This article is part three on how to leverage the power of a blog to advance your career.
In the two previous articles, we've addressed how a blog devoted to a single topic can quickly establish you as an expert in that field and allow you to leap over a lot of the normally required "years of experience" of actually working in that field.
For example, suppose you are a software engineer now and have spent a lot of your own time studying a certain technology that is outside your direct area of experience.
Even though you are now knowledgeable about this new technology, you cannot get a job in that field because your "on-the-job experience" is not directly related to that technology.
The solution is to start a blog devoted to this new technology.
Subscribe to daily Google NewsAlerts so that you will have a constant stream of new information to write about.
Keep studying on your own, but apply that new knowledge to your blog postings and write no less than five new articles a week.
Now the next step is to network using your blog.
There are two types of networking that apply here: online and offline networking.
Online networking means you start posting thoughtful, informative comments on other blogs related to your field.
Do not look at other bloggers as your competition.
That is old school thinking that defeats the very purpose of blogging.
Blogs gain their power by creating a community of thinkers on a certain subject.
The next step is to use trackbacks.
This means you link to another blogger's article and write an article on your own blog that develops that same subject further.
In a sense this is like carrying on a conversation between two bloggers about the same topic.
The other blogger may in turn pick up your thread and carry the conversation one step further, with readers of both blogs posting their comments.
With trackbacks, you are not only networking with the writer of the other blog, but also with the readers of that other blog.
Then there is offline networking.
After your blog is established as a source of regular, quality information (and this could take as little as three months if you post new articles five times a week), seek interviews with offline experts.
Going back to the software engineer example, if you can locate several people who work in the field you are targeting, send them snail mail letters describing your blog and ask if you can interview them for an article.
This is taking the concept of "informational interviewing" one step further.
Your blog gives you much more credibility than some college student calling with the same request.
Additionally, your blog gives the expert a possible way to get additional exposure.
If possible, conduct the interview in person, but you can also do this by telephone or even email.
Ask thoughtful questions that allow both you and the interviewee to be seen in a positive light.
This is not the place for those tough, hard-nosed investigative journalistic questions.
You want to make a contact as well as get information for your blog.
Of course you should always ask for other references and referrals with the "who else should I be talking to about this subject," question.
Follow up with a handwritten thank you card and email the link to your blog article(s) containing your interview with this person.
When the almost inevitable question about who you are and what you do for a living comes up, just say that you are exploring your career options in this field.
In other words say just enough to make it clear that you are looking, but do not ask for a job.
Keep it discreet and keep the conversation on the subject of your blog article.
When should you start getting job offers? With old school informational interviews, job seekers often reported getting offers after conducting ten or twenty interviews.
But of course this varies with each field and how many openings are available.
What will be certain is that using this method of leveraging yourself with a blog, will leapfrog you to the very top of the list of candidates.
COPYRIGHT © 2007, Charles Brown
In the two previous articles, we've addressed how a blog devoted to a single topic can quickly establish you as an expert in that field and allow you to leap over a lot of the normally required "years of experience" of actually working in that field.
For example, suppose you are a software engineer now and have spent a lot of your own time studying a certain technology that is outside your direct area of experience.
Even though you are now knowledgeable about this new technology, you cannot get a job in that field because your "on-the-job experience" is not directly related to that technology.
The solution is to start a blog devoted to this new technology.
Subscribe to daily Google NewsAlerts so that you will have a constant stream of new information to write about.
Keep studying on your own, but apply that new knowledge to your blog postings and write no less than five new articles a week.
Now the next step is to network using your blog.
There are two types of networking that apply here: online and offline networking.
Online networking means you start posting thoughtful, informative comments on other blogs related to your field.
Do not look at other bloggers as your competition.
That is old school thinking that defeats the very purpose of blogging.
Blogs gain their power by creating a community of thinkers on a certain subject.
The next step is to use trackbacks.
This means you link to another blogger's article and write an article on your own blog that develops that same subject further.
In a sense this is like carrying on a conversation between two bloggers about the same topic.
The other blogger may in turn pick up your thread and carry the conversation one step further, with readers of both blogs posting their comments.
With trackbacks, you are not only networking with the writer of the other blog, but also with the readers of that other blog.
Then there is offline networking.
After your blog is established as a source of regular, quality information (and this could take as little as three months if you post new articles five times a week), seek interviews with offline experts.
Going back to the software engineer example, if you can locate several people who work in the field you are targeting, send them snail mail letters describing your blog and ask if you can interview them for an article.
This is taking the concept of "informational interviewing" one step further.
Your blog gives you much more credibility than some college student calling with the same request.
Additionally, your blog gives the expert a possible way to get additional exposure.
If possible, conduct the interview in person, but you can also do this by telephone or even email.
Ask thoughtful questions that allow both you and the interviewee to be seen in a positive light.
This is not the place for those tough, hard-nosed investigative journalistic questions.
You want to make a contact as well as get information for your blog.
Of course you should always ask for other references and referrals with the "who else should I be talking to about this subject," question.
Follow up with a handwritten thank you card and email the link to your blog article(s) containing your interview with this person.
When the almost inevitable question about who you are and what you do for a living comes up, just say that you are exploring your career options in this field.
In other words say just enough to make it clear that you are looking, but do not ask for a job.
Keep it discreet and keep the conversation on the subject of your blog article.
When should you start getting job offers? With old school informational interviews, job seekers often reported getting offers after conducting ten or twenty interviews.
But of course this varies with each field and how many openings are available.
What will be certain is that using this method of leveraging yourself with a blog, will leapfrog you to the very top of the list of candidates.
COPYRIGHT © 2007, Charles Brown
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