As I’m sure everyone in the industry knows by now, SimplyHired has reloaded their formerly-on-life-support blog, spearheaded by board member Jeff Hunter of Talentism fame.
Thumbs down. Let me get this straight. A so-called “cutting edge,” Silicon Valley dot-com with plenty of investment coin sits on its ass for, um, Who knows how long? suddenly discovers that blogging is important, and the pundits are cheering.
That’s bunk.
How about celebrating job sites like College Recruiter and Talent Zoo, who have been on the blogging tip actively and passionately long before SimplyHired woke up?
Thanks to Jobster blogging since way back in the day, I know the entire social schedule of their CEO. Hell, even everyone’s favorite dinosaur has been blogging since ‘05 (yeah, it sucks, but that’s beside the point).
We should have higher standards and celebrate those organizations and people who have respectable track records of success when it comes to blogging. Shooting stars go as fast as they come.
Show me somethin’, SimplyHired.
Thumbs up. Personalities matter. The technology behind blogging is easy. Setting one up is as easy as ordering pizza (mmm, pizza). What sets them apart is the publisher. The one who provides the content. The talent. The personality.
There’s a good reason Sirius invested in Howard Stern. I’ll never be Jeff Hunter, Gautam Godhwani, Jason Davis or Jason Goldberg. They’ll never be me.
By securing blogging talent, such as Hunter, SimplyHired has set itself apart by offering unique content from the people I, and others, trust. I’ll tune in for the simple fact that I like and respect these personlities. There’s a style, character and prose I recognize and love.
And by securing such talent, SimplyHired is guaranteeing itself the leg-up on the competition when it comes to 1) attracting thought leaders to its readership, 2) creating linkworthy content, 3) creating buzzworthy content and, probably the most important, 4) providing content worthy of passive job seekers’ attention.
Smart sites will seek out blogging personalities who fit their niche with a strong fan base and retain their services if they want to maintain or find success in a Web. 2.0 world.
I don’t know if SimplyHired is paying their contributors. I don’t know if ERE is paying Crispin for his blog content. But if they’re not, they should be.
One last thought: Think a start-up could generate some nice attention by contracting John Sumser or Peter Weddle for blog content?
Exactly.
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September 7th, 2006 at 4:09 pm
I read Cheezhead on a daily basis because it is both entertaining and informative. There are plenty of blogs out there that offer worthless tidbits of information. If a blog offers valuable content it should be welcomed. I’m curious to see how these new blogs progress. I would prefer no blog to a bad one.
September 7th, 2006 at 6:21 pm
Fair criticism, Joel. We’ve been so intensely focused on the product side of the house here at Simply Hired that we let our blog slip away from us. In doing that, we missed out on the opportunity to hear from both candidates and talent seekers alike about the issues that matter most to them. Lesson learned.
In jumpstarting our blog, we won’t spend much time on the details of Gautam’s social life. What we will focus on, however, are the challenges that face talent seekers in their hunt for stellar employees, as well as tips for candidates on the prowl for jobs they love.
Of course, the proof is in the pudding. So give Simply Blog another try, folks. We think you’ll like what you’ll find.