BLOG IN THE HEADLIGHTS

Deciding to blog presented a dilemma. I was intrigued when I first came across blogger. I thought wow, I can get a free blog, this is great. I can write about my pet peeves, my dreams, my kids about anything that I like and a few things that I dislike.

Since I was and still am looking for a job, I decided to write about my job search. I wrote a few posts about my experiences as I looked for work and emailed them to my friends for comments. To my surprise, I only received a couple of comments, but my cell phone and email were blowing-up. The calls and emails were from my friends suggesting that I take down the blog . I began to wonder if I should take their advice and delete the site.

Prior to be laid-off, I had been steadily employed for over 20 years. I did not have an online presence and I was somewhat skeptical of social media. My only knowledge of FaceBook and Myspace was that people were getting fired or not being hired as a result of these accounts. The last thing that I wanted was to get tangled-up with something that could cause problems with my job. So I left FaceBook and Myspace to my kids. I also warned them about the problems that could result from keeping those accounts.

However, after being unemployed for a couple of months and not getting any responses from employers advertising on the job boards I started reading articles written by career advisors. Every single career coach or advisor stated that an online presence was essential to the job search these days. When I considered that my friends who were suggesting that I take down the blog were employed I reasoned, what do they know about what is going on out here in the world of the unemployed. So I left the blog up. Then I added a LinkedIn account and FaceBook account to keep my blog company.

I never created a link from the blog to my FaceBook or LinkedIn account. Whenever I checked the blogs I saw that it had very few readers. There was nothing in it that was questionable, no company names, no names of people, it was about me pursuing job opportunities and my occasional interviews. Nonetheless, the fact that it was not being read by many people was fine with me. My well meaning friends had successfully fanned the flames of doubt, which fueled my preexisting uneasiness about social media. I was not confident that social media was the way to go when it came to looking for a job. I was not sure that I would gain exposure that could possibly lead to a job. On the contrary, I felt that my blog might actually hurt my chances of landing a job.

I started searching the Internet for blogs like mine and I came across the same type of blogs in The Wall Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal had links to several other blogs written by people looking for jobs. I responded to several of the blogs, but I never put my real name or the URL for my blog in the response. It was a real dilemma for me and I tried to figure out the right way to proceed in this new environment. After some months, I updated my blog less frequently and I recently took it down altogether.

Now months later, I see where many of the people who had blogs similar to mine are employed. Several of them are blogging about their lives and their new jobs. I on the other hand am still looking and only about three-step ahead from where I was months ago when I first stated the blog. I say three steps because next week I have three interviews lined-up. When I created my first blog, it was as a result of not having any interviews, none, zero, zilch.

The blog did not help because I never promoted it. I never included the URL on my business cards and I did not include it following my online signature on emails. My blog and I were like a deer caught in the headlights. Not knowing whether we belonged on the road or hidden in the brush. Nonetheless, my use of social media is responsible for each of these interviews. I found the two of the companies through LinkedIn and the other interview was secured as a result of my activities on Twitter.

This is not exactly 100 percent proof positive that had I promoted the original blog that I would have a job by now; however, the evidence does point in that direction. Judging how social media has started to be a help in my job search, there is a pretty good chance that had I promoted the blog, I would be happily working by now instead of still looking for opportunities.

I recently decided to start this blog, Everyday Dilemmas and this time I plan to go about things differently. First, I don’t want to simply write about my job search. I want it to contain some information about a variety of things that interest me. Second, I’m pretty confident that my well intentioned friends will not be getting any advanced copies. Guys you know I love you, but these days when it comes to finding a job many of the old rules don’t apply.