11 Jobs: I was writing an article/paper on social media and blogger jobs and by some unknown quirk of fate, I decided to search Monster for jobs with the word “blogger” in the title. It returned 11 jobs (!?!!?). The number of results left me dumbfounded. Is corporate America really that naiive? Is blogging still a fad that cool CEOs just happen to do when they feel like berating their closest competitor? Is blogging a niche that only matters if you happen to be in an industry that directly benefits from it? Are we, as a community of bloggers, doing enough to tell the corporate world that blogging is important, useful and finally a very powerful and personal means of communicating directly with your customers? I believe that much of corporate America still thinks that blogging and bloggers provide a slight competitive advantage and nothing more. There are some people making an independant (spelled entrepreneurial) living on blogging but I think the benefits are lost in translation.
I break because I know that there are many important blogs in the blogosphere. Some of these get the requisite amount of interest and attention that they deserve from their corporate beneficiaries. However, when will it become important to recruit talented folks that can help those important blogs become that much better or start a new blog to communicate real intent and direction to their customers? When will corporate America realize that a good blogger is just as much of a catch as a good programmer or a fine marketing exec?
Blogging is mainstream, folks. Wake up and smell the eyeballs and opinions. Your company will be that much better for it.
Well typed! I’m a newby blogger, but long time blogger consumer. I believe as the banner/flash advertising effectiveness wares off on the public and people tune it out, companies will eventually “stumble” upon the power of blogging. It’s going to be the 21st century way of advertising because our online communities are bringing us back to the friend/trusted-blogger recommended products/services days.
Actually the NY Times has an article today about blogging jobs in which I’m quoted, so good timing with your post: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06.....tarts.html
I work for corporate America and the company I work for hires marketing and pr specialists to write for the blog. They don’t put “blogger” in the description, for what reason I dont know. Maybe because pr specialist or marketing specialist seems more like a regular job, with responsibility and room for advancement, while “blogger” sounds like a kids job.
Thanks for saying this. I’ve been unemployed for seven months since getting laid off late last year. At exactly one interview did the subject of my weblog even come up — even though it is mentioned in my resume. And the one interview where it was mentioned? It was an editorial job. And when I looked at the log files for the browsing done from the IP address of the company I interviewed at? They saw all of three pages.
Companies should court active and effective bloggers because good bloggers have already learned the skills of brand management, relationship management, and communication in a low-bandwidth medium: text. Even if an employer has no immediate plans for blogging, they should view good, active bloggers as an extremely valuable addition to the corporate roster because they are hiring someone who is proactively influential, is transparent, strives to communicate, is able to get stuff done without supervision, and is actively thinking about others even when nobody’s paying them to.
When potential candidates write “blogger” in their “hobbies and interests” section of the application, red lights should go off in HR, sirens should wail, and CEOs should pause mid-stroke in their practice putting-green stroke.
And, yes, more companies should blog, but nobody knows what to pay a blogger. I know the figure they should be worth, at the low end, but that’s just me, and it’s about twice what companies are willing to pay.
I actually interviewed with one company that was hiring a new media specialist to “take their organization to the next level.” (Yes, those were the words. And the hiring manager actually prefaced the conversation saying, “If we don’t move into blogging and podcasting and learn how to use the new media, in five years, we’ll be history.”
They were offering $25K a year.
These people have no idea.
:: sigh ::
Rich
BlogRodent
forget it, don’ call it blogging.
i understand it makes some people very proud to create “important” “blogs” but they loose something with it. so make up your mind and forget the tags like: blogsphere, and use something else, and i guess they way of expression on blogs are sometimes the mirror of emotions not so good worked out. For example we don’t get confused, we work out our emotional state with positive attitude…….(just like a professional job) we don’t break
I agree with Rich Taturn. Companies should take more interest because by reading one’s weblog, they can more effectively establish what kind of person the potential employee is. Get to know them.
Even on Sitepoint.com, the blogging forum is pretty quiet nowadays.
There’s 12 jobs now 🙂
I guess that blogging hasn’t been quite so accepted yet. To me, for corporations, it can be a good form of advertising and communication. But, the Internet just got really big about 10 years ago. I personally, somewhat look down upon myself as a blogger, and always have. Perhaps once it becomes more common, for only a small percentage of the population blogs, and the generation that grew up with computers takes over, then there will be more blog related jobs.
Try a more generic term like “blog” instead. That shows 120 matches. Some HR people won;t be familiar with the term “blogger” and will instead refer to “blog editor” or something like that.
Blogging is only part of the job; if you’re hiring a “technology evangelist”, you’re expecting them to blog (as well as everything else the job entails). For an internal blog, its a small part of the internal marketing (getting your self / your group known) task.
I see “corporate blogging” as a small part of the task of getting your company’s views / thoughts / publicity out to the real world.
The company I work for has a public blog for nearly every development group. Basically if the group develops a product that is in turn sold to a customer, they have a blog which readers can learn more of the future and current status of the products the company offers.
The bloggers in these instances are the actual developers, and while the content is edited by a “media coordinator” or some other such title, the original thought and message comes directly from the minds of the developers.
The blog has become part of their job, and has as a result, lessened my workload as many known issues are related to customers through the product blog instead of having to be related to customer through me by way of escalation.
Our company president also maintains a very popular blog, as well as a podcast and community site, all publicly accessible to the consumer, but intended for ordinary readers/listeners as well.
The point is, while corporate America as a whole may not understand the importance of a blog, or may look down upon the term “blogger” as a job title, many are catching on to the importance of providing information in an open median.
why is this blog discussion if some look up””” or down on “bloggers?
Didn’t get your comment :s