Blog for Jobs

All About the Rhode Island RI Job Market

2008-07-16T09:51:00.000-05:00

Rhode Island may be the smallest state in the U.S., but it showed its prowess early on by being the first of the original 13 colonies to gain independence from British rule. It was also the last state to ratify the Constitution. Rhode Island is a beautiful and is sometimes called the “Ocean State” because no part of it is more than 30 minutes away from shoreline.

Rhode Island’s economy is built on manufacturing and service enterprises. The impressive bit is that RI has the highest number of trained workers per square mile in the U.S., according to CityData. The website boasts that the work force in RI is “mature, skilled in diverse areas, educated, efficient, and offering high productivity at reasonable wage levels.” The unemployment rate is 7.2%. The majority of Rhode Island jobs are in educational and health services, followed by trade, transportation and utilities and manufacturing. The industries with the least number of employees in Rhode Island are natural resources and mining, information, and construction.

According to the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, the average home price in $472,818 and the cost of living in RI is above the American average. The following are the largest employers in RI, along with their number of employees:

Rhode Island Hospital 5,853
Brown University 4,450
U.S. Postal Service 4,000
Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island 2,640
Miriam Hospital 1,993
Bank of America/Fleet Bank (Providence only) 1,725
Verizon 1,400

According to an article from the Providence Journal, “Economically speaking, Rhode Island is in the midst of the “worst year” in a quarter century.” The article also states that mass layoffs have driven up unemployment claims by 14.3%, although these have dropped in the recent months. Employment service jobs fell by double digits. This is a surefire sign of a bad economy. In a good economy, these service jobs, which include temporary help, will swell. Although the number of jobs in Rhode Island may be at a low point, there are still resources out there for the RI Jobseeker; one of which is Rhode Island Works.

All About the Eastern Mass MA Job Market

2008-07-15T13:43:00.001-05:00

Eastern Massachusetts is home to Boston, the capital and largest city in MA. Home of the Red Sox, Boston Tea Party, and Harvard, Boston is home to over a half million residents. Boston’s population grows to over 1.2 million during the daytime, due to commuters traveling in for work. Although Boston is an expensive city to live in, its many colleges and universities funnel educational jobs as well as high tech health care sector, biotechnology, and finance jobs. Boston is so rich in colleges and universities that it is sometimes called “The Athens of America.”

Demographics wise, the city is very diverse. According to the census, the white population is 53.5%, Hispanics make up 15.5%, people of Irish descent form the largest single ethnic group in the city, making up 15.8% of the population, and Italians, account for 8.3% of the population. In Boston, the median income per capita is $37,435 (males) and $32,421 (females).

Healthcare opportunities abound in the Boston/ East Mass area. According to the Office of Extramural Health, Boston received the #1 amount of funding from the National Institute of Health in 2004: 1,573,996,690. Major companies in the city are: Liberty Mutual, Procter and Gamble, New Balance, and Teradyne. There are many jobs in Eastern Mass to be had, as long as one looks in the right place.

An article by the Boston Globe entitled “Recession Proof Jobs” provides some valuable advice on how to stay on top in today’s tumultuous job market. Some of the top recession proof jobs, according to the article include:

1. Teachers/Educators
2. Computer Security Specialists
3. IT Professionals
4. Military
5. Energy & Environment Services

Whenever you are searching for your next Eastern Mass job, be sure to check out Jobs in Boston & Cape Cod, and you may find something that will turn into more than just another job: a career.

All About the Western Mass MA Job Market

2008-07-15T10:44:00.001-05:00

Western Massachusetts is made up of four counties: Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire, and Hampden. The largest town (among many!) in Western Massachusetts is Springfield, which has 154,082 residents and is the third largest city in MA and the fourth largest in New England. Dr. Seuss was born there! The four counties combined have a population of 814,967 residents, which is greater than any one of the six smallest U.S. states. Many residents of Western MA are concentrated in the Hartford Metro area. Besides this area, Housatonic-Hoosic valley, and the NY Metro Area, Western Mass is relatively sparsely populated. It is instead decorated with lakes, hills, and farms.

According to MassLive.com, "The state's population estimate grew a scant 1.3 percent - compared to the 7.2 percent growth rate nationally - while Springfield's population declined 1.41 percent." Foreclosure figures have also doubled in Hampden County, while the national figure has increased 50%. Although the diagnosis may sound grim, there still is hope for jobs in Western Mass. IT jobs are on the rise. There is currently a 20% drop in students getting computer related degrees. According to a report from BusinessWeek, "The cities identified as the best for IT jobs include; Hartford, Providence, Bridgeport, Boston, Albany, NY and Manchester, NH. Without a doubt not only will educational credentials payoff, you won't have to go far to pick-up your paycheck."
Western Mass has over 30,500 businesses. Some of the larger ones (and their workforce sizes) include:

• Baystate Healh- 10,000; Springfield, MA - Health Care
• University of Massachusetts- 8,201; Amherst, MA - Universities & Colleges
• Massachusetts Mutual Life Ins.- 6,300; Springfield, MA and Enfield, CT- Financial Services
• Bank of America- 5,100; Springfield, MA and MetroHartford, CT - Financial Services
• Mercy Medical Center and Sisters of Providence Health System- 5,000 Springfield, MA - Health Care
• Big Y Foods, Inc.- 4,200; Springfield, MA - Supermarkets & Grocery Stores

Information courtesy of Western Mass EDC.

If you are looking for a Western Mass Job, don’t forget to check out this #1 job resource.

All About the New York City NY Job Market

2008-07-14T17:47:00.000-05:00

New York City: the biggest city in the United States, center of finance, commerce, and fashion, and a great source of jobs. NYC is a cultural hub: in 2005, 170 languages were spoken there and 36% of the population was born outside the United States. New York city is composed of five boroughs: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. All of these boroughs, with the exception of Staten Island, have a population over one million. Brooklyn and Queens top the charts with over two million residents each.
NYC is one of the three ‘command centers’ of the world economy along with London and Tokyo. 44 Fortune 500 companies have their headquarters in the Big Apple. The job market is looking pretty positive in New York City. A news release by the Bureau of Labor Statistics stated that the average weekly wage in Manhattan climbed 16.7% to $2,821 in the first quarter of 2007. In addition, the Bronx’s wage increase was 5.1%, which matched the national increase. The release states, “From March a year ago, all but one of the five counties comprising New York City had employment growth above the national rate of 1.4 percent. Richmond County had the largest employment increase, 3.2 percent, followed by Manhattan (2.3 percent), Queens (2.1 percent), and Kings County (1.9 percent). Employment in the Bronx declined over the 12-month period, -0.6 percent.” This is great news for those seeking jobs in New York City.

New York City is home to industry diversity. According to the NYCEDC (New York City Economic Development Corporation), the industries showing the most job growth from May 2007 to May 2008 are:

Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles: + 12.3%
Clothing and Clothing Accessories Stores + 7.8%
Architectural, Engineering, and Related Services : + 6.7%

Industries showing job losses are:

Apparel Manufacturing -14.0%
U.S. Postal Service: -6.3%
Scientific Research and Development Services -5.8%

An article from the daily news included this quote from SnagAJob.com’s CEO Shawn Boyer: "In New York, the pros are that there are so many businesses. The downside is there is tougher competition than last year. You need to do things differently." Snag a New York City job with NYCityWorks.com.

All About the Dutchess County NY Job Market

2008-07-11T11:13:00.000-05:00

292,746 residents call Dutchess County, NY home. Dutchess County is part of the New York Metro area, and has two cities: Poughkeepsie and Beacon. Hilly Dutchess County is a growing area, partly because people are moving from Westchester because of the steep price of living there. The population has swelled to 292,746 people, up from 280,150 in 2000. The median income for a household in the county was $53,086, and the median income for a family was $63,254. The county is home to six colleges, including Bard College and Vassar College.

According to a news release by William R. Steinhaus, County Executive, the Dutchess County job market and economy is strong. The news release states, “ Key economic data including job growth, wage growth and unemployment figures recently released from the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics and the New York State Department of Labor all indicate the economic outlook for Dutchess County remains strong.” Wage growth for Dutchess County has increased 4.1%, which is the fastest growth among NY’s 12 largest counties. The unemployment rate of 3.6% is below the national average of 4.5%.

The median home price in Dutchess County was $349,900 in 2006 according to the MLS. The NYS Department of Labor provides the following information:
The largest employment sectors in Dutchess County are:

Whole and Retail Trade: 22,131
Government: 21,761
Health: 14,921

Smallest:
Agricultural: 476
Information: 2,218
Transportation and Public Utilities: 2,488

It’s clear that the jobs in Dutchess County are on the upswing, and now would be a great time to tap into the local market. Be sure to consult Dutchess County Jobs to find your next career.

All about the Putnam County NY Job Market

2008-07-10T15:13:00.001-05:00

Sandwiched between the Hudson River and the New York/Connecticut boarder, Putnam County NY is home to slightly more than 100,000 residents. Putnam County is known for its large number of reservoirs, including Bog Brook, Croton Falls, and Boyds Corner. These reservoirs provide some of New York City’s drinking water. Putnam County is also home to some interesting landmarks: the largest Buddha statue in the Western Hemisphere, 436 acre Donald J. Trump State Park, and the only library in the U.S. that specializes in Buddhist history.

Total employment growth in Putnam County is down 0.3% YTD. This is in slight contrast to the NY state employment growth, which is positive at 0.3%. As of May 2008, the unemployment rate in Putnam County is 4.3%, which is a bout on par with the national average. Putnam ranks #11 in the nation for median household income, which, at the time of the 2000 census, was $80,242. According to STATS Indiana, the average wage per job in Putnam County is $42,977, ranking it 160th in the country. This is good news for those seeking high-paying jobs in Putnam County.

Putnam County is also a growing area, as its population has increased by 18.5% since 1990. Health care & social assistance is the biggest industry in the county, followed by retail trade. The smallest industries are educational services and information. Putnam County may be one of the most affluent counties in the country, but that isn’t stopping the local paper, The Daily News, from publishing money saving tips. Hey, if you land a Putnam County Job, maybe you can take advantage of 2 of the tips: carpooling and riding your bike to work!

All About the Rockland County NY Job Market

2008-07-10T10:48:00.001-05:00

Park-like Rockland County was named after "Rocky Land", a description given by early settlers in the area. Rockland County, the smallest county in New York, is just 12 miles North of New York City, and is the 9th highest income county in the nation. Rockland County is divided into 5 towns: Ramapo, Clarkstown, Haverstraw, Orangetown, and Stony Point. Interestingly, the cosmetics company Avon was founded in Rockland over 100 years ago. It was called the California Perfume Company, and was founded in Suffern in 1897.

Rockland County’s population is climbing, up 3.4% from the year 2000. This increase amounts to a total of 9,730 people. Although the population may be increasing, the median home price is falling. According to data compiled by the Greater Hudson Valley Multiple Listing Service, the median home price in Rockland County has fallen 10% to 10.2 percent to $453,500. Rockland County unemployment rate is below the national average: Rockland is at 3.4%, while the national average is 4.6%.
According to Sperling’s ‘Best Places to Live’, Rockland County Jobs have decreased by 0.46%.

Rockland County Business data states that 3% of the work force within Rockland County is filled by Rockland County residents, while the remaining 27% of the work force comes mostly from Orange County, Northern New Jersey and New York City.

The top jobs for Rockland’s residential workforce is office/store type jobs (includes professional, technical, managerial, sales and clerical jobs) with 70% of the total workforce performing these duties. Factory jobs, with account for 15% of the work force, have been steadily decreasing. Service type jobs are on the increase in Rockland County, increasing 3% in ten years. When searching for your jobs in Rockland County NY, don’t forget about the many opportunities available here.

All About the Westchester County NY Job Market

2008-07-09T20:33:00.001-05:00

A part of the New York Metropolitan Area, Westchester County is a booming suburban county with almost one million residents. With several modes of transportation to get to and from the Big Apple, Westchester County has become ‘home’ for many of those who work in the city. Whether you check out Playland (in Rye), the country’s only government owned and operated amusement park in the country, or venture to Yonkers Raceway for a horse race and some gambling, Westchester County has a lot to offer.
This includes a positive job market: the unemployment rate in Westchester County stands at 4.4%, below the state average of 5.6%. Marsha Gordon, president of The Business Council of Westchester, said (in a quote to the Westchester County Business Journal) it is “positive news” that the area’s unemployment is so low.
An article in the Westchester County Business Journal states, “Private-sector employment in the state rose most rapidly in New York City, with a 2.4 percent increase. Among metropolitan areas, the Putnam-Rockland-Westchester region ranked third with a 1.7 percent increase in job growth.” This is a good sign for those seeking Westchester County jobs.

Industries posting job increases in the past year include:
Professional and business services: 24,600
Professional, scientific and technical services 27,700

Increases were also posted in the educational, health, construction, financial, hospitality, trade, and transportation industries.

Industries that saw decreases in employment are: Manufacturing: -15,900, nondurable goods employment -13,000, and chemical manufacturing -4,000.
Overall, Westchester County’s job market tends to mimic New York City’s, and at the moment, that is a good thing. With an unemployment rate below the state and national average, jobs in Westchester County may just be the resource you need to land your next gig.

All About the New London County CT job market

2008-07-09T10:19:00.003-05:00

From the beautiful blooming trees in the countryside of East Lyme to the town of Groton on the Thames river, New London County CT offers something for everyone. New London County has an approximate population (age 16 and up) of 210,000 people; 143,000 of which are currently employed. The unemployment rate is 4.9%. According to U.S. Census Data, the majority of New London County residents work in Management, professional, and related occupations. The smallest occupation sector is farming, fishing, and forestry, with only 288 people at work .

The following is a list of the largest industries in New London:

Educational services, and health care, and social assistance: 26,764 workers
Arts, entertainment, and recreation, and accommodation, and food services: 23,793
Manufacturing: 16,836

The smallest:
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, and mining: 479
Information: 2,700
Wholesale trade: 3,277

Mean family income is $89,934, and mean individual income is 30,124. According to the latest statistics compiled by the Eastern Connecticut Association of Realtors, the median home price in the New London County region has fallen 14% in the past year. This makes it a great time to find jobs in New London County. According to TheDay.com, John Bolduc, executive vice president of the local Realtors association, stated, “This region’s economy remains strong compared to other parts of the country.” To find New London County jobs, take a look at this great resource.

All About the New Haven County CT job market

2008-07-08T14:11:00.000-05:00

New Haven, a large county of 825,000, is home to the large cities of New Haven and Waterbury. New Haven County is home to many top-level educational institutions including Yale University, Southern Connecticut State University, and Quinnipiac University. The county currently has a college student population of over 55,000.

New Haven County’s unemployment rate is at 4.8%, which is slightly above the CT average of 4.3%. As far as industry employment goes, the majority of males are in the construction industry, and women are most likely to be involved in the healthcare or education fields. 83% of New Haven County’s residents over 25 have a high school diploma, and 27% of them have a bachelor’s degree. This means that there are lots of jobs to go around – just check out New Haven County Jobs to see all that abound in the area.

According to the New Haven Register, the labor force decreased in size in about 2,000 people from April to May 2008, an indicator of an economic downturn. Jobs also dropped by 400 over the course of this year. Donald Klepper-Smith, chief economist at DataCore Partners LLC in New Haven, made the point that the cost of living in New Haven is less than neighboring counties and that “New Haven is ripe with amenities: access to ports, proximity to New York and Boston, and a good mix of arts and culture with professional opportunities through education, science, health care and biotechnology.” According to the U.S. Department of Labor, average hourly earnings rose 6 cents from last month.

Some industries reporting growth in the area are:

1. real estate
2. arts
3. entertainment/recreation
4. mining
5. Educational services
6. Construction

Although indicators may point to a downward trend for jobs in New Haven County, there are still a lot of opportunities out there for those with the proper skill sets in their industry.

All About the Fairfield County CT job market

2008-07-08T13:19:00.002-05:00

With just short of 1 million residents, Fairfield County is the most populous county in the state of Connecticut. In addition to being the most populous county, it is also one of the wealthiest counties in the U.S., home to towns such as Greenwich, Fairfield, Wilton, and New Canaan. The county also has its share of economic diversity: many towns are working-class. This economic diversity allows for an equally diverse job market, full of opportunities.Both employers and job seekers in Fairfield County, Connecticut have something to smile about. Although economic times may be tough, the job market is looking up. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Fairfield's County industry average wage is $64,675 , which is 27.3% higher than the state average wage of $50,793. 82% of Fairfield County's workers are private wage/salaried workers, and another 10% work in government. Although the unemployment rate in CT as a whole is 4.3%, the rate of unemployment in Fairfield County is 3.8%. For those still seeking jobs, check out jobs in Fairfield County, a great resource for finding that perfect job.

The top 5 growing industries in Fairfield County are as follows:

1. Employment services (2,344 new jobs)
2. Full-service restaurants (1,476 new jobs)
3. General medical and surgical hospitals (1,394 new jobs)
4. Clothing stores (959 new jobs)
5. Pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing (954 new jobs)

Declining industries include management, credit intermediation, and newspaper/book publishers. Jobs were lost when First Student Inc, a school bus operator, closed their Danbury facility. A Virgin Atlantic call center was also moved from Norwalk to the U.K. Despite these less than encouraging corporate moves, employers in the area added 4,000 jobs in May alone According to the Fairfield County Business Journal. Labor Department economist John Tirinzonie stated that that this is the first time CT economy "showed some spunk," spurred by job gains and tax rebates. Fairfield County Jobs growth is led by financial services, which produced 200 jobs in May.

Jennifer H is blogging for jobs

2008-02-27T12:30:00.002-05:00

A reader, Jennifer H, just emailed us looking to announce her effort to blog for jobs. She writes;

I'm certainly blogging for jobs. I'm a marketing professional,entrepreneur, and published author, blogging away for exposure andpotential job offers.

I've been blogging an unpaid reader blog over at the SeattlePost-Intelligencer on the mistakes that small business owners make - andwhat they can do to fix those mistakes and run their business efficientlyand effectively!

You can read more both at the RSS feed on my author website and at theSeattle PI Reader Blog.

author site: http://www.jenniferheigl.com
biz blog: http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/ingoodcompany/

Good luck Jennifer! Volunteering like that is a good way to get noticed. We love that you are blogging for jobs!

Blogger leaves comment, gets a job

2008-01-30T09:01:00.000-05:00

Kudos to Andrew for this great job hunting story...

As of next Monday, I will be starting work for Outrider, a strategic marketing company based out of St. Louis. I will be coming on board as a Social Media Specialist and working with a small team of other people in the social media area to develop integrated online media strategies and marketing plans for clients. Anyone can see the world is shifting to a more online-centric, social place and the best evidence I can find of this is in the way I came into my new position.

A few weeks ago, I was reading Jeremiah Owyang’s blog and saw a post on people who were “on the move” in the social media industry. I thought, well what is wrong with a little bit of self-promotion? So I left a comment, which you are free to go check out for yourself, basically saying “Hey, I haven’t been on the move…but I would like to be!” And as a result of this, Lisa Young from Outrider reached out to me with some information about the company and the industry as a whole..then I spent a day and a half pouring through Google and every other internet tool I could think of to absorb as much information as I could about the company. Well over the past few weeks, about 97.4 emails, and dozens of hours spent researching different aspects of the company and industry I decided that I really wanted to come on board with the firm and so…here I go!

Blogging is good for recruiters

2008-01-18T14:13:00.000-05:00

Here's an interesting article I found on ComputerWorld about blogging for jobs.

January 07, 2008 Corporate recruiters have long surfed the Web to vet potential hires, but now they're also surfing blogs to unearth job candidates, expanding their talent pool and gaining insights they say they can't get from resumes and interviews. Most blog-related recruits are professionals in technology and media because jobs in these fields often require knowledge of the blogosphere, says Kirsten Dixson, a founding partner at Brandego LLC, a career management firm in Exeter, N.H., that specializes in personal branding.In addition to blogs that focus on their industry or field of interest, recruiters say they check candidates' blogs about noncareer-related topics for evidence of writing skills and clues to how well rounded they are.

In June, Brian Balfour's blog, SocialDegree.com, inspired an unsolicited offer for a product manager job from an executive at Zoom Information Inc. "I was impressed by the points Brian was making and the way he was making them," says Russell Glass, vice president of products and marketing at the Waltham, Mass.-based technology company. The blog also offered details about Balfour's work history and education. "It was a no-brainer to give him a call and see if he'd be interested," Glass says.

Continues at CW >>

A blog creates career stability

2007-12-27T19:50:00.000-05:00

Penelope Trunk's last column at Yahoo brings blogging to the forefront. I love what she has to say.

Today, that's not true. I've been blogging for almost two years, and while each week there are about 400 commenters on Yahoo! who say how stupid I am, there are also a bunch of people who make their way to my blog and become regular participants in the conversation there.

The blog is my own, and so is the community -- which is now about 150,000 people strong. The blog stays with me wherever I go, and that's important in a job market where people switch jobs every two or three years. A blog creates a network, and the network is yours. The conversation you create about your professional life is one that continues no matter what happens with your employer.

The workforce is extremely unstable today. There are layoffs, downsizings, de-equitizations, and bankruptcies. No one is guaranteed to have a job a month from now. Generations X and Y watched their parents' lives come undone when they depended on the workplace to provide stability in their lives. Today, people do that less and less.

We create our own stability in our lives by taking responsibility for ourselves. A blog is a great way to do this -- it's a professional platform that you have total control over, and you can use it to provide a home base when your work life feels like a game of dodge ball.

Web designer blogs and gets job

2007-11-09T11:35:00.000-05:00

Great story about a 22 year old web designer who blogged to get the job.

I scrapped the resume and wrote a letter instead. In the letter I leveraged the success of my most recent site, Net Business Blog, to demonstrate my knowledge of the web industry. It worked. I got the job I wanted (as well as a ton of interviews with other companies).

Read the full story on his blog >>

QuintCareers article on blogs as resumes

2007-10-22T07:46:00.000-05:00

FEATURE ARTICLE: USE YOUR BLOG AS A RESUME?
PART I: PROS AND CONS

by Katharine Hansen, Ph.D.

Editor’s note: This article is the first of two parts.
Part II provides tips and examples for using a blog as a resume.

Through the use of a variety of online tools -- blogs, wikis,
social-networking sites, portfolios, podcasts, Youtube videos,
and more -- individuals, especially younger people, are socially
constructing their identities in ways unimagined a dozen or so years
ago.

Where a dedicated careerist of old constructed a job-seeking
identity through a resume and a few other printed materials
disseminated to audiences that seem puny by today’s standards,
postmillennial upwardly mobile types are establishing their career
identities to vast global audiences using the tools of the so-called
Web 2.0, defined in part by Web guru Tim O’Reilly as comprising
an "architecture of participation." The concept of Web 2.0 “suggests
that everyone ... can and should use digital media to express and
realize themselves,” writes Andrew Keen in The Daily Standard.

Our full article at
http://www.quintcareers.com/job-seeker_blog_resume.html
considers the pros an cons of the blog as resume.

Article: Monster says blogging good for career

2007-10-08T14:37:00.000-05:00

Monster's blog has a nice article about blogging for your career.

To Get Ahead in Your Career, Start Blogging

If you’re a young professional, let me give you one piece of advice that could quickly catapult your career into the stratosphere: Start blogging.

Here are two guys who have done just that:

Ryan Healy had been out of college for less than year when he colaunched a blog for twentysomethings in the workforce called Employee Evolution in February 2007. Less than six months later, the well-known career author and blogger Penelope Trunk was so impressed with the expertise Healy was demonstrating through his blog that she started a company with him. At the ripe old age of 23, Ryan quit his entry-level corporate job and is now set to try his hand at running a career development company.
Dan Schawbel, 24, writes the Personal Branding Blog. He’s already been hailed as a young turk of personal branding in Fast Company, has launched his own quarterly publication called Personal Branding Magazine and has been named the first-ever social media specialist by his employer, EMC.

Now could Ryan and Dan have landed their new gigs by following the traditional corporate path? Maybe. But it likely would have taken them years rather than months.

Full post >>

Top 100 HR blogs

2007-09-19T11:10:00.001-05:00

Blog for Jobs recently made it onto the "Top 100 HR Bloggers " list.

http://www.businesscreditcards.com/bootstrapper/top-100-hr-bloggers/

Dan Schawbel's personal brand

2007-08-26T14:36:00.000-05:00

In 6 months Dan Schwabel has made a name for himself via blogging. He just launched danschawbel.com;

I just launched a unique Personal Branding website ( DanSchawbel.com). I consider it to be the first 360 degree view of a Personal Brand, using myself as an example. My pitch is that everyone in the world will need to have their own custom version in order to have a successful career. I took my professional life and crossed it with my personal life and mixed it with my love for Personal Branding, while integrating it with all web 2.0 technologies.

Dan's the man!

Employer blogs about job, job seeker blogs to get job

2007-08-06T15:38:00.000-05:00

About a year ago, this company posted a job opening on its blog. But it wasn't the usual job description of 'send us a resume'. They asked interested candidates to add a comment with a link to their online presence and a way to contact them.

Fred, however, quickly came up with a refinement of the idea – asking people to reply by commenting on the post and pointing us to their web presence, a blog, a site, or a profile page - that made the idea work. You can see the results by looking through the comments on our post. We did not get over run and the quality of the folks who commented blew us away.

Enter Andrew Parker. Here's his blog and website. He got the job.

Article: Guidance on blogging for jobs

2007-07-27T09:23:00.000-05:00

How Blogs are changing the recruiting landscape

By Sarah E. Needleman, Career Journal

Corporate recruiters have long surfed the Web to vet potential hires, but now they're also surfing blogs to unearth job candidates, expanding their talent pool and gaining insights they say they can't get from resumes and interviews.

Ryan Loken, a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. recruitment manager, says he spends one to two hours a week searching through blogs for new talent or additional information about the candidates he has interviewed. "Blogs are a tool in the tool kit," he says. Since he joined the Bentonville, Ark., retail giant three years ago, Mr. Logen estimates that Web journals have helped him fill 125 corporate jobs. Most of the recruits were referred to him by bloggers and blog contributors, and some were the writers themselves.

In addition to blogs that focus on their industry or field of interest, recruiters say they check candidates' blogs about noncareer-related topics for evidence of writing skills and clues to how well rounded they are.

Most blog-related recruits are professionals in technology and media because jobs in these fields often require knowledge of the blogosphere, says Kirsten Dixson, a founding partner at Brandego LLC, a career-management firm in Exeter, N.H., that specializes in personal branding.

Continue reading on Career Journal

College girl blog leads to internship

2007-07-25T10:32:00.000-05:00

Hannah, a 19 yr old student at Penn State recently got an internship based on her blog, Nahliz. Read her sincere 'job application'. The internship required candidates to not send a resume, but create a blog and answer 3 questions: who are you, what motivates you and why should I hire you.

She got the gig.

My blog got me a promotion!

2007-07-25T10:29:00.000-05:00

Congrats to Matt Martone of Hotjobs. His blog is 1 yr old today, and wouldn't you know it? It got him a promotion. Read about it here.

Just another example of those who blog for jobs.

Girl blogs, gets job

2007-06-06T08:56:00.000-05:00

Hat tip to RecruitingBloggers.com who discovered this girl who got a job based on her blog. In her post, Rebecca Bollwitt writes:

The reason why this article hits close to home is because my current employer hired me, more or less, based on my blog and podcasts. I’m not sure if my Surrey posts affected their judgment or dissing Dan Cloutier on the Canucks podcast had a hand in it, regardless I’m pretty sure they knew exactly what they were getting.