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July 10, 2005
Blogging and the job search -- incompatable?
UPDATE: See Naomi's comment for link to good information on anonymous blogging...
An interesting piece in the Chronicle of Higher Learning, thanks to Perry of Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast.
The article, "Bloggers Need Not Apply," by Ivan Tribble (pseudonym of a humanities professor at a small liberal arts college in the Midwest, U.S.A) describes the author's experience on his college's faculty hiring committee. The committee found out about the applicant's blogs through interviews, applications, and the help of Google. But after surveying the blogs of their applicants, they came away with a decidedly negative opinion. They found a range of things that concerned them, including one applicant who misrepresented his research and another whose real professional interests were far from that of the open position. Their conclusion:
Job seekers who are also bloggers may have a tough road ahead, if our committee's experience is any indication.
Perry brings up some interesting points on this in her post, so I won't re-hash that here, except for a few quick points:
· I'd bet that none of the hiring committee had a blog and that none had read a blog before this experience
· Anyone who rants on his or her blog -- especially about coworkers -- better have an anonymous blog (and the UThink blogs here at the U of M are not anonymous)
· The most worrisome part of this article was the statement that:
The content of the blog may be less worrisome than the fact of the blog itself [emphasis added]. Several committee members expressed concern that a blogger who joined our staff might air departmental dirty laundry (real or imagined) on the cyber clothesline for the world to see. Past good behavior is no guarantee against future lapses of professional decorum.
In essence, guilt by association. As if I don't have enough job search anxiety as it is...
Posted by rigd0003 at July 10, 2005 06:29 PM | PhD Process
Comments
I definitely agree with your first point above. There is a whole culture to blogging in general, and a specific culture to each specific blog. I'm sure the "Tribble" search committee members' experience was like never having gone to a cocktail party--ever. Then in the course of a couple of weeks, dropping in on several where they did not know the hosts or guests, or the bounds of acceptable behavior at such events ...
Posted by: Yvette at July 11, 2005 08:04 AM
here's some useful information from the electronic frontier foundation on anonymous blogging: http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Anonymity/blog-anonymously.php
Posted by: Naomi at July 18, 2005 05:28 PM