Using a Personal Blog to Snag a Job
Incorporating social networking into a job search is becoming increasingly common. Most of us are familiar with services like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, but there are other ways that you can leverage the power of social networking to aid in your hunt for a job.
Creating your own personal blog allows you to create a brand for yourself, create an online portfolio and reach out to potential employers. However, before you launch your own blog, there are a few things to keep in mind.
- Name it Wisely. The name of your blog should be professional and either reflect who you are, ie: your name, or what you do. Stay away from cutesy or kitschy names that may reflect poorly on you.
- Avoid Over Promoting Yourself. Once you’ve established that you are looking for a job, don’t be too heavy handed with mentioning that fact over and over again. While you want to keep yourself out there in terms of availability, you don’t want to look desperate, needy or simply obnoxious.
- Promote Your Blog on Key Sites Related to Your Field. It’s one thing to start a blog, that’s relatively easy. It’s quite another to get people to read it. You’ll need to use your Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts to drive traffic, as well as reaching out to others in your field on other blog sites.
- Showcase Your Abilities. You’ve got your very own platform to promote yourself to the world. Whether you’re an artist, cab driver or engineer, you can use your blog to talk about your work, share funny stories and share your talents with the rest of the world.
If you’re ready to start your own blog, there are plenty of free sites such as Blogger.com or WordPress.com that can have you up and running in a matter of minutes. Check out some other employment related blogs before you create your own, you’ll end up with some great ideas on what to do with your own blog.
