Can't see the blog for the trees
Matt Churchward
CEO - Partner with Net Zero Investors and Operating Companies to attract and retain top 1% talent every time. Don't risk using generic search firms, come to the specialists.
In the digital age change happens at such alarming pace. Take blogging for example, I posted my first not-so-secret-recruiter post on August 28th 2013. At this point LinkedIn Pulse was not available on Linked In and a quick share of a link on Linked In and Facebook pushed a quite hefty amount of traffic to the blog. Fast forward two years and it is harder to find someone on Linked In who doesn’t blog.
Now I am no hypocrite and I applaud anyone willing to take the time to put their thoughts into the public domain. However, it does lead me to the bigger picture of information overload. As with Facebook I find myself using Linked In less and less purely due to my eyes and brain becoming fried by the sheer volume of content displayed through multiple channels. This is not a criticism of those platforms, more a question… When does information become too much information?
I guess this is subjective and the time users spend on platforms will dictate how the networking sites distribute information. After all the user knows best. This leads me, in a rather roundabout way, to my ‘Top Ten’ pet hates on Linked In:
- Sharing Inspirational Quotes. Exhibit A = “Faith is not knowing what the future holds but knowing who holds the future.” Profound.
- Competitions to guess numbers of sweets in a jar / any take on this.
- “Keep Calm and ‘FILL IN ANYTHING RELATED TO YOUR SECTOR HERE’” calls to action.
- “Please view my profile” – rarely spelt correctly.
- People trying to be clever by putting other people down – almost never accompanied by a solution.
- Any memes. Particularly the fist pumping baby picture :-)
- Using Linked in as a platform for promoting religious beliefs - I am yet to see a job advert specifying ‘it is essential applicants love Jesus’*
- Begging for sponsorship for something on your bucket list. Tough Mudder
- Using Linked In Pulse to post jobs. If you are going to do this at least make the Job Description interesting.
- Ridiculous profile pictures – cleavage, pouting, pictures next to cranes
Some of you may call me miserable but I do not have the attention span or the will to sift through all the endless spam that now appears on my feed. When I do spot something of interest I need to click on it instantly or it will be off my feed and in to the ether within seconds as someone else tells me “the more I practice the luckier I get”. My Dad told me that on the golf course when I was 12 and I am still terrible.
My grumpiness aside, let me bring us back to the main question. When does information become too much information? Are we in danger as recruiters of entering a digital age of paralysis by analysis? Too much reading and not enough doing? Or am I just getting old?
Answers on a post card. I will definitely read that.
*Priesthood excepted.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I am writing this myself so I won't talk about myself in the third person. I am not a published or award winning author or self-proclaimed business guru. Errrmm that is about all I can think of... Maybe I should get my mum to write this.
I do write a lot about my thoughts on the recruitment industry so if this made generated any passing interest please check out notsosecretrecruiter.wordpress.com or check out my bi-monthly column in The Recruiter magazine www.recruiter.co.uk
Alternatively we are always looking for brilliant people at for our high growth team here at The Asoria Group so check us out www.asoriagroup.com!
Senior Pro | Enterprise Content Management (ECM) & Information Management (EIM) | Records Management (RM)
8 年I came to LinkedIn to be able to access decision-makers in my industry segment, and people who buy my industry segment. Only 50% of my business-relevant Inmails with intent to make something happen in the real-world are answered by the recipients. IMHO, LinkedIn would improve if the Members who have no vision of why they're here deleted their accounts. This would open up access to the Members who really want to network.
Talent Attraction Specialist
8 年All information is good information for me. Even if all I learn is who not to approach due to their lack of communication skills/inability to be objective/ poor relationship building skills or all round online twatery. Employers want their staff to get involved in social media and help raise the profile of the company and its people, without giving them anything interesting to post or the freedom to actually say what they think without fear someone in marketing/external comms will get upset. Hence little original stuff or engaging conversations where people may actually learn something or be given the opportunity to voice their well thought out opinion or have that opinion challenged. As such most of us play it safe and, click like on junk posts, post motivational quotes and that same “how to interview” re hashed by everyone in recruitment ever (like that is really good advice for candidates) with a smattering of pictures and not so subtle attempts by middle aged chaps to chat up 20 something females who post pictures of themselves not wearing very much or looking very attractive at a company event. I am with you on your top ten list, but not to the point it distracts me. My biggest grumble is the people at the top of the UK’s biggest companies, who I know to have opinions, and some damn good ideas, rarely get involved. So its left to more junior members of staff to post digital fluff, or re-post whatever marketing hammered together designed to appeal to everyone and at the same time, no one.
copywritingforrecruiters.com
8 年It might be argued that the rubbish is necessary for people to know what the good stuff looks like. And of course the other thing is that most people like the rubbish, as most of what the rubbish does is feed into people's existing biases and beliefs.