A well expressed blog can do for a job seeker what a resume cannot — it provides insight into your thought processes, creativity, and communication skills. It can demonstrate to your reader how involved and interested you are in your field, and this presence can make all the difference to a potential employer. In fact, when Nitron Advisors is looking for consultants for the Circle of Experts, the blogosphere is one of the major places that we look.
A few examples of bloggers who took significant career steps forward because of their blogging:
Matthew Yglesias’ blog served to be the crucial factor in getting him a journalism job out of college.
Similarly, Rick Klau was hired as the VP of business development for SocialText after the company’s CEO, Ross Mayfield, visited Rick’s weblog and was impressed by the ideas that he read.
And Terrance Heath was not even searching for a job when he received an employment opening from a company who had read his blog. Less than a year after creating it, it was his blog that got him the new job.
As a result of this rise in blog-facilitated job opportunities, there are now entire blog networks dedicated to job searching and displaying resumes.
Just as when using conventional resume and interview techniques, there are certain characteristics that a jobseeker should strive to demonstrate on a weblog. A potential employer can determine the degree of your industry interest and expertise by reviewing your discussions and the types of blogs and sites you link to. They can also get a feel for your personality and communication skills based on the style in which you write your blog. Therefore, keep in mind that since a blog provides such intimate insight into your character you should strive to demonstrate your integrity and professionalism. Show well-roundedness by indicating expertise in:
o Interpersonal and Management skills
o Finance
o Negotiations
o Technology & Operations Management
o Marketing
o Competition and Strategy
o Politics, Macroeconomics and International Relations
— Check out this resume checklist for more information on the qualities that your weblog should illustrate.
Also, here are a few examples of great weblogs and online resumes:
Hank Grebe’s weblog does a great job of demonstrating both his skills and his personality.
Darren Chase self-referentially demonstrates his expertise in organization and blogging.
Patrick Ruffini’s blog demonstrates his interest and expertise in politics and, no surprise for the webmaster of the 2004 Bush campaign, has a lot of bells and whistles.
We are now drafting an article on this topic. Have you landed a great job or consulting client solely because of your blog? If you have, please comment on this post, below.
(Thanks to Micaela Owusu for her help in researching this post!)
