The Daily Recruiter

It seems that everyone and their uncle has a blog these days, but few understand the power of what a blog can do to help them find a new job. Yet, blogs may be one of the best ways to get the word out that you’re job hunting. If you’re in search of a new job, you should know that prospective employers and recruiters are increasingly reading blogs to find qualified candidates.

Do Rules for Job Hunters with Blogs

Use a spell checker to correct any spelling mistakes you may have made in your blog article. This should be obvious, but I thought I’d mention it here because I still see far too many blog articles with misspelled words in them.

In addition to an About Me link on your blog, create a Hire Me link to let employers know that you’re looking for a new job!

Important note: Do not put a Hire Me link on your blog if you are currently working and expect to keep your current job until you land a new job!

Write articles that showcase any niche knowledge or experience you have. Do you know how to use proprietary software? Mention it in your blog. The odds are that your employer is not the only company that’s using it! Have programming skills that are high demand? Talk about projects you’ve worked on in your blog.

Write articles that show employers the kind of personal qualities they’d like a new employee to have. Are you responsible? Hard working? Conscientious? Punctual? Dedicated? Driven? Writing about how you acted or reacted in the past in a blog will be used by an employer to determine how you might act / react as a future employee!

Write about your hobbies if they’re not jail-able offenses. Like to golf? Sail boats? Run marathons? Fix cars? Play volleyball? If your hiring manager enjoys some of the same hobbies that you do, that’s a “good thing”! If the hiring company hosts company volley ball games for instance, they can envision you fitting in with the culture of their company!

Write about your volunteer work or charitable works in your blog. Talking about experiences you’ve had helping others without the expectation of payment says good things about you! If you’re currently unemployed, volunteering is not only a good way to build a good reputation; it can also help you to expand upon your networking. The more people you know, the better your chances are of connecting with an employer that’s hiring!

Don’t Rules for Job Hunters with Blogs

Your blog is not your friend. Don’t recant stories on your blog that “tell tales” about your personal life that you wouldn’t want a prospective employer to read. You got “wasted” at a friend’s party last weekend? Tell your friends. Don’t write about it on a blog.

Steer clear of politics and religion. Don’t take sides when talking about political and religious issues. The last thing that you want to do is write something that is in direct opposition to the way the employer whose reading your blog thinks or feels.

Don’t talk negatively about your past or present job. A future employer will view your negative comments and make an assumption that you may talk about them that way in the future. Trust me; the last thing an employer wants is bad press about their company or themselves written about on a blog. Negative discussions about past jobs will surely take you out of the running for a future job with their company.

Don’t expect that recruiters and hiring managers will be pounding on your door to talk to you when you start a new blog. Search engines need time to index the content on your blog before they will show up in their search results. You can increase the exposure that your job blog gets from search engines by posting articles often. The more often you write, the greater your chances are of being found by someone searching for your skills on a search engine like Google, MSN, Yahoo and others.

Last but not least:

When you read your blog try to read it from the viewpoint of a hiring manager or recruiter. Would you hire you based on what you’ve read on your blog?