Platinum Bloggers like Tom can get a job offer direct (and good for him!)

The rest of us can still benefit – you get the interview by traditional route , then the (potential) employer can check you out before you come in the door. It gets past the ‘why-should-I-Believe-a-word-you-say-on-your-CV’ problem.

More on this topic on my O’Reilly blog
http://www.oreillynet.com/onjava/blog/2006/02/are_blogs_the_new_cv.html

I think this ignores the wide disparity in the two podcasts. FLIRT FM have traditionally had a committment to providing programming in Irish.

They’re not as interested in interviews, be they excellent interviews, with CEOs etc.

“Your traditional, non tech-savy company is not going to be scanning websites for CVs are they?”
I know that this isn’t always true, because six months ago my brother had some technical recs going that he was having trouble filling in Ireland. He asked me to get some candidates, because I work in IT so he knew I knew people. So I mentioned it to all the best people I know in real life, and on IRC, and on boards.ie, and I surely would have considered any blogger that fit the description. If my brother was looking for a resident podcaster, I would have gone straight for Tom Raftery regardless of his CV. But he was looking for sys admins with 5+ years experience.

Turns out that Tom Raftery is a sys admin too. But if he would consider a job as a sys admin, he could just put his CV into Monster.com? Assume he’s not the best candidate on paper, only four years experience, but his blog indicates that he clearly knows his stuff and has great communication skills. If I had come across his CV on Monster, I might have ignore it because it doesn’t fit my criteria, whereas, accompanied by his expert blog, as you rightly said he’s already in the interview, and he lets me know that I’m not wasting my brother’s time if I send him in, despite being slightly under-qualified on paper.

I know I’m clutching at straws here, but I just can’t see why you’re so opposed to a CV page? It is a flag that says you are considering employment, it highlights other strengths that might not be apparent, it can get you offers, and it might even have given Tom the edge over an tImeall for the resident podcaster job, if it came down to the wire.

k so if you blog is gold you don’t need a CV, but considering that a) most blogs aren’t and b) large corporations have dedicated tick the box recruitment departments it is advisible to have a CV

David: In regards to a, if your blog isn’t gold then you don’t deserve a job if you are seeking one via that medium. Tom is blogging about blogging and RSS and podcasting and he knows all three and is passionate about all three and his blog totally reflects that. If his blog wasn’t gold then he’s just not passionate about the area he wants work in. Granted I know this ignores the fact that a *lot* of people hate their jobs, the areas they work in and have experience in. Pick another area that you are passionate about and start blogging about it and engage with the audience in this area and see can you get a job out of it. Maybe I’m just looking through rose tinted glasses and am being quite naive.

I guess the idea is that they’re already in this conversation/unconference thing we have going on here. It’s like the tech talk circuit, over time you’ll get to know the regulars and start to know the bright sparks and the ones that stand out in good ways. You want them to be on your team. For example when Microsoft hired Niall Kennedy, did they ask him for a CV? I would bet all the people on his team and his new managers knew him from the RSS/feed community already and saw his work. No need to ask him his hobbies or describe his best qualities or what he doesn’t like about his current job.

Your traditional, non tech-savy company is not going to be scanning websites for CVs are they? They’re not in this blog conversation. You’d already have your CV registered with job sites and probably have sent your cv into them via the traditional jobs@oldStyleCompany.com email address. It wouldn’t be worth their time to leave their cosy world to venture on to the web and seek out CVs on websites. You’d need some kind of CV snagging bot for that. It wouldn’t make much sense to invest in so many resources like that.

When that company comes to the realisation (thought some will never do so) that there’s an online community for their niche market and they join and participate in this community, they won’t need to ask for CVs surely? That’s how I see job seeking in the blog world. Your blog shows your performance.

Until such a time that your average taxi driver is listening to Irish podcasts in the morning, I would still advise any unemployed blogger to slap up a ’seeking employment’ flag – this is my degree; this is my work experience; here is my blog. Sitting back and letting your global microbrand work its magic is fine, but adding just a couple of lines to your site that will open up a lot more opportunities. They might be from more traditional or less tech savvy companies, but you’re free to reject them, and at least you won’t be stuck on the dole.