Freelance copywriter specialising in recruitment communications
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It's time for a decent job board that offers more

26/2/2016

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This blog evolved from a comment I made on a blog today about creative adverts. See what you think.

Back in my recruitment marketing/advertising agency days I looked after, amongst others, some of the largest recruitment consultancy advertising accounts in the UK, each with budgets of over £1 million. Creativity and innovation weren’t just buzzwords, they were givens. I’m talking of the days when a client would happily spend £10k on a one off full page 4 colour print ad in say Computing magazine in order to attract the very best IT people around. Coincidentally, I had a missive from a client of mine from those days who says he still talks to this day about how creative those ads we wrote and designed for him were.

What’s happened since then sadly though, as we all know, is that online has long since wiped out print as a medium and recruitment advertising has become cheaper and dumbed down and increasingly easy to do down the years. These days, anyone with a keyboard and an internet connection can have a job post out in internet land within minutes but without any kind of forethought (or so it seems from the plethora of really bad job ads out there). I believe, however, that that kind of mentality needs to change. We need to go back towards the quality and creativity the print days gave us, but in an online capacity.

It may seem other worldly to Gen X and Y, but it was a time when you had to really think about what you said and try and create something that set you apart and made you stand out from the crowd. Conversely, today’s jobs market is awash with crap ads, deflated recruiters wondering why their advertising isn’t working and frustrated candidates fed up trying to find an advert that actually talks to, and appeals to them. Too many people have lost the creative plot. The cut & pasted job description has replaced the long forgotten finely crafted and well thought out 4 colour adverts that used to work so well.

It really is time for a change back to the old way of thinking, but coupled with a 21st century mindset. For instance, perhaps someone could create a decent job board that accepts artwork, rather than what exists at the moment, which is a plethora of job boards that will pretty much accept any old cut & pasted nonsense. I say that because social media, as great as it is, is hit and miss. It’s a nice free alternative, but it's such a complete mish mash of everything. You can spend ages and £££s on trying to crack it, but the truth is, no one, social media gurus included, really knows (or can guarantee) what works and what doesn't. Analytics, metrics, a new bit of kit that checks your copy for spelling mistakes thus saving you the effort - forget all those and start thinking creatively. Then, if someone builds a job board where quality and creativity rules over quantity and you create adverts that actually appeal to the reader, the people will, I believe, come.
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OK, I admit it, when it comes to blogging I'm weird (or am I?)

12/2/2016

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From time to time, with the most recent time being earlier today, I get asked if I have time to write a few blogs for someone else. Well, not just someone else, generally for a business that I have no experience of, and on a topic that I have no interest in. I've even turned down writing a regular blog for a very well-known business entrepreneur. That might sound weird, but it's true. Let me explain why.

When blogs first became a thing, I, like millions of other people around the world, eventually joined the party. But, I made one hard and fast rule for myself - I am only going to write a blog if it is about something I am passionate about (for example, a rant about the quality of online recruitment advertising) or have experience of something that my wittering on about may benefit others who read it (my piece about being made redundant would be another example). That's my rule, in a nutshell. After all, wasn't the 'weblog' originally created to be the online log of the actual author of the piece? When and why did it turn into a piece of material that you commissioned an outsider to churn out on behalf of you or your business just to pad out your website or give the impression that you feverishly write a blog on a regular basis? Where's the authenticity, originality and personality in that?

The answer, to me at least, seems to be that the blog, having started out as an opportunity for the actual author of the piece to put their point of view out there in public for all to see, has now, in many instances, become nothing more than a page about something/anything related to your business to put on your website to try and drive traffic to it. And that's fine if that is your intention, but I will always turn down the opportunity to write such a piece because, as I say, to me, the blog, if it is to remain in existence, is, for me, merely an outlet to express my own point of view on a subject that I care about - hence this hastily typed missive that I hope has made you think. I mean, come on, how many more 'top tips', 'how to' and 'why you' type blogs does the world really need?

In summary, if you feel strongly about a subject; if you have been through something in life that you think might help others or you're simply so fired up and passionate about something relating to your business life then go for it, write a blog, but make it your own words. Don't commission someone else to do it for you just so that the hits on your website get a boost or it helps pad out a neglected section of that site. The online world already has more than enough of those articles floating about.

​Rant over. Comments welcomed.   
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    About Me

    An experienced creative freelance copywriter and former recruitment advertising agency client services executive up to Director level, I have also worked in the advertising departments of national and regional newspapers and at a London Advertising Sales House. I set up my own copywriting business back in 2001 and work with a wide range of clients on a variety of press and online copywriting projects, the majority focused on recruitment communications. You can also find me on Twitter under my pseudonym '@RecruitmentCopy'

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