I'm Louise Fletcher. As President of 
I'm Chandlee Bryan. As a career coach and resume writer with experience from Manhattan to Main Street, I help job seekers connect with opportunity by sharing news, trends and best practices. I'm the Managing Editor of Career Hub and run 
A job seeker involved in a full-time search should dedicate a full work week (35 hours) to their search each week. Since networking tends to be the most effective method of search, it's best to spend approximately 28 hours of each week planning and managing your networking strategy. Sounds like a lot? Not really when you consider all the components of networking including sourcing contacts, setting up and going on informational interviews, attending professional and social networking meetings, and managing relationships through business and social networking sites.
Another excellent way to efficiently use some of your networking hours is to become part of the blogging communities within your industry or job function. I refer to this as blogworking and view it as an important part of your overall networking strategy. Blogworking enables you to build your credibility and visibility online and helps you forge new relationships with people who may be able to assist you in your search.
Take blogworking a step further and search for and participate in the blogging communities for specific companies you are targeting in your search. This allows you to become an active and known member within a previously closed community. Blogging in these circles can bring you one step closer to your ultimate decision maker.
Here are a few of the company blogs that I like...
Posted by Barbara Safani
Blogworking comes with a caveat, however.
You can state some comments very professionally, with respect, with great thought. Still, some people may find what you have to say objectionable simply because it's different or thought provoking, including future employers. Or it's otherwise easy to misinterpret or misread, particularly when someone doesn't grasp or explore the full context of what you're saying, especially in a medium like the Web where so many readers only scan.
It has become very fashionable for some employers to Google their candidates. If they don't like something you said or how you said it, your candidacy shot and you'll never know. So some of us in management are still deciding to what extent we'll participate in the blogosphere.
We know that many management positions are obtained through networking. We also know that one management trait valued by our peers is being conservative when speaking in public.
Posted by: Greg | April 06, 2007 at 12:20 PM
That's such a good point Greg. I advise my clients (at any level of the organization) to imagine future employers reading what they are writing before hitting the 'submit' button.
On the other hand, if you are expressing a genuinely professional and thoughtful comment, and an employer still objects, maybe that's not a place you'd be happy anyway?
Posted by: Louise Fletcher | April 06, 2007 at 02:36 PM