As you know, I spend a fair amount of time blogging about recruiting software and the talent management industry.  I’m always surprised by the small number of HR professionals who are also blogging.  It’s true, it does take time, but I’ve found that blogging is a great way to get more exposure for our company and products.

My intention in this post is to inspire other HR professional and recruiters to also consider blogging so with that, here are my 5 Reasons Why Blogging in the HR World is a Good Idea (in no particular order);

1.  You engage more with your job. It’s terribly easy to do a job thoughtlessly. When faced with a blank page, however, you have to start to really wonder about the things going on around you, even things you’ve seen a million times. You end up asking, “What are the new ideas out there?”, “Is there a better way to do X?”, “How will social networking impact this industry” and other such questions.

2.  You engage more with your industry. When you start asking questions, you feel like you have to answer them. So you go on the web, read other HR blogs, and start developing your thoughts on your own blog.

3.  You can become a thought leader. If you produce a steady stream of solid (and occasionally fun) content, your peers in the industry will think of you as a go-to person for HR questions. That can be good for both self-esteem and business.

4.  It’s fun. If you haven’t noticed, I love sharing my “Shakespeare time” with my daughter. There are business lessons to be learned in Shakespeare, to be sure, but the reason I started that blogging stream was simply because I liked it and thought it would be a fun way to put a new spin on things.

5.  It’s good for business. See above. Regular blogging also helps with search engine optimization, and it improves your sense (and, in most cases) your employees’ sense for what the company does and why. You can also promote your products, note upgrades and improvements (especially if you produce software), share customer testimonials, and link to product pages on your website.

My next post: Starting and Maintaining Your Own HR Blog. Stay tuned.

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