Freespirit (http://www.freespirit.com.au) is Australia’s leading contract management company for Overseas, New Zealand and Australian professionals. freespirit provide migration services, salary packaging and payroll services. We offer a full suite of services tailored to suit Clients, Contractors and Recruitment Partners requirements.

How it works

Freespirit.com.au can assist you with migration services if you are looking to employ an Overseas professional as well as explain our effective salary packaging options for working holiday makers, sponsored employees as well as Australian and New Zealand professionals.

Advantages

Freespirit.com.au provide a professional seamless service which allows you to concentrate on your core business activities. We offer innovative solutions to enhance your attraction and retention strategies within your workforce. With extensive experience in these areas we can assist you to save time and money.

For more information e-mail newclient@freespirit.com.au

For More Information please visit our website http://www.freespirit.com.au

Freespirit (http://www.freespirit.com.au) work with Recruitment Partners nationally across Australia. We support Recruiters by referring freespirit candidates to agencies for placement in permanent and temporary assignments.
Our candidates are sourced via advertising, expos abroad, referrals, accommodation networks and our job board on our website. We also offer migration services, salary packaging and payroll support to our Recruitment Partners.

How it works

• Freespirit screen the candidates and refer only quality candidates strategically to our Recruitment Partners
• Recruiters technically interview these candidates and advise freespirit when the candidate is placed in assignment with their client
• freespirit set up the payroll and salary packaging for the candidate via the Recruitment Partner

Freespirit can also assist with migration services if these candidates wish to be sponsored and work up to 4 years.

Advantages

• An extra pool of pre-screened candidates, that you may not have sourced through traditional channels
• Peace of mind and time saving - the Recruiter's know freespirit have already met the candidate
• freespirit can advertise difficult to fill roles on Recruiter’s behalf, free of charge through Traveler publications and our job board on our website
• Via freespirit’s effective salary packaging the Recruiter can also attract and retain candidates for their permanent and temporary assignments
• freespirit also offer referral fees when candidates are referred to freespirit for salary packaging, migration services and payroll
• For more information e-mail recruiters@freespirit.com.au
• For More Information please visit our website http://www.freespirit.com.au
  ]]> http://1800bpo.wordpress.com/?p=20 Thu, 16 Oct 2008 02:32:02 +0000 1300bpo http://1800bpo.pl.wordpress.com/2008/10/16/working-holiday-visa/ Freespirit (http://www.freespirit.com.au) is Australia’s leading resourcing agency. We assist travelers to find employment and salary package their pay, so they take home more money.

  Australian Working Holiday Visa

  The main purpose of this Visa is to allow you to combine a holiday with work to supplement your funds.
  WHV allows you to:

  • enter Australia within 12 months of your visa being granted
  • stay up to 12 months in Australia
  • work in Australia for up to 6 months with each employer
  • study for up to 4 months
  • leave and re-enter Australia as many times as you like while the visa is valid

  General Requirements

  Applicants must:
  

  • be outside Australia when they apply for the visa and when the visa is granted
  • not have entered Australia on a Working Holiday visa before
  • be aged 18-30 years (inclusive) at the time of application
  • be applying no more than 12 months before they intend to travel to Australia
  • not have dependent children (either at the time of applying or when you hold the visa)
  • hold a passport for one of the following countries: Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Taiwan or the United Kingdom

  
  
  The Working Holiday Visa is activated on arrival in Australia. Any time spent outside Australia while on your Working Holiday visa does not extend the length of the visa.
  
  

  Second Working Holiday Visa

  
  
  People, who have worked for a minimum of 3 months as a seasonal worker in regional Australia during their first Working Holiday Visa, may be eligible for a second WHV
  
  What can we (http://www.freespirit.com.au) do for you?
  Freespirit.com.au can help you to prepare before you go so you can get on with what is really important when you arrive.
  
  
  Our package includes:
  

  • Working Holiday Visa approved in 24-48 hours
  • work and travel orientation on arrival
  • job seeking assistance
  • Australian SIM card on arrival
  • set up an Australian bank account for you
  • register you for a Tax File Number (TFN)
  • provide you with hostel contact details

  
  
  

  How it works

  
  
  Travellers visit the Freespirit(http://www.freespirit.com.au) offices in Sydney, Melbourne & Brisbane – we help you find a job through our National network of Recruitment Partners. Once we meet with you and assess your background we refer you to Recruitment Agencies who work in your specific field. The Recruitment Agency contacts you to meet with them based on our referral. This will save you time and get you ahead of the other applicants. We then payroll you and you earn more take home money.
  
  

  Advantages

  
  

  • More take home net pay
  • Free referral service to our Recruitment Partners
  • Secure a job quickly just by visiting our offices
  • Internet service in our offices
  • Free sponsorship & migration services advice
  • Client services team to answer all your queries
  • For more information e-mail whv@freespirit.com.au

  For More Information pls visit our website http://www.freespirit.com.au

  ]]> http://1800bpo.wordpress.com/?p=18 Thu, 16 Oct 2008 02:31:13 +0000 1300bpo http://1800bpo.pl.wordpress.com/2008/10/16/salary-packaging/ Overview

  
  
  Freespirit (www.freespirit.com.au) offer salary packaging to Australia Professionals relocating interstate, New Zealanders when they first arrive in Australia and Overseas professionals on a 457 visa sponsored and employed directly. The tax effective salary packaging ensures the individuals take home more money. This arrangement suits individuals who are employed directly by their client.
  
  

  How it works

  
  

  • Freespiritwww.freespirit.com.au provide an estimate to the individual based on their salary package
  • Once accepted Freespiritwww.freespirit.com.au set up the salary packaging and payroll with the individuals employer
  • Each pay cycle the employer pays Freespiritwww.freespirit.com.au the individuals salary
  • Freespirit.com.au apply the salary packaging and pay the individual directly into their bank account

  
  
  

  Advantages

  The individual takes home more money and receives tax effective salary packaging. The employer can offer this packaging to the individual without the hassle of administration, calculations whilst reducing internal costs. This also offers a fantastic attraction and retention strategy for employers.
  
  
  For more information e-mail salarypackaging@freespirit.com.au
  
  For More Information please visit our website http://www.freespirit.com.au

  ]]> http://1800bpo.wordpress.com/?p=16 Thu, 16 Oct 2008 02:29:13 +0000 1300bpo http://1800bpo.pl.wordpress.com/2008/10/16/professional-travellers/ Overview

  
  
  Freespirit (http://www.freespirit.com.au) provide a range of services to professional travellers, working holiday makers, New Zealand citizens residing in Australia and Australian workers relocating within the country for the purposes of work. Whether you need migration services advice, assistance in finding employment or would like to maximize your take home pay through effective salary packaging, the team at freespirit are happy to assist.
  
  

  How it works

  
  
  Freespirit.com.auhave a dedicated team on board, who can assist you to find a job and also have the know how regarding immigration laws and salary packaging.
  We offer migration services advice via our Migration Agent and assist with any queries, including sponsorship and permanent residency applications.
  
  We also are an approved business sponsor with Department of Immigration and Freespirit can sponsor skilled professionals to work in over 300 occupations under the subclass 457 temporary business visa for a period of up to four years. We currently sponsor and provide salary packaging to over 300 contractors.
  
  If you are in Australia on a 417 or 462 working holiday visa we can assist you to secure temporary employment via our National Recruitment Partners. We provide solutions for temporary and contract placements within all industries for a period up to 6 months and can assist you wherever you are looking for work across Australia. We assist to place, payroll and salary package over 1,000 contractors per year.
  
  

  Advantages

  
  

  • More take home net pay
  • Free referral service to our Recruitment Partners
  • Get a job quickly just by visiting our offices
  • Free internet service in our offices
  • Free sponsorship & migration services advice
  • Free tax return service
  • Client services team to answer all your queries

  
  
  

  Further advantages when paid via freespirit:

  
  

  • Assistance with setting up bank accounts, mobile phones, bus, tram and train timetables and directions for getting around in each city
  • A legitimate and well established Australian on shore company with an approved Australian Business Number (ABN)
  • Security knowing freespirit is a 100% Australian owned & operated company with the principals present in Australia
  • No costs on termination
  • Tax effective salary packaging advice tailored to suit your needs
  • Payment of PAYG Tax and remittance of superannuation by freespirit
  • A dedicated account manager to look after your payroll and financial affairs
  • Prompt electronic payment of your salary directly into a bank account of your choice
  • In-house accountants on call
  • Free tax returns prepared (conditions apply)
  • Tax deductions reimbursed immediately & flexibility to accommodate vehicles and equipment such as laptops in your package (conditions apply)
    • No PAYG, BAS or GST returns to worry about
    • Refund of your superannuation after your departure from Australia
    • Free access to our Temps & Contractors Club, which includes free email, internet, daily newspapers, and CV distribution & automatic membership to our Loyalty Program
    • Sponsorship facilities and advice
    • Assistance with all migration and visa applications including Permanent Residency
    • Dedicated resources to secure your future roles
    • Consistent payment dates
    • Expense reimbursement agents
    • In house migration agents
    • For more information e-mail info@freespirit.com.au

  
  
  For More Information please visit our website http://www.freespirit.com.au

  ]]> http://casesdesucesso.wordpress.com/?p=639 Thu, 16 Oct 2008 01:21:06 +0000 Cases de Sucesso http://casesdesucesso.pl.wordpress.com/2008/10/15/as-oportunidades-da-crise/ Não Pergunte: Quando acabará esta crise?

  A pergunta certa é: Quais são as oportunidades que esta crise traz?

  Se esperar acabar a crise para então agir, irá se decepcionar. Ela poderá terminar o ano que vem ou daqui a cinco ou dez anos. Não depende só de nós. Mas depende de nós aceitar o desafio de nos adaptarmos às circunstâncias e darmos a volta por cima.

  Um navio é feito para navegar, tanto em mar tranqüilo, quanto em meio à tempestade. Qualquer que seja o tempo ele chegará ao seu destino. Uma empresa que não tenha sofrido ao menos uma crise, não saberá como se defender dela quando acontecer. Uma crise, quando tratada a tempo, reforça os anticorpos da organização e das pessoas tornando-se mais atentas e ágeis. As que forem medíocres sucumbirão.

  A empresa inteligente saberá tirar proveito disso encarando a crise como uma oportunidade. Oportunidade de mudar sua forma de atuar, de enxugar custos e livrar-se do obsoleto, de lançar novos produtos e serviços, de racionalizar métodos e processos, de estabelecer novas alianças e parcerias, de incursionar em novos mercados, de redirecionar seus objetivos e estratégias.

  A crise lhe dá a chance de transformar a anta gorda da ineficiência num veloz cavalo de corrida da eficiência. Agradeça à crise por fazê-lo ver melhor quem você é. E aproveite o presente oculto que ela lhe traz: a oportunidade de mudar para melhor.

  Ernesto Artur Berg [www.portaldomarketing.com.br]

  ]]> http://robhahn.wordpress.com/?p=425 Thu, 16 Oct 2008 01:19:13 +0000 -Rob http://notorious-rob.com/2008/10/15/inside-the-brokerage-numbers-part-1-aka-umm-wtf/ [/caption]

  Over at the OnBlog, I posted an item discussing the difference between how much brokerages spend on print advertising vs. their website. That was for the clients (past, present and future) of Onboard Informatics. This blog is where I get to talk speculative BS with friends in the RE.net.

  So... let me start out by saying how much I love the REALTrends guys. They are providing an invaluable service to the industry with their research into productivity numbers and metrics. If you don't subscribe, and you have anything to do with brokerage operations, you probably should. Go. Subscribe. Buy their reports. Tell 'em the Notorious One sent ya.

  I am getting most of my inspiration from the 2007 REALTrends Brokerage Performance Report. (I'm sure this stuff is copyrighted, but I have no desire to hurt REALTrends; I'm considering my usage of their stuff as fair use in order to discuss the issues.)

  Ummm...

  So the first thing I noticed is from the Executive Summary, where RealTrends noted that Productivity Per Person (PPP) dropped again in 2006, and noted that this drop "continue[d] the downward trend of nearly 10 years".

  Wait a second. Nearly 10 years? Ten?

  So we're talking about 1998 - 2008... during which time period we have had the single biggest real estate bubble in the history of the United States, nay, the world resulting in the financial cataclysm of 2008. I don't quite understand. This means that the PPP is divorced from the real estate market as such -- even during the height of the real estate bubble, the PPP dropped.

  Let us keep in mind that this ten year period is when the PC revolution truly hit home: "Productivity grew from 1.33 percent to 2.07 percent between the periods 1975-1993 and 1995-2000, according to Dale Jorgensen of Harvard University, Mun Ho of Resources for the Future, and Kevin Stiroh of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York." If you're so inclined, you can read the original report here (PDF).  It's actually really good.

  Anyhow... so it appears that in the midst of the biggest increase in worker productivity in a generation, real estate brokerages suffer a drop in productivity.  What explains this phenomenon?

  Could it be that real estate is somehow immune to productivity gains from technology? Having email, computer, smartphones, and all the rest simply do not make buyers want to buy any more houses, or buy them faster, or with less work on the part of the agent?  Did real estate agents decide that with all the productivity gains they were making thanks to technology, they weren't going to work any harder, but spend more time on the golf course?

  Again, the market conditions of the past couple of years can't explain this. This drop in productivity was happening throughout the biggest boom in real estate in memory. So what explains the PPP numbers?

  WTF?

  If those numbers make you scratch your head, this one will blow your mind.  Again, according to the REALTrends Report, "Profitability slid to 4.3% [in 2006] from 7.4% [2005] and 7.8% [2004] for the previous two years respectively."

  Now.

  From the exact same executive summary, we learn that

  (a) employment costs dropped 0.4% of GCI from 2005 to 2006;

  (b) advertising expenses dropped 0.55% of GCI from 2005 to 2006; and

  (c) occupancy costs (i.e., office rent) rose 0.3% of GCI from 2005 to 2006.

  These three things taken together make up 75% of all costs of operation in 2006.

  So in summary we have a whopping 41.8% drop in profitability for all brokerages in spite of their cutting employment costs and advertising costs, because office rent went up by 0.3% of GCI?

  It seemingly makes no sense, until you consider that apparently, at least the Top 100 Brokers (that is, the Top 100 of the REAL Trends 500 list) actually added agents and offices between 2005 and 2006.

  In 2005, there were a total of 210,154 agents working for the Top 100; in 2006, that number was 212,431.  The number of offices went from 4,034 to 4,077.  Meanwhile, PPP (Per Person Productivity) went from 9.5 to 8.1 -- a drop of 14.8% -- and total # of closed units went from 1.99 million to 1.73 million (a drop of 13%).

  Incidentally, the 2005 numbers were worse than 2004 numbers.  PPP went from 10.0 to 9.5; total closed units went from 2.08 million to 1.99 million.  But agent numbers went from 208,000 to 210,000 and office numbers went from 3,998 to 4,034.

  So let me get this straight.  Brokers were adding costs while their productivity and revenues were falling... not as an aberration, but as part of a trend?  And people were trying to become real estate agents in the midst of what was clearly a bubble bursting?  And other people were hiring them?

  o.0

  Maybe the three-to-one spend on print advertising over website is not the biggest problem that brokerages have.  And maybe our industry needs fewer Web 2.0 consultants and more straight-up business consultants that understand arcana like "cash flow" and "ROE".

  -rsh

  ]]> http://lrmtrainer.wordpress.com/?p=131 Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:56:48 +0000 lrmtrainer http://lrmtrainer.pl.wordpress.com/2008/10/16/lrm-best-practices-vi-leads-prospects-customers/ When using any kind of lead management software, be it a Lead Response Management, Customer Relationship Management, or something else, it is important to decide the work flow through which your leads will pass. There are three common types of flow. These are usually separated into different tabs within the system. For the purposes of this discussion I will mention tabs.
  The first option is to keep all of your leads in the leads tab. In this model they are differentiated from one another simply by lead status or some other field that denotes where a lead is in the sales process. This kind of setup is useful for companies that work mainly with leads. There can be varying reasons for this. Some companies only qualify leads before passing them on to a third party. Other companies may only sell a lead one and never have contact with them again. A third option is a company that resells to leads on a regular basis (i.e. customers always remain as potential leads). In all of these cases, only the leads tab is necessary.
  Most other types of companies will use a two tab set up: A leads tab and a customers tab. This kind of a work flow is geared toward companies that continue to build a relationship with existing customers. It allows them to separate customers for management purposes so that special reporting can be done on them as well as keeping in contact with those customers, be it through direct contact or automated means.
  The third option is one geared specifically for companies that typically have a long sales cycle. All business models that do not fall into the other two categories fall into this third category with, as always, some exceptions. The prospects tab, in this model, is a tab that falls between the leads and customers tab in work flow. In this setup, lead progress into a prospect when a deal is being discussed between the parties involved. In this case, the only difference between the contacts in the customers tab and those in the prospects tab is simply that prospects have do not yet have a closed deal. Once the deal is closed, the system will then move them over into the prospects tab.