Why your blog is also your CV

If you’re looking for work in the creative industries, you can spend months struggling for work and trying to craft the perfect CV. You could go another way, though, and start your own blog.

Anyone looking for digital marketing jobs or design jobs should have an online portfolio in any case, but by treating your own blog and yourself like a client, you can show so many skills that will prove useful to a new employer. You can build your social media following, create an advertising campaign that boosts your following and create a video log to follow your job-hunting progress or even pass on advice to those following in your footsteps.

Write posts that pass on the information you have learned about the job application procedure and promote them through your various channels.

Create samples that work together as a body of work. Do your research and learn, because even if you have a degree in a specific area, there’s nothing like practical experience to mark you apart from the herd. When candidates show this kind of innate understanding of their industry, it makes it that much easier to get them the interview.

Critique some of the big campaigns that are out there at the moment, show that you have your finger on the pulse of your specific sector of the industry and find a voice that stands out from the crowd. If you do this, stick at it and keep going: your audience will grow and you’ll find that the lack of experience that held you back almost becomes irrelevant.

You can build your own back story with your own blog and turn yourself into a much more attractive candidate. It takes all the faith out of the equation and the client can see your skills because you have applied each and every one of them into your own sales pitch. That’s a powerful force when it comes to selling you to a client, so invest that spare time in your own sales pitch. It could be the best career move you ever make.

Don’t have time to write your own blog posts? There are plenty of companies out there who can take care of this for you, including Verblio, Textbroker and Copify.