Blogging For Jobs – Interview Notes

I was quoted in an article on blogging to position yourself as an expert when trying to land internships and/or entry level positions. The piece by Heather Huhman, titled Start A Blog, Establish Credibility, was published on December 23 at Examiner.com. There is a lot of great advice in the article, so I encourage you to read it in its entirety.

Heather asked “Can blogging help establish internship and entry-level job candidates as experts?” and wanted some blogging tips, as well. These are the thoughts I sent her:

1. I think it can if the blogger either knows enough about the topic that they’re demonstrating a firm grasp of the body of knowledge they’d be expected to have for a particular job. But people at the intern/entry level are typically not knowledgeable enough to even approach being an expert so if the blog demonstrates an understanding of the basics of the particular industry and/or job and a curiosity about the topic and an ability to learn, that could show a potential employer that they at least have the capacity to do the job.
2. Tips:
   • Blog about what you love. If you don’t choose a topic that consumes you, that you’re passionate about, then your blog will be doomed from the start because that lack of passion will show and the very act of blogging will eventually feel like a chore.
   • Choose a very specific body of knowledge in which to establish yourself as an expert. Be the go-to person on that topic. Learn everything you can about that topic and let your readers know what you know.
   • Meet people in your topic area and pick their brains. Ask if you can interview them for your blog. The interview will be of interest to your readers. It will associate you with someone who is already established in the field. Being asked to be interviewed is flattering; your subject will tell their network about the interview and expose you to a new audience.
   • Follow all the major bloggers within your field. Study them and provide constructive, useful comments on their blogs when appropriate. Riff off their blog posts and link to them. If you’ve got interesting content, you’ll get their attention and they may return the favor by commenting on your content.
3. Establish a presence in all of the major/appropriate social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, etc.) and actively participate within those sites, sharing your blog content as well. Most bloggers have a presence at these sites and bloggers as a rule are the most likely people to pass along other content. Plus, recruiters are all over social media.