The Whiteboard – the blog for New Zealand’s recruiters

I am delighted at last to be writing my first post on our Rice Consulting blog “The Whiteboard”.  Thanks for checking us out, I hope you come back for more in the future.

Here at Rice Consulting we specialize in recruitment.  Not only that but we specialize in recruiting for the actual recruitment industry.  Seeing as we concentrate our efforts on the New Zealand recruitment market, that makes us really very niche indeed.  Of course we have complicated and convoluted plans for global domination one day (starting with writing a blog to attract the interest of recruiters in NZ and around the world), but at the moment it is just me, writing this blog, and carving quite a solid little niche in the NZ recruitment landscape.

So if you are an agency or internal recruiter, particularly in New Zealand, or perhaps a recruitment Director or company owner, you might like to check in with The Whiteboard every now and then.  We should be posting something up every Friday and hoping to lighten the mood towards the weekend, as well as keep you informed of news, articles, opinion and gossip from the world of recruitment, with a definite leaning towards the Asia-Pac region that is our hunting ground.

We’d like you to think of The Whiteboard as a fresher, more opinionated, and potentially less-factual alternative to Australia’s “Shortlist” and “Recruiter Daily” – maybe in the manner of Private Eye in comparison to The Times (sorry for the UK reference but I can’t think of anything like Private Eye in this part of the world).  But most of all this is that wonderful new phenomenon in our recruitment world called Social Media.  It is all about the online communities we can create and this community is intended to be for the recruitment industry in our region, with a forum for the frank exchange of views and opinions.  I encourage you to have your say, argue your point, make your announcement, or vent your frustrations on this blog.  Please keep your comments professional though.

I have decided to call this blog The Whiteboard because in all of my recruitment roles, this has always been the epicenter of focus and attention in the office.  This is where recruiters post their “numbers” for the month, their perm placement fees or contractor and temp margins, perhaps their live jobs, top candidates, or marketing plans.  This is where a recruitment company looks to get a sense and feel for the performance of a part of their business, and where a recruiter displays his or her performance, good or bad.  The Whiteboard is where recruiters can look for a quick overview of the state of the business, to get a sense of where things are at, to gauge the success of their desk or their team.  It is where they publicise their results and show their hand.

As a blog The Whiteboard will do the same, but instead it will give recruiters a chance to post their thoughts, opinions, comments and read about what is happening in their industry.  You can post your numbers too, but I’d recommend keeping them to your actual whiteboards at work, or you’ll have a grumpy company owner to contend with.

OK have at it.  I welcome all comments, especially those related to the recruitment industry, and will try and make sure I post all but the most offensive and potentially libelous and defamatory.

Have a great week and see you next Friday.

Jonathan Rice