CONNECTING ONLINE BUSINESSWOMEN

SYDNEY

* Includes cocktails & canapes

MELBOURNE

17th February 2009

advantate
156 George Street, Fitzroy, VIC

Click here to register

BRISBANE

19th May 2009

Brisbane venue TBC

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Natasha Zurnamer

ragtradejobs.com

Meet Natasha Zurnamer; dynamic mother of two, the fashion industry's most credited careers counselor and pioneering web technology developer. Founder and director of Ragtradejobs.com, Natasha is the fashion industry's secret weapon, connecting potential hires with careers in fashion faster and better than any other service. She is also about to revolutionise the way in which job seekers and advertisers interact, with the widespread licensing of her innovative technology, SMS Me Jobs.

Ragtradejobs.com features comprehensive advertisements from shop floor assistants at department stores, to pattern cutters at leading couturiers. From the likes of Myer, David Jones, Collette Dinnigan and Kirrily Johnston, Ragtradejobs.com is the most popular resource for those seeking careers in fashion, and quickly assumed its number one ranking top spot since its launch in 2005. Natasha and her team work from the website's Surry Hills headquarters.

Since her first job in fashion on the shop floor at Country Road whilst studying Arts Law at UNSW, Natasha quickly spotted her natural ability and passion for fashion, ditching a legal career and landing an administration role in her early 20s at swimwear giant, seafolly. However, it wasn't only Natasha who spotted her natural ability at Seafolly, with MD Peter Halas, quickly recognising her talent and suitability for a broader business development role and employee mentor, promoting her rapidly through the ranks.

After leaving Seafolly with some solid experience and knowledge in fashion manufacturing and HR, Natasha began consulting full time for a number of fashion manufacturers including the Australian Fashion Group, Farah Australia and Pacific Brands (Bonds and Berlei). Running concurrently was Natasha's involvement with fashion recruitment agency, Massetti where at age 24 she became a shareholder. Natasha's involvement in fashion recruitment was something that would become her passion over the next seven years, guiding and counseling 1000s of candidates, with the experience shaping her career to come.

With the arrival of Gen Y on the job market (and her second child), Natasha quickly spotted the need for a different model of recruitment, embracing the Internet and catering for the disloyal "need it now" generation. The purchase of the Ragtradejobs.com domain name in 2005 was the beginning of the most exciting chapter so far in Natasha's career. After four solid months of preparing the site structure, Ragtradejobs.com. went live in 2006, and for the first time allowed the fashion industry to be specific with regard to recruitment, resulting in a "faster, better match" of candidates and an affordable solution for employers. From launch onwards, Ragtradejobs.com has continued to grow and enjoy successful marketing, all driven by Natasha and her team.

Since the launch, savvy Natasha has gone onto develop what is potentially a revolutionary tool for the job board industry – a piece of technology called SMS Me Jobs.

Patent pending in 103 countries, "SMS Me Jobs" is incredibly simple and effective. Job seekers choosing the service upload their CV and covering letter to the online job board and select the appropriate job categories, location and key words. As soon as a relevant position is advertised an SMS is sent to the potential hire, for them to simply respond to with the word "APPLY", sending their CV in a matter of moments to the employer. Uploaded CVs remain 100% private, meaning at no point will personal details be accessed by potential employers unless the instruction is sent via SMS. At just $0.55 per SMS, it's a small sum to pay for what could be a life changing action.

Natasha is currently in the process of licensing SMS Me Jobs to major job boards in Australia and other key international markets including the UK and the USA.

In her spare time, Natasha volunteers as President of the Board of Emanuel Woollahra Preschool, a not for profit pre-school for 60 3-5 year olds. As President, she has the responsibility of the management of the Preschool with a team of 10 Board Members.

Natasha also mentors Gen Y through her involvement with Vogue's online Careers and Education Forum as well as regularly presenting to fashion students at tertiary level and guest speaker for internal fashion conferences.

As if that was not enough Natasha also enjoys time with her boys who are 5 and 10 and has a passion for fitness, is a zealous "foodie" gives her personal time to assist and mentor other online entrepreneurs to also achieve success in their businesses.

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