Are blogs the new way to get a job? With 55 million blogs on the Internet and 100,000 more being created daily, some bloggers are wondering whether personal weblogs will replace traditional CVs and résumés when job-hunting. Rod Boothby, the author of Innovation Creators (http://www.innovationcreators.com), blogged about how his online entries had helped to advance his career. He wrote that blogs can give prospective employers extra information about you — in particular, they can show how you interact with people, at least online, and how you handle criticism, praise and complaints.
That may give some of the thousands of postdoc and graduate-student bloggers reason for pause. Many hide behind pseudonyms to air their complaints. For instance, 'iknownotwhattodo' (formerly scienceslave) welcomes readers to "the real world of bioscience, cut throat, dirty, sleazy, full of losers, power mongers, megalomaniacs, idiots, chancers" (http://geneticredundancy.blogspot.com). That comment may well draw nods of recognition from other frustrated postdocs and students. But it's not the kind of thing you necessarily want a potential employer to read. Remember: pseudonyms can be traced — and using one might counteract any positive contributions you make to the blogosphere.
Others seek more of a balance, such as the cell-biologist postdoc author of The Daily Transcript (http://scienceblogs.com/transcript), who mentions other blogs that detail "the woes of postdoc-hood" as well as what it takes to be a pioneering scientist. Apart from linking to both, the blog expands on the second, discussing the "fine line between doggedness and dogma".
Several science bloggers write about setting up or participating in 'carnivals', which are groups of related blogs. Participating in community-based forums seems a more effective use of the medium than the solipsism of complaint. Blogs may not replace résumés or CVs, but they could — intentionally or not — show a prospective employer a side of you that you wouldn't voluntarily reveal in an interview. So perhaps it's best to treat your blog as a public document that you wouldn't mind your next boss reading.
