SEEK GM Finds Work Through Own Jobs Site
Auckland, 4 September 2001: SEEK Communications announced today the appointment of Scott Hauswirth to the newly created position of General Manager of SEEK’s New Zealand operations. Mr Hauswirth will be responsible for spearheading SEEK’s rapidly accelerating online employment business, including overall strategy and performance.
Ironically, Mr Hauswirth discovered the advertised role when he was job hunting on the SEEK site from the United States.
Prior to joining SEEK, Mr Hauswirth was the Director of Business Development for WetFeet.com, an online recruitment company based in San Francisco. While at WetFeet, he built and managed relationships with the company’s nearly 100 alliance partners.
Commenting on the appointment, SEEK CEO Paul Bassat says Mr Hauswirth has a deep understanding of the online recruitment industry and a history of successfully creating strong partnerships with employers and other entities.
“Business is definitely going well for SEEK in New Zealand and we are thrilled to have attracted such a formidable candidate to grow our New Zealand business,” says Bassat.
Mr Hauswirth said he sees many opportunities for SEEK to develop in exciting ways in the New Zealand market. “The US market is well developed and gives a good insight into the way the New Zealand recruitment industry may evolve. We plan to harness our understanding of global trends to expand SEEK along successful international models,” he said.
Mr Hauswirth says one of the current
trends in the recruitment sector is the move away from
newspaper advertising. “Evidence from the US indicates that
less than 5% of jobseekers rely upon the newspaper as their
sole source of job listings, while a much larger percentage
rely solely upon on-line sources. The opposite is the case
in New Zealand, and I think it is likely we will follow the
global trend.”
Mr Hauswirth has a law degree from the
University of California, Hastings Law, and a Bachelor of
Arts with Honours from the University of California,
Berkeley.
About SEEK Communications – Corporate Summary
SEEK Communications was formed in November 1997,
and is the brainchild of three young Melbourne
entrepreneurs, Paul Bassat, Matthew Rockman, and Andrew
Bassat. The company has operated in New Zealand since August
1999 at the Web address www.seek.co.nz.
Shareholders
include Yahoo! Inc., Macquarie Technology Fund and the
Australasian Media & Communications Fund (AMCF). 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.co.nz boasts New Zealand’s largest jobs database of
over 4,000 vacancies, covering all industries and
occupations, and currently enjoys over 125,000 visitors a
month.
SEEK was voted the NetGuide 2000 Best Employment
Site.
Services
In addition to matching jobs with
prospective employees, the company has expanded its product
offering to include a range of candidate screening, skills
testing tools and other technologies that make the
recruitment process more efficient and cost-effective. When
combined with the extensive career management resources and
other services designed to improve the recruitment process
for recruiters and employers, SEEK has significantly
differentiated itself in the New Zealand
market.