Blogging Your Way to a Job
As thousands more are added to the rolls of the unemployed nearly every day, competition for those few jobs that are available has heated up. In past years, over-eager job candidates might print their resume on fuchsia-colored paper, slip a videotaped message to prospective employers in the mail or, God forbid, “flesh out” their resume with non-existent work experience or educational degrees.
There’s a smarter way to grab the attention of hiring companies and make yourself stand out from the competition. If you’re a decent writer, it’s easy to create your own online blog with regular, if not daily, posts about your chosen area of expertise. Find a subject you’re very familiar with (ideally, one that’s related to your career interests). If, for example, you’re in marketing, you can blog about cutting-edge trends or your own successes and failures working on previous projects. The goal is to position yourself as an expert in your field and as someone who stays abreast of current developments, even when you’re between jobs.
Even if you’re not Ernest Hemingway, you can still maintain an eye-catching blog by spotting compelling news items that relate to your field and then briefly commenting on them, including a link back to the original news story.
The unemployment support site, www.thecanned.com, for example, was created by two former college roommates who reconnected years later after simultaneously losing their jobs. Career blogs can take on virtually any subject. Whatever you decide to write about, try to imagine the reaction it would elicit from a potential employer.
It’s best to start blogging before you’re laid off because then you’ll have a ready supply of at least a few months’ worth of posts. When you start pursuing job leads, include a link to your blog in your cover letter and resume to wow prospective employers.
Along with filing for unemployment benefits and updating your resume, creating a professional blog can be one of the most important things you do following a layoff.
Do you use any special strategies when looking for a job?
