Auckland, 4 September 2001: SEEK Communications announced today the appointment of Scott Hauswirth to the newly created
position of General Manager of SEEK’s New Zealand operations. Mr Hauswirth will be responsible for spearheading SEEK’s
rapidly accelerating online employment business, including overall strategy and performance.
Ironically, Mr Hauswirth discovered the advertised role when he was job hunting on the SEEK site from the United States.
Prior to joining SEEK, Mr Hauswirth was the Director of Business Development for WetFeet.com, an online recruitment
company based in San Francisco. While at WetFeet, he built and managed relationships with the company’s nearly 100
alliance partners.
Commenting on the appointment, SEEK CEO Paul Bassat says Mr Hauswirth has a deep understanding of the online recruitment
industry and a history of successfully creating strong partnerships with employers and other entities.
“Business is definitely going well for SEEK in New Zealand and we are thrilled to have attracted such a formidable
candidate to grow our New Zealand business,” says Bassat.
Mr Hauswirth said he sees many opportunities for SEEK to develop in exciting ways in the New Zealand market. “The US
market is well developed and gives a good insight into the way the New Zealand recruitment industry may evolve. We plan
to harness our understanding of global trends to expand SEEK along successful international models,” he said.
Mr Hauswirth says one of the current trends in the recruitment sector is the move away from newspaper advertising.
“Evidence from the US indicates that less than 5% of jobseekers rely upon the newspaper as their sole source of job
listings, while a much larger percentage rely solely upon on-line sources. The opposite is the case in New Zealand, and
I think it is likely we will follow the global trend.”
Mr Hauswirth has a law degree from the University of California, Hastings Law, and a Bachelor of Arts with Honours from
the University of California, Berkeley.
About SEEK Communications – Corporate Summary
SEEK Communications was formed in November 1997, and is the brainchild of three young Melbourne entrepreneurs, Paul
Bassat, Matthew Rockman, and Andrew Bassat. The company has operated in New Zealand since August 1999 at the Web address
www.seek.co.nz.
Shareholders include Yahoo! Inc., Macquarie Technology Fund and the Australasian Media & Communications Fund (AMCF). In addition to a jobs vacancy listing service, the site offers a world-class resume
builder, an e-mail based vacancy delivery service, an application tracker and a wealth of other career resources,
including a “virtual interviewer” service. Seek.co.nz boasts New Zealand’s largest jobs database of over 4,000
vacancies, covering all industries and occupations, and currently enjoys over 125,000 visitors a month.
SEEK was voted the NetGuide 2000 Best Employment Site.
Services
In addition to matching jobs with prospective employees, the company has expanded its product offering to include a
range of candidate screening, skills testing tools and other technologies that make the recruitment process more
efficient and cost-effective. When combined with the extensive career management resources and other services designed
to improve the recruitment process for recruiters and employers, SEEK has significantly differentiated itself in the New
Zealand market.