Interview with a blogger - Heidi Moulson

Heidi Moulson is a Director of oZZle.co.uk, a job board dedicated to the Print and Packaging industries. Heidi started her career in recruitment, but was then attracted to selling into the exploding electronics industry in the early 90’s. Her background is sales and marketing and in the latter stages of her electronics career, was actively involved in selling outsourced manufacturing solutions into China and the Far East. Heidi then got fed up with Chinese takeaways and moved back into the recruitment area, using her sales and marketing skills and relating them to the online recruitment arena. On her blog she talkes about all aspects of recruitment, ensuring posts are equally targeted for job seekers and her clients (recruiters).

How long have you been blogging?
I am a newcomer to blogging and only started in April this year.

Why did you start?
We operate in the Print and Packaging industry which is very tactile and still wary of the internet and it’s affect on their business, so I wanted to add a human element to our online activity. I felt it was really important to engage the people in our industry so they can truly understand and value the many facets of the internet. I have tried to involve our job seekers and customers in our early postings so they have the opportunity to share their personal views and thoughts.

What do you do, work related, when you aren't blogging?
I am responsible for the Sales and Marketing of oZZle. This includes developing and implementing different ways of introducing our market to the benefits of online recruitment.

Do you think blogging has helped your business?
I think it has really helped us engage our job seekers as we continue to involve them and write more postings about how they can harness the internet in their job search.

What do you feel is the biggest challenge about writing a blog?
Making sure that people continue to benefit and learn from my Blog, by pitching the right content for our audience. It’s getting that balance right between personal ranting, career orientated information and the internet savvy recruiters.

What's another blog that you read and why do you recommend it?
I read quite a few, but really enjoy Profy.com, which is a web 2.0 multi author blog. They share their insights into internet trends and new start ups. You get a real insight into tomorrow’s technology and I think about how we can utilize some of the ideas to enhance our own customer’s experience. From a recruitment standpoint, I enjoy Dan McQuire’s blog as he manages to inject humour into serious recruitment subjects.

What do you want your reader’s to know about you?
More than anything, I am passionate about ensuring our users have the best possible experience when using our online services. I really want every single person that interacts with me and our business to feel they had a fantastic experience and gained some real benefit from our relationship. I want to continue exposing our industry to the benefits of online recruitment.

If you knew someone was thinking about starting a recruitment related blog, what advice would you want to give them?
Clearly set out the objectives of your blog and relate them back to building your brand, whether that be as an individual or as a business. Once your objectives have been set, link them back to your audience to make sure your content is absolutely relevant.  There are many recruitment orientated blogs, so ask yourself what is your USP.

Is there a question you wished I asked you?
Where did the name oZZle come from? I really want to say that we thought hard about the brand blah blah blah, but the truth is we got really drunk one night and came up with oZZle, from the word “sozzled”.