Beca launches new recruitment campaign for skilled and ambitious BD professionals
Whilst doubling in size every 2-3 years, Beca, one of the regions most successful and diverse engineering firms has partnered with Seldon Gill to find and secure exceptional business development talent for the growth of their business development team in Australia (Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane).
A recruitment campaign has been launched this week including a Jobcast interview with Damian Pedreschi, Group Business Development Manager at the firm.
Click here for a preview of the ad or Click here to listen to the podcast featuring Damian who gives fantastic examples of the many opportunities available to BD professionals at the firm and discusses the vast range of growth opportunities Beca has to offer.
These really are exceptional career opportunities; to join Beca and secure your career for the future please contact Graham Seldon on +613 9903 6403 or email graham.seldon@seldongill.com
BRW Client Choice Awards
Congratulations to the winning firms at this Years BRW Client Choice Awards, held in Sydney on 16th March 2011.
Seldon Gill were delighted to sponsor the event and it was fantastic to see so many of our clients win awards. In fact of the 21 firms that picked up a trophy, 15 of them had employed candidates through Seldon Gill.
It proves, yet again, that quality attracts quality. We are proud to represent such high caliber candidates and to assist them in securing fantastic career opportunities with professional services firms that are true leaders in their field.
David Lennane - Principal at Iskra Consulting
There has been an emergence of bids and as a result, large law, accounting and engineering firms are investing in and utilising external resources to seek professional advice to assist in managing their bids processes. Graham Seldon speaks with David Lennane - Principal at Iskra Consulting, (a specialist proposal, bid and tender writing & consulting service), about the strategies surrounding the bid management process and how to maximise resources in this area.
Click here to listen to the podcast
Hong Kong Market Update
If you have been thinking about making a move to Hong Kong, now is the perfect time to do it! The Asian market for professional services marketers and BD professionals continues to keep us busy as we work with several global law firms on a variety of BD and marketing opportunities in Hong Kong.
At the executive to manager level, BD professionals now have an opportunity to secure a national position for an international law firm in Hong Kong. Driving and developing all activities relating to business development, marketing and communications, this person will have the opportunity to support the BD team across all Greater China practice groups and offices.
Slightly more senior, BD professionals looking for a position at a decision-making level can now join one of the magic circle law firms as a Sector Focus Manager in Hong Kong. An opportunity encompassing a broad range of BD responsibilities and the chance to be a part of an excellent BD team!
Marketers haven’t been left out as we are currently working on a Marketing Executive/Manager position with an American law firm in Hong Kong. Exclusive to Seldon Gill, this opportunity would ideally suit an experienced marketer with an ability to communicate in both English and Cantonese.
And it doesn’t end there, focusing on driving implementation of client and practice group initiatives, a Client Development Manager position exists for one of the world’s most renowned professional services firms. An ideal and worthwhile opportunity for an experienced Client Development professional looking to relocate to Asia!
Click here for more information on these opportunities
Norton Rose’s new BD Campaign
World renowned international law firm, Norton Rose, has partnered with Seldon Gill to find and secure a Business Development Operations Manager for the Sydney office. The Norton Rose Group will take its place as one of the top 10 global legal practices by number of lawyers through future growth planned for June 2011.
A full recruitment campaign has commenced including a Jobcast interview with Neil Kafer - national Head of Business Development at the firm.
Click here for to review the advertisement or Click here to listen to a podcast featuring Neil Kafer - national Head of Business Development discussing Norton Rose’s newest business development opportunity.
If you are interested in discussing this exceptional career opportunity at Norton Rose please contact Katie Rosser on +612 8211 0495
Part time opportunities in professional services
Since the GFC, we have seen an increase in the number of candidates seeking part time work. More commonly, candidates are seeking opportunities allowing them to work 3 or 4 days to attend to their parenting responsibilities. This is a positive indication of a buoyant market but are we also seeing an increase in part time opportunities?
Depending on the type of firm and industry, we find that most BD and marketing opportunities for professional services are initially briefed to us as full time positions. However, depending on the role and its responsibilities, there can be flexibility on this should a candidate with the applicable skills and experience request to work on a part time basis.
Whilst we are yet to see a definite climb in part time positions, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Labour Force Australia, Jan 11 Summary, part time employment in Australia has increased by an astounding 32,000 since December 2010 meaning that our part time marketers may soon have more opportunity in the professional services market for 2011.
You can’t attach a tea bag to an email!
Ever picture yourself fitting a tea bag into an envelope alongside your job application? A few years ago, it just might have been a consideration!
While meeting with my Managing Director over breakfast last Friday morning, we got talking about the pros and cons of email communication between clients and candidates which sparked the interesting subject of the recruitment process and what it was once like.
Being an experienced recruiter and having spent many years in the business, Graham Seldon explained that recruiting wasn’t always the swift process it is nowadays. A typical recruiting process 10 years ago meant being briefed for a position on a Monday morning and receiving the job description in the post, three or four days later. After waiting for your job advertisement to show itself in weekly publications, commuting home on the train was considered a good time to read through the thirty to fifty mailed applications and to collect the little gifts, such as tea bags which applicants would send to differentiate themselves. Add another four days for the interested candidates to receive the posted job descriptions and you’re already two weeks into the process!
It is truly incredible how much times have changed!
Email issues at Seldon Gill
Since Monday 21 February 2011, Seldon Gill has been experiencing technical issues which have affected our ability to receive external emails. If you have sent us an email this week which has not yet been actioned, this issue may be why.
We are currently in the process of fixing this and endeavor to have it repaired as soon as possible. In the meantime, should you wish to connect with us, please do so via the telephone to avoid any miscommunication.
We will provide you with an update on this matter and appreciate your patience.
Clifford Chance, Australia
One of the world’s biggest law firms is coming to Australia, with over 25 offices located globally, Clifford Chance will officially open another two in Sydney and Perth merging with local firms Chang, Pistilli & Simmons (CP&S) and Cochrane Lishman Carson Luscombe (CLCL).
According to the Australian Financial Review, Clifford Chance is aiming to grow between 20 to 25 partners and employ 40 to 60 lawyers in the next three to five years.
Jobcasts & Podcasts
As technology continues to develop so does Seldon Gill, from our podcasts and iphone application to our newly introduced jobcasts, we do our best to ensure we are “keeping up with the times” and it seems to be making a difference.
Using jobcasts and podcasts as a new way of communicating news and practical information has proved to be extremely beneficial to our clients and candidates. Graham comments, “partnering with the clients we are working with and creating jobcasts and podcasts is a fantastic way to reach out to the professional services marketing community and has proved to make a great difference to the recruitment process”. “We have received plenty of positive feedback on how our podcasts and jobcasts are benefiting both clients and candidates; it really is making an impact”.
With this new way of working together, candidates are very quickly able to access the information on offer and clients are very easily able to cast messages to a very wide net.
Melbourne Market Update - The best time to change careers is now!
The Melbourne market has started the year with a high, with more new jobs briefed to us in January in the whole of the 2nd quarter. We had barely reopened the office and taken down the christmas decorations before the phone started ringing, and as we squeezed into our worksuits and dusted off our notepads (following 3 weeks in shorts and sandals) we can now bring you a range of brilliant career opportunities at all levels:
A chance for Senior BDMs to go places!
Experienced professional services BD managers now have an opportunity to secure a national position with Australia's most successful law firm, Mallesons Stephen Jaques. The firm is investing heavily in its BD & Marketing team and is soon to launch a marketing learning centre to help build knowledge and capability across the team. Executive Director of BD & Marketing, recently said on our jobcast that he is looking for BD professionals who are "highly inquisitive about our business about how it works and how to grow it". Click here to listen to the jobcast
Get your first 'Head of Marketing' role
For Marketing & BD generalists who are looking to step up into their first Head of Marketing function, we now have several rare opportunities to consider. Firstly, Rigby Cooke, one of Melbourne's most established commercial law firms is looking to appoint a BD & Marketing Manager to head up it's function there and work closely with the Managing Partner and his senior management team. Click here for more information about this opportunity
If you have worked in the legal sector in Melbourne and enjoy working with people of high intellect at the top of the profession, then you can't ignore the opportunity to market The Victorian Bar. A role with a broad range of marketing responsibilities and the chance to enhance an already iconic legal brand. Click here for more information about this opportunity
Global, global, global
Who would have thought that in the space of 4 weeks, 2 of the World's biggest professional services brands would look to recruit experienced marketing communications managers in Melbourne to manage international / global responsibilities. These roles, one heavily geared towards branding and the other a true marketing campaigns role, are hard to find and should be reviewed with haste. Click here for more information about these opportunities
Bids, Bids, Bids
As the market continues to heat up, we are now also being briefed on strategic big manager roles across law, engineering and accounting; all with a strong link to general business development operations, giving you an excellent insight into the firms strategies and postioning yourself well for an exciting and well rewarded career.
Seldon Gill launches brand new iPhone app
No more sneaking a peek at the on-line job listings in downtime at work or when your boss pops out for lunch; it was only a matter of time before a recruitment firm harnessed the popularity of smart phones and adapted to meet the market.
As you know, here at Seldon Gill, we pride ourselves on being at the forefront of market trends as well putting our client and candidates needs first which is why we are the first Australian recruiter to develop an iPhone application. This easy to use app, means candidates have immediate and private access to job listings – and the ability to apply in the time it takes to take the lift between floors or whilst on the tram in the morning.
“Traditional ‘advertising’ is long gone – we have to move faster and smarter and candidates expect us to deliver new opportunities to them immediately,” said Graham Seldon, Managing Director of Seldon Gill.
Launched this month, the free app will speed up the already frantic race for the best jobs – and the best talent – in the market.
Graham ads, “Marketing and communications people in particular are used to dealing with a lot of information – immediately. They are used to working with technology and this app delivers opportunities conveniently and privately – and they can respond immediately.”
The app also features up to the minute industry news as well as career focussed podcasts. While the application is currently in release on iPhone, plans are underway to adapt the application for Blackberry.
Download your Seldon Gill app here
FSC Australia
Given the recent environmental disasters that have happened recently, we are devoted to doing our bit for the NFP sector and in particular, are promoting a role on behalf of FSC Australia.
FSC Australia is a member of Forest Stewardship Council, an international non-government, non profit organisation that promotes responsible forest management practices. They are currently seeking a Marketing & Business Development Manager to build their profile and grow the revenue base of their organisation in Melbourne.
Click here for more information about this opportunity
Professional Services Marketing - something for everyone
In our previous article (New Year means new beginnings) we told you that the market for professional services marketing across the Asia-Pacific is currently very active. The diversity of opportunities we are recruiting truly means that there is really something out there for everyone; whether you’re in events, bids or business development.
From Communication Advisors to BD Managers, there are opportunities across the legal, accounting and engineering sector in Australia and beyond.
For the specialists out there, we have been briefed to find a Brand Manager for one of Australia’s top engineering firms with the opportunity to be based in Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane. Click here for more information on this opportunity
We are also working on many BD opportunities for Australia’s most successful commercial law firm, Mallesons Stephen Jaques. Ranging from the Consultant to Manager level, and with exciting strategies to enhance careers in BD, there has never been a better time to join the firm. Click here to view this advertising campaign
On an international scale, we continue to work with some of the most recognized professional services firms across Asia. With many of the opportunities at the executive to managerial level, Hong Kong and Singapore have plenty to offer to locals or any professional services marketer thinking about relocating for their career.
For more information on these and other great opportunities, please click here
Happy Chinese New Year!
Today is the beginning of the Chinese New Year - celebrating the Year of the Rabbit - and, with it being one of the most important and longest holidays in China, we would like to wish all of our clients and candidates in Asia a very happy and prosperous Chinese New Year.
As the rabbit is considered one of the luckiest of the twelve Chinese Zodiac signs and as we continue to work on a variety of BD and marketing roles in Asia, this Chinese New Year may also be the perfect time for any professional services marketer seeking a new start.
For more information on opportunities in Asia, click here
Mallesons launch national campaign for exceptional BD professionals
Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Australia’s most successful commercial law firm, has partnered with Seldon Gill to find and secure the brightest talent from the professional services marketing community in Australia.
A fully integrated recruitment campaign will be launched this week with advertising in the Australian Financial Review and a Jobcast interview with Murray Prior, Director of Marketing & BD for the firm.
Click here for a preview of the advert or Click here to listen to a podcast featuring Murray Prior - Executive Director of BD & Marketing discussing Mallesons new recruitment campaign
If you are interested in discussing exceptional career opportunities at Mallesons please call Graham Seldon on +613 9903 6403
New Year means new beginnings
As we step into the New Year, even during our first week, we were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves being retained on multiple search campaigns in Melbourne, Sydney and Hong Kong. A month in and we have already made several placements in these cities and we believe we are heading towards an extremely buoyant market across the Asia-Pacific.
The New Year has prompted many professional services marketers from overseas who are looking for a new start to think about relocating for their careers. We are seeing candidates from some of the world’s largest cities (particularly London) approaching us about opportunities in Australia and Asia and by the looks of today’s market, they couldn’t have picked a more perfect time to do it!
Keeping us particularly busy is the Melbourne professional services market which seems to have picked up since last year; with many of the opportunities being at a mid manager to senior manager level encompassing marketing communications and BD. Melbourne, typically renowned for its world-class events, food, wine and fabulous arts scene now seems to also be the right place for any marketing or BD professional looking for a great career opportunity in professional services.
Asia’s professional services market also continues to develop as we find ourselves working on numerous BD, marketing and communications opportunities varying from the executive to the senior manager level making it a great solution for anyone seeking a new start overseas.
So wherever you are, if you are considering a new calling for the New Year, consider Asia or Australia, and who knows, you may never look back.
A happy APSMA Christmas
How quickly it arrives, but it is that time of year again in which Seldon Gill enjoys partnering with APSMA in celebrating the year that was.
On November 25th it was the Queensland APSMA party which Seldon Gill sponsored. A roaring success, over 60 of Brisbane's marketers gathered in trendy new bar, The Laneway, for champagne and festive tasty treats. The formal, yet brief, part of the evening saw NSW Manager, Katie Rosser present Paul Allan of Gadens the business card draw prize - a lovely leather organiser. As ever, our profession's Brisbane contingent was welcoming and a great deal of fun.
BD growth stunted by partners
It has been reported that Law firms are the worst performers when it comes to BD, blaming partners personalities and their unwillingness to change. A report by UK business development consultancy, Pace Partners, which involved global survey of professional services firms has revealed that the legal profession lags behind the BD efforts of other professional services including accountancy and engineering.
The 2010 Pace report, Planning and Managing Business Development in Professional Services Firm, states only two thirds of fee earners who should be involved in the firm’s BD efforts are actually involved, “and of those involved, only one third were rated as "good" to "excellent".”
Even though many firms have introduced effective BD processes, a key barrier when it comes to implementing the new processes “was the individuality of partners and their unwillingness to change” according to the report.
"Law firms expect many more of their people to be involved but there is a very steep decline as we move through involvement to capability, which results in only about a fifth (21 per cent) of those who are expected to be involved in proactive business development being good or better at the activity," the report said.
Visit Lawyers Weekly online for more information
Strongest Law Brands announced
Law firm giants, Baker & McKenzie have been named the strongest law firm brand in the Acritus world wide Sharplegal Global Elite Brand Index 2010. Based on feedback from more than 1,000 executives worldwide (including general counsel, chief legal officers, CEO’s and COOs) from 604 companies with revenue of more than $US1bn or more and operating in all major sectors and regions - participants were asked to evaluate law firms based on top-of-mind name awareness, overall favourability and likelihood to be considered for multi-jurisdictional deals as well as multi-jurisdictional litigation.
Other firms to be listed in the index in order of brand awareness include Clifford Chance, Freshfields, Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters, Allen & Overy, Jones Day, DLA Piper, Hogan Lovells, Skadden and White & Case. According to Acritas, the top six global law firm brands achieved almost double the revenue growth since 2007 of their global 100 peers, while the top 15 law firm brands achieved 50% higher revenue growth since 2007 than their global 100 peers
One of the key aspects of those firms to make the index was a commitment to a global network strategy. Baker & McKenzie has 68 offices in 40 countries and critical mass in both emerging and developed markets. The firm serves more than half the world’s largest public companies; based on the Forbes Global 2000, including nearly all of the 100 largest and more than 75% of the top 500 according the Baker & McKenzie chairman John Conroy.
The full result of the survey can be found here.
Japanese focus continues to grow for Aust firms
An increase in Japanese investment throughout SE Asia and Australia has led more Australian firms to focus resources on building relationships within the Japanese market.
In October, Allens Arthur Robinson announced an alliance with Japanese top tier firm Nagashima, Ohno & Tsunematsu (NO&T) while earlier in the year (following on from regular secondments) Blake Dawson opened an office in Tokyo with their Japan team expanding significantly faster than predicted.
Clayton Utz, who will continue to run secondments between the two countries, has approached their relationship with Japan in a different light with the firm registering a Japanese lawyer within its Australian firm.
Australian job market continuing to grow
Australia's employment growth has smashed expectations, with the number of people employed in September increasing significantly. The Australian Bureau of Statistics says 49,500 overall new jobs were created in September, more than double the 20,000 jobs predicted by analysts.
The rise in employment was driven by an increase in full-time employment, leaving Australia's unemployment rate unchanged at 5.1 per cent in September with 55,800 new full-time jobs in September, offsetting a fall of 6,300 part-time positions during the month nationally. Reports also highlight participation rate, or the proportion of people in work or looking for work, increased by two percentage points to 65.6 per cent.
Analysts at Westpac say the Australian economic recovery has been "jobs rich" and is expected to continue.
Australia's unemployment rate of 5.1 per cent is significantly lower than the US, Europe and Canada, where the unemployment rate is close to 10 per cent.
pwc rebrand
One of the “big four” professional services network, PricewaterhouseCoopers, has officially rebranded to ‘pwc’ with a new visual id and logo after unofficially being known in the market as pwc since its formation in 1998.
pwc global director Ian Duncan says the rebrand follows a three-year strategy review of the company’s positioning that looked at “what we mean by pwc and how do we articulate this relevancy”. The result, he adds, is that the company will now focus on the benefits pwc offers consumers.
“Clients will now be at the centre of communications,” he says. “It will be in their language and on their terms and not ours.” Adding that he feels that brands working in this sector have been “passive” in their brand communications and have focused on their capabilities and product and service features.
The new branding was created by pwc’s global brand team, its network leadership team and brand consultancy Wolff Olins.
Sales guru tells Aussie firms to sell like they consult
Seldon Gill was thrilled to host an informative round table event with guest speaker and world renowned sales guru, Professor Neil Rackham. Creator of Spin Selling, the world’s most widely used sales approach. Professor Rackham was in Australia for his ‘Reinventing Sales Strategy’ Tour which focussed on professional services firms.
Seldon Gill, alongside sponsors Norton Rose and Huthwaite, invited 20 of Australia’s most senior BD & Sales Directors, Managing Directors and BD Managers to share insight with Professor Rackham and debate current trends in professional services selling. Prior to the event, Professor Rackham popped into our Melbourne offices to record a podcast.
Click here to listen to the 'Spin Selling' podcast and find out why “All over the World the record of cross selling stinks” and how the future for sales professionals will depend on teamwork.
ALB 2010 Australasian Law Awards
The ALB 2010 Australasian Law Awards took place this week with the following firms successful in their categories.
Nominees for these prestigious awards are taken from the entire Australia and New Zealand legal services market with work completed and services provided within the period 1 Jan to 31 Dec 2009 covering firms, lawyers, in-house departments, banks and accountancy firms based in or working predominantly in Australia and New Zealand.
Seldon Gill announces new 'tour dates' on Twitter
Seldon Gill is back on Twitter after a short tweet break.
August 2008
State of the market: A global benchmark study
By Graham Seldon
Seldon Gill has just published a global study of professional services marketers that shows that the average PSM loses sleep at night worrying about how they organise their teams and their firm's marketing programs.
Click here to view
February 2008
In the Australian Legal Business,
"Law Firm Marketing: The need for integration"
by Richard Szabo
Law firms in Australia and New Zealand generally agree that effective marketing can significantly influence their success. But just how much is marketing integrated into firm management and what are the new trends...
Click here to view
March 2007
In Strategies - The Journal of Legal Marketing ,
"The Science of Juggling more than Golf Balls and Umbrellas"
by Jenny Miller
Strategies - The Journal of Legal Marketing in the USA included excerpts from the APSMA/Seldon Gill Scholarship's winning article.
Jenny Miller's entry, called "The Science of Juggling more than Golf Balls and Umbrellas", is a fantastic read and really gives insight into some of the challenges facing professional services marketers. Click here to view
January 2007
Australian Legal Business looks at the shift legal marketing in Australasia has experienced. Graham Seldon, Director of Seldon Gill, contributed to the article
Click here to view
July 2006
Melbourne Lawyer's article looks at the changing attitudes towards marketing in the professional services environment. Graham Seldon, Director of Seldon Gill, contributed to the article.
Click here to view
April 2006
Lawyers Weekly's article covered firms' increasing expectations for associate lawyers to play a key role in growing their business and the training provided. Graham Seldon, Director of Seldon Gill, contributed to the article.
Click here to view
February 2006
The Australasian Legal Business Magazine wrote an article about the role of marketing in law firms today in Australasia. Graham Seldon, Director of Seldon Gill, contributed to the article.
Click here to view
December 2005
Director of Seldon Gill wrote an article on Seldon Gill's Professional Services Marketing Survey Report. This was featured in the UK's PM Forum Magazine
Click here to view
July 2005
In the NZ Lawyer Magazine, Seldon Gill Consultant Lauren Marchant explores why law firms need marketing departments.
Click here to view
Super Freakonomics
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Your Career in Their Hands