Category: Blogs

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Blogs

Web Hosting

The web hosting in Ireland is really strange. The prices vary so much that if you do not shop around you have a chance to pay more than double for the same service.

Imagine that you want to write a blog like this one (wwwJobsBlog.ie). Who would you choose for web hosting it from the Irish web hosting companies.

The requirements are very simple. You need a Linux hosting with the Php and MySql support, and the ability to install WordPress. If you need to upload it with FTP it is OK, but if it is available in their control panel, that is a definite plus.

Irish Web Hosting companies consist of those who:
1. have their own data centres and their servers in them:
1.1 Hosting365.ie
1.1 Digiweb.ie
2. have servers in someone else’s data centre
2.1 Blacknight.ie – servers in www.dataelectronics.ie
2.2 Novara.ie – servers in www.servecentric.com
2.3 IrishDomains.com – servers in www.dataelectronics.ie
3. reselling the space on someone else’s server. That is usually your local web designer.

So here goes the pricing for hosting the WordPress package:

Hosting Company

TOTAL

Hosting/year

.ie domain/year

Hosting365

 €65.90 €39.95 €25.95

Digiweb.ie

 €69.18 €39.19 €29.99

Blacknight.ie

 €77.99 €42.99 €35.00

HistingIreland.ie

 €140.00 €70.00 €70.00

Novara.ie – Host.ie

 €168.00 €99.00 €69.00

IrishDomains.com

 €218.00 €149.00 €69.00

All the prices above are from the web sites that the links are provided in this article. All the prices listed do not include Irish VAT of 21%.

The cheapest package is from Hosting365 the total is €65.90 (+VAT) The most expensive one covered in this report is the offer from the IrishDomains.com that is: €218. Therefore the difference in the price of web hosting in Ireland can be more than three times. The suggestion is to shop around while you are choosing your web hosting provider.

Support is the other important web hosting issue besides the price. Here is the checklist:
1. if there is a phone support number on the web site
2. if the phone support is included in your package
3. is the phone support number a free 1800 number
4. is the phone support the 1890 and it states that it is a local call price number
5. call the support on the phone and see how long will it take to get to a person
6. ask a question to see if a support person understands you and is showing a willingness and knowledge to really provide support.

Categories
Blogs Jobs Microsoft

Microsoft International Tech Jobs Blog

As Gretchen correctly pointed out in the comments of the Microsoft Jobs Blog – The Winner of The Best Recruitment Blog in Ireland Award 2008 the Microsoft Jobs in Ireland are actually covered on the Microsoft International Tech Jobs Blog as opposed to the US one.

The Microsoft International Tech Jobs Blog is actually on a Live Space platform that has its own advantages and disadvantages as a blogging platform. Live Spaces is great for networking since it is integrated with both Hotmail and Instant Messenger, and you can have your Profile and Photo albums there as well. So kind of a well rounded service offering a nice integration of all various social networking activities. The drawback for a blog itself is that if the blog is the only thing you want to promote, your interface is extremely cluttered with all this MSN stuff all over the page. There isn’t a 1000 WordPress Skins to choose from to apply to match you taste and needs. You are just stuck with all this advertisements for Windows Live Something. OneCare. WhoCares?

Declan Fitzgerald’s blog is in the Irish environment simply revolutionary. Two things stand out:

  • 1. RSS Feeds of Microsoft jobs in each EMEA Centre
  • 2. Video representation of each Microsoft EMEA Centre

Oh, and BTW all the Microsoft Jobs in Ireland posted as blog posts.

Declan has got it right. It is extremely simple to check and subscribe to the RSS of fresh Jobs in Ireland for example, and there is an inviting video where Declan will walk you through what they do, and what they are looking for. Those are the two main messages a recruitment blog should have. It needs to say what are we looking for in the skills list, and show what positions are currently open. The RSS Feed is actually above the expectation here. Since this is the first Irish Employers Recruitment Blog, it has set a high standards for the followers.

Again, well done Declan, and well done Microsoft in Ireland!

Categories
Blogs Jobs

Irish Recruitment Blog Toppic?

Every Recruiter in Ireland I spoke to about Blogging asked me the following same questions:
How should I go about it? See the bottom post 22 hours for detailed steps.

Then the next question is always: What should I blog about?
Danny Wall wrote the shortest and simplest answer in the article Number 1 in Google – The Blog:

The Blog

This is one of the best and easiest methods of getting traffic and links, yet it is also the one that is most often done wrong. All too many blogs for ecommerce sites are nothing more than “product posts.”
So, let me say emphatically that:

People don’t care about you, your cat, or your products!

That may sound harsh, but it’s true, they don’t. What your potential customers will care about is their problems, wants, and desires. Therefore, your posts should play to the customer but target the niche to which you market.
Blogs should contain articles that will be of help and interest to your target market. They should contain links to interesting news stories or bits of information. In other words, your blog should be a valuable resource to your target market independent of what you sell. Additionally, you should post to your blog every day (and twice a day is better).

So in the Irish Recruiters world, what can you blog about? Just start the two lists. One is the list of questions that your employers ask you during your day. Write them all down, one under another. Do the same for the questions you get during the day from the Irish Job seekers. An hour before you go home take a look at your lists. See chat questions keep on popping up. Are the clients concerned about the quality of the candidates? Perfect. Your first Recruitment Blog Post is going to be titled: ‘Quality Candidates’. In the article define the ‘Quality’, write a short quality matrix table, search the web to se what others wrote about the ‘Quality’ of the candidates. You might learn something!!! Put it all together in a short one page post and Voila! You have your first post!!!! Just do the same every day.

Categories
Blogs

Prosperity Blog – The Winner of The Best Recruitment Agency Blog in Ireland Award 2008

Welcome to the:

The Best Recruitment Agency Blog in Ireland Award 2008

Irish Recruitment Agency Blog Awards 2008

In not that strong competition between the Recruitment Agencies in Ireland

The Winner of The Best Recruitment Agency Blog in Ireland Award is:

Prosperity Blog

Prosperity Blog - The Winner of The Best Recruitment Agency Blog in Ireland 2008 Award

Ta – daaa!!!!!!!

This is the first Blog used for the recruitment purpose I have found by any Irish Recruitment Agency. Well done Prosperity!!!

Categories
Blogs

Matt’s Blog Post on ‘Recruitment in Ireland, Competition vs. Cooperation, and Facebook‘

I do not know Matt (the author), but an interesting read under the title:

Recruitment in Ireland, Competition vs. Cooperation, and Facebook

From Matt who describes him selves as:

I’m working as a consultant, creating new marketing and digital strategy solutions for the company…

Categories
Blogs

Wikipedia: Recruitment in the Republic of Ireland

The ‘Official’ definition of Recruitment in Ireland on Wikipedia.

Categories
Blogs Jobs Microsoft

Microsoft Jobs Blog – The Winner of The Best Recruitment Blog in Ireland Award 2008

Welcome to the:

The Best Recruitment Blog in Ireland Award 2008

Irish Recruitment Blog Awards 2008

In not that strong competition between the Employers in Ireland

The Winner of The Best Recruitment Blog in Ireland Award is:

Microsoft Jobs Blog

Microsoft Jobs Blog

Ta – daaa!!!!!!!

This is the first Blog used for the recruitment purpose I have found by any Irish Employer. Well done Microsoft!!!

Categories
Blogs Google Search Engine SERP

Jobs Blog Popularity

There is one thing one has to manage when his blog becomes ‘popular’. JobsBlog.ie is a bit more than a month old now. It tops several searches in the Google.ie search engine results page (SERP) for a a number of search phrases. That means traffic. Some wanted some not really.

Today I logged in to check if I got any comments on those few articles you can see published so far. And to my surprise – YES! There are 99 Blog Comments!

All excited I click to go to read them (and moderate), only to find out that I have 99 SPAM Blog Comments. So 100% of SPAM in the first month. Really poor quality of the response…

I guess it is a time to try to find a solution to prevent unauthenticated comments…

Categories
Blogs

Big Business and Blogging

Big Business and Blogging

In US this is the current status:

‘Overall, I found 41 of the Fortune 500 (8%) had some level of corporate blogging.’

From: http://www.businessandblogging.com/big-business-blogging/

In Ireland? Well do you know of ANY business blogging? Microsoft is trying but it is all more advertisement than a blog. Anyone else on the Green Isle?

Categories
Blogs Jobs Microsoft

Declan Fitzgerald’s (Lead Technical Recruiter in Microsoft)Blog

It is interesting to see how Microsoft employees know how to blog only, and I mean ONLY about Microsoft. They might stride to a game of golf, but in general, every single blog post from a Microsoft employee is about the Glorious Microsoft. No other company managed to ‘swing’ the employees as well as Microsoft does.

Declan is a Lead Techincal Recruiter in Dublin. Check the blog yourself:

http://internationaltechjobs.spaces.live.com/

‘www.joinmicrosofteurope.com is brilliantly designed using’…. something tells me I will disagree, but let’s not jump o conclusions, perhaps this Silverlignt is not as it looks like, just another Flash. I will be writing about SilverLignt as a development platform for a recruitment agency web site early in the next year. It would be interesting to see if Silverlight can challenge WordPress (on php!).

Categories
Blogs Google Jobs Microsoft Search Engine

Microsoft Recruitment

Check the Microsoft Europe Recruitment Web Site:
http://www.joinmicrosofteurope.com/

Comments are welcome!

Silverlight? I am curious to see how well can the spiders index the content on such a web site…

Categories
Blogs Jobs

The Job Hunting Cycle

An interesting definition from Texas Workforce on how we actually ‘flow’ trough the job hunting phases in our career.

Job Hunting Cycle

From: http://www.twc.state.tx.us/news/tjhg/cycle.html

‘Landing a job doesn’t mean you’ve reached some final destination. It’s really just another stage of the job-hunting cycle, which you will travel throughout your working life.’

Step Zero/Six:
WORK: Track Achievements; Connect with People; Increase Skills; Assess Yourself

Step One
ASSESS: Identify Assets, Deficits; Prepare Portfolio; Develop Résumé; Target Specific Jobs

Step Two:
PREPARE: Office Materials; Wardrobe; References; Support System

Step Three:
SEARCH: Used Varied Methods; Connect with Others; Track Progress

Step Four:
CONTACT: Phone Calls; Cover Letters; Application Forms

Step Five:
INTERVIEW: Research; Questions; Offer; Negotiations

Categories
Blogs Jobs

WordPress has a built in RSS – What about Irish jobs sites?

The WordPress blogging engine that is blog is written on has a built in RSS feed. The RSS feed is under the URL:


http://www.jobsblog.ie/Jobs/rss/

Subscribe to JobsBlog.ie RSS Feed


Which is exactly where you would expect it to be!

Anyway, a RSS feed is what you can send your job hunters to subscribe to on your job site. Most of the good job boards do it, but Irish Recruitment Agencies and the Direct Employers especially fail here graciously.

Just imagine where your recruitment web site feed (RSS) that delivers a new job to the RSS readers as each time you post a new job.

So exactly what Google XML Sitemap does to the Google search engine results page (SERP), where you can ‘push’ your new page in the SERP instantly, the RSS ‘pushes’ the new job to the RSS reader like Microsoft Outlook 2007.

Categories
Blogs Jobs

Job Specs vs. Blog Posts

Blog posts and job descriptions are similar sized chunks of text. Both are written to attract the reader. Job description has a definitive and clear call to action, the Apply button underneath. Blog post does not have a natural path where you want to send the visitor. One of the best tactics is to finish with the sentence that lists relevant articles, for further reading. You cannot really do this with the first blog post, since there is nothing to link to (jet). You will find out that your will further develop some ideas you already blogged about, and will continue writing on the same topics. When you do, you can go back to the original posts, and edit them to include the links to the never articles for the further reading.

The other way of achieving the similar result are ‘Tags’. By adding tags to your articles you are grouping them, so anyone can list all your blog posts based on the tags printed below the article.

The best solution is to post both. The finishing sentence or two where you are recommending a further reading, and a list of tags that are links to all the articles marked with any of those tags. Luckily the WordPress places tags for you under each post (in the default Themes).

Categories
Blogs Google Search Engine SERP XML Sitemap

Sitemap

a>Why is the Google XML Sitemap important?

This is blog an example:
Day 1. – Domain registered and blog set up
Day 2. – Sitemap installed
Day 3. – Blog in the SERP

JobsBlog.ie in Google SERP

The domain is 3 days old, and it has no links to it. Do you know of ANY other way of getting your domain in the search engine results that quickly?

A few minutes later – after this post was published you can see it in Google SERP allready:

JobsBlog.ie - Blog post in Google SERP instantly after publishing