The reasons to blog - and the high-profile examples - grow with each passing year. If you're on the job hunt, you'll want to read about why blogging's a new and vital tool for you, and the employers, recruiters, and headhunters looking for someone just like you.
Even if you're not looking for a job right now, it might be time to consider starting your own blog.
I've been reading Naked Conversations by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel, and it's got advice that's helpful not just to businesses, but to professionals as well. Specifically:
* C-level executives
* Senior managers
* Mid-career professionals, and
* Anyone business person with lots of experience to draw from and share with an online audience
If Google is not just a search engine, but a "reputation management system," as you'll read in the book, then using a blog is vital to you as an expert and executive in your field.
When a headhunter or recruiter gets your resume and Googles you - and more and more of them will as time goes on - what will they find?
If you're blogging, they'll find someone who's intensely passionate about their industry, their vocation, their business savvy. And wouldn't that be a great thing for a recruiter to find? Especially in the midst of hundreds of other candidates for a position? Wouldn't a recruiter be able to do wonders for you with that kind of information to share with a target company?
Not to mention how good it's going to make the recruiter look in front of their client on the employer side of things. So you land a great job, the employer gets a great addition to their team, and the recruiter looks great in the process. It's one of those rare situations where everyone wins.
In addition, a blog is a great networking tool, "a way to connect with other like-minded professionals," as Lani Voivod at "The 'A-Ha!' Blog" puts it. It's just one more way of extending your network, and well beyond the local business groups you may already frequent.
Need more convincing? GoDaddy's CEO Bob Parsons blogs. So does Bill Marriott - yes, he of the hotel chain. The GM FastLane Blog is a team effort which includes Vice Chairman Bob Lutz and other GM VPs, executives, and general managers. And those are just three of the bigwig blogs. You could be in there, too.
To learn more about blogging as a business person, an executive or manager, check out Naked Conversations, and also have a look at "BlogWriteForCEOs," Debbie Weil's excellent website for corporate blogging resources.
Then take a crack at your own blog - once a month to start, work your way up to once a week, then maybe twice or three times, and enjoy yourself while you blog your way to a new position.
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