SEEK is a job search site based in Melbourne, Australia which held it’s second Hackathon last June with a third one in planning any time soon.
SEEK is one of the best loved tech employers in Melbourne with an industro-kitsch interior designed office which could have fallen out of the sky from Silicon Valley onto the city’s St.Kilda Road.
The business has navigated it’s way through one of the most intensely competitive online sectors since the late 1990s, through an IPO to a market cap of around $3bn. This is, in part, down to it’s ability to adapt to market conditions with a product that has been restyled and morphed several times over to cope with the formidable competition which websites such as LinkedIn have presented as well as developing the best in class platform of it’s type.
A visit to SEEK’s HQ reveal very quickly that perpetual communication is central to the ethos, not just in the lifts or with people diving in and out of meeting rooms but also pop up meetings which occur in the college refectory style cafeteria, complete with chrome beer tap and pro coffee machine.
The reputation of the work environment at SEEK has ensured the company attracts top shelf talent from a variety of sectors despite the fact that the Product as a Platform nature of the business is not something that will change the world and is therefore not a business that is immune from aggressive competition.
However, SEEK are very aware of their surroundings and as well as LinkedIn seemingly not having affected revenues too much, competitors such as Fairfax Media’s MyCareer are a long way behind SEEK in delivering an enjoyable user experience.
From a technical perspective, the threshold for entry at SEEK is very high and whilst it is traditionally one of Melbourne’s stalwart MS shops, the recent acquisition of JobSeeker means that, as a group at least, it’s technical toolbox now includes a wallet of open source technologists that are also able to enjoy free coffee, beer and breakfast.
