Bloggers Make Great Employees | BTalk Australia

(13min 48) Bloggers are dedicated and hard working, which should make them sought after employees. That’s the view of recruitment specialist Kelly Magowan from Six Figures.

In today’s BTalk Australia she talks to Phil Dobbie about the skills bloggers bring and discusses the implications of bloggers, like Leslie Nassar, who cross the line of acceptability in the minds of their employers.

What are your thoughts? Add comments in the Talkback section at the end of this post.

See also:
Marketing Through Online Social Networks | BTalk Australia
Are You a Twit? | BTalk Australia
Corporate Blogs and the Law | BTalk Australia
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• Transcript

Phil Dobbie: Hello, I’m Phil Dobbie and welcome to BTalk Australia. Today, bloggers: they’re terrific people so why don’t you give them a job?

Well they spend a lot of their time telling the world what they think about every subject under the sun, I’m talking about bloggers of course and sometimes, if they’re lucky, someone might actually read their blog, although that’s not necessarily guaranteed. But Kelly Magowan, one of the founders at the recruitment site, sixfigures.com.au has said in her blog that bloggers make good employees but I guess you’re a little bit bias, aren’t you Kelly, given that you are a blogger yourself?

Magowan: Yes that’s probably the case, but also as a blogger perhaps seeing things from another perspective and realising that there is opportunities for organisations to use and expand their talent search to bloggers, but also just to use that as a way of assessing them throughout the recruitment process. It’s a good way of seeing real life examples of what this person is capable of.

Dobbie: So is that sort of happening now? If I apply for a job is there a likelihood that the recruiter is actually going to Google my name to find out what I’m doing?

Magowan: I don’t know how much of that we have in Australia but overseas. It sounds like executives and so on that have done research and are showing that quite a substantial number of recruiters will search your details online, you know Google or there’s ZoomInfo and Spokeo, there’s a few that actually consolidate everything about you online?

Dobbie: Scary isn’t it really?

Magowan: It is pretty scary because it’s very accessible. Basically, it sort of pulls everything from Facebook, LinkedIn and any other basic information or social networking site out there and all the data is there for them to access about you so they don’t need to look too far. I’m not sure though how much people do delve into the background when they are recruiting. For some of them it’s a very high volume transactional thing. They’re probably not going to spend too much time researching. I think perhaps maybe for those sort of more senior levels, they will spend a little bit more detail looking at your background and what’s online. Sometimes recruiters can be quit lazy and may not be bothered going in and reading your blog but then I think, on the flipside, some of them in particular think they’ll look at some high level role where there’s more of a commission to make then they spend a little bit more time and detail finding out about your background.

Dobbie: I can give a great example of this, I applied before I obviously found a job that I’m completely in love with which is working for CBS Interactive but before that I foolishly was applying for other jobs and one of them was a head of online for a mobile phone company that begins with the letter V and I went for an interview there and said look if you want to know more about me it’s online. I’ve got a website where I’ve got a lot of information. I’ve got references, case studies and all that sort of stuff and they said, ‘oh we haven’t got time to go check out websites’ and I’m thinking, hmm, I apply for a job —

Magowan: It’s a bit odd isn’t it, because they’re interviewing. I don’t understand. Fair enough every application you get through you can’t sort of do that sort of due diligence if you will, but if you’ve shortlisted people and have taken the time to call them, I’m not sure why you wouldn’t use that opportunity to actually research them a little bit more. And I’d even go so far as to say I think reference checks, by and large, are a waste of time. I actually prefer to see real-life examples of what the person’s doing, feedback comments. You’re getting a more authentic perspective of the individual, rather than I guess when you do references and so on, I mean you’re never going to get or very rarely do you get bad references. You don’t even know if it’s their boss that’s giving the reference. It’s often friends and all sorts.

Dobbie: That’s right.

Magowan: So I actually really like the partiality that this kind of information brings.

Dobbie: So what about the style of the blogger? What qualities do you think generally they can provide, for any sort of job really, that the company is going to benefit from?

Magowan: It really depends on the types of roles that you’re looking to hire them for. And as I mentioned in the article, often bloggers will sort of develop the niche that require their expertise and so it’s clearly a case of seeing is that relevant and does that correlate with what this role involves and the business needs because I think we are sort of entering the age sort of where the whole mass across everything that people are becoming more and more I guess experts in their field, if you want to be successful or you’ll have yourself a few core areas in which you’re the go-to person for. So I think for a blogger, you can see where their specialties and passion more importantly lies. You can see how current they are, how well connected they are, you can see their commitment levels because it does require a strong commitment to continue to blog. Sometimes people haven’t touched their blog for like six months or a year so I probably wouldn’t really consider them, but if someone’s regularly blogging about a particular area, you can see their style of writing and you can see if that sort of correlates with what your business is about and the values. You’ve get a good sense of the person if you read a number of their blogs, I guess as we sort of said initially, it’s reliant on a recruiter or a hiring person taking that time to actually understand the person and go into that detail.

Dobbie: Do you think there’s a concern from some companies that if they recruit somebody who gets to be known as a blogger and some of these people are almost online celebrities now aren’t they? Isn’t there danger that what that person has said, the views that they might have put across in their blog, companies are fearful they might then get associated with their own company policies so they’re reluctant to hire bloggers, particularly though the ones who are more outspoken?

Magowan: I think so. I think companies are just as nervous about feedback and comments in general, which is unfortunate because conversation is good and feedback good and bad, and understanding in your market is crucial so I think that unfortunately though businesses still struggle with that, there’s probably a few interesting points that you raised there. I personally believe that, I’m not sure if you’ve done a segment on personal branding but I do think it’s important for employees to have their own personal brand as well as the organisational brand. You don’t want to be identified by who you work for. You need to be identified also as you’re the expert in X, Y and Z. So even when you’re not with that company you’ve still got your own brand rather than I’m the expert at company X. I’m just the expert in X, Y and Z and I think that’s what people need to focus more and more on.

Dobbie: Yeah, but that’s — I hate the word — a paradigm shift for companies, isn’t it really?

Magowan: And for individuals and some employees I think you have to look beyond yourself as I’m an employee of company X that these are the skills that I have, whilst I’m here these are the values, but you need to be confident and comfortable with what your niche and expertise is so then you’re always guaranteed the employment and you can move around because it is a very transient workforce these days, which may be thrust upon you or you may choose to have it that way. So I’m very much an advocate of don’t be defined by where you work.

Dobbie: Yeah

Magowan: The other part of it is too that you can have your own blog and do your own blogging and that separates the organisation and/or as well as having the organisational blogging sort of persona and within that organisational blogging is the keys that you have to adhere to whatever the company policy is. Obviously around corporate secrets, privacy, confidentiality.

Dobbie: Or what about criticism?

Magowan: That’s the thing, I think criticism isn’t a bad thing. I think businesses are so fearful of criticism when they should actually embrace it. And often when you find with blogging or anybody who gives you feedback. They’ll often be extreme, either they’re really happy or really unhappy.

Dobbie: If I was to write in my own personal blog that I think CBS are wrong in doing this or that, am I opening myself up, do they have grounds to fire me? I could have had the same conversation in a pub, of course, with a total stranger but I do it online and it’s more visible.

Magowan: That’s where it gets a bit dicey that if the company doesn’t provide mechanisms for employees to give feedback internally, and again it’s a free world, you’re allowed to express your views. The company then also hopefully are monitoring what is being said out there about them and they have an opportunity to come and address that comment and they can do that in a public forum and they might say, we understand your views, however this, that and that is why so this is the way we see it. And then you’re getting multiple perspectives rather than I think more and more people are sick of being, and I know you talk about all this anyway, but the whole message being so contrived and thrust upon people the one way companies — this is what we are, this is what we do, this is what we represent, even if that’s not the reality. And I think they need to be open that people are entitled to their opinions and say well this is what you say but in my experience this isn’t the reality. It’s just like all the consumer sites. Particularly people, which is interesting, with six figures because obviously niche job sites are six-figure salary earners that this market segment of consumers are 25 to 55 that are on this sort of 100K plus, are an incredibly influential group and that they will share their views and opinions. So I think the reality is that’s just what is happening and will continue to happen. And organisations rather than being I guess restricting it, need to embrace it and look at how do they work with that and leverage that for their benefit as well because ultimately it will benefit them if they can be bothered listening.

Dobbie: So we had that interesting case of being satire, we had that interesting case last week about Leslie Nassar who is this guy who is —

Magowan: In Telstra, yes.

Dobbie: — who was masquerading on Twitter as a fake Stephen Conroy, the communications minister, he said a few, I think a few derogatory things in a satirical way initially I think about Telstra. Telstra got rid of him. I think he also swore at his boss, and he started to say a few things that perhaps weren’t tolerable but aside from that did Telstra do the right thing or should they have more of a sense of humour?

Magowan: I definitely think they need a sense of humour and I think he’s probably just voicing many, many people’s opinions.

Dobbie: Views at Telstra, yes.

Magowan: And I think again it just makes you, by behaving like that and taking that action you do become sceptical of them, don’t you and question them. And again it depends at what point. When there is offensive language and you know discrimination, there’s guidelines isn’t there, what is acceptable generally. But I think big businesses and people are entitled to share their views about the organisation. I don’t think it was a sackable offense. I think they took it a bit too far. Maybe they just wanted PR. Who knows.

Dobbie: Well they certainly got that. That is the interesting thing, isn’t it? That became sort of like a front page story in some newspapers. We’re facing a lot of transition aren’t we in the way that we behave online and the way companies have to react.

Magowan: We are and I think they’re finding it, and understandably so, forever companies have been able to control what’s said about the company, control how their people act, control what people say within the organisation and I think a lot of them are running scared and not sure what to do about this scenario and again I think it comes from the top. It was interesting, I think I was reading in the Company Director’s magazine, how you know all those senior people at the top just aren’t interested and don’t use social media, don’t want to know really what’s going on online. So until it changes in that sort of senior echelons, and that’s the CEO’s, the directors, the executives and so on I don’t think those sort of beneath them have much choice as how to manage it more effectively because the people who are setting the policies and running the organisation are sort of just ignoring it I guess. It’s kind of like, well that’s not relevant for me so I kind of don’t want to understand it. I’m not involved and so on, well actually no, you do have to understand it because it’s a part of business, it’s a part of hiring people, it’s a part of your brand. You can’t just sort of shut down and say because I’m over 50 it’s not relevant.

Dobbie: Yes, lost in the dark ages a bit, aren’t they? Well listen I hope we don’t go too far with this whole thing and find you get to the stage where you apply for a job and the interviewer says you’re great for the job but we can’t give it to you because you haven’t gotten enough followers on Twitter. That would be rather disappointing, wouldn’t it? Thanks very much for your time today, Kelly.

Magowan: Thanks for inviting me on the show.

Dobbie: You’re welcome, on the show? It makes it sound like I should do a tap dance routine or something, doesn’t it?