ìIndia will be the biggest Asian market for online recruitersî

Madanmohan Rao interviews Libby Christie, Asia-Pacific CEO, Monster.com

Libby Christie joined Monster.com, the leading global online careers site and flagship brand of TMP Worldwide, as Managing Director for Asia Pacific in August 2000. As Chief Executive for Monster.Com in the Asia Pacific region, Christie, who is based in Sydney, is responsible for driving the expansion of Monster across Asia Pacific. Monsterís Asia Pacific businesses now include Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and India.

Before joining Monster.com, Christie held senior positions with Telstra, eWorks and Optus Communications. She is a graduate of Sydney University and the University of Canberra.

Q: What is your assessment of the current dotcom bust and general IT downturn?
A:
I would call it a correction rather than a downturn. I believe that the market makers created expectations beyond reality and when things did not turn out to be so rosy, the market mindset also had to correct itself. We have grown up.

The current dotcom bust, in my opinion, happened because some dotcoms were trying too hard to simply build valuation for themselves through artificial means, while not focussing hard enough on making money and most
importantly, turning a profit.

Unfortunately, most of these businesses forgot that the essence of business remains ëmake profitsí whether one is a brick and mortar business or anInternet business.

I believe that Internet offers a great platform for doing business profitably as long as one has a compelling value proposition for the customers and sound business processes to support oneís product.

Q: What is your vision of what the Net can offer for a country like India?
A:
India is in the best position to exploit Internet in the coming years, for two reasons.

The Government(s) have been forward looking to pave the way for speedier development of Internet infrastructure in the country. As a still merging Internet country, India can adapt some of the latest technologies that the
world has to offer by selecting from the best and most successful and avoiding the mistakes made in other parts of the world.

The mindset towards use of Internet for business is going through a perceptible positive change. We now have an environment where there is a more open mindset towards change. Whether you are a business leader in India, or an employee, I notice Indians are ready to adopt new technologies quickly. And not only is the mindset right, but the skills in India have developed very quickly to world class levels.

In my opinion, the best leverage India can get out of the Net is to use it to communicate directly with customers both in India and around the world and equally importantly to provide effective back office and B2B interfaces. By implementing B2B applications between suppliers and business partners, firms can use the Web to improve governance and monitoring of all aspects of their business quickly and cost effectively.

In the area of recruitment, for example, an online service provider like Monster offers Indian businesses the opportunity to connect directly with potential employees (using the reach and immediacy of the Net) and
completely reengineer the recruitment process (using online job listings and database search to reduce the time and cost of recruitment by as much as ten times). And in addition, the entire process can be tracked and reported to measure effectiveness and introduce a process of continuous
improvement.

Q: What are the Top Three challenges facing companies today on the recruitment front?
A:
1. Attracting the best people. This means branding your company as a ëgreat place to workí. Thereís a war for talent out there the fight is all about getting the best man/woman first and to differentiate on the basis of best
human capital, getting to them first, and convincing them you are a great employer. Monster gives companies immediate access to an Indian and a global database of job seekers that revolutionises the process and helps meet this challenge.

2. To manage the hiring process cost effectively: not wasting money on costly and slow print media or expensive consultants, working quickly to identify best candidates, and then to evaluate and finalise selection confidently and without making mistakes. (As noted above, online
recruitment services such as Monsterís reduce the time and cost by as much as 10 times.)

3. Retaining the best people. Once you have hired people, you want to keep them. Training and development programs, incentives and remuneration plans and corporate culture and benefits all play a part here.

Q: What was the founding vision behind Monster? How has the company grown since then?
A:
Monsterís worldwide vision is to connect the most progressive companies with the most qualified career-minded individuals, offering innovative technology and superior services that give them more control over the recruiting process.

It was the summer of 1994 when Jeff Taylor launched The Monster Board, which is the 454th site on the Internet. In 1995, it became a part of TMP Worldwide. Today, Monster.com is present in 21 countries, employs more than 1500 people, is widely regarded as the undisputed leader in e-recruitment and has been profitable for the last 13 quarters.

For details of the Monster story and success, please refer to the TMPWorldwide Web site (TMPW.com)

Q: Who is your main competition and how do you stack up against them?
A:
We would not to like name any particular company here our competitors vary from country to country. There is no global competitor which exists with the same geographic reach, depth of product and customer relationship nor
profit level of Monster.
On all counts superior and proven technology, maturity and long term profitability, customer experience and loyalty and of course experience, expertise and leadership, Monster comes out ahead everywhere.

Q: What is the scope of your operations in the Asia Pacific region, what trends do you see across the various countries, and how does India fit into your scheme of things here?
A:
We are present in 5 countries in the Asia Pacific right now. Australia is our biggest market. We are also present in India, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Monster recognises Asia as potentially our biggest market worldwide and of our current Asian businesses, India will be the biggest and most successful in the medium to long term.

We started our Indian business in March 2001, with our Best Jobs for Best Minds positioning to Indian job seekers and Indian employers and we have been very happy with the growth of our business and the success our customers have experienced using our products.

Q: If you could go back in time and start everything again from scratch, what would you do differently the second time around?
A:
Probably nothing much. We are very proud of the business we have built. Our ìbricks and mortarî business model where we draw on the offline experience and expertise of our parent company, TMPWorldwide, means we are pretty
unique in the Internet world and have enjoyed a uniquely successful history thatís the envy of our competitors.

Q: What are the Top Three technology trends that we should be looking out for in cyberspace over the next few years?
A:
1. Peer to peer file sharing making consumer-to-consumer interactions increasingly rich and fulfilling.
2. Collaborative filtering so that personalisation becomes more effective.
3. Universal identity/passwords so that online consumers have a safe and portable identity and are encouraged to transact.

Q: Any parting comments for Internet entrepreneurs and professionals in India and elsewhere?
A:
Never forget business is about supply and demand: Have a compelling value proposition for your customers and supply value for money your customers need to value your product. Donít be seduced by the technology or the hype.

Stay focussed on business objectives, most importantly the revenue streams. You need a three year plan which gets you into the black quickly and which you can measure your progress against.

Be old fashioned and ruthless when it comes to operating expenses and back office activities keep them in control and worry about billing, debtors, customer serviceÖ.
Be good to your good people; They are your most valuable asset. But be firm and relentless with your unproductive ones and make sure you win the war
for talent.


The writer can be reached at madan@inomy.com