Best Non-Recruitment News Sources For Recruiters

The Recruitment industry is growing at a rapid pace: the technology, the creation of completely new jobs, the number of suppliers, and having to keep up-to-speed with the latest & greatest trends and news updates to compete with top employers & consultancies (and their recruiters).

So, it comes as no surprise that recruitment-related content --which aims to help recruiters & those involved in the hiring process to improve their talent attraction & recruiting performance-- is in abundance through mediums such as blogs, vlogs, posts, webinars, white papers, info-graphics, podcasts and more. But some of the best people & recruiting-related content doesn't always come from recruitment-led sources, as news from wider topics can impact the employment sector.

You can learn from many other industries; broader & niche areas, to enhance your knowledge and re-apply it to your recruiting world. From macroeconomics, which impacts the recruitment market, operational excellence in lean process methodologies, to the latest sales & marketing techniques - there's plenty of non-recruitment content out there to up your recruiting game.

**Bonus info below on how you can aggregate all your news updates to help control and reduce information overload**

What are the best non-recruitment related news sites, media hubs, and content sources I get my intel fix from?

Well, here they are, ordered by primary topic & linked to their respective site for you to check out and bookmark.

Also, please comment below with your non-recruitment news hacks, as I'm sure there are some sources I've not included on this list :)

Business

1.     Inc.Com – American weekly magazine which publishes about small businesses and startups, and also includes the Inc. 500 is an annual list of the 500 fastest-growing private companies in the United States - and now Europe.

2.     FastCompany – The world's leading progressive business media brand, with a unique editorial focus on innovation in technology, leadership, and design. Seen some great work-related content coming from FastCompany and shared by many in my network (also some content creators).

3.     Visual Capitalist – Rich visual content for the modern investor. Visual Capitalist is a new way to discover business opportunities and learn about investment trends. Great info-graphics and digestible intel.

4.     Business Insider – Originally an American financial and business news website, it also operates international editions in the UK, Australia, China, Germany, France, South Africa, India, Italy, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, Nordics, Poland, Spain and Singapore. So, plenty of local knowledge to tap into.

5.     BBC Capital – A part of the British news behemoth that is the BBC, the Capital site focuses on offering a global perspective on economic stories, trends and profiles on a personal level.

6.     Entrepreneur.com – Multiple regional sites - Advice, insight, profiles and guides for established and aspiring entrepreneurs worldwide.

Consumer Insights

1.     Global WebIndex – My go-to for everything consumer-related. The email newsletter is a must have for global and local consumer insights, which are delivered via visual data delights. This site is THE consumer data hub for your marketing needs. Their insights and analytics help companies understand what their consumers want and how to best target them.

Data, Insights & Research

1.     Any Bureau, Agency, or Office of Statistics – Empirical intel on current and future state of respective economies, providing statistics on a wide range of economic, population, environmental and social issues, to assist and encourage informed decision-making, research and discussion within governments and the communities:

·        Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Government

·        UK Office for National Statistics: Home

·        U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Latest Numbers

2.     CBInsights – One of my favorite email newsletters with bite-sized updates and many visual data maps of emerging, disruptive technologies. CB Insights’ machine intelligence platform, intelligence analysts, and global network of executives and startups empower people to articulate compelling answers to difficult questions — about growth, about the competition, and about technology.

3.     The World Bank – Much like CBInsights, you could easily lose a few hours trawling through the millions of data points The World Bank has readily available – and for free. The World Bank is an international organization dedicated to providing financing, advice and research to developing nations to aid their economic advancement.

4.     Statista – The visual online statistics, market research and business intelligence portal, that if you haven’t come across when searching for data visuals then you’re doing the internet thing all wrong. I’ve never had the privilege of using the full paid for version, but couple with google image search and navigating around the actual site, you’re sitting on a data goldmine.

5.     We Are Social and Hootsuite – The annual digital media report via the We Are Social and Hootsuite collaboration is a must read for all marketing, branding, communications, and PR folks. The Digital Report is around 200 slides of digital intel covering global trends, local intel, and major digital platforms. Honorable mention to the omnipresent social media management guru that is the Hootsuite and their must-read blog.

6.     Management Consulting Firms – A plethora of high-level and comprehensive data insights, trends, and leading research on various topics from business, economics, to digital and the future of work. These are my picks of the consulting firms where I get most of the relevant intel from:

·       Bain

·       BCG

·       McKinsey

7.     Pew Research – A nonpartisan American-based fact tank that provides information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the US and the world.

8.     Edelman – For nearly 20 years, public-relations agency Edelman has been measuring public trust in people and institutions. The annual Edelman Trust Barometer is a hive of interesting intel which measures attitudes about the state of trust in business, government, NGOs and the media. Ultimately, through the Trust Barometer, Edelman helps its clients better understand the fragile roots of trust and above all, how to navigate these with responsible actions and behaviors. (If you operate in APAC then this unpacked Edelman trust report from The Drum is well worth a read).

Digital Media

1.     Mashable – A global, multi-platform media and entertainment company. Powered by its own proprietary technology, Mashable is the go-to source for tech, digital culture and entertainment content for its dedicated and influential audience around the globe. If you’re not following the Mashable Twitter account – I highly recommend to as the bite-sized updates are very good.

2.     Social Media Today – For the latest news, trends, and tips in social media, it’s my go-to source for all social media intel. The newsletter is second-to-none when it comes to relevant, thought-provoking content about how social media is evolving. Highlight has to be the ‘staff picks’ found on the newsletter and on the SMT hub, as I’ve found some amazing content through what the SMT's team are reading.

3.     Marketing Insider Group – Michael Brenner is a globally-recognized keynote speaker on leadership, culture, and marketing and is the brains behind MIG. The blog is well worth signing up to from strategy and search content marketing, to social media - there’s always some great nuggets to take away.

4.     eMarketer – Much like Statista, the omnipresent market research company appears in any marketing-led data image search, with the red, white and black branding that is hard to miss. And you shouldn’t want to miss it either, as the data is rich in digital marketing, media and commerce insights. The PRO version is paid for but again, like Statista, you can garner great content for free.

Economic

1.     The Economist – Offers authoritative insight and opinion on international news, politics, business, finance, science, technology and the connections between them. In essence, it’s the perros cojones and really, it’s all you need for your economy updates. (Some may argue that the FT is better but I feel TE’s digital assets are easier to view and digest. Well worth signing up to the daily or weekly newsfeed).

2.     The World Economic Forum – The Economist may have all economic basis covered, but I couldn’t leave this NFP organisation off the list as the WEF team continue to highlight some of the most important news stories from around the world. Many of the LinkedIn ‘influencers’ share WEF’s short, impactful video updates and for good reason – they’re full of interesting and engaging content. If you want to find out more about mastering the fourth industrial revolution, solving global problems, or addressing global security issues – then WEF is for you.

General

1.     The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) – One of the more impartial American-based news outlets, WSJ has been churning out breaking news and Pulitzer Prize winning reporting for nearly 130 years. WSJ serves up in-depth analysis on emerging trends, politics, economy, business, tech, markets, opinion, and life & arts. Seriously good journalism and data insights from Wall Street to be had but a nominal subscription fee is need to read all and in full articles.

2.     Forbes – A global media company, focusing on business, investing, technology, entrepreneurship, leadership, and lifestyle. And another Linked ‘influencer’ favorite. You will have seen many-a-re-share from Forbes and usually with good reason as they are known for ‘Top Lists’ and solid business-related articles.

3.     Medium – A place “where words matter”, and a treasure trove of social journalism through a myriad of major topics. The online publishing platform started in 2012 by the co-founder of Twitter whereby the purpose was to give users more space to write their views, on a deeper level. And now it’s one of the best blogging platforms about.

4.     PR Newswire – A news distribution, targeting, monitoring and marketing solutions that help connect and engage with target audiences across the globe. PR Newswire’s content often appears in google news alerts, so go direct to source more useful insights across a range of topics.

Problem Solving

1.     Lifehacker – Brought to you via the Pedestrian Group which also counts Business Insider (listed in Business above) to their online news portfolio. Lifehacker, is a weblog that I’ve only recently stumbled upon (not included in this article), and provides life and software hacks for work and, well for life in general. Plus check out some useful deals and coupons offered for e-purchases. Worth noting there is 4 additional international editions from the US version, with Australia, Japan, India and the UK.

2.     QUORA – Probably the most famous Q&A platform there is. It could be stated that Quora is tantamount to self-diagnosis medical help sites where users may believe everything that is written and end up in a worse state than when they first sought help. However, Quora has given me some great employment and recruitment-led insights from agency rates to hiring metrics, so it’s well worth a search and scan (not for medical uses though, please).

Technology

1.     The Hustle – A community of rebellious go-getters. Every day, you get an email with the tech and business news you need to make your dent in the world, plus originally reported stories you won't read anywhere else. Free to subscribe, just an email required.

2.     VentureBeat – A leading source for latest technology news aimed at giving context to help execs, entrepreneurs, & tech enthusiasts to make smart decisions. VB is another regular source via google news alerts so useful to go direct to source for other on point content.

3.     The Verge – The latest tech news about the world's best (and sometimes worst) hardware, apps, and much more. From top companies like Google and Apple to tiny startups vying for your attention, Verge Tech has the latest in what matters in technology daily.

Video Inspiration

1.     TED Talks – YouTube for the grown-ups. If you haven’t seen a TED Talk video then you must have been trapped in cave. I do hope you made it out of there and have been able to read this ridiculously awesome article, and to watch some of the world’s best speakers give inspirational talks on education, business, science, tech, creativity, and employment and the world of work. With subtitles in 100+ languages, there’s no reason not to tune in and learn. A lot. (BONUS LINK: 5 TED Talks That Every Recruiter Should Watch via Gregory Lewis back in 2017).

2.     YouTube – The 2nd most visited website in the world but perhaps the adolescent of the two video sites listed. Not because “96 percent of 18- to 24-year-old American internet users use YouTube” (stat via HootSuite) but because of the sheer number of videos available, including many kids programs, namely, baby shark (worse than the GoCompare song?). But there is a heap of recruiting-led content to glean from the gazillion videos on the most watched video site in the world. (TIP: Create a watch list for work videos that you can refer back to).

BONUS - Read All About It. In One Place. With FREE Aggregators.

NewsNow – A news aggregator service that was launched in 1998 with fewer than ten sources, it now links to thousands of publications including top news providers. You can save keyword terms by location or industry, which serves up real-time news updates to your NewsNow dashboard. Well worth checking out and my go to for a better UX / UI news source.

Google Alerts – The list of news sources wouldn’t be complete without the mention of Alphabet’s flagship brand. I’ve been using google alerts for years and have around 25 different search terms for different parts of the world. Unfortunately, as Google carries so much data you don’t always get the best articles coming via the alerts, so a mix of these and the above sources is a good balance to strike.

(Honorable mention for the Google Trends product as well – used this for such business cases as simply changing an inherited careers hub SEO tags from employment to careers AND / OR jobs. useful for quick data visuals for proof of concept or presentations).

Feedly – The news aggregation service for the news connoisseur, Feedly is a news aggregator application for various web browsers and mobile devices running iOS and Android. It compiles news feeds from a variety of online sources for the user to customize and share with others. If you haven’t tried Feedly before, definitely recommend doing so. Even just to aggregate recruitment-related content.

Digg – Self-proclaimed homepage of the internet, featuring the best articles, videos, and original content that the web is talking about right now. Another news aggregator with a curated front page, aiming to select stories specifically for the Internet audience such as science, trending political issues, and viral Internet issues.

What's Your Go-To News Sources?

As relayed, I’d love to hear about your non-recruitment news hacks, as I'm sure there are some sources I've not included on this list. So, go forth, check out and bookmark these top news sources for your cognitive development (minus Baby Shark).