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Blog as a Resume?
By Drew Meyers | December 13, 2006
I came across this article titled “My Blog Is My Resume” at ERE.net by Dave Lefkow that I thought was very interesting. The article talks a little bit about how blogs are becoming increasingly relevant to recruiters…and resumes are becoming irrelevant. This is more true in the tech industry than other industries-but more and more people are starting to blog in all industries. Most recruiters will “Google” a prospective employee to see what they find–if you are that candidate, wouldn’t you rather they find your blog, which provides some insight into your method of thinking, than your myspace profile or some other article written by someone else mentioning you (personal branding)? The article was inspired by this blog post by Robert Scoble, where Robert mentioned that a Yahoo! recruiter was hounding him for a resume…but he took a job at PodTech that didn’t require one. If you are a recruiter, chances are you are having a hard time finding great candidates. Many good candidates are ones that won’t necessarily be applying for a job, but would be a great fit for your organization. It’s up to recruiters to pro-actively find those candidates.
The most interesting piece of the article was actually one of the reviews:
We’ve hired two people fresh out of college in the past 4 months that we found through their blogs - one didn’t even have a formal resume. Frankly, he didn’t need one. A blog trumps a resume every single time.
Think about it - a resume is 1 or 2 pages, of flat, static information. A blog is an interactive space where you can really see inside of a prospect’s head - their ability to innovate, think, & communicate. You not only find out what they’ve done for work, but what their passions are, and frankly if they’re the type of person you think would fit into your organization.
Our stance is that blogging is important - at least in our medium - and we are developing a strategy around it. We are conducting a search for a Marketing Director right now - if an applicant doesn’t blog, or at least contribute heavily, it’s fair to say that we are going to pass them by.
So…is a blog an effective resume? Absolutely.
Topics: Blogging |
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December 15th, 2006 at 3:14 pm
As a Realtor, I definitely view my blog as my resume. Not for my broker, or any other broker in town, but for prospective clients. Without even meeting, they have a pretty good idea about us. And as one of very few Realtors with blogs in my market I stand apart. Often, at a first meeting they will ask questions based on something they have read on the blog.
December 15th, 2006 at 6:44 pm
Maureen-
I agree - it’s a great way to start a conversation. It helps them trust you before meeting you.
December 29th, 2006 at 9:07 am
I see you got the same anti-emurse comment spam as I did. It’s a great web app.
Anyway, I’m not sure if you are getting the same type of thing, but I’ve been offered a couple of jobs due to the visibility I get from my blogging. Nothing I’ve chosen to go with yet, but it is interesting none-the-less.
Also, those same people do still want to take a look at a traditional resume. So, though blogging can play a big part, and will continue to play a bigger part, in recruiting your resume is still important.
February 7th, 2007 at 12:01 am
Radical Transparency - part 2…
Here’s a societal sea change: the notion of privacy is disappearing rapidly. Ivy League schools are googling their applicants. Resumes will become irrelevant… Drew Meyers mentions that Zillow will hire based on blogs because blogs can offer more …
August 22nd, 2007 at 11:40 am
Business Ideas Forum…
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article, but it sounds interesting…
August 30th, 2007 at 6:26 am
I’ve certainly started listing my blogs on my resume and my resume on my blogs. I don’t think that blogs themselves should act *AS* resumes though. I think special coding should go into them, as they’re a specific type of communication in and of themselves. For example (shameless plug) my resume: http://scott.connerly.net/ . It doesn’t just list Ajax/PHP/Web2.0, it IS all those things.
September 13th, 2008 at 10:33 am
These blogs will be really helpful to all job seekers.