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Web logs, also known as "blogs" on the Internet, are sites where a particular user can post a constant stream of content over a period of time in a journal fashion. Many blogs have different topics about anything and everything.
In the big Internet world many of these blogs can be found by Googling someone's name, a key word or a certain concept you need information on.
With this being said, the user who has created the blog has paved the way to brand themselves and allows them look like an expert in the particular subject they are writing about. This also allows them to build a relationship with an infinite amount of people, and takes the relationship even further to help people understand who they are as a person even if they never meet them.
We all know that employers who hire Boston College students on this campus do everything they can to try to figure out any and all information about us before they fully commit to hiring us as future employees. They Google our name and scour every social networking site on the face of the earth, and really try to dig up any dirt on us before ever making a decision.
Knowing what you post on the Internet, and how it can be found is crucial to your future success. With the invention of Facebook and Google, employers are rejecting qualified candidates just because of any negative content they come across on sites or blogs.
While many of you may be thinking this is a bad thing, think about this: What if an employer Googled your name and found your personal blog that complimented you and your resume, and further gave them the inclination to give you the interview over someone else? By them having a writing sample from you, learning how you articulate yourself and work to connect with your readers, it would give them a direct indication of how you are as a person on a day-to-day basis.
The blog would allow you to communicate your thoughts and ideas in a format where you are looking to benefit your audience, and if a future employer/recruiter comes across it and likes what they see you just scored major points in the long interview process.
For me personally, since I know employers are going to Google my name, when they put "Scott Bradley" into the search engine, my blog on "Networking and Success Tips" comes up number seven on the first page of Google, here is the link: http://ScottGBradley.blogspot.com. When people click the link it takes them to my blog where the content is readily available to read.
The future employers will be able to read all of the content I have produced over the period of about a year, and will get a chance to get to know me for who I am, and what I am about just by reading what I wrote.
This in itself is powerful, and something very few students here at BC are aware of. If you took some time to put a blog together, it would surely help you because by doing it you would set yourself apart from the "rest of the pack" to help you get the internship or job you are looking for.
It will allow you to share with your future employers information about you that they may or may not receive in a 20-minute interview, and could give you more credibility in the long run when it comes to maintaining a good brand equity.
To get started with blogging, the best thing to do is go to www.blogger.com and get a blogging account.
Figure out what you are going to write about and just start writing. Once you get up six to nine good posts, you want to go to www.feedburner.com and burn your feed so you can share it with the world and those who want to access it.
In the end, the decision to create a blog is up to you. All I can say is, if you continually follow the herd it is a sure way to mediocrity, but if you take the chance and stick your head out, you never know what positive things can come from creating this powerful branding tool for yourself.
Because of blogging, I have been featured in a magazine about personal branding, and all of the revenue that was generated was donated to the American Cancer Society. How about that as a selling point to future employers - they simply won't be able to ignore that!
Keep plugging and I will see you at the top!
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