I'm giving a talk tomorrow on using Blogs as part of the Job Seekers Tool Kit. I did some research on career and career management blogs and sites, and found there aren't a whole lot out there.

I also decided, just to see the results, to ask about the use and success of Blogs as part of a career development tool on LinkedIn. I know this blog has helped me build a good reputation, including with a potential employer, and it has helped me land gigs.  While I don't get a lot of comments in this blog, I have had people approach me and tell me it was useful to them.  It has built my reputation locally, and because of it and other activities, I'm getting speaking engagements at local non-profits and potentially at a state organization.

For the last several months, I've had a like/annoyed relationship with LinkedIn. One of my biggest pet peeves is the Question and Answer feature. There is a means to rate best answers, how about best questions? I find too many questions on LinkedIn are not professionally relevant and a lot are just noise or blatant self promotion (or just plain promotion). It's like the people who use the feature regress to a sillier self or huckster who has to promote an event, business, or book.  I don't think that belongs in the Question and Answer feature.  I do think LinkedIn would be well served to come up with a different feature for events and information to share. Playing Jeopardy to promote things is just annoying to me.  

I'd like to see people who ask relevant, thought provoking, and professional relevant questions be rewarded, as that's a valuable skill in any field.

So I'll ask the question here as well; has your blog helped you land a job? Are you using it to build your reputation, establish your expertise, demonstrate your soft skills? Talk to me.