There are still some people in my close circle of family and friends who can’t think of blogging as anything more than a hobby. They don’t see the potential benefit for future employment. They can’t quantify the concept of a blog as your resume.
The Boston Globe has a nice article that outlines 8 reasons why blogging is essential for a good career (free reg required). I would agree with all of them though a more thorough explanation is provided for each item in the article:
- Blogging Creates a Network
- Blogging Can Get You a Job
- Blogging is Great Training
- Blogging Helps You Move Up Quickly
- Blogging Makes Self Employment Easier
- Blogging Provides More Opportunities
- Blogging Could Be Your Big Break
- Blogging Makes the World a Better place
Stumble it!
About the Author: Aaron Brazell is the lead editor of Technosailor.com and a social media expert. His passion is to see companies and individuals use the internet and web technologies wisely and effectively to promote their brands and companies. He served as Director of Technology at b5media from 2005-2008 and is currently an independent consultant.
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The first sentence of the article actually starts out by saying "Blogging is good for your career."
Then the article goes on to seemingly say that a blog is necessary. A bad blog can ruin you, a good one can help you, but I think you're fine not having one
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Who would you prefer to hire? Someone who has a resume that says "I have 6 years experience as an Oracle DBA" or someone who has a blog that has over three years of writing on the subject that is archived and historically presented? Which one has more credibility?
If I'm a manager, I'm giving the job to the person who has an obvious proven track record in the area I'm hiring for. The article also talks about people becoming SMEs on something because of blogging and becoming in demand and thus becoming self employed. More consultants are made this way than any other job I know. Bam bam. Did you see Chris Pearson's entry this morning. Read it.
Not to mention blogging puts into perspective someones ability to think cognitively, process information and intelligently communicate to an audience that is physically not present. Did you know 90% of communication is non-verbal? So someone who needs to talk to someone in person in order to feel like they have successfully conveyed a message is not someone I would want to hire. They have not mastered communicating non-verbally. Blogging demonstrates the ability to communicate in text, remotely and cross-culturally.
Of course the best jobs come as a result of blogging.
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but
as I said, they aren't necessary. Your comment was dead-on as far as how blogs can help, but we've always gotten by without them. for the last 10-15 thousand years (imho, that can be later) humans have existed without blogs and done swell. Over the last 10 years blogs came into existence and all of the sudden you can't get by without one. I just don't think everyone needs or should even have a blog...
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Now we have blogs and the face of the game has completely changed. Can we really live without them? I mean, in terms of employment... I think that windows is shrinking and like the Master's Degree... the talent pool will soon be so vast that having one (an MS or a blog) will be the deciding factor in who gets the job.
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When you asked if we could live without cars I was going to say yes, we could, we've just made our world into such that it's not really possible, then it sort of hit me that the same could be happening with blogs. There's no question they're getting much more mainstream, and I don't doubt their popularity is going to grow even further past what it is now, but I don't think we'll ever come to a point where you have to blog to succeed...
It's kind of like going to college...
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A good blog is an extremely powerful deliverable that is highly accessible. I would argue that it's really only a differentiating factor (right now, anyway) in industries where web-based referrals account for a majority of sales.
The Boston Globe is a bit ahead of the growth curve with its article, but they are definitely tapping into something that is going to become more and more true in the years ahead. Personally, I think blogs are a very genuine medium, and as such, they can be used to help individuals and businesses make more informed decisions about the people with whom they conduct business.
If nothing else, I think we're bound to see a bit of a market shift towards those folks who really latch on to the web as a marketing vehicle for their business.
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Basically, the answer is no. No one cared if you had an email address. No one cared if you had a website homepage.
Blogging is still very young. I would also point to the Wall Street Journal article that has been getting passed around the blogosphere this morning which was a debate between Jason Calacanis of Weblogs, Inc/AOL and Alan Meckler of internet.com.
Those guys are saying the same thing but can't see past their own thick-headedness to see that. J-Cal argues that anyone with a blog can make money. Alan says not everyone with a blog makes money. They are both true and perhaps I'm getting off topic a little. Anyone can make money but not everyone does but I would argue that more people do today than did a year ago. I would also expect that number to continue to increase.
I'd agree with you, Chris, when you say that blogs will become the separating factor. Two highly qualified individuals - one who blogs, one who doesn't. The blog gives an inside look into the character, skill and ability of Candidate #1 while Candidate #2 has no such window.
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The only blog that will help you is a good blog. You're better off blog-less than having a crappy blog just to have a blog
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