Tag: Jobstreet

Singapore – SEEK, which operates Asia’s online employment marketplace Jobstreet and Jobsdb, has launched a new region-wide brand campaign focusing on the creative use of SEEK’s world-class AI to match employers and job seekers.

Titled ‘Better Matches’, the creative campaign uses animal imagery to convey the increasingly complex jungle of job seeking and hiring, highlighting SEEK’s expertise in using AI tools for job matching.

JobStreet by SEEK Campaign – Lion Version

For the Better Matches campaign, SEEK partnered with Talon Creative (Naga DDB Tribal) to create a series of animated animal videos, which depicts a giraffe, a lion and a sloth working in mismatched jobs that do not align with their inherent traits, leading to unforeseen consequences. When taken out of their natural environments, these animals are not set up for success – much like when candidates are not matched with the right enrollment that fits their level, strengths and pace. 

The animal-themed campaign symbolises the journey through the ‘talent jungle’, which both employers and talent have expressed difficulties in navigating via multiple surveys and online publications. The aim of the campaign is to introduce Jobstreet’s new and improved platform as the latest digital solution to this growing problem, with the promise of delivering more access to opportunities, talent, and more relevance and personalisation through AI technology.

For employers, the new platform deploys AI models to assess talent suitability and provide highly personalised recommendations by processing data from various sources, including resumes, job ad descriptions, and the employer’s past behaviours. This allows employers to hire fast and right.

JobStreet by SEEK Campaign – Giraffe Version

This campaign follows the merger of Jobstreet, Jobsdb and SEEK’s platforms across APAC, whereby the three brands operate under a single platform powered by SEEK’s world-class AI technology, while retaining their individual brands. With global talent shortages at a 16-year high, the unified marketplace now enables local employers and talent to leverage the AI-powered platform for more opportunities.

Jane Walker, chief marketing officer for Asia at SEEK, said, “We are thrilled to unveil the launch of ‘Better Matches,’ an engaging and lighthearted campaign that underscores our commitment to enhancing and streamlining the hiring process. In Singapore’s dynamic job market, where talent acquisition is increasingly competitive, our new platform leverages AI technology to facilitate relevant job matches between employers and talent.”

She added, “Personifying traits and characteristics through the delightful animal characters, we aim to spotlight the evolving challenges faced by employers and talent alike, amidst the mismatch of expectations across our employment market. This campaign marks an exciting milestone as we introduce our revamped platform, and we eagerly await the response from the Singaporean audience as we continue to innovate and enhance the job-seeking experience.”

The integrated campaign will be broadcast across various platforms, including social media and Jobstreet’s owned channels. Particularly, it will also be broadcasted outdoors with a convoy of buses and taxis circulating key tertiary schooling districts to target the youths and at MRT stations to target the working crowd. Jobstreet will also be launching digital stickers and META filters on social media platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram. 

Singapore – SEEK has announced its successful merging with Jobstreet and Jobsdb, allowing the parent company of both online career platforms to serve as a single platform, with the goal of offering an enhanced job and talent seeking experience. 

Powered by SEEK’s technology, the unified platform brings new AI-powered advancements to the Jobstreet and Jobsdb platforms in Asia, aimed at bringing together talents and employers across the APAC region to connect more of the right people with the right work.

For employers, the new platform deploys AI models to assess talent suitability and provide highly personalised recommendations by processing data from various sources, including resumes, job ad descriptions and the employer’s past behaviours to make the hiring process faster and more efficient.

To enhance the job-hunting process for talent, the platform now easily matches them to AI-recommended jobs they are most qualified for based on their experience and skills. With a larger dataset acquired across APAC, SEEK’s AI algorithms can provide even more precise and relevant matches between employers and talent. 

In moving to a unified marketplace platform, SEEK can also now scale its use of data-driven insight, product testing and innovation at pace. 

Additionally, SEEK has also introduced a new natural language search feature on its Jobstreet platform which will be rolled out for 2024. This innovation allows talent to submit job queries using simple phrases or complete sentences on the platform, so they do not need to rely solely on keyword phrases. Powered by a large language model (LLM), the feature enables a search experience that is more organic and appealing to jobseekers.

Talking about the integration, Peter Bithos, chief executive officer for Asia at SEEK, said, “At SEEK, everything we do revolves around our customers. One unified platform means we can now offer our product to millions of people across Asia in an entirely new way, so that our customers can find jobs and talent more easily. This puts us in a stronger position, more than ever before, to realise our ambition of helping 500 million people develop their careers with five million companies in the region.” 

Meanwhile, Dannah Majarocon​, managing director for Philippines at Jobstreet by SEEK, commented, “We are excited to facilitate more tailored job matches between employers and talent, powered by SEEK’s AI technology to continue providing jobs to every Filipino. The new Jobstreet by SEEK platform can now seamlessly match them based on specific skills, job roles, and career aspirations is crucial in the Philippines’ highly dynamic and evolving employment landscape.”

SEEK’s unification of its employment marketplaces comes 10 years after it acquired Jobstreet and Jobsdb, following three years of development and an estimated AUD$180 million investment.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – SEEK, the parent company of Southeast Asian career platforms JobStreet and JobsDB, has recently welcomed Tan Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim as its newly elected non-executive director during the company’s annual general meeting.

Based in Kuala Lumpur, Tan Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim is the first Asia-based board member in SEEK’s history, aligning with the pivotal role Asia plays in the company’s future growth strategy.

This appointment comes as SEEK sets the foundation for growth of its Asia business through the unification of its three online employment marketplaces – namely SEEK (in Australia and New Zealand), JobStreet (in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore), and JobsDB (in Hong Kong and Thailand). The three-year long investment program is set to complete in the 2024 financial year.

For this role, Ibrahim brings over 40 years of experience in the Southeast Asia region, including over 16 years in information technology and 23 years in telecoms. He also served the Malaysian government in various roles, including being appointed in 2020 by the former prime minister of Malaysia as a member of the then Economic Action Council and of the Digital Economy Council.

Currently, Ibrahim serves as the chairman of government-owned Prasarana Malaysia Berhad, Malaysia’s public transport owner and operator, and chairman of privately owned QSR Brands Holdings Bhd and AirAsia Aviation Group Ltd. He is also a non-executive director of publicly listed Sunway Berhad.

Furthermore, his executive experience also includes being the chief executive officer of Axiata Group Berhad from 2008 to 2020, and as chief executive officer of Maxis Communications Berhad for over eight years prior to that. He also has executive experience with multinational companies, including IBM and Digital Equipment Corporation.

Speaking on his own appointment, Ibrahim said, “I’m honoured to join SEEK’s esteemed board of directors, and am excited to be part of the technology company’s continuous growth journey in Asia. This role is especially meaningful to me as SEEK’s purpose of helping people live more fulfilling and productive working lives and helping organisations succeed aligns with my passion and values. I look forward to contributing my expertise to help SEEK advance its ambitions and make a positive impact on millions of talent and employers in the region.”

Meanwhile, Peter Bithos, chief executive officer of Asia at SEEK, also commented, “Tan Sri Jamaludin joins the SEEK Board at an opportune time. Once our three core online employment marketplaces – SEEK, JobStreet and JobsDB – are unified into a single platform next year, we will have the ability to scale efficiencies and unlock vast growth opportunities across APAC.”

“With Asia being a key market for SEEK, Tan Sri Jamaludin’s vast expertise in the technology sector, as well as his astute understanding of the region’s business landscape will be valuable in guiding us in our journey forward,” he added. 

Lastly, Graham Goldsmith, chairman of SEEK, mentioned, “Tan Sri Jamaludin’s experience in the information technology and telecommunications sectors in Asia and his various current roles, are a valuable addition to the expertise and views on the Board, and supports the achievement of SEEK’s continuing growth aspirations in Asia.”

Philippines – Online employment platform Jobstreet by SEEK has officially launched its newest innovative AI-powered platform in the Philippines to offer better job matches and insights for Filipino talents and employers.

In this new platform, Jobstreet leverages its parent company SEEK’s artificial intelligence (AI) technology to run AI models that can assess talent suitability, shortlist applications, and provide personalised recommendations. It has the ability to process data from various sources, including resumes, job ad descriptions, and the employer’s past behaviours.

Job seekers or talents will be able to see a ‘Top Applicant Badge’ if the platform deems them a strong candidate for the position, increasing their chances to apply for the role.

As part of the new platform, employers can now also make the talent-hunting process more efficient by choosing to include AI-recommended screening questions for their job postings as part of the job application process. This way, they’ll be able to assess more suitable talents based on their responses.

Jobstreet by SEEK is also introducing a new feature, which is the predictive approachability signal. By using predictive technology, potential employers may anticipate talents to approach for the job even before it is even advertised. The platform will go through various factors like talent activity and profile information to assess if a talent is approachable, helping employers when they’re headhunting for profiles on the platform.

Other features also include the ability to decide on profile visibility, which signals employers if a talent is open for job opportunities. Additionally, talents can also access insightful, data-backed career advice and salary information on the platform to help them make informed decisions in their careers.

All these enhancements in the platform will allow Jobstreet to link talents with the right job opportunities and employers to receive more qualified and relevant candidates for their job vacancies.

Jobstreet’s new platform enhancements are made possible by SEEK’s A$180m investment for the last three years as it unifies its three online employment marketplaces, namely SEEK, Jobstreet, and JobsDB. The parent company aims to accelerate their growth and unlock a larger opportunity across the APAC region.

Jobstreet by SEEK will first launch the AI-powered platform in the Philippines before it officially rolls out to the Asia region and the rest of the markets by early 2024.

Dannah Majarocon, managing director at Jobstreet by SEEK Philippines, said, “Over the last 20 years, Jobstreet has been helping millions of people in the Philippines improve their working lives, guided by our vision of ‘a job for every Filipino’. In recent years, we’ve seeing an increasing disconnect between the availability of jobs and talent due to the rise in skills mismatch and the ever-evolving job market. As the country’s leading online employment marketplace, we are constantly improving our platform to meet the needs of our Filipino talent and employers, and it’s now time to say hello to the new Jobstreet by SEEK. We are excited to be delivering even better job and talent matching with the transformation of our platform, that is powered by SEEK’s innovative AI technology.”

Speaking on the launch, Grant Wright, general manager of marketplace and AI products at SEEK, also shared, “At SEEK, we are committed to leveraging data and technology to provide the most effective, efficient, and fair recruitment solutions for talent and employers. We have been investing heavily in data and AI for over a decade with strong results, and will continue to do so as we aspire to make our products more effortless, personalised and trusted for our customers.”

Singapore – Online employment platform JobStreet, a career and talent partner by SEEK, announced the launch of its free learning platform, seekMAX, to empower Singaporeans and help them seek better careers through upskilling and new job opportunities. 

JobStreet’s seekMAX is an innovative in-app learning platform designed with the aim of empowering professionals to upskill and advance their careers. The new platform will allow JobStreet users in Singapore to freely access over 1,100 educational videos via its mobile app.

The educational videos will include career-related advice, industry-specific content, soft skills, and leadership tips. It will also feature a seekMAX Original series, Salary Squad, helmed by local influencers answering compensation and benefits questions. 

These high-quality and bite-sized videos offered by seekMAX are in collaboration with companies like Microsoft, Complexly, TED, Deutsche Welle, local influencers like Annette Lee, Dr. Jay Kay, Janus Chan, and Jason Ho, and international media like Bloomberg, The New York Times, and Tech in Asia. 

JobStreet also tapped the National Youth Council for their seekMAX Community, allowing them to be thought-starters, spearheading discussions, and engaging people in conversation. 

With the seekMAX community, users can build networks and connect with industry leaders, engage with fellow professionals on career threads, and be updated with the latest industry trends. 

Chew Siew Mee, managing director at JobStreet Singapore, said, “As Singapore approaches Industry 4.0, where automation powered by data can perform everyday tasks, Singaporeans must evolve and upskill in order to stay relevant. We have noticed that while many companies are now actively sending their employees for training, learning and development are also an individual’s responsibility.”

“In a recent JobStreet survey we found that 75% of respondents engage in work-related learning via social media and e-learning platforms. It is heartening to see Singaporeans taking charge of their development, which is why we’re excited to launch seekMAX in Singapore and offer Singaporeans a free and easily accessible platform where they can grow their skills, knowledge, and career. The bite-sized content we offer is ideal for the busy Singaporean, and we look forward to continuing to provide quality content as a dedicated career partner for Singaporeans,” Siew Mee added.

Meanwhile, Lewis Ng, chief operating officer for Asia at SEEK, said, “As the leading employment platform and career partner in the region for over 25 years, our goal has always been to bridge the gap between jobseekers and employers. We’re proud to help people lead more productive working lives, as well as to help organisations succeed. We aim to be present for every stage of a person’s professional life – whether  they are looking for a job or looking to take their career to the next level. With our SEEK Better Career Fair and seekMAX, we can deliver our purpose effectively as we work toward becoming the number one digital career platform across Asia.”

JobStreet Singapore will officially launch seekMAX at the SEEK Better Career Fair on August 19 to 20.

Manila, Philippines – Dannah Majarocon has been appointed to the position of managing director of JobStreet Philippines, which took effect this July. 

Majarocon’s responsibilities as the managing director of JobStreet Philippines will include carrying out business plans and developing frameworks to support corporate growth. She will also put a high priority on developing good relationships with both internal and external stakeholders, directing engagement and performance, and fostering the workplace culture. 

Majarocon will report to Lewis Ng, chief operating officer of Asia, SEEK.

She has over 11 years of experience in the Philippines’ tech sector. She recently served as managing director and consultant at Lalamove Philippines, a same-day delivery platform in Asia. Prior to that, she managed GCash and Fuse Lending for Mynt as well as at Globe Telecom, a telecommunications company in the Philippines. She has managed the whole P&L, business operations, and strategic planning throughout her career.

Peter Bithos, Chief Executive Officer of Asia, SEEK, expressed, “Dannah joins us at an exciting time at SEEK, as we are embarking on a new phase of growth with the transformation of our JobStreet platform this year, which will start in the Philippines. The new platform will enable us to innovate faster, deliver exceptional value, and better serve our talent and employer community.” 

Commenting on the appointment, Ng said, “We are thrilled to welcome Dannah to our team. With her exceptional track record and capabilities, we are confident that she will successfully guide JobStreet in advancing our commitment to helping talent find meaningful work and supporting employers in finding top talent in the Philippines.”

Meanwhile, Majarocon commented, ”I’m very confident that our team will be able to continue making a difference in the Philippines and take JobStreet to the next level to help more Filipinos find meaningful and fulfilling working lives. I do hope to be able to drive a significant impact on more talent in the market—most importantly, the under supported blue-collar and freelance workers in the country.”

Manila, Philippines – With companies actively doing background checks when hiring someone, viewing someone’s social media can get confusing for employers. With some potential applicants still hiding under anonymity, employers often have less transparency to look into as to what type of individual their next employee is.

And that is exactly what the latest ads from JobStreet Philippines show: instead of relying on social media for hiring, companies can get ‘real talent’ by visiting the JobStreet platform.

The ads, conceptualised by local creative agency GIGIL, feature a series of hilarious situations when an employer interviews someone from social media. Instead of a real person, they interview a fictional character, an avatar, or even the whole family of the applicant.

For Soleil Badenhop, associate creative director at GIGIL, humour has been an integral part of most of their campaigns, even for a formal brand such as JobStreet.

“Hiring can be really taxing for HR managers. We wanted to come up with content that would break the monotony and entertain them, get their attention while getting the message across clearly,” Badenhop said in an exclusive statement to MARKETECH APAC.

When asked how GIGIL came up with the idea for these ads, she said that while the brief for the ad was to simply market the service for free to HR managers, they wanted to dig deeper into the insights from HR managers to conceptualise the ads.

“We dug deep for true insight and found that HR managers still hire largely on social media simply because the Philippines is still the social media capital of the world. The funny thing about hiring on social media is, you don’t know whom you’re talking to because most profiles use cartoon pictures, avatars, group pictures, and fictional characters. By showing the reality of hiring there, we were able to push JobStreet as the reliable yet free option for hirers,” Badenshop told MARKETECH APAC.

Meanwhile, Kim Martin Viray, country head of marketing at JobStreet Philippines told MARKETECH APAC that aside from promoting said service to HR managers, the overarching objective of the ads was about addressing unstructured hiring, particularly on social media, where it is prone to scams and fraud.

“We have seen ads with humour and lightness to engage better with Filipino audiences, especially on digital. Our ‘Hire With Real Talent for Free’ campaign is one of the first-ever hyperlocal ad creatives we’ve produced for JobStreet Philippines, fronting our employer franchise that is emotive and targets real situations of HR professionals when hiring on social media,” the company told MARKETECH APAC.

They added, “Specifically, the already-heavy and often stressful situation of an SME hirer and then only to get low-quality candidates. To resonate more with the target audience, we re-imagined that situation lightly and with humour while highlighting our key message on what JobStreet can deliver better.”

Singapore – SEEK Asia, the parent company of jobs platforms JobStreet and JobsDB has rolled out its pan-regional omnichannel campaign for Asia that is targeted to empowering job seekers to go after careers they are passionate about.

A prime figure for the campaign is its TVC that depicts workers encouraging job-seekers to find work that matters to them, whether to save lives, design for fashion, explore new things, or discover future technologies. All of the TVCs, localized for their respective markets, end with the campaign’s mantra and name ‘Let’s Get to Work’.

The inspiration for the campaign stems from the fact that the pandemic has changed people’s attitudes towards their jobs, with many re-evaluating where and how they want to work and the kind of work they want to do. This has led to the emerging trend known as the “Great Resignation”, a term coined by associate professor of management at Texas A&M University Anthony Klotz, which explains why even experienced job seekers are choosing to leave their current careers in the search of something more meaningful.

The campaign is made possible by the direction of acclaimed Manila-based director Adrian Calumpang and through the creative direction from marketing company McCann Worldwide. As part of the campaign activation, Ogilvy will lead the social drive for the campaign, while PRecious Communications will drive the campaign’s PR.

Speaking about the campaign, Jane Cruz-Walker, chief marketing officer at SEEK Asia who was recently appointed as CMO for SEEK this year, said that the campaign is launched to motivate job seekers to pursue the jobs they love, adding that by providing them with these opportunities, they at SEEK Asia want to be the career partner that will inspire the next generation of workers to be the ‘heroes’ in their own career journey.

“While the pandemic has caused widespread job loss, reduced working hours, and pay cuts, it has also caused many to re-evaluate what they want out of their career. Job seekers’ demands have evolved beyond remuneration — they want a sense of fulfilment, good work-life balance, and career progression — and it is time for companies to adapt to this new world of work,” she stated.

Focusing on the hyperlocal nature of the job market, ‘Let’s Get To Work’ will also feature influencers and key opinion leaders will be used across the region — including Singaporean actress Sharon Au, Malaysian stand-up comedian Harith Iskander, Indonesian vlogger Gerry Girianza, Filipino actor and chef Marvin Agustin, Thai musician Manassavee, and Hong Kong fitness entrepreneur Charlz Ng.

Additional activities will also be introduced to get local job seekers excited, including Roro Jonggrang in Indonesia. This hyperlocal campaign will use the popular Javanese legend to tell the story of love and betrayal, and contrast this with how finding a job with SEEK Asia can be easy and drama-free. Said hyperlocal campaign for Indonesia is directed by Ben Wee, a freelance film director and cinematographer that has worked on multiple projects locally, including advertisements for Google and Indomie.

Meanwhile, Peter Bithos, CEO at SEEK Asia, commented that through their campaign, they hope to be able to better engage with and inspire job seekers to find jobs that are meaningful to them. He added that with their appeal to job seekers, this will also allow them to get more employers on the platform looking for quality talent, allowing an ‘explosion’ of opportunities. 

“Let’s Get To Work is an integral part of SEEK Asia’s commitment to job seekers and employers, and this is just the beginning of our exciting developments and plans,” Bithos stated.

He further added, “SEEK Asia is the biggest and most trusted jobs board in Southeast Asia. Our ambition is to grow fourfold in the next five years and to expand our platform beyond what people have come to know and love us for today. We are strengthening our existing business by making big investments in ​​people, innovation, and technology.”

Singapore – SEEK Asia, the mother firm of two leading job portal brands JobStreet and JobsDB, has recently announced its new Chief Marketing Officer Jane Cruz-Walker. 

Walker is most recently the chief digital adviser of Metro Pacific Investments Corporation in the Philippines. Prior to that, she was most notably the vice president of marketing of the now-defunct streaming platform and Singapore-born HOOQ. 

The appointment of Walker comes after a year SEEK Asia announced Peter Bithos as its CEO, who similarly came from HOOQ. 

The CMO charge will have Walker building and evolving the JobStreet and JobsDB brands for both the jobseekers’ and employers’ sides of the marketplace across SEEK Asia’s six markets. 

Walker will be bringing 20 years of experience in tech and media & telco (TMT) in both start-up and large-scale organizations within Singtel, MediaQuest, and PLDT groups, where she held key leadership roles across marketing, communications, and commercial business units as well as business development and country operations. 

Prior to her TMT cross-over, Walker held marketing positions which saw her lead FMCG brands in Colgate-Palmolive for markets in the Philippines, APAC, and Latin America as well as brands from Filipino corporation San Miguel Corporation, and also Magnolia-Nestle.

Bithos, to whom Walker will be reporting, shared that in their search for a new CMO, the company undertook a thorough regional and global search for a candidate who will bring deep experience as a CMO in the TMT space as well as someone who’s a leader that has a record of building brands from scratch and of bringing life to legacy brands.

“We want someone who has experience managing large scale marketing teams across the region and interacting across large organizations, and has demonstrated experience in commercial roles as well. Jane brings all of this in one dynamic package,” said Bithos.

He adds, “And, most importantly, I am confident that Jane will be a great leader for each and every one of our marketing team members across the region, besides bringing a unique combination of diverse cultural perspectives and global mindedness to SEEK’s transformational journey.”

Coinciding with Walker’s appointment is also the announcement of SEEK Asia’s new Chief Technology Officer Shen Tham. 

Just like Walker, Shen Tham boasts of 20 years of experience across various technical and leadership positions, and most recently held the position of CTO for REA Group operations in international and Asia markets.

SEEK Asia said that Shen Tham will be accountable for partnering across the Asia business to shape and deliver a transformed Technology strategy and capability in that region. 

Singapore – SEEK Asia, the company which runs job portals JobStreet and jobsDB, has announced that it has appointed Peter Bithos as its newest CEO.

Bithos was formerly chief executive for companies Virgin Mobile Australia, Philippine’s Globe Telecom, and most recently for the now shut-down streaming service Hooq.

In his new role, he will be responsible for leading and driving the business growth and operations of the company, while building on its 23-year presence in Southeast Asia.

SEEK Group COO Ian Narev said, “Peter has a proven track record growing Tech, Media and Telco (TMT) businesses, leading digital business transformation programs and building strong company cultures in diverse markets across Asia Pacific and the United States.”

Commenting on his appointment, Bithos said: “I am deeply privileged to join one of the largest and best tech companies in the region. It’s truly exciting to be a part of fulfilling SEEK’s purpose in these times. The opportunity to work with SEEK’s teams and people across Asia to create step-change growth and an even better experience for our customers is unique and special.”

He added, “I feel fortunate to be joining at this very moment because SEEK Asia’s purpose to improve lives through better careers has never been more urgent amidst the current social and economic environment brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Peter replaces Suresh Thiru, who served CEO of the company for four years.