I do think there are many benefits to having a blog. Not only getting to express your ideas and having a place to say what you want, but because it is a space that you own. Not really... Blogger.com owns it... but it gives the user a feeling of owning something.
To tell I cool story, a close friend of mine got the opportunity awhile ago to start her own blog on Myspace. She interacts with kids around fifteen and tells them what college is like, makes videos around campus of random stuff, and uploads pictures and is paid to do it. It is a good way for her to do something she likes to do and make some cash on the side. She blogs once of twice a day and even does things like surveys at her school (Indiana U) for high school kids to read and get excited about college. This is all through Seventeen Magazine if anyone is interested. Anyways, recently she has been getting job offers due to her good blogs and probably the fact that she has been doing this for awhile. The fact that she is a journalism major also helps... since all the job offers are within that field.
The truth is I don't think that having a blog necessarily helps you getting a job, or even boosts your resume necessarily. If you are looking for a job in journalism or are a writer... of course having a blog or publishing a book will help you. But I don't think an aspiring architect necessarily needs to create a blog. It might be better to take some drawing lessons and an extra math class or two.
However, I do think the Internet does give those competing in the job market a great opportunity to create web-pages, blogs, and even the opportunity to open a store online. But to me a blog is really a place to express your personal opinion on issues of your choice, advertise, or maybe just practice writing. I do not see it as a resume booster except for those in the field, but who knows... maybe blogging is the future of the resume.
Check out Caitlin's blog---- www.myspace.com/freshman15caitlin
5 comments:
I agree that it depends on the specific industry whether it will be useful to have a blog in your quest for a job. Having a blog will prove that you are more balanced as a candidate, but may not necessarily be the deciding factor.
Adam, what your friend does is great, I think that there are many things you can do while having a blog. I believe that blogs can be whatever you make them. These are one of the tools the internet provides and of course they are to be used in a proper way. It is up to us to make sure they are not harming us.
Adam,
Your friend's blog is a perfect example of how she is branding herself online. Now a question I always have in this kind of situation is how did the employer's find her? (I am sure they googled) But how are they finding these types of blogs that are of interest to them?
I agree that blogs cannot be used as resumes just yet. If you really do write "whatever' you want on your blog, you might not even want employers to read it. There is a huge possibility that they could read some small thing that they disagree with and decide not to hire you simply because it is an easy way to eliminate you from the pool of candidates the company might already have. However, for advertising and PR, blogs can be a great tool.
I do think that your friend's case is really great, but I think it's one of its kind as well. I don't think that a blog will be the next resume or even a supplement to one. I feel like it will only be a boost to any resume or other material provided to an employer. Good writing is always looked for by employers, so this is why blogs might be important in the future, since it is a great demonstration of a person's writing style. This is why I feel it might be important, but not critical.
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