Job seekers turn to blogging
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A unique approach to the job search that’s showing promise is the blog.
Ask John Lynk on Patriot Drive in Salisbury. The land development project manager has raked in more solid leads to a new career in the two weeks he launched “The Ultimate Job Search” than all the nine months he’s been out of work and job hunted the traditional resume-submission route.
“It definitely has reaped some success,” Lynk says of his Internet site that landed over 300 hits in about 14 days. “I spend a great number of hours on the Internet. I’ve taken inferences and apply to leads I get. It’s a lot of effort and time, but I make contacts and you cut your search in half by having contacts.”
Not even Careerbuilder and Monster.com Web sites have brought Lynk as many prospective opportunities, and a serious job searcher with little to no luck so far could hit pay dirt with the tool trending upward as an out-of-the-box route to landing employment, says Bonnie Burke, a human resources expert. She’s noticed the trend toward self-promotion by prospective employees who are spreading their name, desire to work and skills across the World Wide Web.
Self-promotion through technology is growing more popular, replacing the traditional scouring of classified ads and other listings, then forwarding the typical cover letter and resume by postal or electronic mail.
“I’m seeing people do various things like this to get a job — the market is bizarre. They don’t know what to do,” said Burke, whose Marion Station-based Shore Staffing employment agency matches health care professionals, including nurses and therapists, with employers for both part-time and permanent placement. “I have 25 years in the human resources field– I’ve been a recruiter since the early ’80s — and there is a trend toward creativity in looking for a job.”
Much of the credit in Lynk’s case is owed to his wife, Marly, who trained as a psychologist. “She set up the blog. We told people a little bit about myself: My plight, being out of work nine months,” he said. “I had taken the normal channels, attended job fairs, connected with recruiters. But since the blog started, I’ve been invited to interview for a job next week.” Blogging to work
Lynk stays linked in to job search sites on the Internet, including for-fee Upladders.com that for a $35 payment connects job seekers with employers willing to dole out six-figure salaries, he said.
Months ago, Lynk stumbled upon an interesting opportunity through the employment site Monster. And it was off to Arkansas recently where he touted his 22-year experience. Truth be told, the Phoenix, N.Y., native favored the lifestyle on the Lower Shore and said, ‘Thanks, but no.’
“So many people with experience in housing, construction, are looking for a job because of the construction slump as a whole,” Lynk said. “I had experience with housing residential, commercial and heavy highway, but I didn’t think it was a good fit.”
He’s also interviewed with firms in Pennsylvania, Virginia and New York, but nothing panned out.
Lynk gets another shot to sell his skills on a job interview later this week with a firm he did not want to name. He thinks the blog was the attraction with the employer.
“I’m interviewing Thursday,” he said. “I applied for it two months ago and it’s coming to fruition. I don’t know if the interview is a direct result of the blog, but since the blog started, I’m interviewing.”
Trained professionals in industries tied to the now-slumped housing market are being hit hard by corporate downsizing that factored in his job loss in January at Greenvest, a land development company, Lynk said. Before then, he worked for developer Syntex Homes in Gaithersburg, then was transferred to the Dagsboro office where he worked until a layoff.
“They have gone from 125 employees to two,” he said. “I left there in September 2006. They are not going to put up homes if nobody was buying them.”
Lynk devotes much of his spare time to his 20-month-old son, John Henry Jr., or J.J. And he checks his blog for leads. “I had two, three suggestions regarding factory work in Pennsylvania,” he says. “There’s a gamut of information (in responses.)”
With construction-related jobs running scarce, a blog could be an avenue, said Burke, who has lived on the Shore since 1993. “The market is bizarre. Health care is even kind of whacky, now.”
She also recommends Craig’s List, another alternative site on the Internet, although some sites are difficult to navigate and sometimes less specific about a particular job or skill level, Burke said.
Blogging, though, is a creative approach and alternative use of the Internet, she said.
“I sort of think that’s not a bad idea, making your own blog,” Burke said. “Creativity in looking for a job is a trend, and putting a resume on Careerbuilder and Monster are great ways to start. Then build your own Web site.
“Somebody might pick up that information,” she said.