for W3c validation

I came across this article titled “My Blog Is My Resume” at ERE.net by Dave Lefkow that I thought was very interesting. The article talks a little bit about how blogs are becoming increasingly relevant to recruiters…and resumes are becoming irrelevant. This is more true in the tech industry than other industries-but more and more people are starting to blog in all industries. Most recruiters will “Google” a prospective employee to see what they find–if you are that candidate, wouldn’t you rather they find your blog, which provides some insight into your method of thinking, than your myspace profile or some other article written by someone else mentioning you (personal branding)? The article was inspired by this blog post by Robert Scoble, where Robert mentioned that a Yahoo! recruiter was hounding him for a resume…but he took a job at PodTech that didn’t require one. If you are a recruiter, chances are you are having a hard time finding great candidates. Many good candidates are ones that won’t necessarily be applying for a job, but would be a great fit for your organization. It’s up to recruiters to pro-actively find those candidates.

The most interesting piece of the article was actually one of the reviews:

We’ve hired two people fresh out of college in the past 4 months that we found through their blogs – one didn’t even have a formal resume. Frankly, he didn’t need one. A blog trumps a resume every single time.

Think about it – a resume is 1 or 2 pages, of flat, static information. A blog is an interactive space where you can really see inside of a prospect’s head – their ability to innovate, think, & communicate. You not only find out what they’ve done for work, but what their passions are, and frankly if they’re the type of person you think would fit into your organization.

Our stance is that blogging is important – at least in our medium – and we are developing a strategy around it. We are conducting a search for a Marketing Director right now – if an applicant doesn’t blog, or at least contribute heavily, it’s fair to say that we are going to pass them by.

So…is a blog an effective resume? Absolutely.