Interview with a blogger - Richard Purvis

Richard Purvis has worked in the Online recruitment industry for the past 9 years.  He started at Stepstone in 1998 before moving over to Totaljobs in May 2001 to set up and run the advertising agency team.  He has been with TipTopJob.com since November 2006.   

How long have  you been blogging?
For about errm let me check my blog.....12.23, March 29th 2007

Why did you start?
My mum's favorite phrase was "if so and so jumped under a bus would you?" I guess I hate feeling left out, also living in the Brecon Beacons and working alone in an office "it's my message in a bottle" to the outside world. Before blogging such comments on the behavior of clients and peers would have been assigned to job board funded lunches and networking events. I felt these tirades deserve a much wider audience.

What do you do, work related, when you aren't blogging?
I work with one of the most passionate sales and marketing teams in the industry to re-start the fortunes of the TTJ (www.tiptopjob.com) network. We are an independent media, a dying breed today. It's certainly a challenge to find your voice in this market without the backing of a media giant but it's a cause worth fighting. Too much of this market place is being bought up by the old publishing houses with intent on recreating the oligopoly they enjoyed with press that is why in addition to this I have been floating the idea of an alliance of an indie online media network although it's really only at the evangelical stage. Oh yes and spending an ridiculous amount of time driving up the M4 between my home in Wales and my office in slough, during which I personally keep Coffee Nation and Ginsters afloat.

Do you think blogging has helped your business?
We are just toying with idea of creating a TTJ blog and hosting it on our server. If I'm honest the only reason I have even considered it is to aid our SEO with the forthcoming changes to google. I respect the comments recently made by Dom at OME, that "Corp web2.0 done badly is embarrassing" so I feel a lengthy strategy meeting coming on. Writing a blog helps focus and document my thoughts, as well as open them up to criticism and comment, which is essential in this business. However it's in reading other peoples blogs I glean most of my insight into the mood and needs of the industry.

What do you feel is the biggest challenge about writing a blog?
It's like going to the gym, once I’m there and doing it I enjoy the experience, but if you don't make it top priority so many other things can slip in front (Hence the large gaps in posting at the moment) so I've tasked myself with doing at least 1 post a week  The other issue that presents itself is treating my blog like some kind of CV or essay, thinking each entry has to be profound, funny, insightful and engaging like I'm holding a lecture or writing a column in the times, is it a surprise I find it hard to find the time. The best blogs are ones that are simply thoughts transferred to page or contain really interesting and useful information both are painfully hard to achieve.

What's another blog that you read and why do you recommend it?
http://domsumners.blogster.com for the reasons stated above.

What do you want your reader’s to know about you?
Although I like a bit of humour and can be mistaken for being glib I'm serious about this industry and doing what I can to positively effect the zeitgeist (at least in the world of online recruitment anyway).  I also like 80’s rock and walks in the country.

If you knew someone was thinking about starting a recruitment related blog, what advice would you want to give them?
Don’t try too hard, just write for you own pleasure at the end of the day there are probably more people writing blogs than reading them anyway. Make sure you believe in what you say and don’t be afraid say what you believe.

Is there a question you wished I asked you?
What’s you favorite quote? One thing that blogging and IM has given me is an unhealthy interest in quoting, I’ve even bought a pair of deck chairs for my garden simply because they allowed me to engrave a quote on the side. Anyway this is a quote I feel is apt for many bloggers. “He was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher...or, as his wife would have it, an idiot.” Douglas Adams.