“Your blog is your living resume. It shows how you think. It shows how you write. It shows what’s important to you. . . Mentor us through your blog. We employers love hiring mentors–they raise everyone’s performance.” Kevin Merritt as told to Linkedin Social Media Strategist Mario Sundar

Blogging and Web 2.0 social media tools, like Linkedin.com , are fast becoming the most effective strategies to actively deliver your message of value. If you are a jobseeker in today’s tough market, blogging is the most powerful tool as it allows the writer to deliver their expertise, knowledge, and value to strategic targets such as hiring managers, companies, and the global community on the internet.

One of the first challenges a new blogger faces is writing their first article for their employment campaign. The following is an outline, with the help of social media expert Mack Collier, and template a new job seeking blogger can utilize for the creation of their first blog article.

4 Question Format: Your first article should answer 4 questions

1. Who Are You?
2. Why Are You Blogging?
3. What Will You Be Blogging About?
4. How Can I Leave Feedback?

Example First Article Template:

Your Title

My name is _____ I have ___years experience in the ______industry culminating in a position as a _____ and _______. Today I am writing my first blog article on my new blog: yourname.wordpress.com. My blog is the centerpiece and delivery system, of my message of value, for my newly established employment campaign.

Why Am I Blogging?

I am writing this blog as a method to offer my expertise, experience, and knowledge to liked minded individuals. I am also seeking job, networking, and collaborating opportunities. Consequently, my blog will support my employment campaign which is a strategic, proactive plan to deliver my value to hiring managers and my industry.

What Is My Blog About?

I will write about. . . (your subject matter and topics here.) I will create helpful content, tips, how to guides, lists, and other material on. . . (your expertise, knowledge, and value message here.)

Dean’s Example: “I will write about social media tools and blogging. I will create helpful content, tips, how to guides, lists and other material based on my two years of blogging experience at deansguide and innerarchitect and my social media consulting background with Domus Consulting Group.

How Can I Leave Feedback?

I look forward to reader comments and participation as part of the learning process here on my blog. As I begin to learn more about Web 2.0, social media, and blogging, I hope to become a valuable resource to readers.  If you have comments, please do not hesitate to voice your opinions. If you would like to further connect with me:

Your email address
Your Linkedin Address
Your Twitter Address
Your Facebook page-list all the place you wish to point your reader

Jobseekers beware. There is a new trend on the horizon that goes beyond Web 1.0 “brochure-ware” like resumes, referrals from associates or friends, and status quo job seeking activities: social network screening.

According to ComputerWorld’s Heather Havenstein’s article, One in Five Employers Uses Social Networks in Hiring Process: “the number of hiring managers turning to social networks like Facebook to delve into a candidates’ online behavior is increasing quickly: Some 22% of employers said they already peruse social networks to screen candidates, while an additional 9% said they are planning to do so. Only 11% of managers used the technology in 2006.”

Jobseekers Opportunity

CareerBuilder’s survey, which polled some 31,000 employers, revealed that “24% of hiring managers found content on social networks that helped convince them to hire a candidate.”

More pointedly “Hiring managers are using the internet to get a more well-rounded view of job candidates in terms of their skills, accomplishments, and overall fit within the company” according to CareerBuilder’s Vice President of Human Resources Rosemary Haefner.

How Do You Stand Out? Your Differentiating Factor

A robust profile will take you only so far in your quest to show the value, expertise, and experience you will bring to any company. How do you stand apart from the competition?

The Solution Part 1

In a fantastic Wall St. Journal article by Joann Lublin, Networking? Here’s How to Stand Out, the answer takes on more clarity as online networking consultant Scott Allen describes the new trend.

“For job hunters who use networking Web sites like Linkedin a more-sophisticated approach is necessary. When you invite someone to join you on Linkedin, include a personalized offer of help, such as an introduction to a customer OR a useful link to a relevant article“.

Blogging to Employment

The dawning of a new age is upon us as the Web 1.0 brochure-ware resume strategy is no longer the most important strategy for jobseekers. As foreshadowed by Scott Allen, jobseekers must be willing and able to deliver their knowledge, expertise, and experience. But how?

1. Employment Campaign: Create an employment campaign that utilizes the strategies of a direct marketing campaign to target hiring managers, companies, industries, and niches.
2. Blogging: Create a blog that is the “killer” Web 2.0 delivery system, and centerpiece, that supports a campaign that provides exposure and a method that is proactive and not reactive.

Analysis

The move away from resumes as the delivery system for your value message is only the beginning of a bigger trend in the process of finding a job. Today’s jobseeker must be aware that hiring managers and companies are being forced, in many cases, kicking and screaming into the Web 2.0 world of blogs and social media networking. As more and more companies adopt these Web 2.0 tools, they will specifically seek out those candidates who have positioned themselves on the Web and those candidates who have the Web 2.0 skill sets to prove it.

Related articles:

Susan Mernit’s Social Media Must Have’s for the Recently Laid Off

Inner Architect’s Blogging to Employment