Do you have a blog? If you don’t, I bet you know someone that does.
A blog is a great way to grab an employer’s attention and to make yourself stand out amongst other candidates. When I went for placement interviews, most recruiters wanted to know about my blog more than anything. Influencers are the next big thing in PR and you would prove extremely useful to an employer if you already had contacts in this area.
Who knows, if you’re really good at it you could even pursue it as a full time job. One can only dream.
Anyway, here are some reasons why you should blog for your future:
It’s your online CV
Yes we already have LinkedIn, but a blog puts what you say into perspective. So you say you have ‘great writing skills’; your blog posts will show this leaps and bounds. You have ‘social media skills’; how you market your blog and the social media accounts you link to it will prove this. You say you have ‘a passion for this line of work’; do you talk about it on your blog? Do you discuss topics surrounding this area of work? If you are passionate, this will shine through your blog posts and your commitment to your blog.
You’ll be networking without realising
From starting my blog, I’ve connected with so many other students across the UK and further afield that share the same interests as myself. I’ve also connected with lecturers from other universities, PR firms and from starting my #GirlBossMonday series I now have so many PR professionals as contacts.
If I stuck to my university work and didn’t look outside of this, I wouldn’t have any of these contacts or have received advice from PR professionals that run their own agencies.
Reading other students’ blog posts is a great way to see what they are learning in their respective courses and how it differs from mine. It gives a sense of community to help the final years with their dissertations, see second years finding placements and watch graduates as they find their first job.
Use it a source of therapy
Writing your thoughts and emotions down is a great way to get them out of your head and also a good way to make sense of your feelings. By writing down what’s bothering you or if you have a strong opinion on something, let it out and share it with other people. Some may agree and some may disagree. That’s the beauty of blogging; you can strike up healthy debates about important matters. You’re making your voice heard and your opinion matter.
You’ll improve your writing skills!
You’ve heard the saying ‘practice makes perfect’, right? Well, the same thing applies here! The more you write, the better at it you’ll become.
You’ll pick up on your bad habits, the spelling mistakes you keep making and you’ll also learn how to write in blog format. If it wasn’t for my blog, I wouldn’t know that headings, short sentences and short paragraphs were things I needed to be including and be wary of. All of these details factor into your blog’s SEO, which will be very impressive if you can tell a future employer that you know about it.
Opportunities will come knocking
The reason I started my blog was to improve my writing skills and to use it as something that would give me an edge in finding a placement. I’ve always tried to blog, starting out in my early teens, but I was too afraid that people I knew would find it and laugh at me for having it. If only I had stuck with my first blog, who knows where it would be today.
Once I started second year and stopped caring what other people thought, I jumped right into the PR blogging world. When I fully immersed myself in writing and talking with other bloggers, I loved it. It was never a chore to write a blog post, I would want to sit at my desk with endless cups of coffee, writing for hours. I discovered my love for writing. Once I start, I can never stop.
To have people read my posts and tell me that I write well gave me the confidence to continue and keep pushing out content. I’ve had so many opportunities come my way from having this blog – job offers, internships, writing for websites, overseas opportunities, book launches, press events, reviews and many more.
Commitment is key. Stick with your blog and stick to what you know. Write about what you love and other people that love it will want to read your thoughts. Join in conversations and your blog can only grow.
The best decision I ever made
I owe so much to this blog, but I owe so much more to the people that read it. If no one read it, I would be a lonely voice just ranting to myself. I feel like I have made so many friends and now have so many professional contacts that I could never have made by existing solely in the real world.
If you are serious about a future in business or PR, the blogging world is where you need to be. Show how passionate you are for the industry and for the future you see for yourself.
You’ll learn so many new skills; like how to make your own website, how to improve SEO, how to market your brand, how to reach and better engage with your audience and most importantly how to rack up views. What’s the point in publishing content if no one reads it?
If you’re sat reading this post and haven’t started your own blog yet, get to it!
You can thank me later.
I’m reading (you already know that) – and this is an immensely quotable post. Thank you.
You get it. But how do we get others into fifth gear when there are so many stumbling blocks?
First gear: Have something to say.
Second gear: Communicate it with clarity. Write consistently.
Third gear: Develop your voice
Fourth gear: Develop your network or community
Fifth gear: Be recognised. Keep going – but keep humble.
A lot of people say to keep going and the recognition will come, but we could be waiting forever for that. We can only be recognised if we put ourselves out there, but as you say, in a humble way. As long as were are surrounded by people that keep us grounded, we will.
Hard work will always pay off, and I think if you fully commit to what you do, others will recognise you for it.
I’m very happy to recognise talent.
But I wonder whether I could do more to identify and nurture it. In four years of running this contest, I’ve never featured a Liverpool John Moores student until you came along. And despite your success, I’m not aware of any others knocking on the door.
It worries me that none of the team seem to be on Twitter or involved in the PR world via social media. Our PR course’s Twitter page is only used for retweeting other things about the university it seems. One of our modules for this year was Online PR where blogging was briefly mentioned, but the importance was never pushed onto the students.
None of my tutors actually know about this blog, or know that I take part in #BestPRBlogs. I realised I needed to be doing something that none of my peers were. I just knew I needed to get more involved in the PR world somehow and start making contacts.
I have no doubt my blog was the reason I was the first on my course to secure a yearlong placement – first in the LJMU Business School to do so also.
Do send me a private message with the names of the lecturers on your course and I’ll try to educate them!