Can Blogging Help You Get a New Job?
Sarah E. Needleman (Associate editor for CareerJournal.com) posts a nice article in today's WSJ (subscription required) about blogging and how it can help you get a new job.
Here's a short excerpt:
Corporate recruiters have long surfed the Web to vet potential hires, but now they are also surfing blogs to unearth job candidates, expanding their talent pool and gaining insights they say they can't get from résumés and interviews.
If you are a recruiter and you aren't surfing the blogs, you are already behind the eight ball.
If you are surfing the blogs but aren't making hires, at a minimum, you are putting yourself in great networking stead.
And, personally, I'm finding no greater opportunity than blogs, for developing relationships with candidates for future opportunities.
One of my goals is to use the blogosphere to make new contacts every day (ok, at least one).
And for the most part, I consistently meet this goal.
As an example, it wasn't too long ago that I left a comment on the WirelessisFun.com site, and as a result, struck up a friendship with the guys behind the WirelessisFun firewall. We now have a pending podcast for sometime in the near future and an almost daily dialogue.
However, I'm really looking forward to talking my buddy Dan in to a new career with T-Mobile USA. It's a long relo to Bellevue, WA from Romania, but hey, anything's possible in the blogosphere.
Needleman also posted an article titled,
What Job Seekers Can Gain From Blogs about Recruiting
Without question, the blogosphere is the place to go for job hunters who are seeking advice (of course, I'm slightly biased to this point, but it's because I'm right). And modest.
Here's a few of the blogs noted in the article - great choices - I read every one of these blogs and believe that job-search savvy job seekers should be reading them too.
Cheezhead
Resume Hell: Dumb Stuff I Read on Resumes
Brazen Careerist
Todd Raphael's World of Talent
Kaleidoblog
Guerilla Marketing for Job Hunters: The Blog
the CHAD
Go get 'em job seekers!
And don't forget, just one visit a day to WirelessJobs.com.
That's all I ask.
Dennis Smith
Executive Recruiting Manager
T-Mobile USA
WirelessJobs.com
Not all of us are convinced that blogging is fantastic for job candidates. This Sunday's front page of the San Francisco Chronicle contains an above-the-fold story entitled "Web can ruin reputation with stroke of a key."
Please read how some cyberbullies set out to destroy other candidates. Furthermore, observe how a lot on the Web is subject to misunderstanding, particularly when tone of voice isn't available to indicate intent. Way too many employers live in fear of making a hiring mistake. As some at CareerBuilder have noticed, hiring managers will not run the risk of hiring someone who doesn't look good online, whether they were the source or target of an online smear campaign.
Some of us have deliberately chosen to not author a blog. It may cost us opportunities and being spotted by recruiters. At the same time, because people (especially employers) are willing to believe the worst about others, we choose to only submit our writings to respected print publications.
Please read this story from today's Chronicle:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/05/06/MNGBEPM57J1.DTL