blogging4jobs

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Blogging For Life Posted: 01 Aug 2011 05:36 AM PDT When I was sixteen, I took a creative writing class in high school.  Until that time, I had written many poems and a couple songs; I loved to rhyme and thought that was how you could distinguish a poem from rambling.  But I learned that poetry could also be found in free verse and short stories.  The way I thought about poetry changed forever.  I have always loved to write, but I didn't always like to stick to the rules of scholastic writing.  Poetry allowed me to step outside of the lines of writing and find character and value in something as simple as a raindrop. Ten years ago, I had heard of blogging but never thought it would be something for me until I joined a little social network called MySpace.  In your individual profile section, there's a "blog" tab.  And I used it, often. Mostly for poetry – free verse – but soon I was publishing rants that seemed to garner a little attention from my MySpace friends.  As the years went on, I continued to blog pretty regularly. When I became a member of the RecruitingBlogs.com community in 2007, I saw an opportunity to turn a rant into not only a real blog, but also a piece of poetry.  I know it sounds silly, but for me a blog has to read like poetry, it has to fall out of your mouth, to make perfect sense or open minds or drive learning. In 2008, I wrote a post simply titled, "Online Social Networks".  It was part of a new series I called Words to work by.  This particular post gathered a little attention and one of my mentors, John Sumser, highlighted it in one his own posts.  His mention and Jason Davis' encouragement inspired me to believe that I should write more, and I did.  Less than a year later, I was producing Bonus Track daily on RecruitingBlogs.  When I started the project, I promised my kids that I wouldn't write on the weekends, so I published Monday through Friday, including holidays, never taking time off.  Because I write so topically, I never believed in having posts in a queue, ready to launch.  I actually wrote daily. To date, I have written 630 Bonus Tracks with no intention of stopping, any time soon.  I did take two weeks off this past April to go on a much-needed, unplugged vacation, breaking my streak – but to that point, I had written 568 consecutive posts.  Writing daily requires extreme discipline.  But it has been the best thing I have done my career, my life, for me. I was surprised when Jessica Miller-Merrell approached me about bringing Bonus Track to Blogging4Jobs.  I have valued her writing and insight for a couple years and I am thrilled to be working in her backyard. Every day, I write about life lessons.  Sometimes these apply to business, sometimes to recruiting, but they always apply to life.  Glad to be living it… Rayanne Thorn, @ray_anne is the Marketing Director for the online recruiting software company, Broadbean Technology.  She is also a proud mother of four residing in Laguna Beach, California, and a contributor for Blogging4Jobs.  Connect with her on LinkedIn.

Is Being Muslim Keeping Me From Getting a Job? Posted: 01 Aug 2011 04:17 AM PDT Sometimes readers send me questions looking for career advice or thoughts on a particular topic.  A couple weeks ago, I received one email that stopped me in my tracks.  I’m posting the question for you, my readers to answer.  On Tuesday, (tomorrow) I’ll post my answer to her, but for now, I look forward to your responses on religion, being Muslim, and if it’s hurting this job seeker’s job search.   Hello Jessica, As a job seeker I know the number one strategy for getting a job is networking and its all about who you know. I’m involved with my college SHRM and also go to a few networking events and luncheons around my state. Networking is what landed me an Employee and Labor Relations internship position last fall. I’ve been applying for positions this summer that one I was referred to by a professor and two by a college SHRM officer. I basically got the run around on one of them and no replies back on the other two. I originally had on my resume that I was bilingual knowing Arabic and English and also that I’m a member of my state Muslim Women’s Foundation, I’ve been thinking lately maybe I’m not getting replies back because of the upraising in the middle east? Do you think I should remove everything that connects me with the middle east when job searching? Please give me your thought on this. Thank you. What do you think?  Is a job seeker listing her affiliation and position with the Muslim Women’s Foundation on her resume, hurting her job search?  Should it matter?

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