Blogging about blogging.

Blogs ‘essential’ to a good career, reads the Boston Globe headline. Ooh, think I, really? So I read over their points and am now waiting patiently for the fantastic job offers to come rolling in. Don’t get me wrong, I have a great job right now working here in Boston as a writer of copy. A smart girl, though, is ever watchful for the opportunity to, say, be flown to South America to write about entomologists cataloging every species of insect on the planet. Or perhaps someone out there wants to offer me a tidy sum to check out reports of Bigfoot in Sonoma (despite the fact that Penn & Teller have already admitted to faking this footage, hence the previous link to an archived page that has since been removed in embarrassment).

In all seriousness, it has occurred to me that the next time I attempt to secure a new job, there is a very high probability that my prospective employer will Google me. Maybe they’ll assume I’m the first return.

“Excellent,” they’ll squeal with delight, “Assistant Secretary of the US Department of the Interior, writing for us!” And I’ll be hired, immediately.

Currently, the real me is cleverly hiding in the fourth returned link, eagerly awaiting discovery. So here’s what I’m wondering: when they eventually click on that link, will they be more or less excited to hire me, compared with the Assistant Interior Secretary? Do employers really want someone with an opinion, and a rather robust life outside of work? Do they want to know that some days I can’t stay late because I have to get home to do a podcast?

And assuming they’re okay with the fact that I essentially have a second job that will take up more of my time than the job they’re filling, how about the content? What if the company president is really into astral projection? Hey, it could happen. From our point of view, a healthy amount of critical thinking is a good thing, but not everyone feels that way. This could impact the outspoken skeptic’s job opportunites in a few ways:

1. As noted, the boss might have a pet “weird belief” that he doesn’t want his employee to challenge (or worse, mock).
2. There may be a fear that the skeptic won’t get along with others or be tolerant of their beliefs.
3. What kind of weirdo gets so psyched about science?

All these possibilities could also apply to the opposite side of the coin. If I were hiring a writer and I found he had a blog all about how lizard aliens are secretly ruling the world, I admit I’d hesitate. Even if the writing was targeted, clear, and concise; even if I had met him and he seemed perfectly sane, I’d still be a tad prejudiced. I suppose I’ll just have to cross my fingers, do what I’m doing, and hope against hope that all future employers aren’t actually evil lizard proponents trying to stamp out the skeptic movement. Now that I think of it, I hope all future employers actually are evil lizards, since I think they’d be rather friendly to skeptics in their attempt to escape detection.

Back to the Globe article, things aren’t completely disheartening:

”People who are more visible and have a reputation and stand for something do better than people who are invisible,” says Catherine Kaputa, branding consultant and author of ”Blogging for Business Success.”

I consider this a plus. I stand for something, and I definitely have a reputation. I’m so glad she didn’t specify what kind of reputation.

”The most interesting blogs are focused and have a certain attitude,” says van Allen.

Yes! I totally have attitude. Again, the lack of specifics works in my favor.

”You need to have a guiding philosophy that you stick to. You cannot one minute pontificate on large issues of the world and the next minute be like, ‘My dog died.’ “

Ah. Hm. Okay everybody, ignore this post.

Science! Skepticism!