May your talent continue to shine in 2008
Please view our Christmas message
as our way of sharing our festive spirit!!

Merry Christmas to you and those close to you.
We look forward to working with you
in the very near future

Festive Cheers
the Elves @ aCE talentNET

ps Regular updates on the aCE talentNET blog will be irregular over the festive season, until end of January 08. They will fire up again though soon after that...

Link: http://acetalentnet.com.au/enews/newsletnov07.html

Whilst aCE talentNET works largely in the contracting/brokering space we are finding ourselves being pulled into the permanent recruitment business for a mix of reasons:

* access to a Talent Network in the OD, HR, LandD, Training space who are not active job-seekers and therefore difficult to reach with the standard advertising methodologies
* leveraging an existing successful client / alliance relationship
shortage of talent in the market
* proven record of providing high calibre candidates and consultants (not a simple 'bums on seats" methodology)
* high levels of trust and client service standards
* sticking to the knitting, i.e. working only in our concentrated area of expertise and not an "all things to all people" service proposition

A recent article in the Recruiter Daily, Average vs. Great Recruiters* identifies why there is a shift away from the standard recruitment offering. Recruitment companies that offer their clients a service proposition based firstly on relationship, value and quality will benefit from enduring client relationships. aCE talentNET believes it is high time the recruitment industry review their methodologies and return greater value to their clients. Recruiters should be providing quality advice, market data & research, success based fee structures and regular updates to clients.

Clients, on the other hand, must be prepared to pay recruitment alliance partners for their expanded services and alter a prevailing mindset of aggressively seeking reductions in placement fee rates. When the later is viewed in light of the growing talent shortage, savvy clients will quickly recognise they have nothing to lose!

aCE talentNET's cost effective placement rate structure ensures a quality shortlist of candidates; and where exclusive arrangements are agreed, clients can expect to receive an impressive service proposition which includes innovative advertising, screening, and interviewing services, culminating in a full Candidate Recruitment Report complete with recommendations. Anyone interested in knowing more can contact me.

And on a final note... good luck to all of you as you attempt to clear the desk and complete your pre-Christmas shopping lists for this years impending festivities!!!!

Warm Regards,

Deirdre Gruiters
Corporate Talent Agent

* 13/11/07

Link: http://acetalentnet.com.au/enews/newsletoct07.html

Following on from last month's comments regarding the challenges organisations face when attracting - engaging - retaining talent, I'm keen to report back from our first Talent Tuesday event held last week. Kirsten Daly of Talent Career Group, led a presentation and discussion on Career Management being the glue that makes Talent Retention stick. Kirsten presented a compelling argument that organisations need to place greater emphasis on career management strategies and policies that will support talent in managing their careers within organisations. Key points of note were:

Research data suggests that it costs organisations a minimum of 1.5 times an annual salary to replace and onboard a new staff member. These costs include lost productivity of departing staff member, lost productivity of new staff member, actual cost to recruit new staff member and cost of training investment in upskilling new staff member. Assuming an annual salary of $80,000, this means that replacing a new staff member with an external candidate will cost the organisation a minimum of $120,000. Now multiply this by your organisations annual staff turnover rate and it is easy to see that an organisation that manages it's internal talent more effectively will have an immediate and tangible impact on the bottom line.

Effective career management of existing talent within organisations is more critical than ever to keep staff interested, enthused, challenged, rewarded and motivated.

Organisations are increasingly turning to technology solutions to expand beyond HR data management, but to also introduce a total talent management strategy.

The Talent Tuesday event was attended by HR and OD staff from leading corporate and government organisations and perhaps the most value of the day was derived from the concluding group discussion. Key discussion points were:

* Definition of Talent. It seems we all have a slightly different definition of talent. But in the main it seems we are discussing the 70% of the workforce that are solid or above average performers whom are carrying out the essential duties of delivering products and services to customers. We are not talking about the high potential or top performers within organisations, but the key 'talent' pool of staff that deliver business results.

* Key issues facing organisations in managing their talent pool were considered to be:
managing diversity
workforce globalisation
shrinking external talent pool
aggressively competing forces for talent

* Most agreed that the Talent Challenge will call for wholesale changes in the way talent are managed, measured and remunerated - and whilst most organisations enjoy relatively sophisticated Performance Management systems, will these systems be flexible enough to cope with the changes required to move Talent Management in a new direction?

Thank you to all who were involved in a thought-provoking 2 hours. We look forward to conducting many more in 2008. Anyone interested in learning more please contact me.

Warm Regards, Deirdre
Corporate Talent Agent

Link: http://www.trendwatching.com/briefing/

Status Spheres Premiumization Snack Culture Online Oxygen Brand Butlers Crowd Mining MIY - Make It Yourself Eco-Iconic

Another year has almost passed. Over the last 11 months, Trendwatching.com have highlighted trends like (STILL) MADE HERE, FEMALE FEVER, TRANSPARENCY TYRANNY, TRYSUMERS and more.

No doubt 2008 will be as trend-heavy; to get you going, here are eight trends to watch and capitalize on in the new year. Oh, and may we all be among the first to wish you an innovative, prosperous, trendy 2008!

Also to help you along...
from FastCompany.com - "Businesses That Don't Exist, But Should"
What businesses large and small wouldn't give to find the next "big" thing. (And you can get it in picture form too). Admittedly this is from high schoolers perspective, but I wonder what you would discover if you asked the same folk around you, or at your local secondary school... might just open your ears and eyes to ideas you do not have anywhere near your radar.

Plenty of fantastic research to read about here, and do...

Link: http://www.contractworld.com.au/reloaded/ica-news.php

ICA's 2007 Annual Report highlights the big policy developments for independent contractors and the emergence of a party political consensus on many key issues. Click here for the full report.

The major issues have been:
- The passage of the Independent Contractors Act, a world first.
- The enormous change in the attitude and policies of the federal Labor Party in relation to independent contractors.
- The change of federal government in November and the appointment of a Minister for Independent Contractors, again a world first ICA suspect.

For ICA, they have:
- Been involved in highly fruitful and detailed discussions with both the Liberal/National coalition government and the ALP opposition.
- Undertaken a total reorganization of ICA and a major upgrade of the website.
- Seen a significant expansion of the membership base.
- Launched the first phase of new services for independent contractors through the website.

To go read the full report, click here.