600 things; 10 Tenuous Blogs and Articles

Smashing start to the New Year with this blog from Andy Mountney which forms part of our 600 Interesting and Useful Things for Recruiters series.

Is it just me or was 2013 the year of the tenuous blog or article link…  I know empathy and context are important; it’s something you learn pretty early in recruitment but the constant obsession of writers trying to set their work ‘in the moment’ has become something of a bug bear of mine.  That said there are certain news providers and bloggers (they ‘may’ feature below) who a friend and I wait on emails from with eager anticipation to see just how crazy the context can be.  So here are my ten favourite blogs or articles of the year where recruitment was linked to something that it has absolutely nothing to do with!

1.  As the summer hit its peak and London basked in the sunshine Murray mania was at a premium.  I could probably create the whole list of Murray blogs but I’ll stick to one.  So let’s go with Totaljobs “Five things that jobseekers can learn from Andy Murray”  Anyone for a 77 year wait for a job?
2. Sticking to the sporting theme our next entry is from a regular contributor to the tenuous link theme, HR Grapevine, who came up with this little peach after Brian O’Driscoll was left out the side for the third test “HR lessons learnt from British & Irish Lions’ O’Driscoll Drop”
3. Interview advice from Yoda??  Of course it is, what’s the little fella got to say?  Well after his alleged stint at McDonalds he then moved on to greatness according to Job Coconut! Learn something you shall?
4. With Sir Alex Ferguson retiring there was a wealth of material to choose from linking him to pretty much anything successful on the planet (and on occasion David Bellion but maybe we should gloss over that)!  With all that to choose from I’ve actually gone for something from before he announced his retirement.  As he sat back celebrating the title Onrec produced this little number “How to build a winning team like Sir Alex Ferguson”. Not a mention of the very high turnover rate or the failure barring the 1992 youth team to develop the apprentices into front line members of the squad!
5. Linking a massive international disaster to your brand for publicity purposes, oh go on then!  I really really really hope that Hudson contribute a £1 for every data set to a charity every year for their insight survey but…  When I first saw “complete our salary survey and we’ll give a £1 to the DEC fund for the Philippines” it really did not sit well.  I hope that the thinking behind it was in the right place but if you want to make a donation make one the idea of linking provision of people’s information and data to someone giving money to a DEC fund just feels horrible. If you do follow the link scroll the bottom and take a read of the small print…
6. Now I know most of you absolutely love it when someone from outside the industry writes an article on how recruitment could be better by being something else so here’s one for you to chew over.  “What recruitment should learn from online dating” from Management Today.
7. Back again and so soon, I’m not even sure I feel comfortable having this article in here but it shows the lengths people will go to.  As the world mourned the passing of the great Nelson Mandela it was only a matter of time before someone somewhere wrote something so our old reliable friends at HR Grapevine got in there quickly (too quickly) with “Nelson Mandela’s Legacy:  Development – Nature vs Nurture”What can I say other than this kind of article should just not have a place in our industry.
8. Standard link to a famous business person article!  Yes we’ve seen them all before but why not take another look from IT Recruitment Blog.  “What recruitment can learn from Richard Branson”! 
9. Another famous leader has died?  Quick better get that blog out!  “What can Recruitment Leaders learn from Thatcher’s Leadership” from Recruitment Agency Now
10. And finally getting it right, a tip of the hat to UK Recruiter’s blogger of the year, Merv Dinnen, every now and then there is a time when you can get it right, usually to be fair like this when there is a job opening.  Merv’s advert for the Papal vacancy was tongue in cheek but hugely readable, popular, shared by many and I am sure enjoyed by all, lessons to be learned here by others “Seeking New Pope for Immediate Start”

Well I hope that brought a bit of light relief to your day!  Let’s hope 2014 has a little less of the same!