Comments on: Job Seeker Blogs – Why I Hate Them

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:45:17 +0000

my blog focuses on helping the job seeker…
I don’t encourage personal profiles out on the web when you are in job search mode because an employer surfs too…and do you want him/her to know all about your dirty little secrets or habits or likes and dislikes? Keep the employer focused on what you will do for him and not what he/she may perceive about you from a myspace page or a rambling blog you are writing…temporarily suspend your personal musings and focus on getting a job. De list or shut down any site you control UNTIL you have safely landed your job

Getting a great job is a full time job

PimpMyInterview.com for my blog

By: FRACAT - Free Resume And Career Toolbox Blog » Job-Seeker / Career-Improvement Quicklinks for Friday, September 14th, 2007

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 11:51:03 +0000

[...] From our friend Jason Alba, here are the reasons he hates job-seeker blogs. And, perhaps more valuably, what you can do to change yours to be better. [...]

By: Krystyna

Krystyna — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 03:54:41 +0000

Blog should be like homework or letter we write to someone we like. Good blog becames from our idea, knowledge what we do, or like to do; from passion. If not, doesn’t work. Blogging for me is a stronger connection with people I care, have the expectation they will read my thoughts and share with me. Blogging is great workout for brain, faster thinking. I love that exercise.

By: GuRuth

GuRuth — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 19:18:11 +0000

Thanks for the mention!

By: Jason Alba

Jason Alba — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 18:57:41 +0000

@Chuck – ah shucks, you flatter me :p

@Dan – I’d love to know what you would change about your blog(s)

@Rob – AWESOME story and links!

@Rebecca – that’s exactly what I’m saying – don’t write about stuff like in Rob’s example… rather show us your breadth and depth

By: Robert Merrill

Robert Merrill — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 16:27:30 +0000

@Rebecca I agree. In my recruiting role, I am reading the person’s blog after I have met them or otherwise been introduced (resume, phone call, referral, etc, etc).

For me, what I am most looking for is to get a sense of who this person is when they are “around their friends”. Since blogs are generally written in a casual style, its easy to drill-down to find their hot buttons, their passions, their rants and their raves.

If a persons BLOG reads as stale and processed as their RESUME… I start wondering if they really ARE stale and processed as a human being.

…Which is no-problem when I am recruiting accountants, of course.

By: Rebecca Thorman

Rebecca Thorman — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 03:43:49 +0000

I agree with most of your points. It’s much more valuable to write about your expertise if you’re doing a job search than write that you need a job. If Ryan, or anyone, wrote for one or two months good quality articles on the area that they wanted a job in, and promoted the blog appropriately, I bet he or she would be offered a job within that time frame. It’s happened a lot.

By: Robert Merrill

Robert Merrill — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 23:11:21 +0000

Now I am commenting way too much, but I have to note that a good PROFESSIONAL/PERSONAL blog will talk about the things you're passionate about, and the things you LOVE to do, not necessarily that you're seeking a job. However, having a "resume" link under your clear-to-find "About" page is important... maybe with the text "Click here for my resume, I am always interested in excellent (insert niche) opportunities". For Example: Shmula will always be on my list for an example of a frenetic blogger, passionate about the multiplicity of what he does. Fave post of late? When Bad Things Happen to Good Teams. You can't help but see that this guy is on-top when it comes to organizational effectiveness! Also, he has the best "tagline" I have ever seen on his LinkedIn Profile: "Massively parallel & *strong* bias for action."

By: Robert Merrill

Robert Merrill — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 22:49:01 +0000

I found something interesting on one of my own candidate’s blog (it was on his resume–I am not a stalker) and noticed a post in there that read something like:

A recruiter has me lined up for a job at XWY Widget Company. I accepted the offer, but I am using it just to get a better offer from my current boss.

Well, feeling a bit betrayed, I commented back:

Sorry to hear you’re just using the offer to get a raise. Didn’t we ask you if you would accept a counter offer?

(because we ask EVERYONE that question and btw, saying “yes” is the wrong answer).

He and I had an, um, interesting conversation when he was in the office finalizing paperwork after that:
ME: I have to ask if you’re just using this offer to get a better offer.
HIM: No, I changed my mind on that. Why were you on my blog anyway?
ME: It’s my job to use the resources you give me to learn as much about you as I can. Plus, it was on your resume.
HIM: Oh, yeah. Forgot about that.

Gladly, he’s doing fine working at the anonymous Widget maker.

By: Daniel Johnson, Jr.

Daniel Johnson, Jr. — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 19:09:04 +0000

I’m picking up a lot of stuff that I can change on my own blog.