People should listen more than they speak. So we should read more than we write. Consequently I often find great blog posts that I likely could have written. Examples here and here. But recently I found a great blog post that I likely would have written.
Firestarters from Neil Perkin, Director of Marketing & Strategy for the commercial functions of IPC Media. It's excellent. Not only is it "I couldn't have put it better myself" but it's "exactly how I'd have put it myself".
Times are tough. The recruitment market is tough. But here are 5 reasons why employing people who blog is more important than ever:
1. They start fires. Blogging forces you to come up with new stuff. To be interesting.
2. They understand the value of connection. And are connected. To other interesting people.
3. They get digital. They appreciate the nuances and potential of social media. And how it works. Because they're doing it, not looking at it.
4. They network like crazy.
5. But most of all, because they're bothered. They have an opinion. They're not afraid to express it. They're passionate about their subject. And real passion is rare indeed.
Superb.
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6 comments:
Thanks for the pick up and the kind words Rana. Glad you liked it.
agree, its a great Neil post.
There is also a lovely quote about us having two ears but only one mouth for a reason.
Can we get back to reality?
"Times are tough. The recruitment market is tough. But here are 5 reasons why employing people who blog is more important than ever:
They start fires."
Mr. Perkins should leave Fantasy Media island and realise that in this climate those who start fires get extinguished....quickly. If you're in finance, manufacturing, retail and you want to be a firestarter you'll be shown the exit. No-one likes an arsonist and although your thoughts may be correct and honourable, upsetting the status quo doesn't help at a time when unemployment is going through the roof.
If politicians followed those 5 rules, they would be thrown out because they would tell the honest truth about the state of play today, and we'd all be rioting and clammering for the next available allotment to grow our own vegetables for when the winter becomes really cold. That's why they lie. They don't want to. They have to.
Forget hiring, try to avoid firing.
You're ultimately right in what you say, but in this climate, that sort of advice is madness.
Be careful if you play with matches, you may get burnt.
Blogging doesn't always result in fires.
Bloggers can be sad lonely people who lack connections.
Bloggers can understand very little because blogging platforms are so easy to use. (My six year old has a blog.)
They don't all netork like crazy and I'm a classic example.
Some are afraid to express their opinion and hide behind an anonymous blogger persona and I have done this too.
Thanks for the comments. I don't "network like crazy" but I still appreciate the basic sentiment of Neil's note - as I've said before, whether we like it or not, any non-anonymous blog is an active comprehensive searchable CV, and if that CV shows diverse knowledge and original thoughts, and the courage to open comments to back up those original thoughts, then that's definitely a good thing in this employer's book.
It's funny that the invisible hand doesn't reward firestarters, because the discontented emplyees who know that th organization can do things "better" are the ones whose impulses can strengthen the company.
A staff of "satisfied" employees leads to groupthink. The effective shit disturbers push in new directions.
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