My Life in Oracle, an Interview with Paul Norris...by Kurt Howard

In the first of a series of Q&A sessions offering an insight into the working life of an Oracle EMEA employee, we talk to Paul Norris, Director IDM - EMEA Middleware Solutions Specialist Team. He is based in the UK.


1 How long have you worked at Oracle, in what capacity did you join and what is your current role?

5 years in March 2009. I joined Oracle as a Senior Sales Manager. My current role is Director IDM - EMEA Middleware Solutions Specialist Team.

2 How did you find yourself working at Oracle?

From the Oblix acquisition, our entry point into the Identity and Access Management (IAM) space.

3 What is it about Oracle that keeps you working here? What is it you enjoy about Oracle?

The variety, challenges and the success. For example, I lead the Oblix acquisition integration and all subsequent acquisitions in the IAM space.

4 What qualities and characteristics would you say Oracle look for in its potential employees?

Team player, committed, confident, flexible, able to take initiative, sense of fun and humour

5 How would you describe the Oracle culture?

Mature start-up! Whilst there is structure, systems and processes in place we are able to develop the business in a highly flexible environment of collaboration and co-operation. "Blue Sky" is over used but we do Blue Sky and some of the ideas actually work.

6 How would you say Oracle motivates its employees to be even more successful than they already are?

From my perspective, a very open relationship with my line management. Ability to work in a collaborative way across lines of business at all levels. Seniority/rank not being barriers to getting things done.

7 What opportunities can Oracle provide for its staff?

The size of Oracle and the way in which it is organised presents many opportunities for personal and career development.

8 How does Oracle support its staff?

Flexible working, such as being home based. This helps with work/life balance. This is a win-win as watching the clock is not something that enters my mind...if I need to be on call or travelling out of hours its not a problem. Likewise if I need to do personal errands during "working hours", these are accommodated.

9 What advice would you give to someone embarking on a career with Oracle?

Be open-minded, get used to "self service" systems, speak up, engage, contribute (even if the idea might seem crazy!), stay focused (can be difficult when spinning lots of plates) and enjoy yourself!

10 How would you summarise your experience at Oracle?

Challenging, exciting, demanding, rewarding and fun.

Thanks Paul, for giving us this opportunity to talk to you about your life in Oracle.

The author of this article has been with the Oracle EMEA Recruitment Team for the past two plus years and can be contacted at kurt.howard@oracle.com

Hiring People in Tough Market Situations - by Pushpa Sreenivasan

We all know how this is not the employers market. The slump in the market has brought huge challenges to Recruiters whose hunt is still on for the best talent from the market. As the supply of resources flood the market, there surely is a dearth of opportunities within company for open positions. How do we tackle such this situation?

1) Narrow your search: The job portals are flooded with resumes as potential candidates are uncertain about their current job. In a situation like this, it’s very important as a Recruiter for you to narrow your search to the active job seekers than passive job seekers. The active job seekers are responsive to the job offer that you have to offer and they are surely up for grabs.

As for the candidates, its important for you to narrow your search in identifying the right job for you and follow up regularly with the Recruiter on the open head count to have yourself land your dream job.

2) Networking is the key: In a volatile market situation, the job market is the most affected as the perception is LIFO (Last in first out). As a Recruiter, your potential hire is weary of the situation and is not really keen to move out of his comfort zone. The key here would be to build an active network with your potential hires not just for jobs but to gain knowledge on his side of the story. Then it becomes easy for you to present his dream job and then hire him for your open position.

As for the candidates, it helps you to network with the Recruiters and HR folks to gain knowledge on company situation, their hiring prospects, their growth directions just for you to be aware if the move that you are going to make is worth end of it all.

3) Gain business intelligence: Its important to all of us to keep ourselves updated on what is happening around. Gain knowledge on various industries growth or slump. This will help and comes handy if as a Recruiter, you are talking to your potential hire from that domain. This will give you the insight to attract the candidate and also gives confidence to the candidate that he is talking to the right person in the company.

As a candidate, knowledge on verticals not only helps you weigh your option to move to that domain but also helps you compare the industries. In such a turbulent situations, the managers out there want to hire “only the best” who is far beyond excellence. You have to give an impression in the minds of the Recruiter that its you who is cut for the role and nobody else.

4)Reskill and Reinvent: By now, we all know the traditional method of hiring is not the in thing in hiring in turbulent market situations. As a Recruiter, you too have to reskill yourself to reinvent new forms of recruiting. As mentioned in the previous blogs here, the candidates out there are becoming more and more passive making a recruiter’s job even more aggressive and tougher by the day. Its very important as a Recruiter to bell the cat in finding out what works best in his favour. Hunt for the best resource from the deep caves, which did not exist for many.

The author of this article has been with the Oracle India Recruitment Team for the past three years and can be contacted at pushpalatha.sreenivasan@oracle.com

Changing Jobs in a Recession...is it Safe? by Lucy Zhuang

Almost every morning, CNN announces list of companies that have cut jobs, Google, IBM, Microsoft, AMD, Autodesk…… While it is tough times at Oracle we are hiring people. More and more of the candidates I have been speaking to have expressed their concern that they don’t want to change their job because of the recession. I always like to ask them back “are you really safe/stable with your current employer?”

Most people feel insecure to change jobs because they worry about the high possibility to be laid off as a new staff member. In my opinion, not really, we need to look at exactly what kind of situation you are facing. From a recruiter’s point of view, there are several factors I suggest to consider:

1. If you are facing risk at being laid off by your current company. A few days ago, a friend of mine told me her company laid off several employees, to “save the company and the rest of employees”. I asked her if she was considering of looking for some other opportunities, she said NO, because she felt blessed. What if the company’s business gets worse if the economy continues to struggle? What if they need to cut more jobs to “save the company”? If your company already has laid off people, you need to think more about future, think about what kind of positions are being cut off and analyze for your own situation.

2.Is your performance at the bottom of the team? If your department is at the edge of the business? If yes, try your best to improve performance, get more training, and if possible, try to transfer to core business units or start to look for a new opportunity.

3. When a new opportunity comes, don’t simply say yes or no. Get to know more about it, not only regular information about the job such as the scope and responsibilities, but also some facts such as if it is a new position or a replacement position, why to hire for the position, if the company is cutting off jobs and what types of jobs they are, if the company’s business is badly influenced by the recession. Usually a new headcount could be more risky to be cut off than a replacement headcount. Sometimes, a company cuts some positions in one business group while at the same time hiring more for another business group. Some business is not influenced as badly as others. For example, one of my friends is working for a reseller of tires. Due to the recession, more people choose to change tires instead of buying a new car. So their business is not that bad at all.

4. If a company has an effective HR management system. Usually companies with a good HR management system that includes an effective HR planning system has a lower risk to cut jobs dramatically. Working at this type of company will be more stable than those without good HR planning system, which leads to irresponsibly hiring and lay off.

Actually to change jobs is the best way to potentially get a salary increase given many companies cancelled all the salary increase and bonus in recession for existing employees. So be careful with changing jobs, but do not necessary stop pursuing great opportunities for your career development just due to the fact there is a recession.

The author of this article has been with the Oracle China Recruitment Team for the past two years and can be contacted at lucy.zhuang@oracle.com

What will 2009 bring...a view from our North America Recruitment Team...by Jason Nowell

Like many of us, I have found myself searching high and low for some positive news about the global economy. As the media continues to report on how 2009 is shaping up to be a bumpy ride, I recently came across some interesting articles that speak about what might be in store.

The following article discusses how the Obama administration plans to make major investments in technology as Obama will appoint the first ever “Chief Technology Officer” to tackle some of these tough issues.

"Clearly the government will be a major spender on a variety of projects, including technology," said Scott Kessler, head of Standard & Poor's information-technology unit. "Obama has talked a lot about improving the nation's digital infrastructure."

Some other key initiatives are protecting the openness of the Internet and improving America’s competitiveness. Click here to view the Obama technology plan in more detail.

The article also references some of the challenges our industry is facing in 2009 as some companies will be trimming their technology budgets. While the Nasdaq is down 40% from last year’s high Oracle seems to be especially well positioned for 2009 and beyond.

New reports show Oracle is positioned in the Leaders Quadrant in each of the three new Gartner Magic Quadrants focused on application infrastructure. These three segments for Application Infrastructure include: SOA Composite Application Projects; New Systematic SOA Application Projects; and Back-End Application Integration Projects.




This is especially encouraging because so many deem SOA to be critically important to the future evolution of software. While 2009 promises to be a challenging year I think it’s important to remember how crucial our industry will be to the success and competitiveness of our customers in the 21st century.

The author of this article has been with the Oracle North America Recruitment Team for the past two plus years and can be contacted at jason.nowell@oracle.com

Oracle is Ranked #35 of the Top 50 Recruiters Using Twitter

I was surprised to find a list put together by TheRecruitersLounge.com which listed The Top 50 Recruiters on Twitter. I was more surprised to find that I was listed at #35 of the Top 50 Recruiters using Twitter.

Twitter is a great tool that allows people to connect with each other and share ideas/comments/thoughts, etc.... I do use it for Recruiting, however I find that it is so much more useful than just being a way to search for/identify candidates. Through Twitter I have had the opportunity to meet some great people and have found information and conversations happening that I would otherwise not have access to.

As I wrote in our Blog Entry on January 5th Using Twitter to Land a Job: Real Life Examples .

Twitter is "changing (the) way that companies and candidates are now using Social Networking Tools to connect with each other. I do not believe tools like Twitter have gained widespread acceptance in the Recruitment Industry yet (I stress the word yet as it is becoming more mainstream) but it is quickly becoming a more viable tool and will soon be common practice in Recruitment. To stay connected with candidates companies will need to integrate these tools into their recruitment strategies and be less reliant on using job boards and traditional means of recruitment to attract top candidates."

My Twitter ID if you want to connect is http://twitter.com/DavidTalamelli

Interview with Oracle AU Managing Director - Ian White

Earlier this month Oracle's AU Managing Director, Ian White has taken time out of his busy schedule to answer some questions and provide his thoughts and comments on what it is like working at Oracle. I have had the opportunity to interact with Ian and have been impressed with the way that he motivates and leads Oracle's Australian Team. It has been great to get the chance to talk to Ian and have him share his thoughts and experiences at Oracle with us.

Without further introduction please find below our interview with Ian White, Oracle AU Managing Director - Ian thanks again for your time.

1) When did you start your career with Oracle and in what capacity, how long have you been in your current role?
I joined Oracle in October 1993 as an Applications Consultant. I became ANZ Regional Managing Director in June 2005, having been the Western Region General Manager for the preceding seven plus years.

2) What is it that you feel makes Oracle a great place to work? Why do you enjoy working for Oracle?
There are many reasons why Oracle is a great place to work. Corporately we are always looking to grow and improve our business - we are never 'standing still'. This means we are always looking to change, to perform better and to do things differently, which creates a culture and spirit of innovation and success that attracts a certain style of person to Oracle and I enjoy working with people who are innovative, who think and act creatively, who expect and celebrate success.

3) How would you describe Oracle's company culture or spirit?
Oracle's company culture and spirit is based on innovation, creativity, being competitive and being successful.

4) What is the most important contribution that Oracle expects from its employees?
Regardless of your role, Oracle expects its employees to adhere to our corporate values and Code of Ethics and Business Conduct. Beyond this, Oracle is a fantastic example of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. Where different parts of our organisation work effectively together, we are able to offer significant increases in value to our customers and hence our shareholders. Oracle expects its employees to use all its resources in the most effective manner possible.

5) How would you describe the experience of working here?
I have had a fantastic experience of working at Oracle. I have had many opportunities to do different things and have worked with many very talented people who have had vast amounts of fun achieving spectacular results. I have always enjoyed support from senior management and have 'lived through' a number of Oracle and IT industry periods - the database wars, the internet, the dot com boom, the dot com bust and IT slowdown, the IT industry consolidation, and now the global economic crisis. Each of these periods has presented many corporate and personal opportunities for those prepared to look for them and to take advantage of them.

6) Work-life balance is an issue of retention as well as productivity. Can you talk about your own view of how to navigate the tensions between getting work done and encouraging healthy lives outside the office?
Work-life balance is one of the biggest challenges facing all of us and often means quite different things to different people. I am married with four young children and try to spend as much time as possible with my family. I try and avoid working on the weekend unless there is no choice, for example I will often look at email, but not send any unless it is critical to do so. We are all creatures of habit and it is quite easy in my experience to develop the habit of working on the weekend, even when it is not essential. I try and maximise the work I do when I am travelling, so that I have less to do when I am not travelling.

7) If you were speaking to a new Oracle employee, what one piece of wisdom would you want to incorporate into their work life?
Don't wait to be tapped on the shoulder and have an opportunity presented to you. Be on the lookout for opportunities and grab hold of them.

8) Do you feel the opportunities exist for employees to develop both their personal and professional growth in Oracle?
Absolutely. We have many examples of people who have grown significant careers in Oracle and benefited personally and professionally as a result. Oracle has grown significantly in the last four years - this has created many opportunities for people to develop their technical and management skills, and to switch between the two. Oracle will assist with personal and professional development, however don't wait, be proactive.

9) In the current economic climate, What do you feel is the greatest challenge currently facing Oracle AU in the next 12 months?
The greatest challenge facing Oracle Australia in the next twelve months is to focus on the reality of our business locally. We have a very broad customer base, a very broad product set. The next twelve months are a fantastic opportunity for Oracle to continue to persuade the market of the tremendous value and benefit its complete, open and integrated software stack can bring businesses in challenging times.

10) Is there any person or company you feel is doing innovative work in AU and in what way?
Many of our customers are using our products and services in innovative ways, to help make them more efficient and in particular to help them differentiate themselves against their competitors. Often, Oracle employees are not only engaged in these initiatives, but leading the way as well. In my experience, Australian organisations and people are regularly leading the world in their understanding and application of technology.

Millennials, Web 2.0...Recruiting Challenges In The Brave Flat World

The world of recruiting is experiencing a transformation and keeping up with the shifting trends requires a great deal of fortitude and education. The baby boomers of the fifties and sixties are starting to leave the work force in record numbers, making room for the up and coming Generation X. The fifty one million Gen’xers, those workers born between 1965 and 1976, appear to be accepting the mantle of leadership with some deference. The real paradox of employment as the world continues to flatten and more boomers retire is the future of the workforce and the emergence of the new Generation Y “Millennials.” Much has been written about the seventy five million Millennials who are entering our employment world with their independence, idealism and view of what a career in today’s labor market means to them.

The expansive growth of international workforces in India, China, Eastern Europe, Chile, Russia and the entrance of the Millennials to the workforce create a rather new set of challenges for Recruiters. These factors combined with Web 2.0 and the advances in technology are requiring a fundamental shift in how we go about identifying, recruiting and attracting employees in this Brave Flat World.

Recruiting in the Baby Boomer years consisted of running advertising in the classifieds section of local and national newspapers, putting help wanted signs on the front lawn, and attending career fairs in hotels to attract top talent to our organizations. Our CRM systems consisted of a Rolodex (card browser) or 3X5 index cards. Today’s recruiter must be much more technically savvy, surfing the web is ethereal, and today to identify top talent one needs to be familiar with Web 2.0, social networking, blogging and host of other new evolving technologies to keep up with the trends of how the new generation explore career changes. The profiles, interests and how candidates go about considering a new career has changed with the convergence of the latest technology and the emergence of the Millennials.

As the terms and conditions of the new work force continue to evolve, the fundamentals of a successful Recruiter are transforming as well. The telephone remains a staple of the trade and yet the tools and technology have really started to morph at light speed. How strong is your network has always been essential to a Recruiters success, but with today’s six degrees of separation and the internet, it is not as much about who you know, but who do they know and how fast can we get to all the folks they know, that really changes the paradigm in today’s Web 2.0 universe.

Recruiters in today’s world need to be Social Networking guru’s and connect to folks through any number of the tools that are permeating the Web. Using the likes of Linkedin (30 Million) is becoming almost passé with tech savvy Recruiters looking to tap into the likes of Myspace (110 Million active users each month), Facebook (120 Million), Orkut, Bebo, Plaxo and a host of other new sights that sprout up seemingly out of nowhere and then become the latest rage. Still others are connecting to folks using the ever-popular Twitter (Do you Tweet?) while others explore more exotic sites like Second Life. Learning how to use these tools effectively and implementing them for successful networking is one of the most difficult challenges that Recruiters are facing today.

The work force may shift to other parts of the planet but as Thomas Freidman has poignantly demonstrated the world it is getting flatter and how we identify and recruit employees to our workforce remains pretty similar across our regions. These tools are catching on no matter where you live and candidates are very technologically savvy with the Millennials almost demanding that Recruiters keep up with the times to reach out to them. You can follow someone in Twitter across the globe and reach out to social networked candidates from anywhere, and thus the transformation has begun and keeping pace is now the ultimate challenge. There is no Huxley like soma chemical out there to make it all align perfectly, the real quest for Recruiters, today and in the future, is the ability to harness the technology, understand this new generation and educate our management teams about The Brave New Flat World so we can continue to attract the best and brightest here to Oracle.

The author of this article is Jan Ackerman who has been in IT Recruitment for 20+ years is Vice President of Oracle's APAC Recruitment Team.

Oracle Q2 Results: Results in Line with Expectations

Oracle today released it Q2 results and our second quarter was in line with expectations as earnings excluding charges hit targets on lower than expected revenue.

ORACLE REPORTS Q2 GAAP EPS OF 25 CENTS

Also of interest was news from Larry Ellison: “We signed our largest on-demand sales force automation contract this quarter,” said Oracle CEO, Larry Ellison. “This was just one of several recent wins over salesforce.com. We also sold our first database machine, launching an all new and important business for Oracle.”

In an article by Jim Goldman Oracle Withstands Currency Headwinds it was interesting to note that Brendan Barnicle, software analyst at Pacific Crest Securities, called Oracle's performance a "home run," especially in this climate, and especially with those currency fluctuations, pointing to the company's surprisingly strong applications software business and solid database unit.

Oracle had second quarter revenue from Asia Pacific of $822 million. This figure is up modestly from the first quarter and year ago quarter.

It is great to see all the hard work that we do here come together to achieve these results.

Other news facts include:


-Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) today announced fiscal 2009 Q2 GAAP earnings per share were $0.25, in line with GAAP earnings per share in Q2 of last year. Second quarter GAAP total revenues were up 6% to $5.6 billion, while quarterly GAAP net income was down 1% to $1.3 billion. GAAP software revenues were up 8% to $4.5 billion with new software license revenues down 3% to $1.6 billion. GAAP software license updates and product support revenues were up 14% to $2.9 billion. GAAP services revenues were down 2% to $1.1 billion. GAAP operating income was up 11% to $2.0 billion and GAAP operating margin was up 166 basis points to 35%. GAAP operating cash flow on a trailing twelve month basis was $8.1 billion, up 16%.

-“Our non-GAAP operating income grew 25% in constant currency to $2.6 billion in Q2, resulting in operating margins of 46%,” said Oracle Executive Vice President and CFO, Jeff Epstein. “In addition, Oracle generated $7.6 billion in free cash flow in the past twelve months, up 15% over the same period last year.”

Can Work be both Challenging and Fun??? by Lucy Zhuang

As a Recruiter for Oracle in Beijing, the one question that I always ask candidates during the interview process is “Why would you like to work for Oracle?” I have received a whole range of different answers, but I have an answer that you may not have thought of from my own personal experiences and that is…..you may have a lot of fun working with us.



Early this year, a co-worker of mine volunteered me to participate in ORACLE IDOL. To explain, ORACLE IDOL was put together for Oracle China Employees and is a take off of the television show China Idol (as well as American Idol, UK idol, Australian Idol, etc…) where contestants sing and a winner is selected. I did not think it was a big deal to sing a song in a Karaoke contest even though I am not that good a singer, but I have to say I had an amazing experience from participating in ORACLE IDOL.



Oracle not only provided a very fancy location, but also offered us a professional make-up service, a photographer, music, a brochure and a banner for each participant’s fans. We were able to invite our families, friends and colleagues as fans to support us. I found that we have many excellent performers within Oracle whose singing and dancing skills almost reach professional level. It was a great experience and sitting there, I felt really proud of myself for being part of such a superb team and company.



So if you are talking to one of our Recruiters and we ask you why do you want to join Oracle? You could say that by joining our family you could be part of the fun too (as well as all the interesting work that we do as well). Yes, the work we do is challenging and exciting and at times can take up a lot of our focus, but with events like ORACLE IDOL it is great to be able to have fun at work as well.
The author of this article has been with the Oracle China Recruitment Team for the past two years and can be contacted on lucy.zhuang@oracle.com

Oracle's Acquisition Strategy Continues Part 3 and Part 4

Oracle's Acquisition Strategy continues:

Oracle Buys Primavera

Creates First, Comprehensive Enterprise Project Portfolio Management Solution for Project-Intensive Industries

Oracle announced it has agreed to acquire Primavera Software, Inc., a leading provider of Project Portfolio Management (PPM) solutions, to accelerate its momentum in delivering mission-critical operational applications.

Oracle and Primavera Link


Oracle Buys Advanced Visual Technology

Enhances Oracle's Insight-Driven Retail Solution Suite with 3D Visual Macro Space Planning

Oracle announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Advanced Visual Technology Ltd.(AVT), a leading provider of 3D visual macro space planning software for retailers. AVT enables retailers to collaborate with their stores and supplier partners to design and plan retail floor space in real time with a current photo-realistic view of each store.

Oracle and Advanced Visual Technology Link

Oracle is Hiring in Melbourne: Multiple Roles

Following up from our blog entry in August:

Oracle Wins National Australia Bank Project

Oracle is now at a stage where we are looking to grow our Consulting Team to work on this project. I think this is going to be an exciting project and team to work from all that I have heard to date.

From a Permanent perspective our Financial Services Consulting Practice is growing and as a result we will be looking at hiring people for the following roles:

1) 3x Developers - Primary Skill: Oracle 9i/10G, PL/SQL - Secondary Skill: Solaris / AIX / HP-UX (2-5 yrs experience)

2) 3x Developers - Primary Skill: Core Java, JDBC, JavaBeans - Secondary Skill: RMI, Servlets, JSP, XML, Enterprise Beans, ANT, Oracle SQL & PL/SQL (2-5 years experience)

3) 1 x Developer - Primary Skill: Visual Basic 6.0, C++, MTS/COM+, SQL 2000 - Secondary Skill: IIS, Windows 2003, UNIX, Oracle (10g), Web Services (3-5 years experience)

4) 2x Domain Expert - Primary Skill: Clearing & Settlement Processes, General Banking knowledge, FX Processing, GL, Bank Reporting Requirements (4-8 years experience)

These are permanent positions and could be a great next step in your career - if you are interested in exploring these opportunities mail your resume to david.talamelli@oracle.com or feel free to contact me on +61 3 8616 3364 if you have any questions or would like to discuss further.

Upcoming Oracle Presentation at Australian Computer Society: Melbourne Australia

Over the past few weeks I have been talking to and meeting with the Australian Computer Society (ACS) about having Oracle present to ACS Members about what it is like to work at Oracle and what skills we feel are in demand.



Special thanks to Yasas and Daphne from ACS who helped co-ordinate this. Details of the date and time are below. If you are interested in attending you must register via the ACS link below.


David Talamelli, Principal Recruiter at Oracle Corporation will provide a presentation detailing what its like to work at Oracle, the skills that are in demand and the recruitment process;

Date:
Tuesday 28th October 2008
Time:
5:30PM for a 6:00PM Start


Australian Computer Society: Oracle Recruitment Presentation

Oracle Tops Q1 Forecasts, Gives Upbeat Profit Outlook

Oracle has again reported a strong performance in reporting our Q1 Earnings and have exceeded Analysts expectations.

Analysts who follow Oracle expected the company to turn in a profit of 27 cents a share on sales of $5.417 billion, according to a consensus from Thomson Reuters, while we earned 29 cents a share in the first quarter.

Oracle Tops Forecasts, Gives Upbeat Profit Outlook

This was followed up with a strong forecast for our 2nd quarter with expectations that our New License Revenue will continue to grow.

Safra Catz appeared unfazed about the ongoing turmoil in the financial sector, saying, "We don't believe it should have a material impact on the quarter."

The Hidden Job Market.....How do I Find It??

If you are reading this blog entry you are on the right path.

I read an article today about how a local Australian Job Board - Seek.com.au has expanded in Asia by buying 10% of a Malaysian Job Board - Jobstreet.

Seek buys 10% of Malaysian Job Board Jobstreet

This got me thinking - Open roles posted on Job Boards only make up a small percentage of all the roles that are actually available. I know that I advertise positions on Seek and Jobstreet but the number of people that join Oracle as a result of seeing a job posted on Seek.com.au is relatively small.

So how do people end up getting jobs at Oracle???

1) Call/email us, ask our Recruitment Team if we have any suitable roles, if we don't it doesn't mean that a position like the one you are after will not come up in the future.

2) Have an online presence - are you on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc... with all the social networking tools out there it makes it much easier for us to find you. You would have seen from previous posts my thoughts on Social Networking, if you do not have an online presence - begin today.

3) Keep an open mind - you may not 'actively' be looking for a role, but if we have a role that fits your career plan let's talk about it - sometimes opportunity does knock at your door.

4) Referrals - are you telling people you are looking for work?? We are always asking our 80000+ employees at Oracle who they know who may be interested in work with us - one of those people you tell that you are looking for work may be able to refer your details to our Recruitment Team.

5) Are you part of any organisations, communities, associations, etc... Have you written any articles or blogs. The more visible you are in the IT Industry the more opportunities that will present themselves to you.

This is just a quick snapshot of some things you can do, I may edit this blog entry and create a Top 10 List. We do hire people from Job Boards, but we think outside the square as well.

If you do not see a role posted on Seek.com.au by Oracle does that mean the role does not exist or that we are not hiring??? Opportunities you may want to know about could be passing you by. Contact us and find out what roles we have, your next career step could be with us!!

Other Countries Are Gaining in the War for Talent

I read an interesting blog earlier today titled:

Other Countries Are Gaining in the War for Talent

It is by Raghav Singh and while it is based around the labour shortage that is happening in the US - the article was interesting as it noted: "While a disproportionate number of skilled immigrants still come to the U.S., the numbers that are staying home or are going elsewhere is increasing. Over the last five years, the U.S. attracted an average of 73,000 skilled immigrants annually, down from about 107,000. That may still seem like a lot, but Canada attracted 56,000, Australia 20,000, and even tiny New Zealand managed to get 10,000."

In today's market place when I am recruiting staff here at Oracle, it is no longer about who is available in a city or location - but more so who is the best talent we can identify for a role. In Australia and New Zealand many skilled IT people overseas look to move here for either lifestyle choices or the opportunity to work on new projects, etc... By being able to consider people from outside Australia and New Zealand this increases the potential number of candidates we speak to.

From a candidate perspective moving overseas is a big decision to make. We have hired many people from overseas who have joined us at Oracle in ANZ. I think that before you put you start looking for work overseas you have to go through a thorough thought process and be able to answer:

1)Why do I want to move overseas to a specific location(lifestyle,family,work, etc)?
2)If I have family, is everybody in the family comfortable with this decision?
3)Have I considered salary expectations and cost of living?
4)What Visa requirements must I meet/have to go through?
5)What time frame do I need to be able to relocate?

Moving overseas can be great for your career and also be a great adventure in your life. If you are overseas and would like to think about work with Oracle in ANZ or APAC, have a look at opportunities besides your current location, we may be hiring for that dream job you are looking for now.

Oracle Acquisition Strategy Continues Part 2 + Safra voted 15th most powerful woman

It looks like Oracle's acquisition plan continues to roll along as we have just bought ClearApp:

Oracle buys ClearApp

Two key points I think that this acquisition addresses are:

1) ClearApp addresses the increasingly difficult task of managing composite applications built on SOA platforms by providing visibility of business services across all related application components.

2) ClearApp products and Oracle Enterprise Manager are expected to provide customers with a comprehensive application management solution providing enhanced service levels, reduced system down-time and improved return on SOA investments.

Locally I have seen our SOA based solutions grow from strength to strength and I think technically we are leading the way in the market place.

As a separate comment it is good to see recognition for all of Safra Catz's work in making Oracle as succesful as we are as she has been listed in Forbes magazine recently:

Safra voted 15th most powerful woman in the world

Oracle APAC Graduate Recruitment Program

The Oracle Graduate Recruitment Team has been hard at work since the beginning of the year and has done a fantastic job in identifying and hiring a large number of Graduates in ASEAN and have put in place plans to have Graduates start in Australia and New Zealand in January next year.

I think the Oracle Graduate Program is unique to many of the Graduate Programs available. The difference is that instead of just being a Graduate Developer or Graduate Sales Person, here at Oracle what we do is over the course of 2 years our Grads get to work in numerous business groups like Sales, Consulting, Development, etc... and at the end of two years they can then pick which area best suits them.

I think this is great because it gives people a chance to try a number of different jobs rather than just working in one area without getting to see how the whole business operates and they can see the differences in each group. Many people just starting in their career do not yet know what direction they want to take in their career and I think this program helps give our Graduates the information they need to help them make their individual career choices.

The closing date for this year in Australia and NZ was August 31st, but for Graduates graduating in 2009 you can register your interest at campusrelations_au@oracle.com for Australia campusrelations_nz@oracle.com for New Zealand.

The link to the Oracle Graduate Recruitment Website is: https://campus.oracle.com/HR/Globe.aspx

Employee Retention - Some Thoughts

I came across an article by Rosalie Marshall from the itnews.com.au website earlier today, the link to the article is: Companies Urged to Address Staff Turnover

It was interesting to note that the survey of 71 IT organisations found that those with stronger education and training programmes have lower than average turnover rates, and that staff prefer good training to increased pay.

"IT managers often worry that investments in training will be reaped by other organisations when IT workers shop their new skills around," said John Longwell, director of research for Computer Economics.

"But this study indicates that investing in training is actually the best way to retain employees."

The factors commonly perceived as influencing staff turnover are:

-Education and training opportunities
-Flexible schedules
-Work environment
-Social environment
-Pay
-Insurance benefits
-Employee recognition programmes
-Paid time off
-Retirement programmes
-Telecommuting opportunities

"While offering competitive salaries and benefit packages may be important for recruitment, providing quality-of-life incentives and enhancing working environments are more important for retention," Longwell concluded.

In my role where I am talking to candidates on a daily basis about why they are looking to change jobs, I often find that people change companies because they are looking for new challenges, or looking to develop their career, etc.... When I ask people why are they looking to move the answer is hardly ever "because of lack of pay or benefits".

I enjoy telling people about what it is like to work here at Oracle because I do believe we have some great people and a great culture that makes it enjoyable to be here. I may be a bit biased I know, but I do think we are one of the more progressive companies when it comes to looking after our employees.

Oracle wins National Australia Bank Work

Earlier this week we had a great sales win in Melbourne which has been in the local press and IT news.

The link is to an article in from Computerworld.com.au and is:Oracle Wins NAB Work

This is going to be a great opportunity to partner with the NAB and help them put together the technical solutions they are looking for to achieve their business goals. From what I have heard and read about it sounds like it will be an exciting project to be involved with.

We had some great new projects last year that we won and it good to see that we are continuing to lead the way locally in the IT market.

Oracle Acquisition Strategy Continues

It appears Oracle's Acquisition Strategy continues....

Oracle announced that is has agreed to acquire Global Knowledge Software.

The link to the Oracle Website outlining the details is: Oracle Buys Global Knowledge Software

Oracle's acquisition strategy has seen us acquire 40+ companies in approximately 4 years. The strategy has paid off quite well and we have been able to extend our range of services, solutions and support to our new and existing customers.

From an Employee perspective this has been an exciting time to work at Oracle. With all the new Business Groups we are forming it has created more and more opportunities to move into new roles and try work with new technology or in new industries.

It is always great to welcome our new colleagues into Oracle and I look forward to meeting any GKS employees and hopefully will get the chance to work together soon.