Lately I´ve been quite involved in a certain sub-topic of my studies: branding. I´m searching books, browsing journals and reading tons of articles because I´d like to write my thesis in a branding-related area. After I tried to storm my brain for some new ideas, I visited a blog called branding & marketing which I found through another blog called modern b2b marketing. On this branding and marketing blog I found an interesting post about marketing tips for recent college graduates, which was basically the start to this post here as well. The mentioned post has linked some posts in other blogs concerning branding yourself as a person and communicating this eg. through a blog. I dug a bit deeper and read some pretty interesting stuff I´d like to share.
Did you ever reflect why you´re keeping a blog? Is it because you want to entertain your readers, is it because you want to keep your friends updated about your life, is it because you want to keep a publicly available diary but basically just writing entries for yourself or do you even want to do sort of business with your blog? And how do you choose topics you´re blogging about, how much do you think about which picture of you or a friend of yours you want to upload? In the online world it´s pretty easy to stop by in your blog, read your posts, get to know you (or at least an image of you, you´re maybe unconsciously providing) and leave without being noticed. So, who - except the ones who´re leaving comments - is actually reading your blog then?
I raised a lot of questions now, but I think they might get important at one point or another to every blogger out there. And for me as a student who´d like to graduate soon maybe sooner than later. As stated in several blogs, companies are checking your online profile and perform web searches for your name in case you apply for a job. If they find positive stuff about you, it´s perfect but there might be some negative stuff as well and if they don´t find anything it might almost count as negative. Several bloggers write that you should actively use your blog as a tool to present yourself to the world, to create your own brand and to distinguish yourself. Some even go a step further and say that you should record a video of yourself and put it on youtube or the way you sign comments on other blogs affects your own brand.
I know, this sounds totally reasonable for people like me entering the business world from a marketing or generally spoken a business origin. And I´m convinced that people who want to apply for a job in this area, should actively check their online profile and keep a proper image. By proper image I mean the same image they´re providing in the real world as well. And yet, I believe that it´s not only important to people in the "business area". Although there might be less effects in other professions, I still think that the content of your blog or the way friends post about you, can affect a potential employers decision heavily. I mean if you´re always blogging about sun, fun and nothing to do and your friends upload all nasty party pictures they find of you, i don´t know if the company or organisation might trust you if you´re presenting yourself as a hard-worker at the job interview. And this is probably as true for companies as for NGOs or governments...
For those who´re interested to read some more about the topic. Here are some links for a start:
Did you ever reflect why you´re keeping a blog? Is it because you want to entertain your readers, is it because you want to keep your friends updated about your life, is it because you want to keep a publicly available diary but basically just writing entries for yourself or do you even want to do sort of business with your blog? And how do you choose topics you´re blogging about, how much do you think about which picture of you or a friend of yours you want to upload? In the online world it´s pretty easy to stop by in your blog, read your posts, get to know you (or at least an image of you, you´re maybe unconsciously providing) and leave without being noticed. So, who - except the ones who´re leaving comments - is actually reading your blog then?
I raised a lot of questions now, but I think they might get important at one point or another to every blogger out there. And for me as a student who´d like to graduate soon maybe sooner than later. As stated in several blogs, companies are checking your online profile and perform web searches for your name in case you apply for a job. If they find positive stuff about you, it´s perfect but there might be some negative stuff as well and if they don´t find anything it might almost count as negative. Several bloggers write that you should actively use your blog as a tool to present yourself to the world, to create your own brand and to distinguish yourself. Some even go a step further and say that you should record a video of yourself and put it on youtube or the way you sign comments on other blogs affects your own brand.
I know, this sounds totally reasonable for people like me entering the business world from a marketing or generally spoken a business origin. And I´m convinced that people who want to apply for a job in this area, should actively check their online profile and keep a proper image. By proper image I mean the same image they´re providing in the real world as well. And yet, I believe that it´s not only important to people in the "business area". Although there might be less effects in other professions, I still think that the content of your blog or the way friends post about you, can affect a potential employers decision heavily. I mean if you´re always blogging about sun, fun and nothing to do and your friends upload all nasty party pictures they find of you, i don´t know if the company or organisation might trust you if you´re presenting yourself as a hard-worker at the job interview. And this is probably as true for companies as for NGOs or governments...
For those who´re interested to read some more about the topic. Here are some links for a start:
2 Responses:
Simon:
Thanks for mentioning my blog post about job hunting and branding.
You bring up some important points. As an employer, I check for comments and posts on line of my potential employees. I read what their friends say about them too, although I know sometimes what you see on the internet is fake, a joke or someone maliciously teasing.
I look at the characteristics of the potential employee. Honest? Sincere? Caring? Fun loving? Introspective? I can't speak for NGO's (I don't even know what that is!) or government organizations, but I know that as a business owner, I want to make sure my employees have a "proper image" as you say. Both on line and off line. The "sun, fun & nothing to do" I can get past... but too much focus on nasty parties, and I'll be concerned that the candidate would have trouble showing up to work at 8 am, among other things.
Anyway, question for you... as a student looking for work, would you look up the info on an employer on line to see what kind of a person they were? (I don't mean the company, I mean your potential boss.) Just curious.
Chris Brown
Branding & Marketing
brandandmarket.blogspot.com
Chris, thanks for paying a visit on my blog and leaving a comment!
Concerning your question: Well I probably would look up the company in first place. Not only the company´s website but blogs as well.
Maybe in a second step I would (out of curiosity) search infos about people working at this company. It would get most interesting if there´s something about the boss as a private person available and not just about him sharing his views about business related topics...
Simon
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