Employers Turn to Blogs to Screen Job Seekers

This article is from the Sept. 18, 2006 issue of The Career Digest, an e-newsletter. Here you go:

Employers turn to blogs to screen job seekers
Selena Dehne, JIST Publishing

INDIANAPOLIS, IN -- Digging up digital dirt is rapidly becoming one of the most popular and effective ways for employers to weed through handfuls of job candidates. According to a survey by ExecuNet, an executive job search and networking organization, 75% of recruiters use search engines to uncover information about job seekers. Additionally, 26% have admitted to eliminating candidates due to information they discovered online.

From Facebook profiles featuring racy photos of candidates to public arrest records, the one thing standing between a perfectly qualified candidate and the job of their dreams could be their digital dirt drifting through cyber space. Therefore, job search experts are aggressively warning job seekers to be wary of their online presence.

With corporate recruiters and executive search firms now using blogs as a prescreening tool for candidates, you should consider creating an online journal to demonstrate your skills, share your expertise, and lend potential employers insight into your personality. You can write about projects you are working on, industry events, ongoing research, current trends, new products, and evaluations. You can also include articles or papers you have written, a bio, project histories, a downloadable resume, and even audio or video presentations.

Copyright 2006, The Career Digest
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This article is posted here with permission from The Career Digest.