If I were a recruiter would I.....

.....BLOG?

Here's how I see it now. If I were a recruiter I would want my company to have a recruitment blog to help with SEO, company updates, general recruitment stuff etc. Otherwise you end up with an award winning set of blogs a la PwC i.e. one or two posts a year from their young bloggers who do not appear to have the time, inclination or incentive to post more often.

Whereas, give a recruiter a Twitter account and it is easier for them to maintain and allows them to update candidates about specific recruitment activities they as individual recruiters are working on.

Blog = company. Twitter = recruiter.
Both = better SEO and conversations.

Blogging on its way out - maybe!

I thought the view on blogs being on their way out would not really last but it seems not!  Whilst this may or may not be correct and has probably been fuelled by the same people that predicted the death of recruitment agencies due to job boards, the point of the article I read was that brands will leave the blogoshpere.  The article in New Media Age included:

"Dela Quist, CEO of e-mail company Alchemyworx (not a bit of conflict there then! PG) believes that brands will eventually leave the blogosphere and head for other channels, (what, like e-mail? PG) having been been pulled into blogging for the wrong reasons in the first place.  A blog is a personal thing, it's not an effective marketing tool."

The article goes on about twitter and social networks saying that blogs have been replaced by these new tools!  I think the point of any of the platforms is missed in the article.  They are all communication tools.  Blogs are becoming more 'social' with new features being added all the time but that is not the point.  It is about different communication tools.  I use a blog, social networks, twitter, e-mail etc as do many others.  OK, so Jason Calacanis may have stopped blogging but does that change the world overnight?  His 'blog' is pretty cool mind; if I can call it a blog!

So, it's not about the death or maturing of any particular platform, it is about how we communicate.  We and the technology will continually evolve.  Who knows what will be next. 

Maybe Enhance Media can tell you in their web 3.0 presentation. 

Maybe Tim Forster will be telling you the secret about having blogs with no regular content? 

Maybe we can have one interface to all of our different communication channels. 

Maybe Broadbean could take their multi-job posting approach to 'communication'. 

Maybe I'd better run off to Google Labs and ask them.

Best UK recruitment blog 2008

Looks like the finalists of this years Blog Factor have been announced over on UK Recruiter Blog so to cast your vote please click here. 

I have to be honest though in saying that some of the finalists make it feel just like X Factor i.e. some of the best have been kicked out early on purely because of the fan base of some of the other finalists rather than the quality of their 'singing'. (think Leon V Rhydian, The McDonald Brothers, Eoghan Quigg etc).  So there you go, as much as I think Louise is trying hard to get some kudos for UK recruitment bloggers on the whole most of us are just writing useless crap that doesn't deserve a medal whereas those that are adding some great content are missed off the list.

Maybe there should be some judging criteria which is what we used for our Top 100 career sites awards; makes it a bit more objective although that also creates yet more views on what are the objective measures even!!

2009 will demand more than 'expert' knowledge

Knowing how to cook a turkey (because you have a Jamie Oliver cook book from last year) doesn't mean you'll get it right.  And we all know the consequences of getting it wrong!

2009 will not be a place where the know it alls and big mouths succeed.  Anyone can read a few blogs, reports or books on pretty much any subject but it doesn't make you an expert; even though many seem to think it does. 

The last few years have been easy for everyone.  2009 will demand execution of projects or execution of bad suppliers - which are you?

If you feel insulted or picked on by this post then maybe you should think about who you are, what you do and ultimately, what value you really add. 

Learning new skills is part of your growth curve but the opportunity to learn whilst being paid should come because of previous success.  If you are learning at the expense of others, and they carry all the risk, watch out.  It's not the way for 2009. The real experts will succeed in 2009, the hangers on will find themselves with no place to go. 

Let us hope that paying clients, with very focused budgets and people, make more right decisions than wrong ones.  So that put the onus on the real experts to differentiate themselves; bring on 2009!

Twitter apps and services

Bloggersblog provided a list of Twitter apps most of which are Twitter or Tweet such as:

1. Ego Twitter'in.
2. Qwitter.
3. Tweet Scan.
4. Tweetburner.
5. TweetClouds.
6. Tweetgift.

And of course the list goes on.  Not being a Tweetgeek I haven't got round to checking them all but surely it is only a matter of time before we have Jobtweet, Twitjobs or whatever name someone can think of.  It seems as far as Twitter apps are concerned, the silliest names get chosen so maybe the suggestions above are in with a great chance!

On a more positive note

This year I aim to donate at least 10 laptops to the OLPC.

The mission of One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is to empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one connected laptop to every school-age child. In order to accomplish their goal, they need people who believe in what they are doing and want to help make education for the world’s children a priority, not a privilege.

I for one support this kind of initiative so I'm not all bad after all!

Twitter is like tomatoes

Most people that I mention Twitter to immediately say:

1. Never heard of it

OR

2. What a waste of time.

But like I used to say to my younger brother who always said he didn't like tomatoes but had never tried one; 'Don't knock it til you've tried it!'

And if you are open to try Twitter Paul Walsh - The Irish Opportunist has put down on his blog:

Twitter tips for new users.

Terminal 5 lost bags

I have had my suit case back from Terminal 5.  It had a wonderful trip having visited London, Paris and Milan before being left all on its own in my back garden.  I bet the courier was left under no illusion that it must be delivered and NOT brought back.

I did read that Wee Willie was taking personal responsibility for all lost baggage so maybe he had been practicing courtesy of Globalbagtag?

Say thank you with a card

What a nice way to say thank you and well spotted as ever by Techcrunch.

Have a look for your own over at Someecards!

The generation gap

I was at my mother's at the weekend (Generation W - old) and my daughters (Generation Z - very young) were trying to get her laptop(!) connected to the Internet.

"Grandma, is your Internet access working?"

"It should be but it can be a bit erratic."

"Is the wireless on?"

"Oh, I think I switched it off, can you hear it?!"

"What?"

"Can you hear it?"

"No, of course not!"

"OK, I'll switch it back on then."

At this point we were impressed with her confidence to tackle such technology until:

"It's only tuned into Radio 4 though; it's not really a music station."

Wireless = radio for Grandma - the kids were amused to say the least - as were we!