Outside the Beltway

Web Sites, Blogs Can Boost Your Career

James Joyner · Monday, June 6, 2005 · 5 comments

Having a blog can help your career, according to an AP report.

Web Sites, Blogs Can Boost Your Career

When the staff at a Scholastic Corp. unit heard that Cindy Eng was being hired as their editorial head earlier this year, they did an online search of her name. Fortunately for Eng, their searches led them right to her Web portfolio, a personal Web site that trumpeted her professional accomplishments, including the books she helped publish and the companies she’s worked for. “I think it set their minds at ease that their new boss knew what she was doing,” said the Fanwood, N.J., resident.

Eng’s story illustrates what some career consultants have been telling professionals for years: Having an online presence is an important part of managing your career. They are recommending that people build online identities through Web portfolios, blogs and other forms of online publishing.

The idea is to control the information that pops up rather than risk something embarrassing — or nothing at all, said William Arruda, a career consultant in New York. Just be sure that your Web site looks professional and your blog, or Web log, is smart, otherwise you will have defeated the whole purpose. Also, know that a Web site or blog will never replace a well-written resume and a stellar work history.

While this makes sense in theory–certainly, “James Joyner” is much more Google friendly now than in my college professor days, thanks to OTB–this has to be a two-edged sword for political bloggers. Any political position one stakes out on one’s site has the potential to damage one’s prospects of landing a job with a given employer. Of course, if your views match up with those of the hiring authority, it could be a good thing.