Blog Your Way To A Job

With the popularity of blogs a number of corporate recruiters are finding the web useful when trying to place candidates. For recruiters who are searching through blogs personally oriented to finding work you are able to rapidly develop a large pool of qualified individuals while at the same time gaining valuable insights on candidates.

Job Blogs

Recruiters claim one of their many weekly activities includes searching through web blogs for talented individuals or to find a bit more information about candidates they have already interviewed. That's because bloggers often write extensively about their own lives – including work and experience. Reading through blogs gives recruiters the opportunity to not only get a good feel for the level of expertise an individual might possess but also get a good sense of their writing and communication skills and style.

Admittedly many bloggers are savvy professionals because it takes a certain amount of web know-how to create a good blog in the first place. But, as you'll soon see, creating a job blog is not all that difficult.

Creating a Blog

For people who are new to the concept of a blog I will begin by covering how to create a blog with a quick lesson on blogs themselves. The term blog comes from the phrase web log - which later morphed into blog. A blog itself is merely a website where a writer records their thoughts on a wide variety of topics in a chronological order, latest posting at the top and older ones below or in archive.

A typical blog might combine text with images and links to related web pages or sites. Blogs differ from common web pages in that readers are permitted to leave comments following a post which allows commenter's to interact with the blogger. Blogs therefore create a type of social network.

In general there are two ways that blogs are created and hosted:

+ Via free offerings from LiveJournal, Google's Blogger, WordPress, among others.
+ Using software such as such as WordPress or Movable Type, hosted on a website you pay for.

Free Blogs

One of the easiest and fastest way to create a job blog is to sign up with one of the free service providers mentioned. They cost you nothing but time and they are a great introduction into the world of blogging or the blogosphere. In simple steps you can create an account, choose a name for your blog, pick out a template and start writing. Some, like Google's Blogger allows you to rewrite their template for your blog.

Blog Software

More serious bloggers willing to learn blog software will prefer the flexibility free products such as WordPress or Movable Type offer. To be able to use this type of software you will need to register a domain name and a web host.

You can often register a domain name for less than $10 a year. Many web providers specialize in hosting blogs and the easiest way to get started is by using one of the software publisher's recommended web hosts. While the blogging software is free, hosting will cost you a fee each month and for the traffic you recive depending on how popular your blog becomes.

Creating a Blog

Even if you are currently employed there is nothing wrong with creating a career blog discussing the work you currently do. One thing you will need to keep in mind is even if you create a great or useful blog alone it is not going to help you find employment opportunities if it doesn't have some recruiter-friendly touches. For example:

Types of things to post

+ Keep it Interesting: if you want to attract others to your blog then you need to be committed to putting in the time and writing content on a very regular basis. If you can, try to post at least once a week and remember to check back frequently in case a reader asks a question or posts a comment that deserves a response.
+ Quality Content: readers of your blog - especially job recruiters - will be evaluating your blog to gage your knowledge but also your communication skills. It's one thing to write in a casual or informal manner - less business like - fashion. It's another matter if you have a lot of misspellings, poor grammar or foul language or speak badly of a company or product. Remain diplomatic.
+ Be an Expert: if you've got some specialized knowledge and you might be considered an expert in your industry then don't be afraid to make that fact known by talking about relevant and / or recent developments in your industry.
+ Leave Out the Detail: it's always a good idea to leave out extremely personal information, such as the names and ages of children, or if you've got some quirky habits that you would rather a job recruiter not know about.
+ About Me Sections: finally, it's always a good idea to have an "about me" page on your blog. This should be a concise summary stating who you are, your interests and certainly something about your area of expertise. You can also add a downloadable resume to you blog.

Advertising your Blog

We're going to finish this topic up by talking briefly about steps you can take to help advertise your blog and the first thing that comes to mind is linking to your blog from your resume. If you've got your resume posted on a job search board then there's no reason why you cannot link to your blog from your resume. Another good way to get your blog noticed is by submitting your blog to directories, news feeds and services specializing in scanning pages of blogs.

If you want to submit to a news feed, Yahoo has an excellent service as does NewsIsFree. Finally Bloglinesis a service that allows you to register to index your blog and search for other related blogs, an important one to remember. Search other blogs for advice and ways to improve your own blog.

By entering a social network through your blog you will be making friends that might one day visit your job blog and post their own comments. Actively participating in this network, by posting on other blogs, is an excellent way to quickly assimilate into the online community and grow your network.

If this website helped you find your financial future we ask you to please give as a way to say Thank You. Not only does it support this site, is is a way to give it forward so others may find their way toward financial security. Please consider giving today. Thank You.

top of page