Blog smog: A look at life on the web
If you ever wondered what people really think of their jobs, blogs can be a good way to find out. We profile ten of the best.
A couple of years ago there were stories about unfortunate workers losing their jobs shortly after discovering that freedom of the press doesn’t mean anything when pitted against corporate rules about blogging. Despite this, there are still people out there willing to tell the world just what life’s like in their office. Here we list some of our favourite employee blogs along with those of management experts and business schools.
1. Bizdeanstalk
(www.deanstalk.net)
Santia-go Iñiguez de Ozoño, dean of Instituto de Empresa, and Paul Danos, dean
of Tuck school of business – two of the heavy-weights in the world of
business academia – hold forth on topics such as the investment climate and
the structure of business-focused PhD programmes.
2. Guru blog
Guru, the back-page columnist in Personnel Today, shares the silliest HR
stories with disciples from the sect of personnel. The magazine also runs a
much more sensible career counselling blog. Both can be found at http://www.personneltoday.com/staticpages/blogs.htm
3. Evil HR lady
(evilhrlady.blogspot.com)
I’m not evil, I’m just drawn that way... Evil HR lady does her entertaining
best to explain why everybody at her Fortune 500 company thinks that she’s a
mean, unfeeling person who enjoys firing people. She also welcomes questions
– handy if your HR person is too evil to approach.
4. Seth Godin
(sethgodin.typepad.com)
Some of the internet-related posts from the author, entrepreneur and
self-described “agent of change” can be a little on the glib side of obvious
but Godin has useful things to say about marketing
5. Clear admit
(blog.clearadmit.com)
This blog, run by a business school counselling and admissions advice firm,
draws together the latest news on MBAs and how to get one. Recent topics
include the latest essay questions for admission to Insead and the arrival
of a new dean at MIT.
6. Smallbizpod
(http://www.smallbizpod.co.uk/blog/
)
Contributors to this blog about small business and start-ups are a nice mix of
journalists, experts and entrepreneurs. The professional advisers offer
plenty of professional advice but it’s the Diary of A Young Entrepreneur
that offers a behind-the-scenes view of what it’s really like to try turning
a good idea into a business.
7. Anonymous lawyer
(http://www.anonymouslawyer.blogspot.com/)
A humorous look at life inside a large law firm in a major city from the
perspective of a hiring partner. Well, it’s definitely humorous but it’s
hard to be sure if it really is an inside look, given the whole anonymity
thing.
8. Management education update
(intouch.emeraldinsight.com/beanstalk/weblog)
This is something of an aggregation of news and research from and about
business schools, meaning that it’s a little on the dry side, although
useful.
9. That’s not a bug, it’s a feature
(notabug.blogspot.com)
IT projects are forever going wrong. That’s why they get given nicknames like
“Project Hopeless” by bloggers such as Dracunculus – an IT contractor at,
uh, Banco di Haggis.
10. Anonymous coworker
(http://www.anonymouscoworker.com/)
It’s not all work action here, despite the title, but set this anonymous
blogger loose on life in the cubicle (see, for example, “I personally have
your mother's number on speed-dial”) and prepare for an entertaining tirade.
11. And our own new Snakes & Ladders blog which is a blog for people who want to get ahead at work. Our writers expose corporate madness and demystify management and remind readers that no one with access to the internet should ever be bored at work.
