As posted this afternoon on MN Headhunter:

Two years ago Monday, May 21^st, I started this MN Headhunter blog. This post also hits a milestone of 500 posts.

Before getting into this I did not intentionally make this the 500^th post. Well sort of I did. It would have been 499 but when I realized that this is a bit of a significant moment I put one post ahead of this one.

Last year I struggled with how to celebrate the big occasion, Happy 1st Anniversary, MN Headhunter.

This year I feel a little more philosophical but will start with what is new.

The total look and layout of the blog was changed last August by Jim and Franki Durbin and Durbin Media Group. They did an awesome job and while I am going to play with the blog roll some (the list itself) I have not felt the need to change a thing.

With the new look came new pages, About Nerd Search, Available Jobs, Volunteer, and Recruiting Gigs. All of the pages act as a blog of their own.

Sort of related is the new search firm name, Nerd Search. I had been looking for a name that more accurately described what I do. Mission accomplished. 97% of the feedback was positive. I have had a few potential candidates put off by the name and my response has been fine, I doubt I would have wanted to work with them anyway. I do care what people think but the many positives have far outweighed the few negatives.

Now for some quick philosophy and a weird look inside my brain:

-Starting the blog was the best thing I could have done for me (a way to express myself), my identity in the Minneapolis market (people know the blog and my name), has become a valuable knowledge tool (for me and others), and has greatly broadened my network of recruiting, search, HR, and blogging friends.

-Blogging on a regular basis is hard. I could easily have doubled the number of posts the past two years but at times it seems overwhelming.

-Not blogging on a regular basis has been foolish. When looking at it in the micro view I feel like I should be doing other things, like recruiting. In the macro view I have learned that the more I blog the more I get out of it and the more inquiries (recruiting and other) I receive. I need to look at the bigger picture.

-Writing a local blog was the right move for me. There is always stuff to write about.

-There is more that can be done with the blog but for now I will keep that to myself.

-Learning how to not only write a blog but run a blog seemed difficult in the beginning. It is easy. There are many online resources to shorten the learning curve and I have learned that most bloggers are willing to give advice.

If you have thought about starting a blog but are not sure if it truly is something you want to invest time and energy in I would suggest doing this, set up an account with any of the blogging platforms and keep it hidden. That way if you decide against continuing you have no pressure from others or the feeling of failure. If you do find that you like doing it by the time you let everyone know about it you will have a good amount of content for them to look at.

That very first day in May of 2005 I felt very small with my first two blog posts. I was looking at other blogs, many of whom had been at it for years, and thinking how am I ever going to get that far.

Two years later I look at how far I have come and how much fun the ongoing journey is going to be.

For more information on myself or the blog click MN Headhunter Info and MN Headhunter for the latest blog postings.