How can blogging help you to get a job? Unlike the stereotypical social media platforms – LinkedIn, Facebook, etc., a professional blog that discusses topics relevant to your dream job demonstrates passion and creativity to your potential employer (TheEmployable, 2014). And more often than not, an impressed employer will most likely want to hire you.
Adding to the points The Employable already mentioned, I personally want to highlight:
Everyone has a resume. So be extraordinary. For example, if you dream to be a creative writer, flex your writing muscle and freely express your work with a blogpost. Even an investment broker can blog; by writing your thought-provoking opinions on the stock markets or positive testimonials from previous clients.
Blogging give you a positive digital footprint. It gives potential employers a bigger picture of who you are, both personally and professionally. Unlike being tagged in an unflattering — and public — image of yourself on Facebook, your blog contains content you control to project yourself in the best light possible.
Some advice from recruiters.
(Source: Jobvite – The Recruiter Nation Survey – Jobvite)
Some successful bloggers stories’ are:
William Anderson that acquired a position of Director of Marketing by blogging to track and focus on interested employers. William shared, “having a URL that showed the company’s name helped create a connection” (Share. J, 2016).
Kiley Stenberg that gain her job as a Women’s Buyer at Badowers by using her blog as a creative outlet. Kiley shared, “Badower’s saw that I had established credibility and trust with my readers, and they know I can bring that to a store setting with customers in person” (IFB, 2013).
Although blogging now sounds like a great idea, there are its limitations.
A recent research study from TheLadders that included the direct observation of corporate recruiters demonstrated that the average recruiter spends a mere 6 seconds reviewing a resume. So try imagining spending 6 second to browse through your blog (..impossible). Furthermore, the success rate of recruitment using a blog is low.
(Source: Jobvite – The Recruiter Nation Survey – Jobvite)
To increase our chances of earning a job using blogging, we develop them. Some suggestions are to:
(Source: fueldesign.co.nz – Building a digital profile: 3. How do I maintain an online community?)
Grow your audience. How effective is your blog? Remember to use it to engage with your target employer. Even earning a single loyal reader is an achievement.
Repond to comments. Constant enagagements are opportunities to communicate with the community (includes employers).
Learn to manage a crisis. Turn that crisis into a chance to showcase your interpersonal skill. Rather than deleting/censoring that comment, treating it with respect will gain you professionalism points.
To conclude, a blog is not crucial to have, however it will be a valuable addition to your job-searching tools.
(Word count: 417 words)
References
Evans, W. (2012). Eye Tracking Online Metacognition: Cognitive Complexity and Recruiter Decision Making. [pdf] TheLadders, p.4. Available at: https://cdn.theladders.net/static/images/basicSite/pdfs/TheLadders-EyeTracking-StudyC2.pdf [Accessed 9 Nov. 2016].
IFB. (2013). Blogger True Story: My Blog Helped Me Get My Dream Job | IFB. [online] Available at: http://heartifb.com/2013/02/15/blogger-true-story-my-blog-helped-me-get-my-dream-job/ [Accessed 9 Nov. 2016].
Ltd, F. (2016). Building a digital profile: 3. How do I maintain an online community?. [online] Fueldesign.co.nz. Available at: http://www.fueldesign.co.nz/website-design-blog/building-a-digital-profile-part-3-3-develop-and-maintain-your-community [Accessed 9 Nov. 2016].
Parris, J. (2013). Why You Should Blog to Get Your Next Job. [online] Mashable. Available at: http://mashable.com/2013/06/01/blog-job/#NogtDSfngkqy [Accessed 9 Nov. 2016].
Share, J. (2016). How These Smart Job Seekers Used Blogging To Find Jobs. [online] JobMob. Available at: https://jobmob.co.il/blog/blogging-to-find-jobs-case-studies/ [Accessed 9 Nov. 2016].
TheEmployable. (2014). How blogging can help you get a job. [online] Available at: http://www.theemployable.com/index.php/2014/10/28/blogging-can-help-get-job/ [Accessed 9 Nov. 2016].
a new experience 
Hi Elvina!
I think this is a very comprehensive guide about blogging, with the pros and cons covered. I’m also shocked to know that recruiters spend only 6 seconds reviewing a resume!
However, you mentioned that blogging is not crucial, but is it the only way to develop a professional digital profile? Your Jobvite statistics have revealed 73% of recruiters have hired a candidate through social media, so I think you should have mentioned about how we can utilize a various forms of social media( LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter) to develop and maintain our footprint, and specifically, how to actually go about developing our profiles.
Nonetheless, I enjoyed your post and keep up the good work 🙂
LikeLike
Hi Kaye!
Thank you for your comment! With regards to your question, I wish to say that I am in no way trying to disregard other social platforms. Yes, I agree it is a good point to make that connecting the various media platforms can further enhance our digital footprint. My point is to let others recognize that blogging (as unpopular as it is as a job-search tool) is actually very useful. If not to aid your job-search, it can also be used to add value to your digital profile.
LikeLike
Hello Elvina,
Very interesting entry on how blogging can be used as another tool apart from popular sites like LinkedIn. Certainly blogging lets you be creative and to express yourself on topics and is a good add-on to conventional resumes/digital profiles. I also think that writing your thoughts on issues shows authenticity and is a good way to portray yourself professionally.
I would like to mention that although blogging lets employers see a bigger and authentic picture of you, I feel that blogs are kind of secondary in job-searching. For instance if you just started a new blog page on a certain topic/industry, usually it gets over-shadowed by more famous blogs that have more followers when you google the topics. Therefore in general it would be slightly difficult for employers to look out for your blogs at first glance unless they are looking specifically for you after deciding to look at your online profiles which might have links to your blog. Maybe this is why the recruitment rate through blogs are significantly lower as you mentioned.
Personally, if I were to have a blog, I would incorporate into my LinkedIn profile for a higher chance of viewing. What would you do?
LikeLike
Hi Jia Jiun!
Thank you your comment! As impressive as I made blogging sound, I am in no way trying to disregard the other social media tools used for job-searching. I totally agree that the chances of employers finding potential employees through blogs is difficult (as shown by the graph in my post from Jobvite). However, the main objective of having a blog is not to lead in the blogging industry (would be awesome though), but to add value and is a great addition to everyone’s existing arsenal of social profiles. I have to agree with your last point made, incorporating all our other social profiles such as what you mentioned LinkedIn, is indeed capable of increasing chances for viewing and I would defenitely encourage everyone to do so as well. Other methods could include constant promoting on your social media whenever a new blogpost appears or even through word-of-mouth.
LikeLike
Hi Elvina!
I liked how you discuss blogging as a professional online profile, its limitations and how you gave tips to increase the chances of earning a job through blogging, which I agree to. Your post led me to do further research on having a blog and how it can also be used as a marketing tool! To spread your reach, generate leads and even lead to sales if blogging done right.
(http://www.business2community.com/blogging/use-blog-successful-marketing-tool-01139310#cY8SUoCAAVhvDrBo.97)
You mentioned that blogging gives you a positive digital footprint, which you further elaborated. Blogging can be used to drive interest or educate. What makes blogging interesting is the fact that an individual discuss about a particular topic with his or her own views and knowledge about it. With that, do you think blogging can also leave a negative digital footprint since it concerns an individual perspective which might cause disagreements? 🙂 (https://www.techlila.com/negatives-of-blogging/)
LikeLike
H᧐w tⲟ proceed if you cannot access ѡell known photographs, videos ᧐r tales withoսt login to tһe instagram?
Ꮃe’ve a idea for yօu. Haᴠe a look at oᥙr gгeat service.
Thеre yoᥙ’ll be able to browse ｙoսr chosen instagram content ᴡithout the additional signups οr
login details. All tһat you’ll require iѕ browser аnd
access tⲟ the internet. Download yoսr multimedia in a few clicks.
Benefit fｒom the speed in oᥙr service. Іt ｒeally iѕ worth it.
LikeLike