I’m pretty relaxed about rules in general, and my biggest role  as Managing Editor within the Recruiting Blogs community is mostly to referee when the trolls come out from under the bridge (or away from their contingency firm bullpens).  The coolest thing about this site is it’s actually pretty self-sustaining and organic.  But sometimes, the deus ex machina factor kicks in and I've got to intervene.

Since I'm kind of sick of answering questions about why certain stuff was edited out of a post, or why a particular post was deleted entirely, or anything pertaining to my job as arbiter in chief of the world's last remaining Ning network, I thought a quick post might be the easiest way to remind everyone that we're not LinkedIn Publisher, and we actually have some editorial standards involved in posting on this site.

They're not hard, but here's the highlight: if you pitch product or open positions, your post is toast. Period. 

The above video is actually better content marketing than most of your biz dev.

Here are the three basic ways to be an awesome Recruiting Blogs contributor (and keep my ulcer under control):

3. Don’t Suck: It’s pretty simple. If your content is interesting, readable, and written with good enough grammar and syntax to satisfy your average agency recruiter, then it doesn’t matter if you work for a vendor, a search firm or a Fortune 100 employer.  If you have something to say about recruiting, particularly if it’s a unique perspective or personal story, then we’ll not only feature the content, we’ll promote the hell out of it.

2. Be A Real Person: It’s easy to hide behind an avatar, but even if your copy is the most groundbreaking prose this side of Chaucer, no one wants to read anything after a byline whose profile pic is a company logo or some cutsey name like “IT Staffing Guru.”  If it’s not blatantly promotional (see #1) or libelous, I’ll let it stay up, but if you actually want to read “Direct Sponsored Content” then try LinkedIn Pulse.  We’re not about that game.

1. Don’t Sell: I’ve spent most of my career cranking content for vendors, but the reason it was somewhat successful was simple.  If there’s one way to render content marketing completely ineffective, it’s pitching product or doing anything that’s blatantly promotional. 

No one wants to buy from the douchebag who clogs the stream with advertorials featuring more product placement than a primetime sitcom on Fox. Except, of course, for our amazing marketing partners without whose support I'd be living in a van down by the river.  You guys rock.  

But seriously - cut the crap. There's enough of that in this business as is.