Manage Your Job-Search Online Identity with Blogging

Employers and recruiters often "google" prospective candidates, as well as current employees, and factor in the resulting information when determining which prospects to interview for new hiring or promotions. You may have been reticent to deal with your online identity in the past; that's understandable. But as time (and technology) marches on, you may find that attitude is increasingly detrimental to your job search.

I was reminded of this new reality in a recent job-search-related blog posting by Debbie Weil, a renowned corporate blogging expert and published author. Although Debbie's brand is about corporate CEO blogging, her suggestions hold true for anyone interested in proactively managing their career.

If you are a blogging novice, Debbie's "Top 20 Definitions of Blogging" article is superb. You can even hear her in a Typepad interview about blogging.

For even more job-search blogging tips and resources, check out Alison Doyle's article on "To Blog or Not to Blog?" Both Debbie's and Alison's suggestions and resource links will provide you with solid footing to explore starting your own career-boosting blog.

Visibility in your job search is key. If you bemoan the fact that you have sent out thousands of resumes (via email or online applications) and have been lost in a "black hole" with no response from employers, the effectiveness of your visibility is practically null. Why not take a different tack to garner the attention of prospective employers and recruiters? Try blogging on a regular basis, using the guidelines in the above mentioned sources, to improve your visibility and online brand.

Cross Posted at Career Goddess Blog

Comments

[Rowan Manahan]

Couldn't agree more Susan. It's not just about cleaning up your Bebo or Myspace page, it's about MANAGING your online presence. A blog and a series of comments on other blogs spread over a respectable period of time will be invaluable as a perception-management tool.

First, the blog will likely be the top search item about you - particularly early in your career. Second, the tone you strike and the topics you decide to include/omit will speak volumes about you. And third, a healthy seeding of comments, particularly on high-ranking blogs, will leave a nice trail across the sphere for any interested reader to follow.

I have advised a number of focused young college kids that I have come across in the past while to start this drip feed approach. I am praticularly impressed by this young man: http://cube1986.blogspot.com/

[ShawnaBrennan]

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