11 blogging tips for recruitment agencies (that actually help)

Type ‘blogging tips’ in Google and you’re presented with millions of results. Some helpful, most not. Because the thing about blogging is Google still sees it as someone in their bedroom using it to generate a side income. But blogging recruitment agency is so different. 

It’s about creating a relationship with your defined audience - whether that’s clients or candidates. It’s about relevant information being ready when your audience needs it. It’s about showing off your expertise in a human-to-human way to help your audience connect with you on a value basis not just a transactional one.

These blogging tips are useful. They’re relevant and they’ll set you on the right path…..if you follow them.

Blogging tips for recruitment agencies 

1. Figure out your audience

Before you start even thinking about blogging. You need to be able to answer this question. 

Who are you writing for and what do they care about? 

Ok, so that’s 2 questions. But the point still stands. For recruitment agencies that becomes even more relevant. You’ve got two clearly defined funnels - clients and candidates. Both audiences are important but both care about very different things. If you haven’t honed in on one audience per blog and aren’t writing about things that they care about, they won’t be searching for those topics so there’s no point in doing that work.

Getting under the skin of your audience - what’s annoying them, what they love, what helps them, what’s in their way, is the best way to write content that resonates with them. Because when you find that elusive topic that clicks with your clients, or your candidates they’re going to start to engage with your agency and you’ve got a loyal audience member right there.

2. Be consistent

The golden rule of blogging is: you need to keep blogging.

It’s no good posting weekly for 6-weeks then having 2-months off then posting fortnightly. You’d be better off only publishing 1 blog a month. Let’s face it most recruitment agencies start blogging because of the SEO merits (I cover that in this blog), but you’ll only get those gold stars if you’re blogging consistently. 

Recruitment is a fast-paced world, and no one knows that more than the marketing department. So be realistic about what you can manage. You know your workload, you know your expectations, you know what time you might have to dedicate to this. Work out what you can manage over the long term and start with the basics. You can always up your posting schedule if you’re able to. Start small and build.

3. Have a plan

Every blog needs to have a purpose. It needs a role. That means two things. You need a strategy about what you’re going to write about and when and you need a plan for every single blog, not just write about whatever pops into your head that day. Now the only caveat to this rule is with breaking news or relevant topics, but we’ll come to that later.

This is where your keyword research comes into play. Armed with your audience knowledge, your keyword research and your business objectives (yes, really) you can plan out blog topics that drive the agency closer to its goals by answering questions your audience cares about.

Does it take time? Of course, but nothing good ever came easy.

4. Be useful

I’m hoping you see a recurring theme here. Your blogs need to be useful to your audience (see points 1 and 3). If the topic isn’t interesting or helpful to them they won’t read it. 

That will be different for your 2 funnels. For your candidate funnel you might angle your blogs from an educational point of view and walk your audience through common problems like interview tips or CV advice. For your clients you might decide to take more of a comparison approach - which service this one or that one? Or you could mix it up with a thought leadership piece. Laying out your take on an issue affecting the recruitment industry.

Just make sure that what your posting about is useful to your audience, instead of your senior leadership thinking it’s useful.

5. Develop a personality

Your blog is your space. Own it. 

It’s rare these days to have dedicated brand space. On social you’re surrounded by competitors or holiday photos. On Google you’re surrounded by other options. But on your website it’s just you. That means you should be yourself.

When you look at what candiates are looking for right now, it’s purpose-led businesses. That means to attract great candidates and clients, your agency needs to lead by example. Show what matters to you, have an opinion, share your values. Your blogs are a great place to start doing this.

That’s not always the easiest for recruitment agencies, but that’s why you need a defined tone of voice. 

Even if you’re covering serious or heavier topics you can have a distinctive voice which makes your blog interesting to read. A personality doesn’t mean you have to be frivolous, there’s always light and shade. Play around with different styles, see what works and pack your blogs full of personality.

6. Share it

There’s no point spending precious time or money on creating blogs if you aren’t going to share them. When you create your plan, include what you’re going to do with them. Are you going to post about them on social? Are you going to use them as LinkedIn articles or newsletters? Are you going to plug them on your homepage? Are you going to feature them in your e-newsletter?

I don’t care how you do it (well I do) but please, please, please share them where your defined audience will be able to find them.

7. Have an opinion

Our natural instinct is to blend in. Don’t stand out. Be one with the crowd. But when you’re marketing a business that’s not the approach you want to take.

There are over 30,000 recruitment agencies in the UK. Now not all of them will focus on the same industries or level that you do but that’s a lot of competition. To stand out you need to have a unique voice.

You want to be memorable. You want to be different. So you want opinions. 

Opinions don’t have to be controversial, but they will be divisive. I’m here to tell you that divisive is good. Because your opinion will align with that of your ideal clients and will repel those who don’t fit your criteria. 

Sharing your opinion will attract your ideal clients and candidates. We’ve already talked about what candidates are looking for in an employer, they’re looking for the same thing from a recruiter. Having a strong, unique voice shows you know what you’re talking about and you aren’t afraid to back yourself. 

8. Create a bank of resources

The thing that blogs can be great for is to answer all those pesky FAQs. Start noting down all those questions you’re always asked when you get an enquiry or during onboarding and creating blogs that answer them. Over time what this will do is create a library of content that you can direct your consultants to when they have candidates asking questions.

CV advice? On the blog.
Interview tips? On the blog.
How to handle online interviews? On the blog.

See the theme? What starts as a time-consuming task gains momentum and you’ll get to a point where you won’t be creating unique resources every time a consultant asks you a question. Instead you’ll simply signpost them to the relevant blog. It’ll save you time and sanity.

9. Be topical

This is where I’m giving you permission to deviate from your plan. It’s ok to have a topic planned in but then to bump it when something crops up in the news that your audience will care about.

If you want to be seen as a leader in your industry then that means being relevant and topical. Keep an eye on the news and industry bodies for new developments or stories and share them with your take. 

It might be a report about employment rates or a big player in your industry has a new initiative. Anything that your audience will find interesting and want to know about.

Act quickly and you might be one of the first in your industry to give their take. It’ll make you seem more relevant and timely to your audience.

10. Have fun with it

Blogs aren’t the place to be boring or serious. They’re the place to have a bit of fun, bring some humour to your business and break up the monotony that might exist elsewhere. 

By all means, have a more serious blog if the topic needs it but don’t think of your blog as just somewhere to publish your company news or that you need to be 100% straight-laced.

Blogs are about engagement, and sometimes that engagement needs to be a bit more light-hearted to cut through the doom and gloom. 

11. Get someone else to do it for you

This is the part where you all groan and say “I knew that was coming”. But I mean it. If you want to be consistent, to have a distinct, appropriate tone of voice, to be topical and to position your blog as a strategic output rather than a nice-to-have then work with a freelancer like me. 

We know that as recruitment marketers you’re stacked. Expectations are sky-high, headcount is low and you’re trying to make magic happen.

By outsourcing your blog to a freelancer (like me) you can rely on getting a professional, polished blog when you need it without the hassle, or resources, of handling it in-house.


A blog isn’t something to start without some serious consideration of resources, capacity and budget. The best recruitment blogs aren’t a bolt-on, they’re embedded within the agency. Try these tips, see how you get on and I hope that we’ll be working together on some brilliant, bold blogs very soon.

Send me a message to start work or check out my blog packages.