Interview with a blogger - Lisette Howlett

Lisette Howlett has 15 years global HR experience within blue chip companies and 5 years in local government and the public sector.  Her blog is part of the mlh global hr consulting website - her HR consulting business.  The majority of the blogs listed on the UK Recruitment Blogs page are very strongly recruitment focused, however, Lisette’s covers a great breadth of HR related topics.  These include recruitment and recruitment effectiveness; talent management and capability development; recruitment strategy and strategic recruitment; the role of HR and its contribution to business success and the people and organisation side of Mergers and Acquisitions. 

How long have you been blogging?
I am new to the whole area of blogging.  Until recently I had a senior corporate role and would never have dreamed of putting my name (which was of course the corporate name) into the open arena in such a free and unstructured way.  As owner of my own businesses I am my Brand and this is quite different.  My blog went live this January with my first blog on 14th Jan.

Why did you start?
In some ways it became a natural progression to my branding and marketing.  I contribute to the CIPD communities and this introduced me to the idea of expressing and sharing views.  Finally I felt the need to bring my HR consulting business website a bit more to life.

What do you do, work related, when you aren't blogging?
I run two businesses.  Firstly mlh global hr consulting.  Secondly, I founded and run HireScores.com, which is a site dedicated to all things to do with recruitment and working.  Hirescores is founded on the premise that information will contribute to quality and performance improvement in the recruitment area.  A core philosophy of the site is also that the three elements involved, candidates, recruiters (intermediaries) and hiring companies need to work together.  This premise also underpins the HireScores.com forum.

Do you think blogging has helped your business?
I think it is probably too early to say.  I monitor my blog and do get some readers (but no comments, alas). I think that it contributes to my reputation (which is a good thing) but cannot say that it wins me new businesss.  Providing HR consulting to the corporate world is more about reputation and contacts - our website is more of a ‘showcase’ than a sales vehicle.  People go to it to check me out rather than find me through it.

What do you feel is the biggest challenge about writing a blog?
One is exposing yourself and your thinking and the second is keeping it fresh with new and interesting content.  When I started I was terrified.  I focused on content and avoided opinions.  I am still quite cautious and have a few blogs that I have written but not posted. 

What's another blog that you read and why do you recommend it?
I usually have a look at all the blogs that are featured on UK recruiter.  The first blog I read when exploring this area with the idea of setting up my own was murmurs and musings on success at work.  I continue to like it – probably because it covers topics that are of interest to me, and it is well written.

What do you want your reader’s to know about you?
I guess that I would want people to know that I am passionate about what I do, that I care about the topics of recruitment and HR, am imaginative and good at problem solving.  Also that I am married, have cats and mostly work and like working (hmmm maybe that is something I should keep to myself).  Also that I am always willing to help people out so if you have questions or you think that there is anything I can do, just let me know.

If you knew someone was thinking about starting a recruitment related blog, what advice would you want to give them?
Think about this seriously since once you start you need to keep it up (I say this from the experience of someone who set the target of three a week and have recently fallen behind).  Read the blogging course on better business blogging – it is free and really helpful.  Plan some themes and write blogs on them – it helps with the flow

Is there a question you wished I asked you?
Absolutely not!