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Exceptional Magazine : 2014 Exceptional Magazine
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Exceptional Australia 2014 Iwas never a good employee," says Andrew, "and always had an inkling that I wanted to do something for myself.” It was in 1997, while Andrew's brother was looking for a house, that they realised just how ineffcient classifed advertising was and the idea for SEEK was born. "We had a notion we could improve it. We'd just started using the internet ourselves and recognised that once it became more mainstream, it could provide a better way of doing anything that classifeds used to do, like looking for a house or, in SEEK's case, fnding a job.” As Chief Executive Offcer and co-founder of SEEK, Andrew has led the strategy and growth of the business since inception. SEEK has transformed the way job seekers and employers fnd each other, creating a marketplace where job seekers can search and apply for jobs more effciently and employers can access the largest audience of prospective candidates in a cost-effective manner. Listed in 2005, SEEK has grown to be an ASX 100-listed company with a market capitalisation of approximately A$3.8 billion. Since listing, the business has produced total shareholder returns of 350%. “We’ve had a willingness to continue to back ourselves, to remain entrepreneurial and to keep taking risks which, as a listed company, can get harder in the public environment where anything that even smells like a mistake can cause a lot of trouble," says Andrew. A key driver of shareholder returns has been Andrew's effort in leading the mergers, acquisitions and organic growth of global employment marketplaces and education businesses. Alongside those in Australia and New Zealand, SEEK now has number one or number two online employment marketplaces (by job seeker visits) across Asia (including China), Brazil and Mexico. Through these businesses, SEEK has global exposure to 2.2 billion people, displaying over 1 million job ads and attracting about 275 million visits to its sites in any given month. 6 SEEK owns and operates several leading education businesses. Collectively, they enrol over 50,000 students and provide education to 20,000 students per year. SEEK Education plays a meaningful role in helping upskill working adults and contributing to Australia's large international student market. Andrew believes that being an entrepreneur requires perseverance. "You have to recognise that there are no shortcuts," he says "You need to have a good idea, but you also need to be able to push it forward, to believe in yourself and to keep going." He also thinks "To be an entrepreneur takes perseverance --- recognising that there are no shortcuts.” Andrew Bassat, SEEK 2013 Australian EY Entrepreneur Of The Year
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