the recruitosphere’s existential discontent
John Sumser has an interesting BlogSwap post up at Recruiting.com today about whether there’s any value in blogging if essentially we’re just blogging for each other.
It’s not a new question- I seem to remember a kerfuffle a few weeks ago about whether or not the recruiting blogosphere is simply a “mutual admiration society” or not.
It’s a valid question- I know there are days when I, like the commenter on Sumser’s post, feel sort of confused by all the inside jokes and weird nicknames being bandied about by the recruitosphere A-listers. But nonetheless, whether I write Magic Pot of Jobs or not, I’m still finding a lot of value in my fellow recruiting bloggers’ postings.
Permit me to beg the question, though: Even if we’re only creating value for our fellow bloggers, is that such a bad thing? Clearly we have joined this community because we find it valuable, and the failure of others to find that value themselves doesn’t diminish the value of the community to me, or to HR Guy, or to Canadian Headhunter, or whatever.
What do you guys think?
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August 9th, 2006 at 8:47 pm
Hi Tiffany. I love your blog. You make me think and you add value to my thought process about recruiting and what is important to employers and job seekers. Is that value diminished simply because I also choose to blog about my area of focus - I hope not.
The truth is, even if NO ONE read my EXCELER8ion blog, it provides value to ME. My blog is where I flesh out my thoughts and better form my ideas about employment marketing and branding. So if it provides value to no one else - I am fine with that. If my posts make people think - then that is great. If readers actually choose to comment and help me develop and think through my ideas even more - well then that is sweetest butter-cream icing on the cake.
August 10th, 2006 at 11:46 am
Tiffany great blog, great post and great points. One thing I would say in defense of those who - like me perhaps - go off on a tangent from time to time, if the technology worked it would be much less confusing. For example, if backtracking worked more often than not you could have gotten the context of my comment by going to my site and the post I wrote that talks to John Sumser’s ridiculous request for bloggers not to comment. That’s like saying chew but don’t swallow! Anyway, if you or your readers have an interest, take a look at my Tongue-tied post: http://recruitomatic.wordpress.com/2006/08/08/tongue-tied/
Keep up your exemplary work.
Amitai
August 10th, 2006 at 11:56 am
Sure it’s valuable. I just learned a lesson from you. If you want someone to comment mention his name.
Listen, if Jay-Dee Jason Davis had his way every recruiter would have a blog. Would that mean that they wouldn’t derive benefit from reading eachother? Who else would read them?
John’s real question is: is our audience LIMITED to a few bloggers not including the wider recruiting community. My answer is yes. I suspect that there are no more than 200 regular readers of the Recruitosphere (just the blogs, not including Interiznet and ERE).
August 10th, 2006 at 12:12 pm
Really? Only 200? My stats indicate that I had 2794 distinct readers last month. Now, certainly a chunk of that is the Googlebot and his contemporaries, but I’m sure that doesn’t count for anything even close to 90% of my traffic. And I consider myself a B-lister at best in the Recruitosphere.
August 21st, 2006 at 11:53 am
Of course it is valuable and appreciated. There are days like today that your daily dose makes up for my daily dose of recruiting insanity. On the flipside, I guess it is possible to provide help, insight and humor at the same time and at the same place. Your tips may actually help candidates sort out things - for example, that they should not use power point to create resumes.
MyITRecruiter