A creative resume for a blogger is a clear, one-page summary of your writing, editing and audience-building work, backed by a professional blog that employers can check. List the blog as real experience with your role, topics, tools and results you can prove, keep the layout simple, and make sure your public posts show the skills the job needs.
Key Takeaways
- Employers look you up: in a 2017 CareerBuilder survey, 70% of employers said they use social media to screen candidates and 69% said they use search engines to research them.
- Treat your blog as work experience on the resume, with a job-style title, the dates you ran it and measurable results you can back up.
- Creative does not mean cluttered: a 2018 Ladders eye-tracking study found simple layouts with clear headers performed best in an average 7.4-second first screen.
- Your blog is a public portfolio, so original posts in your target field help and rude or careless posts hurt.
- The US Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that blogging is one way anyone can gain writing experience.
Blogging has become a symbol of the new era of user-created content, news, and entertainment. However, what you may not realize is that it can also be a source of employment, often accidentally. Employers routinely research applicants online: in a 2017 CareerBuilder survey conducted by the Harris Poll, 70% of employers said they use social media to screen candidates, and 69% said they use search engines such as Google, Yahoo or Bing to research them. A blog is often one of the first things those searches find.
How a Blogger Can Turn a Blog Into a Creative Resume
There are many reasons why a blog is the best place to learn more about a job candidate. To start, it allows hiring managers to learn details about a candidate that they could never get from an interview or resume for starters.
Second, it’s a chance to witness the creative and technical talent a potential employee may have outside of the workplace. For those looking to make the jump from the blogosphere to the working world, there are certain steps you can take to make employers take notice.
Recruiting Information Blogs
Blogging is a two-way street of both writing and reading posts. One of the most interesting additions to the job hunting scene in recent years is the growth of knowledge and advice available from industry insiders for job hunters.
As a blogger, you can interact directly with human resource or hiring managers via their blogs, where they offer in-depth advice about how to stand out in the hiring process. By commenting on these blogs and carrying on discussions with men and women who know the industry, you can get a head start.
Describe Work History and Education
As the owner of a blog, you have the right and often the obligation to shift the focus of discussions or posts to yourself. By sharing relevant details about your education and work history on your blog, such as on an About page, you give potential employers a standing resume to view alongside your writing. If a potential recruiter believes you would be a good employee by reading your blog, the inclusion of job-related information is a bonus.
Do not Constantly Apply for a Job
If your blog keeps returning to the fact that you need a job, it is unlikely to attract job offers or the kind of attention you want. Employers who find your blog want to see that you are self-sufficient and independently creative.
If you consistently talk about your lack of employment, it only appears as though there is a reason you do not yet have a job. This does not mean you should never mention you are currently looking for a job. Add a small blurb in your About Me page that mentions you are currently looking for employment in a particular field. Just don’t over-advertise the fact.
Write Quality Content within Your Field
If you are actively seeking a career in a particular field, make sure you write about that field in some manner or another on a regular basis. You need to show that you can offer different opinions with an identifiable line of thought on a particular topic to generate interest from a potential employer.
This means you need to present new ideas or at least new opinions of existing ideas. Reprinting news articles or reiterating what another blogger has already said will not generate interest in the same manner as an original post.
Write Prolifically
When you write consistently, and your name is attached to numerous blog posts and comments, you can be sure that a potential employer will find that content when they search for your name.
Many employers search a candidate’s name before an interview or a hire: in CareerBuilder’s 2017 survey, 69% of employers said they use search engines to research candidates, and 57% said they are less likely to interview a candidate they cannot find online. If you publish focused, well-informed posts under your own name, you help shape what employers find when they search for you.
Writing Carefully
Along the same lines, if your blog postings are rude, controversial, or demeaning to a particular person or group, potential employers are going to see them, and it will not look good for you. Remember that the world is your audience and that when you attach your name to something online, anyone can read it.
Be prepared to write a resume in a way that protects your name and shows potential employers that you have a strong, likable character to match your work skills.
Make Friends in the Industry
When a company hires someone it found through their blog, it usually takes one of two approaches. They can request the candidate to stop their blogging to keep other companies from attempting to hire the blogger themselves, or they can have them continue blogging to increase company exposure and to recruit other bloggers for future positions.
The second scenario can fall right into your hands in case you are prepared. You can build relationships with other bloggers and professionals in the same industry. Networking through blogging can lead to future job opportunities.
Whether you hope to be noticed by recruiters who look for talent through blogs or simply want your blog to strengthen your resume, blogging can be a useful tool in a competitive job search. By showing your real skills beyond the summary a resume allows, and giving a glimpse of how you think and work, you give recruiters something few other candidates can. And it gives you a head start toward getting a job.
As a blogger, you can focus on any aspect of the field you’d prefer. However, it’s good to keep two rules of thumb in mind while doing so. One, you want to make sure that you know what you’re talking about when coming up with discussions so that follow-up in the comments section will be easy.
And two, it’s good to come up with ideas or topics of discussion that no one else is talking about. Of course, this can be pretty difficult with all of the issues that get discussed on the Internet. But even if you’re able to find a regular topic and put a new or funny spin on it, you will see that many readers will be excited about coming to your site for the reads they don’t get anywhere else.
What Should a Blogger’s Resume Include?
A blogger’s resume should include the same core sections as any resume, plus clear proof of the blog work. The blog belongs in the experience section when you ran it seriously, not hidden under hobbies. For general structure, see this guide on how to write a resume for a job.
| Section | What to put in it for a blogger |
|---|---|
| Header | Name, professional email, phone, city, and the blog URL plus one or two professional profiles. |
| Summary | Two or three lines naming the role you want, your niche and your strongest proof, such as a topic you cover in depth. |
| Experience | The blog listed like a job: a title such as Founder and Editor, the blog name, dates, and three to five bullet points of responsibilities and results. |
| Skills | Skills the job ad asks for that the blog proves: writing, editing, research, SEO, content management systems such as WordPress, analytics, social media, photography or video. |
| Writing samples | Three to five links to your best posts that match the job, kept separate from the main experience bullets. |
| Education and other work | Degrees, courses and any other jobs, freelance or paid writing included. |
How do you list a blog as work experience?
List a blog as work experience by giving it a role title, the blog name, the dates you ran it and bullet points that start with a verb and end with a result. Only use numbers you can prove from your own analytics or platform dashboards, because an interviewer may ask about them. A format such as the following works for most roles:
- Founder and Editor, [Blog name] | [Start month and year] to present
- Researched, wrote and edited [Number] articles on [Topic], published on a [Weekly] schedule.
- Grew [Monthly readers, subscribers or followers] from [Figure] to [Figure] over [Period], using search optimization and social media.
- Managed the site on [Platform], including images, categories and basic technical updates.
Creative vs. Simple: Which Resume Layout Works Better?
A simple, well-organized layout usually works better than a heavily designed one, even for creative roles. In a 2018 eye-tracking study, the job site Ladders reported that recruiters spent an average of 7.4 seconds on the initial screen of a resume, up from about six seconds in its 2012 study.
According to Ladders, the resumes that performed best had simple layouts, clearly marked section and title headers, a clear font, bold job titles, bulleted accomplishments and an overview at the top of the first page. Resumes that performed poorly had cluttered layouts with long sentences, multiple columns and little white space, or stuffed keywords instead of using them in context.
For a blogger, the creative part is better shown through the blog and the writing samples than through graphics on the resume itself. More tips on getting noticed are in this guide on how to make a recruiter seriously consider your resume.
What Employers Look for Online
Employers who research candidates online look for both reasons to hire and reasons to pass. CareerBuilder’s 2017 survey of 2,380 hiring managers and human resources professionals reported these findings:
| Finding (CareerBuilder, 2017) | Share of employers |
|---|---|
| Use social media to screen candidates | 70% |
| Use search engines to research candidates | 69% |
| Less likely to interview a candidate they cannot find online | 57% |
| Found online content that caused them not to hire someone | 54% |
| Found online content that led them to hire someone | 44% |
Among the employers who found content that led them to hire, the reasons cited most often were information supporting professional qualifications (38%), great communication skills (37%) and a professional image (36%). Among those who passed on a candidate, the most common reasons were provocative or inappropriate photos, videos or information (39%), posts about drinking or drug use (38%), discriminatory comments (32%) and badmouthing a previous employer (30%). These are 2017 figures; hiring practices change, so treat them as a guide rather than a current measurement. For how social profiles can affect an application, see how Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google can decide your interview call.
Which Jobs Can Blogging Experience Lead To?
Blogging experience is most directly relevant to writing, editing, content marketing, social media and communications roles. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics notes in its Occupational Outlook Handbook that anyone with internet access can start a blog and gain writing experience, and that some of this writing may lead to paid assignments regardless of education.
For writers and authors in the United States, the Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a median pay of $76,910 per year (May 2025), 140,300 jobs (2025), a bachelor’s degree as the typical entry-level education, and little or no change in employment projected for 2025 to 2035. Because that outlook is flat, a strong portfolio matters. Freelance work is another route; see these tips to succeed as a freelance content writer and the qualities that make a good blogger.
Checklist Before You Send a Blogger Resume
- Search your own name and check what an employer would find first.
- Update the blog’s About page with your field, skills and a contact method.
- Pick three to five posts that match the job and link them on the resume.
- Check every number on the resume against your own analytics.
- Review old posts and comments for anything rude, careless or out of date.
- Keep the resume layout simple, with clear headers and bullet points.
- Tailor the summary and skills to the words used in the job ad.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I put my blog on my resume?
Yes, if the blog is professional and relevant to the job. Put it in the experience section with a role title, dates and results when you ran it seriously, and add the URL to your header so employers can check your writing.
How do I describe blogging on a resume?
Describe blogging the way you would describe any job: a title such as Founder and Editor, the blog name and dates, then bullet points about what you wrote, how often, which tools you used and what results you achieved, using only figures you can prove.
Should a blogger use a creative resume template?
A light creative touch is fine, but clarity matters more. A 2018 Ladders eye-tracking study found simple layouts with clear headers performed best, while cluttered layouts with multiple columns and little white space performed poorly.
Do employers really check candidates’ blogs and social media?
Many do. In a 2017 CareerBuilder survey, 70% of employers said they use social media to screen candidates, and 54% had found content that caused them not to hire someone.
Can blogging help me get a writing job without a degree?
It can help. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics says some writing from a blog may lead to paid assignments regardless of education, although a bachelor’s degree is the typical entry-level education for writers and authors.
