In my serviced office in the Johnson hotel in Spring Hill, Brisbane, I’m surrounded by recruitment agencies. There are at least four recruitment businesses on the same floor. Recruitment agencies are still with us even though hiring has been subject to digital disruption. There are online platforms such as Seek, Indeed, and Monster which make hiring super simple. Indeed, I’ve even used Seek myself and filled a position in under a week. Lots of businesses around the world are doing the same thing, and huge numbers of people are looking for jobs online. For instance, Indeed has claimed 200 million people search for jobs, post resumes or research employers on its site every month.

I’m joined in this Economics Explained episode on job platforms and recruitment agencies by Chris Poole, a Senior Consultant at Frontline Health Recruitment, an Australian recruitment agency specialising in the health sector. Frontline Health Recruitment is one of those recruitment agencies located in the Johnson hotel with me.

Highlights of this episode include:

• excellent tips from Chris on how job seekers can maximise their chances of getting a job (from 5:05);
• the importance of LinkedIn in the contemporary jobs market (from 17:10);
• why humans are still needed in the recruitment process (from 23:27); and
• how Facebook and Google are getting into the recruitment business (from 30:40).

I hope you enjoy my conversation with Chris.