(August 29, 2006) Below is a posting by Dennis Smith from the BlogSwap.
On my birthday, August 10th, I had the pleasure of reading John Sumser's Recruiting.com Blogswap post titled, "Does Blogging Mean Anything?" (http://www.recruiting.com/recruiting/2006/08/does_blogging_m.html)
In the post, John urged the blog readers, "…let us know what you get from reading the recruiting blogs, what you don't get and what you hate most." But he also asked that only the blogless readers provide the comments.
While the comments provided were interesting, there were too few to weigh in heavily on the premise of John's post. So I've decided to use my blogswap-privileges (http://www.recruiting.com/blogswap/) to offer up a bit of commentary on John's question. Thank you, John, for affording me the opportunity.
First of all, I understand that I'm breaking the rules - I maintain a blog. In fact, said blog is about to undergo something akin to a facelift (p.s. - it has something to do with a nice little email I received recently courtesy of the peaceful souls who own a job board that starts with the word "Career"). Though best reserved for another post, suffice it to say that my blog, CareerBuilderBlog.com, will soon bear the name: Wirelessjobs.com (http://www.wirelessjobs.com). My apologies for the mini-infomercial, John.
Today, I am a recruiter that blogs. However, in the not too distant past, I sat on the fringes of the recruiting blogosphere, observing from afar the daily workings of the recruiting-bloggers. Content not to interact, I was without comment. Besides, the comments section was daily filled with commentary much more thoughtful than anything I could muster up.
But I was learning.
In fact, for months I returned to the recruiting blogs knowing I would find a source of fresh, rich material pertinent to the daily activities that provided new dirt for my fingernails (as well as the occasional good laugh).
I never stopped to speculate whether my education in the world of blogging related topics (in which I was only a reader) amounted to anything more than "a hill of beans." It seemed obvious that something of enduring value was being built - at least it was for me! I was becoming a better recruiter. And the information that was aiding in this personal development was:
Free
Easy to access
Diverse
Therefore, I did not have to search far to find … value. And I knew I was getting involved in something much larger than myself (a community (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community), if you will) and I was having a blast.
That is why I returned. And that is why I eventually made the decision to join the fray of bloggers. Not because I thought they needed help to spread the word. No, this community of bloggers, as well as the blogosphere in general, would be faring well without me. I'm just not sure I would be doing as well without them - the same bunch of yahoos (to name a few) that afforded me the opportunity to share a meal and a round of blogging ideas: Steve Rothberg (http://www.CollegeRecruiter.com), Jason Davis (http://www.Recruiting.), Jim Durbin (http://stlrecruiting.com/), and yes, Papa himself - John Sumser (http://www.interbiznet.com/hrstart.html).
I'm hopeful that covers the part of John's questions which asks, "What do you get from reading the recruiting blogs?" The last part of John's question, "What do you hate the most?" is much more difficult to answer. So I'll just say that I hate that I didn't get to spend as much time in this blogpost sucking up to John as the Recruiting Animal (http://www.recruitinganimal.com/) did a few days ago (http://www.interbiznet.com/ern/archives/060816.html)..
That's my story and I'm sticking to it,
Dennis Smith
T-Mobile Recruiting
http://www.WirelessJobs.com
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