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. There has been a rising trend in recent years of employers taking to the Internet and looking through blogs to research existing applicants or get potential new recruits.
Ideas on How a Creative Resume for Blogger
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 revealing out relevant information about your education and work history directly on your blog, you offer a standing resume for potential employers 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
In case you write about getting a job consistently, you are not likely to be approached with any job offers, nor will your blog generate 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.
Almost all potential employers use search engines or Google to research a candidate before hire or an interview. In case you write targeted, intelligent blog posts, you can make sure that you control the information available on the Internet attached to your name.
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 can protect your name and can show potential employees that you have a strong, likable character to match your work skills.
Make Friends in the Industry
When a company hires an individual through their blog, they have one of two choices. 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 make friends with resume bloggers whom you work with in the same industry. Networking, even through resume blogging can result to future job opportunities.
Whether it is your intention to take an opportunity of the recruiters who are always seeking talent through blogs or to use your blog as an extra notch on your resume, your blogging can be a very powerful tool in the often cutthroat race for an open job position. By showing your natural talent, beyond the fluff that fills a resume, and offering a free glimpse into your personal life, you give recruiters something that few other recruits 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.
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