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If you have a BLOG , than you have the JOB !!!

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Every blogger who actively blogs and makes his/her blog as a part of the daily has a reason to blog.For some it is to express themselves, create awareness, share knowledge, experience and for some it is a new & unique way to network with people.Oops not to forget money , at least it fetches a few $$ for some of them wink On one hand , there are several reasons to blog and on the other side, there are equal of reasons NOT TO BLOG as discussed in one of my previous articles here
In one of my conversations with my friend(and fellow blogger) Ramjee Ganti, we compared blogs with Fire since, you never know when someone has blogged about you or your product and that post could be from a blogger lying in other corner of the world !!! Definitely, Blogs can never replace Mass Media and this thought would also never come in the mind of any blogger(when (s)he starts blogging) biggrin

While reading Rohit Agarwal’s How Innovators Connect, a statement in the book caught my eyes (as a blogger), “In the Silicon Valley, major companies look one additional thing in the resume(apart from the education and experience) , and as per your guess – It is BLOG.

Blogs are already being watched by startup companies in India but now the pendulum has swung 360% and now blogs have also become prospective platform for recruitment by recruiters from big corporates as well.For example , check the image below which is taken from the careers section of a startup company in Bangalore

An article which was recently published in the Times Of India, Ascent , gave a clear indication that Blogs would slowly become a key aspect;not only in judging the candidate’s attitude but his(her) willingness to be more innovative & research oriented. smile Some important excerpts from the TOI Ascent article :

Several HR managers are following “Hiring by the Blog“, a practice that looks to be the newest hiring trend.Though this practice is still in the nascent stage , corporate recruiters are surfing blogs to unearth candidates , expanding their talent pool and gaining insights that they can’t get from resumes and interviews – Sapna Agarwal , Director HR GlobalLogic. Blogs also helps employers probe further into the qualifications of the potential hires. As Sapna mentions : If I am impressed by the points the blogger is making and the way (s)he is making them, the potential hire will jump up a few notches in my opinion.

Recruiters believe that blogs help them to understand the likes and dislikes of the candidate.But IMHO(as a blogger), there are some things that should definitely be considered when employers start hunting for people, who also blog:

  • The theme of the blog [personal , business, technology ….].
  • Frequency of blogging [How any articles are posted per week/month?].
  • Reply to the comments [This would give an impression as to how much the blogger cares for his/her customer(readers)].
  • Research done in writing the posts [This can be considered as the one with the least priority].
  • The difference between in the personality of the person(as a blogger) and as a potential candidate for a job.
Definitely, bloggers are getting more and more visibility and time would soon come, when blogs would also be considered as a vital part of a candidate’s resume wink So, if you are the one looking out for a job, than start blogging since, you never know that an XYZ company’s HR may be following your blog rolleyes

Have your say about “BLOG RECRUITMENT” :

Comments (9)

  • Yes it is correct that, any kind of writing reveals one’s personality. Even C code snippet written by you tells many thing about you. So blog also tells many things about its author. However I never thought, HR people also read blog to judge candidate!!

    Here is the link to recent article about blog in Times Ascent:

    http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JQkcvMjAwNy8wOS8wNSNBcjAzMTAw&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom

    Regards,

    Manish Panchmatia
    http://www.geocities.com/panchmatia_manish

  • Hey,
    @Manish :I think you made a very valid comparison,C Code snippet with a blog.However,it may sometimes happen that the blogger who is a Technical Person may be good in other aspects as well and this is what Blog can tell about.

    However I never thought, HR people also read blog to judge candidate!!
    >> May be there is a paradigm shift happening in the recruitment and may be this is the new phase of RECRUITMENT Chaning 🙂

    Thanks for the link, would definitely embed the link later in the day.

    -Himanshu Sheth.

  • himanshu,

    in us.. blogs are a face to you. India it’s still not popular but catching up.
    But still it’s way to go, as not every one know about blogging. And even those who blog mostly do under alias.So it’s some time before it catches up.

  • i’m pretty sure that if newspapers and journalists don’t learn how to use blogs, in a few years, many journos will be out of jobs. i have a problem with corporates and recruiters using blogs though. who wants corporate sanitization in blogs? good post.

  • Hey,
    @Ramjee: Things are changing in India and a day may soon come when a person gets identified by his/her blog.”Alias” is a catch word since not many bloggers actuaclly disclose in front of others that they are blogging,which should change !!!

    -Himanshu Sheth

  • Hey,
    @Snigdha : Since the advent of blogging, we can say “There is some relation between Blogging & Journalism”. Also,recruitment through blogs may work since,this gives a small indication about the attitude of the person(being interviewed).

    However, many times,this would also depend on the work profile.

    -Himanshu Sheth

  • I dont personally agree with the idea of recruitment based of blogging. Infact , it is quite probable that a person gud in codings skill may or may not be gud in writing skills. This wud be narrow approach for hiring ppl based on their blogs and believe me if that is the case of hiring then i am sorry to say but we are not very far from decorated blogs rather than true and unbaised publishing.

  • Yeah, I am sure that, blogs are the face of people in today’s internet world. The subject on which one write’s will definitely help us in understanding the kind of person he/she is. It also reflects one’s values and princliples to some extent. Nice post Himanshu.

    -Siva

  • Hey,
    @Rajat: The point is not that Blogs are “THE” only criteria to select people.It can be one of the criterias to select people.We are not talking about Decorative Blogs or any such matter.You are very much correct,A good Blogger may not be a very good coder 🙂

    For example : Last week,we were at a meet where an Evangelist from Adobe was there and he said “After a few rounds of interview,they check the full name of the candidate on Google and check his/her presence”.So,we are not saying that “If a person does not have a Blog,(s)he is not selected”

    This can be one of the things to get an upper edge over the other candidates 🙂

    @Anbu:
    Definitely,they are the FACE of people and I am sure things change when someone starts blogging 🙂

    -Himanshu Sheth

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