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Law firm blogs as lawyer retention & recruiting tools

Blogs are an effective recruiting and employee retention tool per New York Post’s Michael Kane.

Many forward-thinking companies offer free meals to employees, which is appealing because if you’re working a 12-hour day who has time for grocery shopping? Google, for example, famously heaps perks upon their Bay Area employees, like free commuter shuttle buses wired for Internet and a loose policy on bringing pets to work.

Microsoft has gone one step further. The grandfather of all geek firms has pioneered the perquisite of allowing its workers in Redmond, Wash., and elsewhere to blog – not just about working at Microsoft, but while they’re working at Microsoft. The Microsoft worker blogs, which number in the thousands, are actually hosted on the corporate Web site……There’s nothing truly shocking in either the Honeywell or Microsoft blogs, of course. Nobody’s bad-mouthing their bosses or co-workers. But in allowing workers to gripe about traffic jams and being broke, companies are giving workers a voice and an outlet. In doing so, they’re taking a potentially dangerous and subversive medium – blogging – and turning it into a strength.

On the recruiting side, a Microsoft spokesperson labeled blogs a ‘groundbreaking corporate communications vehicle’ and explains they offer ‘a unique environment for our employees to engage with the community.’ This community includes potential recruits.

Steve Rothberg of College-Recruiter.com says the transparency of blogs helps to personalize your company and sell potential recruits. “Let’s say you’re at Microsoft and you’re approached by a rival, one of first questions you’ll ask is, ‘Can I blog for you?’ It’s a phenomenal retention tool.”

Though the Post article is not about law firms, large law firms I speak with are increasingly using blogs for recruiting and retention.

Worse yet would be the decision to deny blogs to a lawyer who’s seen their potential or seen a competitor law firm that’s already blogging. Lawyers are coming to law firm marketing professionals and administrative committees asking to begin a blog. Deny that lawyer the opportunity to further enhance their reputation as a leading authority in their area of practice by blogging and the lawyer is going to start looking at places to go.

Source on post: Michael Fitzgibbon

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