Wow. According to Marshall, the New York Times reported last year that blogging can be an effective way to get a job:
“It’s a trend on the rise right now,” Mr. Gartenberg [industry analyst at JupiterResearch] said, “especially for employers, who get a much better sense of a person this way. Resumes and interviews are a very scripted process; read someone’s Web log and you get a good sense of that person’s thinking and perspectives.”
I actually believe this. If you are a small or distributed company, this might be a very effective way to find interesting potential recruits.
I don’t think universities are yet desperate enough to hire professors based on Ph.D. students blogs. But for many less “formal” jobs, this seems like a great way to go.
I must be honest: I hired people based on their web sites, and I’ve recommended to students that they setup a web site as a way to increase their employability.
Now, what about me? I’m rather nasty on this blog sometimes, so I probably decrease my employability. What do you think? Do I increase or decrease the probability that I’ll get a sudden job offer by running this blog?
My opinion: being yourself on your blog simultaneously increases the odds that you’ll get job offers at places where you’ll like to work and decreases the odds that you’ll get job offers at places where you won’t like to work.