Candidates: Ever Considered Blogging For Jobs?

Universities and colleges have just finished for the summer, so there will soon be a huge influx of new candidates for almost every position available. So, how can a candidate stand out, and what tools can they use apart from the conventional ways of job board CV uploading etc.

Well, you need to build a strong personal brand. With Twitter, Facebook etc people will find check up on you, so perfect your accounts and get them looking professional. And then there’s the other thing, especially good for University graduates, have you got a blog yet?

There’s no excuse not to blog—even if you don’t intend to put very much effort into it.

Updating a blog where your name and desired job or industry is mentioned and doing it often should allow you to rank #1 in searches for your name, even if you only update with one small post once a month.

Anyone searching for your name will immediately stumble across all the information you’d want them to find—as opposed to all the information you wouldn’t. The costs involved setting up a decent blog are minimal, from free to about £30 including hosting and a custom theme. (We would recommend WordPress, self hosted)

The above represents the minimum reward blogging can yield, but we think it can do a whole lot more, helping to build your personal brand and get you out there – especially good for candidates in the newer industries, social media, web design etc.

Essentially, the more you put in, the more you get out. A blog can boost your personal brand in a number of ways:

- If you blog on your field it can help establish you as an expert/authority.
- Blog readers can go on to become clients and customers if you fail to get a job later on.
- You can leverage a loyal audience to support your non-blogging projects.
- A blog gives you an element of notoriety, which will help you charge premium prices/expect a higher salary.
- A blog allows you to network with other influential bloggers. You might be able to do favours for them in return for promotion of your CV or blog.
- Popular bloggers often get interviewed, which provides an opportunity to promote your personal brand to a new audience.
- Successful blogs can lead to book deals and other lucrative opportunities.
- A blog can function as a portfolio, couple that with your online CV and you’re away. If you’re a web designer for example, a well designed blog will help sell you. You can use your blog posts to demonstrate skills and expertise in your field.

Tags: Blogging, candidates, Social Media