With a new "war for talent" going on in the marketplace companies are looking for - what they call - "innovative" approaches to discover, attract and recruit employees. One of those tools is blogging.

It seems that "a blog to recruit" makes much more sense, or is easier understood by companies than he whole "social media for the enterprise" concept. I do understand why; recruitment is at the core of most organizations today, has a high priority and is very practical with a clear ROI.

Being a former headhunter (don't ask...), I can say that a blog is definitely a very good tool to complete the HR/hiring arsenal.

My first encounter with an Executive Recruiter who blogged was in France and Jacques Froissant from Altaïde is still posting at a very regular pace. Some topics he covers are:

• news from the industries he recruits for - demonstrating he understands the business environment of his clients.
• the latest positions he's looking to fill - obvious promotion.
• human resources news for Managers - showing he follows the latest trends that impact his potential applicants.

Even government organizations like our own VDAB (Flemish service for employment) are using blogposts as a recruitment tool by having job seekers and people who already have a job blog about their experiences.

The set up is very well done; bloggers are allowed to blog during one month and tell their story; how did they find that job, was it difficult, who helped them etc...

Except... the blogposts you can read on the VDAB Joblog are "reviewed" before they are posted. Although they are based on real blogposts by job seekers they have been re-written to a certain standard the VDAB editorial team handles...

Even if this is explained and made public (in Flemish) on their blog page, it still gives me a feeling of "corporate control". Why not publish the articles as such ? Are all job seekers bad writers..? Authenticity is better than mediocre writing no ?

What do you think ? Should blogposts always be posted as such (authentic) or can they be rewritten for the sake of editorial quality ? Fill in the poll and let us know.