I agree and disagree. I think it’s one part of the picture. If you attach biographical information to it in the form of your about or contact page, then it may fulfill the resume requirements.

No, now there’s too much pressure.

I got my job because of my blog, in fact the resume was asked for later.

Yes, the blog should be part of the resume, but only if it’s in line with the career path. No one cares about your star wars collection.

It depends on the job situation. For me, working at a company like Sprint and having an opinion posted about the industry for all the world to see is not a good thing in their eyes, considering the information used is sometimes confidential. But a writing job would be ideal for this situation.

More info here (even my CEO chimes in)

http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2007/04/19/if-the-blog-is-the-new-resume-then-the-google-me-is-the-business-card/

I have also had experienced job offers as a result of my blogging. Unfortunately, you can only accept one job at a time.

I do agree that the blog has to be related in some way with what your job will be. In my case, the possible jobs would have resulted from experience in throwing up websites and dabbling with podcasting. Even now, I’m working on a “suggestion” I got due to my podcasting knowledge. Although I am not the greatest, it’s apparently good enough. Because of this, I am careful not to write offensive things (anymore).

Here are links to some posts I wrote related to this topic.

My Blog is a Resume?

Blogging for Jobs
Blog for Jobs

Yes! The examples are plentiful that blogging can be part (or whole) of a resume. The missing piece may be HR/Recruiting types not taking advantage of RSS feeds and blogging internally.

I think a lot of this depends on the company you work for and how in touch with new media they are. As Richard says, lots of companies are uncomfortable with their employees having a using such a forum for fear of what they would say. There are many companies out there who feel just the opposite, actually providing blog space and encouraging it’s use.

I am pretty careful not to blog about my employer, neither positive or negative. My blogs, podcasts, video blogs are my creative outlet, but I would think as an example of my writing and organizational ability, my personality and my personal brand, it’s probably an accurate representation.

I was fortunate that my boss is a blogger about his work himself. Even so, I can only reveal so much.

Thank you all for continuing the conversation.

More and more employers are googling potential hires. Therefore, your blog (professional or hobby) will be discovered and become a de facto part of your resume. Being conscious of that, as Shaine pointed out, will perhaps cause you to avoid writing inflammatory things.

I take a slightly different stance on hobby blogs than Jeremiah. I would not expect a job applicant to point out their Star Wars collector blog on their resume; it’s irrelevant. But if I discover that blog on my own, I’m going to take a look at it, and it might influence my decision making. It will give me a glimpse into your personality and writing style, which might be important to the job in question. And by reading the way you handle comments, I will (rightly or wrongly) make judgments about your communication and relationship skills. Are you open to other viewpoints? Or do you take an arrogant or overbearing tone with commenters?

Lans referred to this, saying that blogs, podcasts and vidcasts are part of your personal brand. And as Jeremiah pointed out, his new employer actually found him because of his blog, then asked for a resume.

What about Mike’s point — that HR/recruiters are not taking advantage of RSS feeds and blogs? How would it change the hiring process if they did?

Call me naive, but it’s hard to imagine any hiring manager not looking online for information about prospective employees. (Especially when candid references are so hard to come by.) One of the ways I’ve vetted student intern candidates is through Facebook. Some of the candidates who looked good on paper had information online that made it easy to cross them off my list. I’ve advised many students to consider that their potential employers are very likely to see their profiles and anything else they’ve written or posted online under their name.

Connie,

Just thought I’d share this little story, as it fits exactly with your post:

Just got a phone call from the head of Meeting Tomorrow. (Mentioned here at Seth’s blog: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/05/the_netflixing_.html)

He read my blog. He became quite interested. He called me. We set up an interview for next Thursday. Who knows if I’ll work there, but the blog did what resumes are designed to do: get interviews.

Blog is the new resume. No question about it.

The blog is a powerful tool to help you get hired, unless you’re blogging about something you don’t want employers and potential employers to know, in which case you’ve got a whole different problem.

In my statement, “hiring is a conversation” I’m not referring specifically to blogs, but that’s a component - since most of us will agree on the conversational value of blogging.

For me, it comes down to the frustration that when you hire someone, you should be hiring a person (not a resource). And hiring people means speaking to them, having a conversation and connecting. If that’s the case, then why is the hiring process right now so overly burdened by process?

Ryan, congratulations on landing a job interview because of your blog. Best of luck to you!

Ben, that’s an excellent question: “why is the hiring process right now so overly burdened by process?”

Especially in larger companies there is concern over legal ramifications, government/union requirements, corporate traditions and practices, lengthy job descriptions and qualifications plus the need to determine … You’re right, we add a lot of layers that make it harder to discover the real person even though we know a lot of “facts” about them.

Perhaps companies want employees that will plug and play. In order to save money on training somebody, they would rather hire on those who fit the qualifications. The distinction is hiring the best person for the job rather than the best person for the team. I’ve had my hand at getting somebody hired for the job, but who irritated everybody. The job got done, but there is all kinds of weirdness. We should have talked to the candidate first.

Check out the Austin Business Journal’s survey related to this topic. So far, 72 percent wouldn’t mind if their boss or potential boss googled them or found their blog/MySpace page.
http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/poll/index.html

[…] Reece is also joining the discussion in her post Hiring Is a Conversation. Feel free to chime in on the […]

In response to Brenda. I think that people would be fine with their boss or potential boss taking a look at their myspace/blog for two very different reasons. One, they have no scandalous content there—they have written and posted with respect to the fact that things live forever on the internet. Or two, they are generally apathetic—they don’t know or can’t tell what their blog says about them.

I hope it’s the former but dread it’s the latter. Could it be? If Neil Postman was right in 1985 with “Amusing Ourselves to Death,” what would apply now that you don’t have to leave your desk chair to feel like you know someone. Yikes!