Mighty monster
Published : May 2008
With the internet fast gaining on newspapers in the job advertising market, Colin Chinery talks to Julian Acquari, managing director of online recruitment giant Monster UK and Ireland
We are in Chancery Lane, intersection of the City, the law and the ghosts of old Fleet Street. A bank rate trim cuts no ice, and Carey Street is just over the road. London’s mayoral election draws nearer; one job, five applicants, and the billboards read, “Boris Booed at Hustings”.
Up in Chancery House at the London headquarters of global online leader Monster UK and Ireland, the job prospects are more encouraging. Monster’s year-on Employment Index UK – a spread of online opportunities from a cross section of job boards and career sites – is up 32 points, rebounding strongly from January’s seasonal dip. Regardless of the economic climate, people are still hiring, says Julian Acquari.
Acquari is managing director of Monster UK and Ireland, regional paw of leading global online recruitment operation, Monster Worldwide.
This is a big beast. Its spread covers 50 countries from Bolivia to Bahrain and the Philippines to Finland, and it has a hunger to match.
Earlier this year the US-based parent company launched “Your Calling is Calling,” a global marketing campaign positioning the company as a resource to help employees attain their life goals.
Maintaining leadership, says the 45-year old Acquari, means evolving the brand beyond that of a mere marketplace for jobs.
The brand face meets you in person by the lift door; Trumpassaurus – klaxonnosed icon, shark-toothed, and as menacing as Basil Brush. ‘Trump’, a loud dresser, is relaxed in the orange, purples and green of his den. So too the boss: “Our environment is modern and exciting.”
In the restless recruitment landscape, the way people are looking for work or advancing their careers is changing fast, says Acquari. “This is one of the reasons why we have been involved in changing our brand: what’s going on today and what will change tomorrow will be vastly different from the original job board approach of 10 years ago.
People today are looking more and more for a work-life balance.”
For Acquari this means a top job in the centre of London and a home with his wife and three children in the heart of England. An ex-Xerox and Dun and Bradstreet exec, he was Monster UK and Ireland’s sales director for three years, overseeing impressive growth, before moving up to the MD’s chair.
“I wanted to work in London and I wanted to work for Monster. So I have to balance the financial and career benefits working for Monster gives me with being away from my Warwick home for maybe two nights a week.
“When I do commute, it’s a five hour round trip, so I had to consider those scenarios. Somebody else might be thinking as to whether they are happy in their job or doing something different, given the balance between home and work life.”
In the remote past when John Major was PM and Alfred Marks bossed the high street job boards, employees might have stayed in the same firm for 10 or 20 years.
Economics, globalisation, and personal ambition have changed that. “People are becoming more demanding,” says Acquari. “And with the advent of the internet it is now much easier for people to find work.
You can find it sitting on the sofa at 10 o’clock on a Sunday night, you can get jobs coming to you. So the way people approach work, and where they want to work, and what they want to do for a living is changing.”
Two years ago, online claimed around seven per cent of the total UK recruitment spend. Now it is over 25 per cent. A total of 3.7 million CVs are on the Monster UK and Ireland database, with an average 125,000 new CVs uploaded every month.“People are looking for work and to advance their careers online for a combination of factors.
Firstly, online is becoming more sophisticated, more interactive. Then look at the demographics; people in their late teens and early twenties have grown up with the internet.
“Many of them do not read the press in the way that someone of my age would, and when they start to think of work it’s the internet they use to find it.”
This doesn’t mean newspapers are disregarded, he cautions, but the balance is moving significantly. “And this is recognised by the newspaper groups who have been acquiring internet sites at a very rapid rate.”
Think of someone who’s 12 years old today. Go forward six or eight years and you can’t imagine them job hunting via any other method than the internet, says Acquari.
“The internet is about reach, of being able to go far and wide in what you are searching for, and I believe Monster’s attraction to employers is that they can find great people to come and work for their company.”
Online enables employers to present their brand in an exciting way, embracing all the current technology, and companies now are using the internet far more to brand themselves, says Acquari.
“Let’s say you are an engineering company in Hull: you could be a fantastic company and a great place to work, but actually getting that message out is quite difficult. You might take ads out in local newspapers or by word of mouth.
“Today you can post a web cast on which employers or employees can talk about how great it is to work for your business, the potential for growth and career advancement, what’s exciting about the environment.
Thus you can attract people to your business in a way that you may not have done in the past. You have to promote yourself as an employer.”
Ask who is the most exciting company to work for and more often than not, the answer comes back, Google, Microsoft or eBay, says Acquari. “Actually, that may not be the case – there are many, many exciting companies out there.
But if they don’t get their brand out and reach to their audience then people will never get to understand that. We tell employers to use all the facilities on our sites to attract the very best talent.”
Yet with 70 per cent of UK employees said to want to switch jobs within two years, retention is a major issue. “I think you have to ensure your environment is great and your people feel valued.
Here at Monster we set great store on environment and we make sure we engage with our employees through good communication.
But I think this is more an MD’s advice than Monster’s advice.” In the culture of Monster, hard work, a relaxed attitude and flexible working opportunities are high scorers. “It’s a very exciting culture. We still have a dotcom feel, an energetic business in a market that’s growing and changing. We have a great group of people, we spend a reasonable amount of time together, there’s a lot of focus on events, and we do things like bar nights where people have a chance to socialise and enjoy each other’s company. “I think this creates a lot of bonding and harmony and therefore people tend to stay with the company, and they enjoy coming to work. Sometimes it’s tough. Any company that’s focussed on growth and driving and leading a market in the way we are is always a fairly tough selling job.
We want to be great people to work for.” Acquari describes his marketing team – budget up 40 per cent this year – as “magnificent marketing monsters.” And what differentiates his organisation from its rivals, he says, is the emphasis on career advice as well as job finding. “You can come to us and find excellent jobs. At the same time you can post your CV and let employers and work find you. There are other different ways in which we enable the employer and the job seeker to interact.
“We also offer a lot of online advice,” – last year Monster won the industry’s ‘Best Employment Advice Website’ award. “If you are going for promotion and want to benchmark your salary, Monster can help advance your career within your company. Similarly with interview techniques, CV writing, going for promotion and so on.”
For Acquari, the in-house recruitment issues are the same as for any organisation. “We want good, talented people who work well together, have good values and are motivated and driven to be successful.
“Do that and you can have incredible achievements. Sometimes, when I look at the results we have had over the last six or seven years, it’s pretty amazing, and it’s down to the people.
Business is about people, I really believe that. “People can do remarkable things, work at an astonishing pace and be very innovative and creative. Many of the things we do that are successful came as ideas from our own employees. You can spend millions on consultancies, but you can also get fantastic ideas from people working within your own organisation.
So make sure your company is one that encourages output and innovation.” And it’s not just about numbers – Acquari laughs – “Well, it’s mostly about numbers.
But it’s also about the people and feeling good about the company you work for. I may be the managing director but I still want to enjoy coming to work and feel good going home at the end of the day.”
Surveying the print media opposition and the public sector appointments grip of The Guardian, Monster’s job, declared an executive colleague, is simple – “Shred them.” So how is the shredding going?
A look of surprise. “That must have been a while ago?” Two years. “Ah!” says the man from Monster, “that’s a long time in the world of the internet.”
