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Ryan Healy is a recent college graduate. He is a founder of 
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New here? Employee Evolution is a blog written by Ryan Healy. Ryan is a Co-Founder of Brazen Careerist, the webs #1 social network for young professionals. Ryan speaks with organizations on best practices for recruiting and retaining Generation Y and how to effectively use social media to reach your target market. To contact Ryan, please visit our contact page.
Since founding Brazen Careerist, I’ve blogged less and less each month, to the point that I only posted three times in December. And that’s not cool. Especially since blogging has given me more value than any other activity I do on a day-to-day basis and is the reason I have my dream job today. In short, blogging has changed my life.
So here are five reasons why every college student that wants their dream job needs to start a blog in 2009.
1. You stand out from the crowd
Jarred Taylor works in the legal department at Google in Mountain View, CA. As far as dream jobs go, Google headquarters is probably right there at the top of a lot of lists. Jarred loves his position, and he’s pretty convinced that he got the job because of his blog.
“Everyone who interviewed me,” Jarred says, “from the recruiter in the phone screen to the senior attorneys during the videoconference, asked me about the blog. ‘What do you blog about? Why? Give an example of something you’ve learned from what you’ve researched.’”
His blog didn’t have a huge following or a ton of readers, but the interviewers at Google understood that if Jarred took the time to write about his career interests in his free time, he would also go above and beyond at work. Including his blog on his resume allowed Jarred to get his dream job by standing out from the crowd.
2. People find you
I’m not all that good at seeking out people or new opportunities. I push myself, but it’s not my strong suit.
The beauty of blogging is that people find you. When I posted several times per week, the amount of emails in my inbox from seemingly random people was through the roof. Publishers contacted me about writing a book, journalists sent interview requests, generational researchers asked for input, companies requested speaking engagements, and readers wrote in with career-related questions on a regular basis.
On the days I post, good things happen. And I can say for certain that it’s not a coincidence. By putting yourself out there with your blog, people will find you, and your dream job could come knocking at your door. Just make sure you recognize the opportunity when it does.
3. You can show your true personality
I get a lot of applications from people applying for a job at Brazen Careerist. We have a special set of questions that we ask everyone to answer when they apply so we can get a sense of their interests, goals and personality. The answers always give me some good insight, but I often want to know more, before we decide to do an interview.
Because of this, I love when someone leaves a link to their blog along with their resume. It’s like saying, “Here’s a sneak peek into my world. I have nothing to hide.” Other than face-to-face interaction, nothing shows who you really are more than a blog.
Unfortunately, we are in a temporary hiring freeze (click here to read more), but if we were scaling the company at full strength, the people who directed me to their blog would be at the top of the interview list.
4. The connections are amazing
I’m confident enough to say that if I needed a job tomorrow, I could skip the typical Monster.com or Careerbuilder job search and find a great one through the connections I’ve made blogging.
I’ve networked with executives, authors, entrepreneurs, CEO’s, professional speakers and more. I’ve maintained as many relationships as possible, some as mentors and others as weak-tie connections, but simply having the opportunity to meet such a diverse and influential crowd could have never happened without writing my blog.
5. You grow up, quick
I never would have admitted it at the time, but before I started Employee Evolution I was pretty immature. I thought I knew more than I did, I didn’t work as hard as I could, and I didn’t fully appreciate all the things I had. Two years later, I still have a lot of growing up to do, but the amount I’ve grown as a person has been astounding.
Someone tells me I’m wrong on nearly every post I write. Sometimes I listen and rethink my position, while other times I chalk it up to the other person being wrong. But I’m always able to re-evaluate, compose myself and reply with an insightful response or a nice email. Learning to deal with people who disagree, and treating your blog like a business will teach you a lot about how the world works, giving you a huge leg up on your “non-blogging” peers
It may not be easy, and it certainly won’t happen overnight, but starting a blog and following through can take you anywhere you want to go. What are you waiting for?
Hey Ryan, excellent piece. The only thing I’d caution college-age readers against is wholeheartedly believing that if they start a blog, they will instantly have companies asking them to speak, editors asking them to write a book, etc. You built your following through a couple of strategic ventures and some very savvy networking, and your success here led to other opportunities like being on 60 Minutes, which increased your platform exponentially. Don’t underestimate your own hard work and skill - the things you’ve achieved aren’t that easy.
Kind Regards,
Alexandra Levit
Author, How’d You Score That Gig?
Blogger, Water Cooler Wisdom
www.alexandralevit.com
Blogs are a great way to show your employer how knowledgeable you are in a particular field. However, if you blog about controversial topics, then this may end up hurting your chances of getting or keeping a job if your potential or current employer finds out. Blog, but blog with caution.
Jada@PlanofStudy
www.planofstudy.com
Alexandra, very good point. It takes a lot of determination and hard work to build a following, and people will not coming knocking down your door just because you blog. But if you can push through “the dip” and build a reputation, good things will happen. And for some shameless self promotion, a great place to start building a community is by joining Brazen Careerist
Jada, this is true, it could come back to haunt you. But I always say that if someone wont hire me because they disagree with my viewpoint I dont want to work with them anyway. Its easy to always be cautious and careful, it takes a lot of guts to have an opinion.
Ryan
Great article!! I am a recent college graduate and wish I had started a blog when I was in school. I am definitely going to tell my girlfriend that she should start one to help her future.
Hey Ryan! I totally agree about blogging - especially when it comes to weak-tie connections. Between my blog and my Twitter account I’ve expanded my circle of people exponentially.
It’s great advice, but it has a few holes. My issue as of late has been - how do you figure out what you know best?
I think I finally answered the question for myself, but it took me awhile to get there. I could write about dealing with a crazy family, except - I don’t want my crazy family to find the blog and I am not sure how much a future employer needs to know about my father. I can write about my love of teenager vampire fiction, but again - not really an area of expertise I am gloating about.
Generation Y means we are young. Some of us are really knowledgeable in our fields, but enough so to write a blog about? Maybe. And then the balance becomes about displaying expertise about a field without blogging about your internal company policies and experiences.
Sometimes you don’t figure out what you really know until you write a bunch of different things. You just have to hope that your trail of ideas isn’t one that would upset a future employer or contact.
Danielle, absolutely. I can’t imagine not having an online network anymore.
Erica, I think you figure out what you know best by taking a step back and looking at what you do in your free time. If you like something enough to do it when you don’t have to, then you should be blogging about it! You do bring up a good point about company policies, but if you put a little disclaimer on your about page that says these views represent you, not your company, you should be fine. In one sense you’re right. Its hard to know what you really know until you do it, but as long as your blog is in good taste, employers will see all the time and hard work that went into it.
Thanks for the comments
Super-Duper site! I am loving it!! Will come back again - taking you feeds also, Thanks.