The IndySHRM Blog endeavors to help human resources professionals solve their workplace HR-related challenges through shared thought leadership, stories of lessons learned and actionable advice from well-respected practitioners in the human capital space. Additionally, our blog provides content that supports and describes the activities and events associated with our chapter and the national organization, SHRM.

NOTE: Posts on the IndySHRM Blog are often previewed in the monthly IndySHRM e-newsletter, and therefore provide the author with the potential for additional exposure.

Before submitting a post to be considered for the IndySHRM Blog, please review the content guidelines below.

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Target Audience

We aim to publish content for human resources practitioners; specifically, individuals that focus their efforts in one or more of the following areas:

• HR management
• Recruiting and staffing management
• Benefits administration
• Compensation planning and design
• HR technology
• Employee and labor relations
• Strategic planning
• Employment law
• Safety and health

Be sure that your topic and blog post are consistent with the mission of IndySHRM:

“It is the mission of IndySHRM to engage human resource professionals by providing comprehensive and up-to-date resources and opportunities to build professional relationships that will enhance their effectiveness as HR leaders. IndySHRM is committed to advancing the human resource profession and the capabilities of all human resource professionals in central Indiana.”

Content should consist of personal experiences of failure and success, results of studies and experiments, opinions on trends and strategic planning advice. The best content seeks to solve an immediate problem and explains how to do something in actionable detail. If you’re unsure if your article idea is a good fit for the IndySHRM Blog, email communications@indyshrm.org with a brief description of what you plan to write about.

Quality of Submissions

Writing for our target audience is only half the battle. Please consider the following criteria when composing original content for IndySHRM:

• Expertise: You don’t have to be well known to be a contributor for IndySHRM, but you must know a lot about the subject you’re writing about.
• Evidence: It’s not enough to know your subject deeply; you have to prove it to the reader. Referring to supporting research is one good way to do this; describing relevant examples is another.
• Original Ideas: If you’re writing about a frequently discussed topic, please share a fresh viewpoint. The best way to do this is to be very specific and to rely on your own research, observations, and experience.
• Usefulness: We want readers to come to the IndySHRM Blog to stay on top of new developments in HR, but also to get help changing the way they and their organizations actually do things. If you can explain your thinking so that the reader understands how to begin to apply it in real life, that will make it more powerful. If your idea would be better supported with an interactive graphic, assessment, checklist, or tool, be sure and provide those assets, too.
• Writing that’s succinct, educational and entertaining: If you don’t capture readers’ interest right away, they will not hesitate to move on. Get straight to the point in the first paragraph, avoid jargon, and spend the extra time necessary to make your language sharp and compelling.

Writing Tips

Make your blog posts easy to read by following these steps when writing for IndySHRM:

• Write an outline. An effective article needs structure.
• Write an introduction that engages readers with less than a paragraph of text.
• Create transitions. Each key point should have a logical connection to the next one; bridge them together with effective transitions.
• Add sub-headers. Bolded subtitles make it easier for readers to process your content and find the parts most relevant to them.
• Write a conclusion. Summarize all the key points (typically the article’s headers) you just got done making in the article body.

Formatting

• Length: the minimum is 500 words, but many articles may fall between 600 and 800 words. Long form content of 1,000+ words is accepted and encouraged – with a cautionary note that such articles are held to even greater editorial standards and should be supported by credible and authoritative research.
• Title: include a title with every article you submit.
• Headers: please use headers and/or bullet points to break up blocks of content.
• Images: images are not required for submission, but they are always welcomed (with proper attribution). Please attach images to the email when submitting your article and include a note in the body of the email to the source of the image. NOTE: Only provide images that you have the rights to use!

Links

Links should be included in the article body if the author refers to research, news or a specific outside article.

When relevant to the topic of discussion, it is acceptable to mention and link to your company in the body of an article. It is also acceptable to cite your own ebooks, white papers, guides, cheat sheets, studies, case studies, etc. However, hard sells and overtly promotional language and links will be removed.

Frequency

IndySHRM contributors submitting content on a recurring basis should publish no more than once per month.

Submitting An Original Article

Submit completed original articles using this form. You will receive an email notification upon receipt of your submission.

If your article is time-sensitive, please note this in the designated area with your submission. The standard editorial turn time is one week, depending on the backlog of content at that time. If you submit original content to IndySHRM and then decide to submit it elsewhere for publication, please contact communications@indyshrm.org to notify IndySHRM of your decision to revoke publishing rights.

You may republish your original IndySHRM content elsewhere on the web under two conditions:

• Two weeks have passed from the article’s date of publication on IndySHRM’s blog.
• You include a link to the original article on IndySHRM’s blog at the beginning or end of the post.

Author Information

When submitting, please include the biographical information for your author profile on IndySHRM. An area is provided on the blog submission form.

Submitting Existing (aka Already Published) Articles for Syndication

IndySHRM sponsors (including those who have a current listing in the IndySHRM HR Services Directory) are eligible to submit previously published articles to the IndySHRM Blog. The process for submitting articles previously published elsewhere is similar to submitting original content.

Email communications@indyshrm.org with a URL to the original source of the article and author information as outlined above.

Note: by submitting content for syndication, you confirm that you hold all rights to the article. We will credit the original post at the end of the syndicated article, as well as apply appropriate canonical tags for search engine optimization purposes.

Submit a blog