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Blogging for Candidates 101: Nuts and Bolts
A "blog" is simply an internet (web) log. Blogs are created for personal or professional use. They may promote a product or service, or merely serve as a personal online journal. There are currently just over four million blogs today, with a new blog born every seven seconds. The problem of cocooning candidates Today, we work and live in an era of heightened cynicism and secrecy. Isn't it much harder than it used to be to call into a company and attempt to speak with a candidate by telephone? Central voice mail systems have grown more sophisticated and guarded. And even when recruiters are able to finally speak with an actual live person, it's often a reluctant administrative assistant or receptionist. Finally, if you are fortunate enough to be transferred to your candidate, more often than not you are greeted with that person's individual voice mail recording. It has become de facto practice by many professionals today to simply leave their "do not disturb" function turned on for most of the work day. Later, they will screen and return external calls at their discretion. To address these changes, in recent years legitimate e-mail and web site marketing was considered a non-threatening (and somewhat successful) way to reach these "cocooning candidates." These are in fact still viable tools, but there costly learning curves associated with them. Some recruiters have gone back to launching traditional direct mail campaigns. However, this can be an expensive and time consuming proposition to undertake with regularity. Success may be mixed until you find just the right combination of style and timing. Moreover, most outreach marketing attempts essentially are competing for a candidate's attention today. Consider this: ? Only 29% of eligible job seekers visit the "Big Three" (Monster.com, Hotjobs.com, CareerBuilder.com) What can blogging do for you? Recruiters (or researchers) who seek candidates for open positions, or to profile candidate requirements for the purpose of building a network pipeline, there are two ways we can use blogs: (1) The first way is to start your own blog and attract top talent to your blog site. This is not an overnight marketing cure-all, and it will require some patience. But cultivating a readership of professionals in your niche field is a highly effective means of reaching candidates who would have never otherwise learned about your career openings. The key to making this work is to learn to attract a specialized readership to your blog, just like a beacon in the night. You don't need millions of readers?Just hundreds of the right readers. (2) The second approach is to search other existing blogs and develop contacts and relationships. This is a perfectly legitimate means of networking, as any internet page is essentially public domain information. Based on posting activity and interactions you initiate, you can easily develop in-roads and find more candidates in less time.Let's talk about both approaches. You want to start your own blog. Now what? How much time do I need to spend on my blog? What do I write about?By their very nature of being near real-time, dynamic logs about life, blogs are frequently published mediums. I publish my blog at least three times per week (sometimes more often if I have more to say).If you are going to take the time to create an effective blog, and develop a regular reading audience, I suggest blogging at least twice every week. How do I decide what to blog about? Who is your audience? What message are you trying to convey? Are you recruiting for new business clients? Looking for joint venture relationships? In need of candidates who are in short supply in your market place? Are you selling products or services, or promoting your company brand? The first step you should take is to decide on what your intended focus will be. If you write about what's wrong with our political system one week, then the following week write about outsourcing IT services to India, then in week three prattle on about how beautiful your home town is in the fall, your readership will not feel a sense of community or predictability about you. This completely defeats the purpose of building trust and credibility! You would be better off making cold calls if you continue on this path. One of my blogs (The Hiring Insider, www.hiringinsider.com) shares tips and tools to help line managers, corporate recruiters, human resource professionals, etc. learn to make better hires faster (or so I hope). Week in and week out, I try to maintain a specific, consistent thread of helpful information that builds upon previous week's blog entries. However, a new reader should be able to jump in without any trouble at any time, so remember this as you plan your writing agenda. My other blog (http://jobsblog.blogspot.com) provides tips to job seekers in the life sciences field who are confused about who to trust in the pharmaceutical job market, and what practices to engage in and avoid in order to land the best possible job for their skill set.As you craft your blog entries, constantly think about who, what, why, where and how. Be sure to ask yourself where you are headed over time with your blog topics. Try to stay theme-related. How do I choose a service to blog on? There are many services available. For beginners, I recommend using blogger.com (Pyra labs). Google acquired blogger.com in February of 2004 (http://weblog.siliconvalley.com/column/dangillmor/archives/000802.shtml) and is really enhancing its features. It's also FREE. Yep, you can register for an account in less than ten minutes and be up and blogging. Other great tools include Typepad (http://www.typepad.com/) and Movable Type (http://www.movabletype.org/). Again, the most important ingredients are publishing good content, and establishing and maintaining a base audience. However, you aren't done yet. Now that you've come this far, you need to promote your blog and get yourself out of the starting gate.Begin by submitting your blog to the blog search engines. There are several hundred of these, and they are growing by the day. It is somewhat arbitrary which ones you choose to register with. However, at a minimum, I recommend that you register your site with at least the following: www.technorati.com What if I don't want my own blog? If you decide instead that you want to search other blogs to source candidates, you can do any or all of these three steps:First, search for blogs based on what skill sets you are seeking (Oracle blogs, copywriting blogs, programmer blogs). Secondly, read the blog entries and see who is posting comments. Third, most bloggers have "blog-rolls" on either the left or ride side of the page. These cite other blogs that they like, and are usually related to the subject matter on their own blog. Resourceful recruiters will take advantage of these links and research them as well. You will also find blogs they may like or recommend which are unrelated. While I generally post relevant blogs, I also try to have a little fun. After all, recruiting is challenging work?Why not take a break and see what Dave Barry is up to? http://weblog.herald.com/column/davebarry/ © Lucia Apollo Shaw, HireWorks, Inc. 2004HireWorks, Inc. helps small to midsize organizations in the life sciences recruit and retain top talent. http://www.hire-works.com Visit our blog at http://www.hiringinsider.com
MORE RESOURCES: Careers at Givaudan Givaudan Careers Oaktree Capital Meet Native American Veterans where they live with a VA career VA.gov Home | Veterans Affairs Careers | Career Opportunities West Virginia University I moved to Alaska after college for a job. I lost all my friends because I put my career first. Business Insider Jobs City of Rochester (.gov) Careers at TWU Texas Woman's University 15 Companies Offering Health Insurance to Part-Time Workers U.S News & World Report Money Careers at FEMA FEMA Careers at Willamette my.willamette.edu Physicians are the nation’s top earners – a slideshow Medical Economics Jobs and Training at FDA FDA.gov Jobs at Liberty University Liberty News City of Tampa Careers City of Tampa Careers at VA VA.gov Home | Veterans Affairs Job Seekers University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Healthcare Jobs at Novant Health | Novant Health Novant Health Careers BASF Careers at University of Missouri Health Care | University of Missouri Health Care jobs University of Missouri Health Care MPP Employment Data USC Sol Price School of Public Policy Nursing jobs VA.gov Home | Veterans Affairs Career Opportunities UMHB Jobs at BCA Minnesota Department of Public Safety Statement by Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su on October jobs report US Department of Labor Careers at Union | Human Resources Union College Careers West Virginia Department of Education Careers Washington State University Employment Services American Mathematical Society Recruiters urge candidates to use AI to apply for jobs Financial Times Working for ICE U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Newsroom US employers added just 12,000 jobs last month as hurricanes and strikes sharply reduce payrolls The Associated Press Work at DHS: Career Opportunities Wisconsin Department of Health Services Employment Statistics Columbia SIPA October 2024 jobs report: How two major hurricanes, labor strike might affect the numbers - NBC News UF Health Careers UF Health - University of Florida Health Employment benefits VA.gov Home | Veterans Affairs Work for Us (U.S. National Park Service) National Park Service Careers at Prairie View A&M University Prairie View A&M University Job Search Results UnitedHealth Group UN COMMON CAREERS VCU Health Work With Us National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Career Opportunities Gilead Sciences Employment | Department of Corrections Governor Tom Wolf Careers S&P Global Careers Medline Reservists (On-Call) FEMA Job Opportunities Bellevue School District How to Apply FEMA Job Opportunities Southwest Minnesota State University DOE Report Shows Clean Energy Jobs Grew at More Than Twice the Rate of Overall U.S. Employment Energy.gov Careers Micron Careers at Discovery Education Discovery Education Jobs report on eve of election will be among the most muddled in years The Associated Press Join our team FHI 360 Careers KPMG Early Career GlobalFoundries Certified Direct Care Professional (CDCP) Wisconsin Department of Health Services Careers The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation Internship Opportunities | Careers Boston Consulting Group What Trump's election victory means for job seekers Business Insider Jobs and internships at ABC7 Los Angeles ABC7 Los Angeles Careers at Jacobs Jacobs Careers in A&O Shearman Careers UNICEF USA Work At Chess.com Chess.com Students and graduates JPMorgan Chase Career Paths FEMA Highest-Paying Engineering Careers in 2024 University of North Dakota The 16 Best Jobs for Creative & Restless ADHD Brains ADDitude magazine Mental health at work World Health Organization The 10 jobs that landed the biggest pay rises in financial year 2024 The Australian Financial Review How many jobs are available in technology in the US? Computerworld |
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