Christian Crumlish posted a blog entry in April 2005 about needing a job. While the initial post was aimed at some networking and broadcasting the need for the job, the total of three posts (here’s the one in the middle) became a mini-narrative of searching for the job, culminating with his blog entry on his attainment of the new job in June.
He seemed to realize along the way that it was wise to keep a little quiet about the search. I asked him to what extent he feels posting on his blog helped him obtain his new job.
His response:
It helped, I think, although it did not directly lead to the job I ended up taking. That came from a craigslist ad I responded to. I do think that my blog presence and my visibility (googlability) was a factor in gettting my new job, as my firm is looking to get its name out among the web savvy audience and they feel I can help with that. I’m very happy I put my job search into the public, because I think it strengthened my network. A lot of people gave me advice or passed along leads or sent my resume to their recruiters/HR people.
I kind of critiqued his initial post as I would a resume — since that’s what I do to make a living.
He started out by telling what HE wanted in a job. That’s not totally a bad thing because it’s good to as specific as you can about what you’re looking for. He used nice phrases like “I’d like to be part of something bigger than myself.” He also talked about wanting to “learn from people smarter than me and better at business.” That kind of phrase is tricky. It’s flattering to the reader to suggest that others are smarter than the writer/job-seeker, but all other things being equal, would you rather hire the guy who wants to learn, or the guy who already knows? Probably depends on your company’s culture. But I would have suggested he start with his fourth paragraph — which told what he had to offer, what he could contribute to a new employer.
He indicated a specific interest in the “social network system/software web application space,” which is great. Employers don’t want to have to guess what you want. And, as the writer he is, he finished that paragraph with three punchy, powerful sentences: “I want to help. I want to contribute. I want to influence.” Nice.
A couple of paragraphs later, he employs classic networking techniques — he doesn’t ask for a job; he asks for help and is specific about how readers can help.
Finally, in what he calls a “little value-add to make this entry useful to people beyond just me,” he shares some information about what he calls “all the now-traditional automated web tools and the job search elements that are starting to appear in social network systems, such as LinkedIn.” I just found the reference a little amusing because maybe in Crumlish’s world, these tools and job-search elements are traditional and well known, but I would guess that they are quite new and mysterious to the vast majority of job-seekers.
(And, hey, my critique doesn’t mean a whole lot since he did end up with a job.)
Crumlish’s saga is quite interesting, not only because it may have proven to be a successful way to land a job, but because he told the story of his job search, albeit a story with a lot of missing chapters.
Sure, there’s a fine line between going public and keeping confidences and the web sometimes makes us work harder at finding that line.
Thanks for the feedback on the self-description. It’s useful and I’ll certainly take it into account if/when I ever do this again.
As for the wanting to learn part - it’s true that that’s not the best way to get a job (as compared with appearing to know it all), but I was looking specifically for a job that would stretch me and I was willing to miss out on jobs where I would not be challenged. This may have hampered my search but it was a deliberate decision to narrow my focus.
As for the now-traditional comment - you’re right, there’s a context problem there. A lot of Radio Free Blogistan readers and a lot of the people in my network and a lot of web professionals are used to some of those job-search tools, but of course the vast majority of people are not.
Thanks again for the attention and advice!