Create a professional blog to get a job

A blog is your canvas – where you talk about your ideas, beliefs, perspectives, your take on things in the world and share it with like-minded individuals.

If used just to rant and fume, it could be a big disaster if you are a jobseeker, or worse still, can get you fired if your current boss reads about what’s going in your mind.

On the other hand, if used prudently, blogging can help open job opportunities for you and better still, even land you one.
Job search and blogging go hand-in-hand, especially when many recruiters look at social media to hire staff. And, it’s very important that you create a professional one that can work as a marketing tool for you and serve the purpose.

Here are some simple steps to create a professional blog that will impress the interviewers you’re talking to and attract the readers you’re looking for.

What is it that you want to say?

To begin with, decide what your canvas should be like. What are your strong points, areas interest and how can you attract readers and ensure that they come back to your blog?

Look for your strong points. Do you have expertise that you can use to inform or inspire your audience? Can you write and comment on news in your industry? Can you provide some interesting view points and opinions to ensure that readers will revisit your blog?

This is the first step – giving your blog a direction and once you have decided that, design and elaborate on it that is authentically you.

Your blog should be about you

If readers are coming to your blog they want to know about you and your views. So, post things that speak of your personality. It’s best to avoid generic posts as readers can read them elsewhere.

You can personalise your blog with your own stories and your experience.
You could be a banker and post stories of your professional life in the banking industry. You could compare banking in different territories and how you as a banker coped with it. This is just one example.

Readers would be more interested in knowing about your life and this also includes the recruiters.

Just posting stories of what’s happening at major banks will not help. Your perspective is what is needed and if a recruiter is going through it, he may evaluate your level of knowledge.

Make the headlines intriguing

Your article will only be read if it has a strong headline to it. The title of the blog should be strong enough to make the reader go through the text.

No absolute rules here but titles that are smart, witty and intriguing will grab attention and make readers go through the entire text. As a good blogger, you should also make sure that the title should be about the text that follows.

You cannot have a mismatch here. If you do so you will not have loyal readers.

Use the blog as your marketing tool

If you want to be a successful blogger, try to get the maximum number of readers and be everywhere to not miss out any recruiter.

Use social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn to promote your blog and share a link each time you publish a post. This will help you increase your network and by doing so you will meet many active and passive recruiters on the way.

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