Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

The HR profession

Blog of the week: Corn on the job

by Tara Craig 6 Apr 2010
by Tara Craig 6 Apr 2010

Corn on the job

This is another American blog, but that shouldn’t be a problem – the author’s enthusiasm for benefits knows no international boundaries! Blogger Rich DeMatteo is an HR professional, full of enthusiasm and, as he says himself, opinion.

Don’t be scared away by the photos of him wearing a baseball cap back to front â€“ he’s smarter than he looks. And being relatively new to HR means he is au fait with the social media tools more established practitioners so often sneer at. He has an active readership â€“ his peer group, for whom publishing responses to blogs is second nature. So there’s a real ‘community’ feel to the blog.

Perhaps the clearest indication that DeMatteo is from Generation Y comes in the topics he covers. He writes about subjects that wouldn’t have occurred to most HR professionals until relatively recently â€“ for instance, when did you last read a piece on the pros and cons of dressing smartly when working from home? Yet topics are relevant, and important to the ambitious HR professional keen to do more than dish out advice on employment law.

Rather than just assuming he knows what his readers want to hear about, DeMatteo asks them to suggest topics â€“ so it’s a two-way flow of interest, enthusiasm and information. ‘Chapters’ include ‘personal branding’, ‘interview tips’ and ‘networking’. Content is practical in tone â€“ I particularly liked ‘5 networking tips for shy people’ and ‘the importance of networking to interns’.

DeMatteo’s style is conversational, which makes for an engaging, accessible blog, and he makes good use of a variety of media. His ‘Weekend YouTube update’, although infrequently updated (no pun intended) uses video clips to highlight HR and recruitment points. See ‘Ben Stiller, Ryan Seacrest, Twitter and you’.

Social media and technology are well covered, too. Topics include ‘The 5 iPhone apps every job seeker needs’ and ‘explaining Twitter on your resume’.

DeMatteo writes with a very light touch and a welcome, although never forced, sense of humour. Here’s a man who loves his work and isn’t ashamed to say so. That can only be a good thing for his readers.

TWEET OF THE WEEK

Employee factor

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Quirky Canadian tweeter Judy McLeish claims to be ‘passionate about building an engaged workforce’. As ’employee factor’, her tweets are cheery and thought-provoking. And they’re not the ‘I had porridge’ for breakfast variety, either, but a solid source of recommended reading and viewing.

McLeish’s interests are obviously broad, if her tweets are anything to go by. On the day of reviewing, topics covered included employee engagement case studies, a ‘thought for the day’-type quote from Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz, and suggestions on how to write a manager’s manifesto. Well worth following.

Tara Craig

previous post
BBC Today programme editor denies sexism claims
next post
HR career issues: joint HR/communications roles

You may also like

Why HR burnout is a strategic issue

12 May 2025

CIPD appoints expert in AI to boost support...

8 May 2025

Stress for HR specialists greater at larger organisations

2 May 2025

CIPD: Employment Rights Bill timetable needs clarity

25 Apr 2025

Movers and shakers in HR: Stagecoach, Sodexo UK,...

11 Apr 2025

Senior HR pay rising faster than junior roles

28 Mar 2025

Employee Benefits Awards 2025 shortlist revealed

24 Mar 2025

What do HR specialists enjoy most about their...

21 Mar 2025

Law firm HR professional embroiled in ‘anti-Islam’ row

12 Mar 2025

Mitie appoints Kathryn Dolan as chief people officer

6 Mar 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+