How do I create a stand-out recruiting blog? (Q&A)
: I am thinking of starting a recruiting blog. What do you think would make it interesting, compelling or otherwise stand out?
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A: I was recently asked to participate in a Kennedy Information audio conference on that very topic (supposedly happening next month; details TBA), so I'll give you a preview. I recommend a five-prong approach (do they still make forks like that?):
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, T3 v. h' z& @8 e1) A unique format: To help it stand out, be different. This can be in a visual sense (layout) and/or in compositional structure. In my case, I chose a Q&A format. I take questions (like yours) and answer them on the blog, removing all the personally-identifying information. I think that makes it real and interesting. Though I may be the first to have adapted Q&A for recruiting blogs, I'm sure other similarly-formatted blogs preceded it in other industries. You may want to peruse them and see what the good ones do to make the content compelling. You won't violate any copyrights by emulating a compositional format, because the questions you select and the answers you provide will be unique combination of your own. Be more careful on emulating layouts/designs.
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2) Have a theme relating to your expertise, but don't limit yourself: Pick something about which you're passionate and/or an expert. For Advanced Online Recruiting Techniques, I have chosen sourcing and recruitment branding as my Q&A arenas, which gives me a wide range of topics to cover from software and web tools to niche job boards to employment websites to how-to's on search strings. Or if you consider yourself a general industry expert, then why not offer to take on any tough recruiting question (in addition to sourcing), which really opens up the possibilities? It's fine if you can't answer the question off the top of your head; you'll learn a lot in the process of researching the answers (also see #4). - `/ X2 W' j3 o8 R! J/ h2 o
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3) Creating a contest: Again, using my Q&A format as an example, you could offer a prize for best question of the week submitted. If you don't have a physical prize to offer, let someone win an hour of your sourcing time (which, if you're an expert, might be perceived as even more valuable!). 6 w2 s, J' j" \2 F: P
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4) Group blogging with a twist: Some of the most successful blogs have posts on a fairly frequent basis, as it tends to grow awareness/traffic (though I am not necessarily advocating this -- I'd much rather see infrequent posts of high quality than daily dribble). But few people have the time or talent to deliver high quality that frequently. Instead, they team up with people they respect to write posts on a rotating basis, spreading the burden. How might that work in the Q&A format? Why not ask other recruiting gurus to provide their own answers to the question you received, and you include multiple perspectives in one Q&A blog post. As Recruiting Animal recently stated, recruiting bloggers have big egos, but I think you could get some heavy hitters to contribute. That would be buzzworthy content!
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5) Tie your blog in as part of a recruiting portal with related resources to help the kinds of people you'd like to see reading your blog (see my last blog post). This can be much more useful than a blog on its own, and should also help with stickiness, buzz, traffic, etc. . K+ r1 a2 J) ^+ T+ p' h3 L. t! u
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Please note that I haven't implemented all these myself. It is more like a wish list. If you'd like to add to the wish list or you know anyone doing this, please comment; I'd love to hear about it.
