Interview with a Blogger - James Parr

James Parr is one of my recent additions to the UK Recruitment Blogs feed page.  His blog covers recruitment issues, insight into his organisation (Omni RMS), and general life chatter (including a massive rant about a cinema experience).  He’s an avid reader of other blogs and picks up and comments on some great posts from non-recruitment bloggers. Here is my interview with James

How long have you been blogging?
I’ve been blogging since just before Christmas so I’m still fairly new to the game.  I’ve been reading blogs for about 2 years though before taking the plunge.  It was really something that I fell into; I came across gapingvoid (the Hugh MacLeod blog) by accident and that led me to the likes of Seth Godin, Kathy Sierra, Robert Scoble, Guy Kawasaki etc.  The whole web 2.0, marketing for communities thing really interested me so I just kept reading and now my list of ‘must-read’ blogs is enormous!

Why did you start?
I actually started blogging because of work really.  I’d been trying to sell it to my MD for a while as I felt that us having a blog presence in an area that wasn’t exactly over represented (i.e. recruitment, HR etc) was a good idea. 

What do you do, work related, when you aren't blogging?
I’m an Account Manager for a Recruitment Process Outsourcer – Omni Resource Management Solutions.  We’re the UKs leading independent Recruitment Outsourcing company and my role is to look after one of the organisations clients, Allied Irish Bank.

Do you think blogging has helped your business?
I think it’s beginning to help and I think it will continue to do so.  My vague timeframe (in my head at least) is that it will take at least 18 months, more likely 2 years to see real tangible results from blogging.  Before that though blogging helps with focussing what kind of organisation we are (we are becoming more transparent and open as a result of the blog) and creating a genuine sense of what kind of ‘personality’ the company has.

What do you feel is the biggest challenge about writing a blog?
For me it’s 2 things.  Firstly it’s finding the time to blog.  Although blogging is my responsibility it’s not my core role.  Therefore I have to make time for it and sometimes it’ll be the first thing that ends up sliding down my to-do list.  I suppose therefore it can be something that just adds a bit of extra pressure to my role and I really feel guilty if I don’t blog for a few days, even though I know in reality it’s something that not very many people would notice currently.

Secondly for me, I think it’s a real challenge to blog about things that interest people.  I could bang out a post a day, every day if my content filter was turned down low.  The thing is I only want posts up there that add value.  I am truly grateful for any readers I get and therefore feel a duty to provide them with something worthwhile reading. 

What's another blog that you read and why do you recommend it?
As I said before, there’s lots of them so this is a tough question to answer.  My my top 3 (in no particular order) are: gapingvoid.com – Hugh MacLeod, Seth’s Blog – Seth Godin and
Creating Passionate Users – Kathy Sierra

What do you want your reader’s to know about you?
Ideally I want my readers to know everything about me!  That’s scary to read back actually but in reality I think it’s the only way to go with blogging.  If you’re not authentic or try and trick your way to a higher readership, or even if you’re just selective in your disclosure then in this sphere you’ll be found out.  Total honesty and total transparency are vital.  Without that how do you develop a relationship with people (which is what I think blogging is all about)?

If you knew someone was thinking about starting a recruitment related blog, what advice would you want to give them?
Similar to above really; be honest, be authentic, be useful and engage with people.  The more you can be a source of information and entertainment, the more grateful you are, the more humble you are, the better.  Recruitment itself is a fairly poorly regarded industry and I don’t think the reputation is completely undeserved.  Buck the trend and be the best contributor to this new medium that you can be.

Is there a question you wished I asked you?
To be honest I was hoping to do well in the swimsuit round but I understand that’s been scrapped now, so I’m fairly disappointed.  The questions were all good though.  Just a pity I did my bikini line before checking the format…   

Comments

[hugh macleod]

For seeing tangible and beneficial career results from blogging, yep, I reckon 2 years is about right.

Which seems like a long time, granted, until 2 years pass and you're grateful that you stuck with it.

Thanks to James for the kind words. Kathy and Seth are two of my faves, as well.