Will Starting A Blog Help You Land A Job?

Brittany Richter
Careerminds Consultant

During the career transition process you are doing whatever you can to help your efforts move along smoothly, and hopefully rapidly. In addition to everything else, you’re reading blogs, hearing about blogs, and maybe your friends are even encouraging you to write one. A lot of individuals who are in your same position are adding “Start a blog” to their task lists for the job hunt. Should you be doing the same?

Our answer:  If you do it right, it couldn’t hurt. If you follow our tips and advice and keep things appropriate, starting a blog could be a good addition to your job search process.

Start a blog if:

• The jobs you are looking for require critical thinking and/or written communication skills
• You can come up with something relevant and appropriate to focus on
• If you have the time to devote to it

Don’t start a blog if:

• The individuals in your industry aren’t likely to read blogs
• If the skills necessary for the positions you are applying for can in no way be showcased via a blog

If you have decided that you fit in to the category where blogging may be a good addition to your job hunt, there are a few things you may want to understand before you get started. The reason why a blog could be a good addition is because it can help you build your professional brand. If you have skills or traits that are hard to put down or show on paper, then a blog could be your opportunity to showcase yourself. For example, “strong communication skills” is one of the most common phrases that appears on a resume. If you start a blog, you can show that you really do have superior written communication skills. The same goes for critical thinking, design, technological and analytical skills, among others.

The key is to decide on a relevant focus for your blog content and never lose sight of why you are blogging. Below is a list of additional guidelines to help you get started and to leverage your blog as job search tool.

Guidelines for Starting a Blog for the Job Search Process

1. Decide on a focus for your content and stick to it. If it doesn’t work out, delete the blog and start over with the new topic.
2.  Don’t slack… on anything.  Make sure to proofread your content, link to the sources of your information when appropriate, and take the time to think of compelling, relevant material. Spelling and grammatical mistakes, a lack of attribution to sources of information and lackluster content won’t help you build your personal brand.
3. Come up with a schedule. If you decide in advance how often you’d like add entries to your blog, you can create continuity by sticking with that schedule. We would suggest starting with 1-2 posts per week until you get the hang of it; then moving to 3-4, depending on how much you feel you can handle. What you want to avoid is posting 10 times in one week and then not at all for several weeks.
4. Use it as a learning opportunity. Starting a blog about something relevant to the industry you are hoping to obtain a position in can help you not only establish your brand, but expand your skill set. Research topics that you don’t know much about and then write about them based on what you’ve found. This will expand your knowledge base and could help you add skills to your resume that you didn’t have before.
5. Promote! Post a link to your Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook account statuses—if you have them—each time you post. Also consider joining industry websites and joining relevant groups on LinkedIn to promote your blog.

Click here to listen to an interview of our very own Dr. Justin Schakelman as he talks about social media and the job search. 

Where To Start:

Ready to get blogging?

Search Google for different websites that will help you design and host your blog. One popular example is Wordpress.

Need a little inspiration?

Tyler Durbin at Generation y Journey tells his personal story of how his blog got him a job.

Need an example?

Abby Stollar is seeking employment in Public Relations and started a blog about trends in the industry and commentary on anything related to the subject.

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Careerminds provides scalable, strategic solutions to organizations seeking affordable, web-based outplacement services. Using a Web 2.0 e-learning platform that delivers affordable, online career transition services, Careerminds provides a high-tech and high-touch blend of on-demand career transition education supported by senior-level career consultants to help displaced workers reenter the workforce quickly.

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