Interview with David Talamelli, principal recruiter from Oracle, Australia

Today we have the pleasure of interviewing David Talamelli, working for Oracle and based in Australia.

Tradonline: Hi David, could you please introduce yourself in a few words?
David: My name is David Talamelli – I am one of the Principal Recruiters for Oracle in the APAC region and I am a social media/blogging enthusiast.

Tradonline: Let’s talk first about you, and your work. Please tell us about your business and your industry.
David: I am a Principal Recruiter for Oracle Corporation in the APAC Region and am based in Melbourne, Australia. In my role I am responsible for end to end recruitment for Oracle across Australia and New Zealand with exposure across other APAC countries.  I have been with Oracle in their APAC Recruitment Division since early 2006. I have 10+ years IT Recruitment experience with previous roles onsite at Hewlett-Packard and also at GAP IT Consulting. I created and run Oracle’s Global Recruitment Blog which has grown to over 1600+ subscribers over the last 12 months.

Tradonline: What is your involvement in the international arena? What is your strategy to target markets abroad?
David: Oracle has a Global Team of Recruiters who are responsible for sourcing, identifying and attracting talented individuals into our company. As part of my role I work with colleagues from all locations and have handled recruitment campaigns in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore and India.

Tradonline: How do you see the future of your industry?
David: The Recruitment Industry has a bright future for those Recruiters who can provide a real value added service to their clients and for those who can provide a high level of customer service. I think in recruitment we are seeing these changes taking place:

•     Web 2.0 technologies will continue to gain acceptance and usage in the Recruitment Industry.
•     Candidates will make decisions about joining your company based on information from multiple sources.
•     Recruitment is becoming a much more transparent function than it has been in the past.
•     Recruitment is no longer just about recruiting; it is increasingly taking on marketing/branding responsibility.
•     There is less reliance on reactive candidate sourcing strategies and greater use of proactive recruitment practices.
   

Tradonline: Do you find that your industry has been hit by the down turn at all?
David: Over the past 12 months we have not have had as many open vacancies as we have had in previous years, however we are now starting to see many of our businesses getting busier and again focusing on their recruitment needs. From my understanding the Recruitment Industry in general has gone through a large consolidation as a result of this downturn.

Tradonline: We work at Trad Online in the translation industry, tell us your vision from outside the industry: what is your perception of translators, translation agencies, etc?
David: In my experience I have not required the support of a translation agency and have not had the opportunity to really explore this industry in any level of depth. At this stage I do not have any perception (either negative or positive) about the translation industry.

Tradonline: Now a few questions about another point of interest: blogging… What would you recommend to someone wishing to start a blog? Any tips on “good blogging”?
David: I think these are a few good points to remember if you are going to start blogging:

•     Being genuine – It’s all about karma. Be human
•     Being committed – Blog regularly and reply to you readers, that’s what your blog is for
•     Being interesting – Don’t be afraid to express your thoughts and opinions
•     Treat your online networks the same way you would treat your in person networks
   

Tradonline: What made you initially want to start blogging?
David: I started the Oracle Recruitment Blog for a few different reasons:

•     Provide people with an insight into what it is like to work at Oracle
•     Provide people with an avenue to contact us about potential opportunities at Oracle
•     Talk to a community of readers and share information that will help them in job search. It is about contributing and engaging with people
•     Provide an unbiased Recruiters viewpoint that Candidates do not always get exposure to

I enjoy blogging I think because I enjoy writing, for me sometimes it is a good release valve to express my thoughts, ideas and opinions and it provides a bit of a creative spark to my day.

Tradonline: What is the future of blogging according to you? What is at stake for companies and the business world?
David: I think a Blog should be an expression of both your individual and your company’s values. Blogs are not meant to be a press release or marketing strategy but I think they should give people an honest peek into a company’s culture and industry. Blogging is not not new, however it has crossed into mainstream communication. I think that companies who do not utilize this communication channel to talk to their customers/clients are putting themselves at a disadvantage as they are missing out on the opportunity to communicate to a wide audience of readers.

Tradonline: How do you tell the world about the existence of your blog? Any tips on how to increase visibility, other than by providing great content to readers?
David: I think content is king when it comes to increasing visibility of your blog. If you are not providing content that interests people and share information that your readers want to read, you will struggle to gain many readers. Besides quality content, off the top of my head – If you utilize many of the SEO tools you will help ensure that people can find you when they are looking for your area of expertise in their searches.

Tradonline: Thank you very much David for your time and interesting thoughts, and all the best to you !