Say Cheese

The photographers' expression "Say, 'cheese'" generates a grin, albeit a phony one. Joel Cheesman's blog, Cheezhead, on the other hand, is likely to produce a genuine smile.

Irreverent, reflective, thought-provoking, and entertaining, Cheezhead is one of the most widely-read blogs on recruitment issues. Its author, Joel Cheesman, pardon the pun, has really become a big cheese. In fact, he's one of the bloggers industry experts check out. Among Cheez fans are John Sumser, founder and CEO of IBN: interbiznet.com, David Manaster, president of Electronic Recruiting Exchange, and Jason Goldberg, founder and CEO of Jobster.

Who is Cheesman? As president of HRSEO and Oaseo, his areas of expertise are search engine optimization/marketing and Internet recruiting. Not surprisingly, a lot of his blog entries focus on what's happening in the world of search engines. Some of the news and musings he shares may--or may not--be of interest to all recruiters. Nevertheless, there are postings you'll want to explore.

If you're a recruiter searching for nurses, for example, you'll want to check out Cheesman's June 1st entry about how nurses use search engines to look for jobs. The May 24th posting, "where do employees go online" is worth mulling over, regardless of your area of expertise.

One of the many entertaining things about the blog is its author's use of graphics for instructional and entertainment purposes. Take a look at the May 16th entry titled "after submitting your resume, please be sure to clean the cat box."

Cheesman also uses audio effectively. Check out these short but targeted interviews with three industry leaders: author and publisher Peter Weddle (blog entry of May 18th), Tom Embrescia, chairman and CEO of .jobs (entry May 7th), and Gerry Crispin of CareerXroads (May 3rd).

Although opinionated, Cheesman has no problem sharing the spotlight that shines on his blog. He defers to industry leaders and refers to data. He also links to other blogs under the heading "blogroll." Among those featured are blogs by Crispin and Manaster.

Cheesman's site is interesting from several standpoints. Most important, its content is relevant--and messages are accessible. Unlike some other blogs where authors ramble on in an effort to discover their own points and opinions, Cheesman shares thoughts and ideas that have already gone through self sift. What's more, entries are generally brief. These are blogging best practices.

Other best practices include the use of graphics and audio. Cheesman uses tools of the trade to break up what has a tendency to happen among even the best single-authored blogs: the drone of one voice can get stale. It doesn't happen with Cheezhead.

Finally, you don't need to go to the site to read the blog. Selecting "push me" under the "re: me" heading takes you to a page where you can sign up for RSS feed of Cheezhead. Doing so brings the blog, complete with headlines, to your Yahoo!, MSN, Google, or other homepage.

Cheezhead certainly isn't the only blog to offer RSS feed or other mentioned features, but the integration of best practices, coupled with the author's valuable insights, makes it a recruiting blog that stands out.