Job seekers who blog increase the odds that a potential employer will find information online that the candidate wants to be seen, says Debbie Weil, a corporate blogging consultant in Washington and the author of "The Corporate Blogging Book." "Everybody has an online identity whether they know it or not, and a blog is the single best way to control it," she says. "You're going to be Googled. No one hires anyone or buys anything these days without going online first and doing research."
"If you're currently job hunting, say so in your blog's 'About Me' blurb," advises Kirsten Dixson at Brandego LLC, a career-management firm in Exeter, NH. "Say you're interested in learning about opportunities in your field."
Ryan Loken, a Wal-Mart Stores Inc recruitment manager, says, "Blogs are a tool in the tool kit." Since joining the Bentonville, AR, retail giant three years ago, he estimates that Web journals have helped him fill 125 corporate jobs.
In addition to blogs that focus on their industry or field of interest, recruiters say they check candidates' blogs about noncareer-related topics for evidence of writing skills and clues to how well rounded they are.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, April 10, 2007