Blogging as a recruiting tool has arrived with a bang as search professionals and corporate clients use Google and other search tools to locate blogs where the author might represent a possible fit for a job, as they try to get a sense of the person beyond the resume or find a reason to disqualify someone.
So what do you need to know about blogging that will help you with your search?
1. Firms look for confirmation that someone has good writing skills and good oral communications capabilities. Your blog needs to model those qualities, too. If you hastily write about something and show sloppiness, it may come back to haunt you . . . and you may never know it because you may never receive the phone call to interview you.
You see, the web, as we all know, has changed how available information is about someone.
2. Where possible, demonstrate that you are a "go to" person, a subject matter expert or just plain knowledgeable on a subject.
You may have started the blog to talk about life, the universe and everything but, heck, your work is part of the equation, too. If you have just had a technical or professional triumph, reveal it and go into details (without revealing anything that would violate confidentiality). The read what you've written as an outsider would. Would they find this interesting? Ordinary? A triumph?
3. Please don't talk politics.
Blogs are no longer private things and you're blogging to share a part of yourself with the universe. All that can happen as a result of your political rant is that you may offend someone who may not call you.
Recently, while doing a search for a client, I found a blog written by a contender for a role that was homophobic, to say the least (it was him--pictures don't lie). Suffice it to say, I withdrew the person, politely telling the client that I had no question about their professional capability but that I found something of a "personal nature" that caused me to recommend withdrawing the candidate.
After a few seconds that seemed like 10 minutes, they accepted the recommendation.
You may disagree with what I did and that is your prerogative. From my vantage point, that person could have acted in damaging ways that could have create risk to his new firm, a colleague or subordinate where the bias could have exploded.
No, thank you.
Jeff Altman
The Big Game Hunter
Concepts in Staffing
thebiggamehunter@cisny.com
© 2007 all rights reserved.
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, is Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, He has successfully assisted many corporations identify management leaders and staff in many disciplines since 1971. He is a certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.
To receive a daily digest of positions emailed to you, search for openings that The Big Game Hunter is working on, to use Jeff’s free job lead search engine, Job Search Universe, to subscribe to Jeff’s free job hunting ezine, “Head Hunt Your Next Job, or his staffing ezine, “Natural Selection”, or to learn about his VIP program, go to www.jeffaltman.com. Job Search Universe is also available at www.jobsearchuniverse.com To add your firm’s career page to “The Universe” email the url to jobsearchuniverse@gmail.com.
If you would like Jeff and his firm to assist you with hiring staff, or if you would like help with a strategic job change, send an email to him at thebiggamehunter@cisny.com (If you’re looking for a new position, include your resume).
If you have a question that you would like me to answer pertaining to job hunting or hiring, email it to me at:
thebiggamehunter@gmail.com
