now here is the issue - we have case studies, we have read 1000s of words on topic, attended many seminars and advised numerous organisations (some even got good advice). The audience is a mix of experienced recruiters, with wildly varying levels of experience in digital and social/business networks. Time slot - 20 mins (+ questions).
So, i sit here pondering - where to start/end? - what to include? - what to to exclude? - keep it to UK or look at US too? while keeping it engaging and pitched at right level.
Clearly as i am lazy - my starting point will be a couple of other presentations i have done on topic that can be updated and then i have a fantastic recent piece of research that i can source/make reference to/ rip off (delete as appropriate)
I often think that the true skill in advising companies on emerging technologies/media is not to know everything and show how clever and expert you are but in translating it into bite size chunks of interesting and useful info that they can go away and use or at least tell their boss and impress him/her.
So in terms of structure - i tend to always revert to "Golden Rules" Top Tips" "Dos and Don'ts" and finish with "Do the following 5 things tomorrow" - its worked ok so far...
Now here is the issue - we have case studies, we have read 1000s of words on topic, attended many seminars and advised numerous organisations (some even got good advice). The audience is a mix of experienced recruiters, with wildly varying levels of experience in digital and social/business networks. Time slot - 20 mins (+ questions).
So, i sit here pondering - where to start/end? - what to include? - what to to exclude? - keep it to UK or look at US too? while keeping it engaging and pitched at right level.
Clearly as i am lazy - my starting point will be a couple of other presentations i have done on topic that can be updated and then i have a fantastic recent piece of research that i can source/make reference to/ rip off (delete as appropriate)
I often think that the true skill in advising companies on emerging technologies/media is not to know everything and show how clever and expert you are but in translating it into bite size chunks of interesting and useful info that they can go away and use or at least tell their boss and impress him/her.
So in terms of structure - i tend to always revert to "Golden Rules" Top Tips" "Dos and Don'ts" and finish with "Do the following 5 things tomorrow" - its worked ok so far...
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