How To Use A Blog As Your Cv

One of the most frustrating things when I have told people that I am a blogger is that they believe there is no value in what I do.

It is only when people learn that I make a full time income from my blogs that it suddenly becomes something of value.

I believe that you should include your blog but maybe you don't know how to put your blog on your resume.

But I'm here to tell you that however you choose to blog the skills you have acquired as a blogger have so much value to your professional development.

I'm also here to show you how to include skills from your blog on your resume.

These transferable skills should take pride of place on your CV and are as valuable as skills gained in employment.

If you are job seeking or looking to gain a promotion at work, consider including the below skills in job applications.

Enterprise Skills

Enterprise skills are being able to be resourceful and showing initiative.

There are a number of skills you do every day without even noticing as a blogger.

Bloggers mostly work independently and as such you are your own blog boss so prioritising your workload is a must.

Most of us have a blogging strategy and every blog post and pin you design shows innovation and creativity.

I consider every blog to be a small business whether you make money from it or not.

Your blog been built by you, from scratch and you are an entrepreneur.

Every time you advertise your blog you are selling your blog to the world.

You have out your blog together and you maintain every aspect of the blog including the writing, design and marketing.

Have you spotted a gap in the market and found a new niche? Then brag about it.

Show off your innovation.

Do you approach brands to ask them to work with you or do they approach you?

If so, you are showing your personal enterprise skills and ability to communicate effectively and to negotiate terms for projects.

Computer Skills

With blogging you will spend a lot of time on a computer or laptop, mostly online using web browsers.

But do you also use other computer programmes?

If so you probably have plenty of computer skills to put on your resume.

I use Microsoft Office frequently, Skype and Google apps whilst I blog.

Writing Skills

One of the most valuable skills that I gained from being a blogger was an improved typing speed.

I can now touch type at an incredible speed – a must have for office based roles.

My ability to write in (mostly) good English has improved dramatically since becoming a blogger.

My grammar skills are much better and the longer I have been blogging the more sense my blog posts make.

I have an improved vocabulary and use a wider range of words, mostly from reading others blogs and rediscovering words I rarely used.

When you frantically check your blog content for mistakes, as most of us do, you are showing your copywriting skills.

Data Analysis

Do you use Google Analytics? If so, you are analysing data.

You are monitoring trends and when you break this data down you are analysing it.

Do you use Pinterest Analytics? If so, you are analysing data.

You are analysing the value of your pins, monitoring trends and using this data to determine future pins.

Simply noting the patterns likes on Instagram on post types and posting times is analysing data.

You will be doing the same on Facebook, Twitter, blog views and in most blogging activities.

You are constantly processing figures and snips of data whilst monitoring blog traffic and engagement from social media.

Using this data is forecasting.

You are determining your future posts on the past trends of success or failure that you have analysed.

Research

You will spend a lot of time doing research for new blog posts.

Also analysing the most relevant and reliable information for each blog post, leading to the useful skill of knowing how to research blog topics leading to how to research for blog posts in terms of content.

This skill can be transferred across to any role because to be honest you will use Google in any job you do.

At my old job even the IT department would google the answer to IT issues.

This research coupled with data analysis may lead to market research.

We all want to post content that our readers want to read, that is why we are here.

Customer Service

Your readers and followers are your customers and with every post you want to give them a positive experience.

Receiving comments on posts is great customer feedback.

Any replying is even better if you have the time to do so.

It is something I intend to start doing more of when I have more time to do so.

Every time you are on social media you are engaging with potential customers.

Although social media is a lot less informal than somewhere like LinkedIn you should still remain wary of what you write.

There are many famous bloggers and vloggers who have had old tweets dragged out of the archives.

Are you working with brands?

If so, you are building professional relationships.

You may also be using your negotiation skills to agree on what is to be included in sponsored posts.

Working with other bloggers on collaborations? Then you are using your teamwork skills.

HTML/CSS Coding

Coding isn't an easy thing to learn.

Whether or not it is relevant to the job you want you should always brag about the technical skills you have learnt, whether you are self taught or have a qualification in them.

Many small businesses are cutting costs and are neglecting their online presence.

If you have the skills to design and or maintain a website sell this skill to employers.

Problem Solving

We have all come up against major problems whilst blogging.

This could include someone has stealing your content or whether you have completely broken your website, something I have done before.

You may have found completely contradictory information whilst researching a post.

Employers will often ask for examples of a problem and how you dealt with it.

SEO

I don't know about you but I do a lot of SEO research and like me you have probably learnt how to do keyword research for blog posts.

I test many different combinations of key words and phrases to find the most effective combinations.

Everyone wants to be seen online and everyone wants to drive organic traffic to their site.

A successful SEO strategy model can be applied to any business.

Social Media Management

Managing multiple social media pages is a multi-tasking challenge, usually involving a mix of scheduling and live tweeting.

Each social media platform works in a completely different way, follows different rules and adapting to different methods of reaching your audience.

With companies dedicating entire teams to maintaining a social media presence there are many positions advertised as Social Media Managers/Executives.

Some companies will hire social media managers who work remotely from home. Bonus!

Communication

With the world going digital, digital communication is as important as ever.

Social media is an effective way to communicate on a large scale and is taking over from costly email campaigns.

Marketing

As a blogger you are a brand. You can be identified by your blog name, your blog colour palette and your imagery.

Every time you use your advertising skills to get your content seen such as using hashtags you are marketing yourself.

Graphic Design

Whether you design images in Photoshop, Canva or Microsoft Paint you are demonstrating a range of graphic design skills and creativity.

Most bloggers use images in their blog posts.

Matching relevant images to blog posts by finding or creating the images.

I will freely admit I am jealous of a lot of bloggers photography skills.

Many bloggers create their own branded Pins for Pinterest. Pins usually feature an image, title and following a branded colour palette.

Leadership

Closely tied to both working on your own initiative and working as part of a team, you are in essence your own boss.

You manage yourself and if you are working with others are you leading the team?

Working on Your Own Initiative

Most of your time as a blogger will be spent working on your own blog.

You will be writing and researching your own content, sharing your own posts and working to your own blogging schedule/deadlines.

Team Work

Are you working on collaborations? Do you post guest posts?

Include projects you have worked on with other bloggers and how you worked together to create a project.

Time Management

Bloggers spend their lives juggling their blog, personal life, employment, social media and everything else.

We may not be perfect at it but we certainly have epic organisation skills.

Some bloggers work to a schedule and manage a calendar.

I manage a calendar in Google to keep track of my planned schedule and to prioritise tasks.

Commitment

A blog requires a lot of time and patience and you've probably been doing this for a while now.

You must give it frequent attention and have the drive for it to succeed.

It is true that overnight success isn't impossible but unlikely.

Employers like to see that you have a passion, are enthusiastic and are motivated in all that you do.

Resilience

There is constant change in the blogging world.

There are often stressful situations and the occasional disagreement.

As a blogger you are often under the spotlight and sometimes we do get knocked back from brands or knocked back by our readers.

Being able to bounce back from change or criticism or overcoming setbacks is a highly regarded skill.

Personal Development

Employers like to know that you are willing to learn new skills or technology. Don't discount what you have learnt yourself via tutorials, self taught skills are valuable to employers. I love nothing more than to learn a new skill, it gives a great amount of satisfaction.

Being self aware and recognising your strengths and weaknesses
is such a great skill. Nobody is the perfect blogger or the perfect employee we are all growing as we learn more.

Attention to Detail

I don't know about you but for me everything on my blog has to be done a certain way.

The layout needs to be visually appealing with everything in the right place.

I religiously check content for errors, make changes to older content and I am constantly looking for ways I can improve.