Seek

Site's statement

Jobboard Finder’s opinion

Summary: It’s easy to lose focus when on the SEEK website. They have so many different parts to their website and their business, different advice columns and various services, that it can become confusing if you are just browsing. They have videos, key figures about their history and their success, photos of the team, etc. It’s still incredibly easy to look for work on this national job board (including a slightly different page for New Zealand) so it’s no wonder it receives over 25 million views per month (and the numbers just keep going up). It is the 28th most visited website in Australia! They provide so much information in the employment news (the articles aren’t in chronological order), the career advice (with articles targeting specific problem areas for jobseekers), the medium blog and a specific recruiter news section. It makes you wonder if their followers on Twitter (be they on the main page with 48 100 followers or the Geeks of Seek or the NZ Seek or the Seek Business page) actually have time to read it all. Oh, and they have just as many pages on Facebook (381 268 on the main page). So now that we know everyone’s writing and following, let’s see what the job offers are like on this 20 something year old job board.

Design: The homepage has changed  bit over time but it has always been simple and clear. The first thing you see is the search engine (keywords, classification, and location). Above this, you can change the search engine to turn it into a profile page, an advice search bar or company reviews. At the very top of the page, you have the choice between: jobs, courses, businesses for sale and volunteering. It's all about making sure everyone can find the right service! Seek caters for jobseekers, employees, employers, students, volunteers and more! On the search page, you have additional filters (the type of work, pay and the publication date). The job offers in list form are clear and include the date (unless they’re featured) and the logo. Among the tools that users can access for a better service are the partner websites (other job boards), partner services (which include a freelance website and recruitment tools) and company pages. Ratings on companies and their offers (as well as reviews) give jobseekers an idea of what to expect.

The job board objective: Seek is dominating the Australian market in job offers and other business ventures.

Recruiter observations: It’s easy to create an account and Seek really does cater to every kind of recruiting need with a large variety of ad packs. When filling out a job advert, the website suggests sub-categories and offers advice every step of the way. It can also help set the salary (based on statistics from previous adverts) and the commission for your job offer. You can identify the advert as suitable for graduates. You can also pick a series of questions to include in the application process (questions about certificates and visa requirements for example). If you are a first time poster, your advert will be posted almost immediately. Otherwise, it takes about 3 hours.

Jobseeker observations: Very easy to create an account. You pick your category and a sub-category that interests you and you then pick the visibility of your CV. If an employer rejects your application, Seek notifies you within 48 hours.

The job offers: There are over 185K job offers. Trades & services, healthcare, communication technology, IT and manufacturing are the most popular categories but they all have hundreds, if not thousands, of job offers.

Reactivity: --

Special features: The Youtube videos; TalentSearch; free cover letter templates; free resume templates; information about salaries and how they have evolved; job alerts; “guaranteed hire or your money back” ad pack; salary suggestions; the share price for investors (which has been dropping since September).

Verdict: Why change a good thing? This job board had found a strategy that works and has stuck to it. Seek, and ye shall find! Are you hiring in Australia? Are you looking for work? Then what are you still doing here: go to Seek! 

Written by Ali Neill

As the job board tester and blog editor for the Jobboard Finder, Ali works on job boards from all around the world and keeps a close eye on the recruitment trends thanks to a number of sources, including the website's social media pages.