50 Blog Posts Ideas for HR Recruiting · 2016-11-10 · 50 Blog Posts Ideas for HR Recruiting ! 8! the subjects we are writing about because we are practitioners

50 Blog Posts Ideas for HR <and> Recruiting

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bout the Author. Jessica Miller-Merrell is the

founder of Bloging4Jobs.com, a workplace resource for

HR professionals and business leaders. The site was

listed on The Top 75 Websites For Your Career by Forbes Magazine in

2012. Jessica is the President and CEO of Xceptional HR, a digital

technology and consulting agency, and a published author of Tweet

This! Twitter for Business. Jessica is listed as the 7th most powerful

woman on Twitter (@blogging4jobs) and the 2nd most influential

recruiter on the Internet. Because of vast industry expertise and

knowledge, Jessica’s professional opinions and expertise are sought

after and sourced by publications and media including: CIO

Magazine, CBS, Entrepreneur Magazine, and SHRM’s HR Magazine.

Jessica earned a Senior Professional in

Human Resource designation in 2008

and earned a Bachelors degree in

Anthropology and Business from Kansas

State University. She has over 12 years

of industry experience. Jessica is from a

small town in Kansas and resides near

Oklahoma City with her husband, Greg and daughter, Ryleigh.


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able of Contents

The Business of Blogging in HR ………………………………….. 4

50 Blog Post Ideas …………………………………...…………… 9

Final Thoughts ……………………………………………..…… 20


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The Business of Blogging in HR

2007 when I first started writing at Blogging4Jobs.com

I had limited experience in writing professionally

outside of a PowerPoint presentation and email. While

While I enjoyed writing and journalizing anonymously online, I never

had a written or published a book. I launched the blog because I

wanted to differentiate myself as an HR professional in the

Oklahoma City market. Originally, the content for my blog was

focused on job seekers later evolving to what you see now.

In early 2009 while home on maternity leave from my corporate HR

Director job I received a call from Glamour Magazine wanting to

interview me as a subject matter expert on the job search because of

my blog. I quickly realized the amazing opportunity that blogging

presented and began getting serious about experimenting,

researching, and growing my blog and personal brand. I left my

corporate job just 10 short months later and launched Xceptional HR

Consulting full time. Blogging4Jobs is just a piece of what I do. It

serves as a resource now for HR and workplace professionals while

also providing a platform to obtain new corporate HR and Recruiting


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clients as well as helping to elevate the brand of industry service

providers I work and consult with. The blog is the voice of work,

pure and unfiltered.

Nearly six years later, I’ve written upwards of 2,500 blog posts and

have published a book, Tweet This! Twitter for Business.

Blogging4Jobs.com is the number one HR and Recruiting blog in the

world. Currently, I’m knee deep in writing my second book titled,

The Social Media Workplace Guide, due out in late 2013. I love the art

of storytelling especially when it comes to writing short blogs. This

blog guide is currently serving as a welcome distraction from working

on my book. I have found the fundamental challenge for those

writing blogs and articles in the human resources, talent and

workplace world, is not because of the lack of writing skill.

The fundamental challenge is finding relevant, useful and interesting

topics that resonate with your target audience written in a way that

your audience really understands. HR can be very technical and

“Blogging offers opportunity not only to provide resources for current clients but also to build a long-term relationship with the practitioner that travels with them as they grow in their career.”


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specific when it comes to employment law and certain HR only work

experiences. HR folks also hate to be sold to. Service providers in

the space focus only on the sale. We, meaning corporate human

resources, recruiters, and operational leaders are cold called, direct

marketed, and emailed to death by industry service providers who are

begging for a demo.

logging offers opportunity not only to provide resources

for current clients but also to build a long-term

relationship with the practitioner that travels with them

as they grow in their career. It is one that is built not on lead

generation and email marketing but resources and trust. Blogging

provides the reader useful content and resources that provides a

solution to a problem that your audience is hoping to fix. Sometimes

that means mentioning your product as a solution or alternative, but

99 percent of the time that means providing resources and your

audience an opportunity to organically research and learn more about

the amazing product behind the valuable insights being given.

In order to develop relevant blog topics I tap into my past experience

working as an HR Director and Recruiter. While I have my own

editorial blog calendar, I spend a great of time talking to practitioners


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who are in the trenches. Often times the blogs you see on

Blogging4Jobs are by request from a practitioner who is anonymously

seeking feedback or wants to know he/she’s peers point of view. My

phone number and email are listed on the site. When you call, it is

me who picks up the phone. I’ve made great friends working this

way. I have never been your auto email or answering machine type

of manager.

I typically start with a blog post title and summary or a statistic

building on an idea from there. Blog posts are typically 250-600

words, and while I focus much of my effort on Search Engine

Optimization (SEO), content is king. This means focusing your ideas

on helping your blog audience. At Blogging4Jobs, I focus not only

on education but also entertainment, because let’s face it; there are a

lot of workplace blogs and online resources out there so it pays to

differentiate from the pack. Not everyone likes my blog, and that is

okay with me. And for all the cuss words and inappropriateness you

see on the blog, our audience is very, very large but targeted to a

specific demographic. It is also clear from our content that we know

“My blog is a fundamental part of my brand as I think all blogs in our industry should be.”


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the subjects we are writing about because we are practitioners first.

The bottom line is that people talk about the blog, share, and

comment driving conversation and web traffic. My blog is a

fundamental part of my brand as I think all blogs in our industry

should be.

Putting all these things together, I sat down and wrote out 50 blog

post ideas including a short summary for each. I do this with current

clients who we are working with when presenting blog topics. Yes,

we write blog posts, white papers, design infographics, and really

anything digital related in addition to training and consulting with

corporate HR and recruiting teams.


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Blog Posts Ideas for HR <and> Recruiting

Tough Conversations and Tackling Mental Health at Work Given the recent tragedy in Sandy Hook, I believe this needs to be discussed for not only the safety at work but our families and children. How to Keep Your Applicant & Employee Data Secure One of the big concerns for HR and companies when moving to the cloud is the security of your employee and applicant data. File cabinets are fine but cloud computing offers better security and access to data and information anywhere. How to Build a Summer Intern Program Relationship recruiting is important when courting college candidates especially for those with engineering and science degrees. Learn from other organizations on how they court, engage, and win through their summer internship program. 5 Hiring Best Practices Made Easy This is a standard article that discusses time testing tactics that recruiters and hiring managers can use to make recruiting less time consuming and more fluid.


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8 Questions to Ask Job Seeker During a Video Interview Video interviewing technologies are on the rise. Sometimes, the technology can get in the way of asking the tough questions. Here are eight of my favorite interview questions to ask your job seeker during their video interview. How to Handle Uncomfortable Situations at Work We spend more time at work than with our families. I’m talking about waking hours. How do we handle those uncomfortable situations and scenarios at work from terminations to passing gas to the big girl that doesn’t wear a bra at the office? Every HR person and manager has a story to tell. 3 Types of Recruiting: the Short Game, Candidate Pipeline & the Long Play There are three types of recruiting Just in Time, Candidate Pipeline, and the Long Play of Building Your Employer Brand. We’ll briefly discuss how each of these is different. 7 Recruiting Time Management Techniques You Must Use Now Time is all we have. Here are some handy techniques from the recruitment trenches you can use now to save time, energy, and keep from getting bogged down. What the Fiscal Cliff Means for HR Because HR is not income generating, we, in a way, face our own fiscal cliff. We are not ever thought of as bringing in revenue for the organization. Learn why the fiscal cliff in HR is real and it just might be more of a philosophical rift than you first thought.


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Open Mouth. Insert Foot. Overcoming Your Big Mouth at the Office We’ve all said something at the office we wish we could take back, press pause, or stop type and reverse. Learn the best way to overcome that uncomfortable moment when you insert your big mouth at your workplace. How to Win with Your Boss & CEO We all like to be liked at the office, but for senior leadership being liked isn’t enough. Learn how to communicate effectively with your boss and CEO to gain credibility and build trust with the big boss guy or gal. 5 Administrative Tasks We, HR Folk Avoid at All Costs While HR has it’s roots in paper pushing and mundane admin tasks, strategic HR professionals are spending more time building plans, programs and systems to force out the paper filing cabinet. Here are 5 administrative tasks and responsibilities we wish would go the way of the dodo bird. 5 Steps to Building a Candidate Pipeline in 5 Minutes a Day Using community building tactics online and by fostering relationships, I’ll show you how in 5 easy steps you can build a candidate pipeline in just 5 minutes a day. Don’t get too excited. It’s not as easy as you think, but it’s guaranteed. Facebook Recruiting Guide Facebook seems to be in the news nearly every week as they launch new paid services and advertising options. Recruiters can leverage the world’s largest social network for recruiting one off positions and employer branding. We’ll show you how.


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How to Create a Disaster Preparedness Plan for Your Workplace Looking back to 2012 I think all of us were touched in some way with a disaster situation. Whether it was a hurricane, earthquake, or a random act of violence, employers need to prepare for a strategy to communicate, service customers, and work with whatever the future brings. We’ll help you get there. Rethinking Reputation. How Your Personal Brands Elevates Your Employer Employers are often threated by a stronger employee’s personal brand, especially those that are established online. Learn how hiring and working with an employee who has a trusted online brand can help engage and elevate a company and your employer’s brand. 5 Ways to Avoid Work Burnout As Americans we work a lot. We also take the least amount of time off and vacation than any other country. Here are 5 ways you as well as your workforce can avoid burnout by keeping them happy, healthy, and productive at the office. Who Owns Your Digital Property & Social Media Profiles at Work Imagine creating a blog or Twitter account in your name that was used for work. Who exactly owns your personal brand? Is it you or your employer? We’ll discuss some recent cases and some best practices to make sure that the employee and employer are clear on digital property ownership at work. What Big Data Means for HR A lot of webinars, white papers, and articles are throwing around the words, “big data.” Still nobody talks about how having this information is helping and elevating the field of


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HR and impacting your workplace. We’ll talk about what big data can do for you and give you real world insights from the HR practitioner and not your analyst.

The Hourly Recruitment Hiring Guide Hourly workers account for 70% of the total workforce in the U.S. Learn how to effectively recruit and engage this often forgotten candidate recruiting pool. How to Hire & Recruit Specialty Employees Specialty employees are those knowledge workers who have certain skills or training. These same individuals are generally in short supply but in high demand. Learn different strategies to recruit them and build relationships with the knowledge class and win in the war for talent. What are the Types of Job Interviews? Whether you are a job seeker, hiring manager or recruiter, there are a number of different types of interviews. Don’t worry. We’ve got you covered. 5 Administrative Tasks Recruiters Avoid at All Costs Like HR, recruiting’s roots are administrative, but recruiters know that in the present day we are so much more than that. Here are 5 administrative tasks that recruiters avoid like the plague and what we can do to make them take up less of our work time. 5 Ways to Make Telework Work If Hurricane Sandy taught employers anything, it taught them that the business must go on. Employers can use telework to maintain a fluid business even after disaster strikes. Here are five ways to make telework work for you and your workplace.


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Recruiter’s Aren’t Lazy. Your Technology Sucks Personally, I’m getting tired of those one off posts by non-recruiters who are writing about how recruiters are lazy and get all the media attention. They paint an inaccurate picture in my mind. Recruiters aren’t lazy. It’s the technology that their employer provides them that keeps them from being productive and efficient. How to Improve the Recruiter & Hiring Manager Relationship Outside of a recruiter’s boss, the single most important work relationship for them is with their hiring manager. We’ll discuss ways recruiters can help improve the always tension-filled relationship with their hiring managers. Why Managers Should Work with (& Not Against) HR It seems that some days as an HR practitioner, I spent more time pulling my hair out not because of an employee but a manager’s actions. I’ll make the case for why manager’s should spend their valuable time working with and not against HR. 7 Horrible Moments in HR I love working in the field of human resources. It impacts the business in a way that no other department or position does. Working in HR isn’t all wine and roses. Here are 7 horrible moments that I’ve encountered working in HR. This post shouldn’t be all gloom and doom. It should be filled with just a touch of humor too. Backpack to Briefcase: A Manager’s Guide to Work with Recent Grads The onboarding process for recent grads can be a tough transition when they start their first real job. We’ll help


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manager’s get up to speed to making the transition as smooth as possible for both parties when it comes to recent grads.

Drugs at Work & Medical Marijuana Now that marijuana has been legalized in two states: Colorado and Washington, what is an HR and Operations Manager to do. We’ll discuss the impact on the workplace with these recent law changes. What does it mean for workers compensation and new hire drug tests? Manager’s Guide to Managing Corporate Layoffs & Downsizing One of the worst days in my HR career was the day I had to layoff a staff of 85. I hated having to be the one to deliver a life-changing message like that. We’ll discuss tips to help make the layoff and downsizing process easier not only just for HR but their manager too. Being Green at Work Millennials are attracted to companies who are socially conscious and green at the office and in business. We’ll discuss some easy ways to be green at work that doesn’t break the bank. Get Your Head is in the Cloud (Paperless HR) One of the benefits to a cloud-based HR and SAAS System is that all documents and information is stored online. We’ll discuss the movement towards the paperless HR office and how it can help transform your workplace. What is a Qualified Status Benefits Change? We’ll discuss common and uncommon scenarios where your employee might be eligible for a qualified status change. In my


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field HR days, it’s one of those questions that I received from an employee or manager every single day. 5 Employee Perks That Can Drive Your Company Retention Efforts Companies looking for ways to lower turnover should consider these five employee perks and benefit programs in 2013. Adding these to your already robust employee retention efforts could just be the secret sauce you need to keep your employees happy and productive at the office. Social Recruiting is Not Just Job Feed Distribution One of my biggest personal pet peeves in social recruiting is the belief that distributing a job feed from your careers page to social media sites is enough. Learn what a job feed is and how it should be just one piece of your overall social recruiting strategy. 4 Musts When Creating Your Employer Branding Video Video is a powerful recruiting tool and in my opinion is an essential part of a company’s recruitment efforts. Learn 4 essentials when creating an employer branding video that reaches and resonates with your candidate’s audience. College Recruitment Strategies that Work Companies spend a lot of effort on recruiting on college campuses. We’ll take a look at some ways to get the most bang for your buck in your campus and college recruiting efforts.

5 Things That Drive Your Manager Nuts All managers have pressure points. They are those things that can ignite even the most passive of managers setting them off like the atomic bomb. Let’s discuss and consider ways to


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avoid these pressure points keeping you out of the manager’s line of fire. Steps to Success: How to Plan Your 2014 HR Department’s Budget Budget planning is hard. It’s time consuming, and for me it is one of those administrative tasks I loathe. We’ll talk about how to plan budgets and what steps you should take in planning for your 2014 HR and recruitment budget. Smooth Sailing for Your Annual Benefit’s Re-enrollment Annual benefit enrollment is a time intensive event for HR. Hours are spent planning, negotiating, and evaluating next year’s benefit packages while also planning your corporate communication strategy for re-enrollment. Learn time testing ways for your annual re-enrollment to go off without a hitch. Manager & HR Termination Talking Points One of my least favorite activities as HR or a manager was involuntary termination. We’ll share talking points and things to consider when sitting down with the soon to be former employee. Difficult Conversations at Work People are complex and conversations with these same people are hard. Add in work and it creates an endless number of uncomfortable scenarios. Learn how to have difficult conversations at work prepped and planned before they happen. Social Recruiting Guide for Everyone Social recruiting is hard and is not just tweeting and being on Facebook. We’ll give you insights into the world of social


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recruiting and educate you on the nuisances in one of the hottest recruiting trends since the ATS. How to Hire on Twitter Twitter is a microblogging platform where users tweet or share information in 140 characters or less. It’s also the third largest search and information engine. Learn how recruiters can use the platform to source, engage, and recruit on Twitter. 3 Things Talent Management is Not Talent management is not just a software. It’s also not a short-term band-aid to your skills gap or failed succession plan. It’s a strategy and a plan that involves every member of an organization. Cross Training Your Team is the Silver Bullet to the Skills Gap Having worked in retail for many years, cross training is in my blood. It was the key to running and managing a successful store. Learn how training and developing your team not only helps engagement and relationships but also in helping you develop a succession plan in the event that your employee receives a promotion. What is a Skip Level Meeting? A skip level meeting is a formal meeting between an employee and their manager’s manager. I think it’s a great way to establish a relationship with teams and keep the employee communication lines open. Managers often go through the motions failing to capitalize on the opportunity the skip level meeting brings.


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5 Important Topics and Conversations for HR Going beyond trends, we’ll discuss five of the most important topics and conversations in HR. Cut through the noise, the propaganda, and get to the heartbeat of what makes HR so valuable for your organization. The Secret to Being Happy at Work I’ve worked in my share of jobs where I was happy and sad at work. Employers as well as employees are just as responsible for their happiness at work. Find out why.


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Final Thoughts

realize that our industry is very complex and specific

at the same time. That’s what makes HR, well, human

resources. We, practitioners, are a different and unique

breed. These summaries and blog post ideas are

designed for broad audiences in our space. These are blog posts I,

myself, would write and publish on Blogging4Jobs or any one of my

clients blogs and publications.

So why am I doing this? It is my intention to help educate and

inspire community managers and blog owners in our industry. You

are welcome to use the blog titles and summaries for your own blogs

going forward. Our challenges as practitioners in this industry are

ever changing and are often hard to define. They are also not

something your average marketing blog or online content guide can

provide you with specific resources and information. Thus, why I

was inspired to develop this blog topic guide for you. Now, let’s get

blogging . . .


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50 Blog Post Ideas for HR <and> Recruiting January 2013 Author: Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR

Xceptional HR Consulting 3108 White Cedar Drive Moore, OK 73169 Phone: 1+.405.293.2564 [email protected] xceptionalhr.com

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50 Blog Posts Ideas for HR Recruiting · 2016-11-10 · 50 Blog Posts Ideas for HR Recruiting ! 8! the subjects we are writing about because we are practitioners