Tag: Business Blogging

The two most common reasons that I encounter as why people who work for an employer do not blog are:

1. There is a fear of getting “dooced” (i.e., laid off for something written in one’s blog).
2. There is a fear of putting oneself out on the Internet for everyone to see.

These are valid concerns.

I have detected an additional concern as an undercurrent, and it may become more widespread as time passes and both the ages of blogs increase and as people move from job to job. That is, will something written in one’s blog negatively affect future job prospects with other companies?

To answer this latter question responsibly, I would have to say that it could. I haven’t noticed a lot of cases where it has (or cases from where a person couldn’t recover), but blog content pretty much becomes memorialized on the net once it’s published. I recall being very disturbed on one blog I saw where the blogger used lots of profanity and cited dozens of company names and specific circumstances where they did not successfully get through the interviewing process. The person also used a lot of self-deprecating language in the posts. While I could definitely appreciate the feelings this person had (it’s not a great feeling being rejected), a blog is not necessarily the mechanism I would have used to burn bridges publicly.

I happened to ask a person involved with recruiting processes of a large firm as to how blogging affects things. The long and the short of the opinion was that most recruiters don’t have time to search for the blog of a prospect once they receive a resume. Though the company was familiar with blogging, the person couldn’t recall a case where they didn’t hire someone because of what was written in a blog. In fact, the person I asked said that sometimes things can be a plus. For example, if the person posts about things the company cares about, then this can benefit the person.

To cite a good case of blogging where it has helped, Fred Wilson highlighted a case where Charlie O’Donnell was hired as an analyst for the venture capital firm, Union Square Ventures, and where Charlie’s blog played a big role during due diligence. Quite an interesting observation for anyone who knows how difficult it is to land a job in venture capital.

For myself, I’ve had a variety of opportunities pop up because of my blog. Blogging is not my trade though, and it is something that happened somewhat accidentally for me. It has taken some time to generate opportunities (3-6 months plus ongoing experimentation). One opportunity included a book deal on corporate blogging that came out of the blue (which fell through at a later point, but the point is getting opportunities to step up to the plate and swing at the ball). Other opportunities include meeting people around the world (e.g., Germany, UK, France). I obtained a consulting opportunity with the blogging software provider 21Publish as a result of blogging. I also obtained an author relationship with Creative Weblogging as a result of blogging. Clients have told me that they read my blog and that it serves as an additional thing to talk about on the job (some have told that they have purchased books I recommended). There are also some new opportunities cropping up for me as related to my blog and other efforts – I may soon have multiple employers in addition to me being a freelance consultant. I don’t expect all opportunities to pan out or to be a good fit, but the fact that blogging opens doors, well this is a good thing.

Update (6/6/05): I recently accepted and started (June 1, 2005) a fractional management role as COO of 21Publish in addition to my other endeavors. I did not expect blogging to take me in this direction, but I am excited about both the opportunity and the prospects for 21Publish.

Continue reading “To What Extent Does Blogging Affect Job Prospects?”

Reader Phil was interested if I’ve found out anything more about the lack of management consulting blogs. To bring everyone up to speed, I had an original post that questioned why there weren’t many management consultant blogs out there. McKinsey only happened to be cited by me to get people’s attention (because of its prominent reputation). It is noteworthy, however, that in my original post I found a public reference that indicated that McKinsey was encouraging its employees to blog, but I have found no blogs to date. Some factual updates on consulting blogs to consider:

• I did find Mike Nevens (ex-McKinsey) is blogging at the Sand Hill Group from time to time (note my post here)
• Sapient CTO has spoken out against blogging
• PR consulting firms are making moves.

An additional factor to consider, one that I did not explicitly address in my original post, is that it is important to think about how deal flow is generated in many management consulting models.

In management consulting, clients problems are generally confidential and they are infrequent (or at least do not follow as regular patterns as may occur in other services areas). Thus, a significant amount of time needs to be spent on marketing (as opposed to sales), because one needs to be at the top of mind, have relationships, and show up at the right time when a client calls. There are some firms that have more dedicated business development resources, but this is more the exception that the rule for the traditional management consulting firms.

To single out McKinsey, they have a very significant marketing vehicle around the McKinsey Quarterly. They provide world-renowned thought leadership there, and they already have eyeballs for their target audience. If one reads the book, "The McKinsey Way," the McKinsey Quarterly type of vehicle serves as one primary mechanism for staying at the top of people’s minds. The presence of this vehicle probably has a diminishing effect on the needs for blogs. Other consulting companies also have firm-specific publications – it is not unique to use these things for marketing in consulting firms.

Risk management is probably the strongest argument I can find to not wanting to adopt blogs in the management consulting firms. That said, I have seen a number of law firms that seem to be able to provide adequate counsel in the blogging area.

So if I were to update my hypothesis on why there are "no" McKinsey blogs, well there’s no urgent need to do so right now. Management consulting firms can afford to be second movers because the needs are diminished by a lack of CXO readers and other marketing vehicles already in place.

All said, I am a fan of Bob Lutz’s blog (Vice Chairman at GM). That’s a great example of what some companies are missing out on.

Update (1/4/07): Update on consulting blogs after two years …

Charlie O’Donnell, analyst for Union Square Ventures (yes, the firm was part of the recent investment round in del.icio.us via Fred Wilson), is going to be another pioneer in the business blogging area at Fordham’s Graduate School of Business. Charlie will be teaching a mini-course there, and he has a course overview posted here (note: Word document). Also noteworthy is that del.icio.us (one of my prior posts consolidating info on del.icio.us is here) will be part of the course. I would guess that Charlie may have some good leverage to get a couple of guest speakers in that area …

Also noteworthy is that Fordham will be using to blogs to help build alumni relations. I think this is a great idea. Alumni networks are natural communities, and universities should consider blogging as a way to connect with their alums outside of traditional magazine, local event, and fund raising/telemarketing activities.

Update (4/25/05): Charlie’s full post about the Fordham course is here. Sorry I forgot the original link the first time around.

Last week was personally a big week for me in terms of hooking personal contacts on business and corporate blogging. I had about six discussions last week. Five of the people hold MBAs. All of them hold either engineering degrees or science degrees as well. Here’s the gist of the key points (the sentences are mine as I’m just capturing the spirit of what was said):

• Your blog may have been the first I’ve ever visited
• He is now hooked on blogging, the GM blogs, etc.
• I’m thinking of starting 3-4 blogs, what platform do you recommend
• Guest authoring seems like a good way to start
• There’s so much political junk around, thanks for introducing me to venture capital blogs and some of the corporate blogs
• There is an impressive amount of information out there on these business blogs. I never knew they existed.

In the end, I expect that only 1-3 of these people will actually get hooked in the next month, but heck it’s a contribution!

Anyway, here’s another consolidated launching point for looking at corporate blogging. It’s a wiki, and it’s located here.

Update (3/20/05): I should also mention that I am a resident blogger for the Sand Hill Group and The CIO Weblog. In the interest of disclosure, I handle some sponsored blogging by HDI and Citrix at The CIO Weblog. I am also under contract to generate marketing collateral (e.g., technology whitepapers and not blogging) with a software vendor in the blogging space that may be disclosed at a later date under mutual agreement with my client.

Scott Johnson (Founder of Feedster) indicates that Scott Rafer (CEO of Feedster) notes an inaccuracy in my prior post (it would not be the first time I was wrong!). Scott Rafer elaborates on the timing of Feedster’s blogging policy release. Scott, thanks for pointing out Scott’s post.

Other updates include that Dave Sifry has posted an update regarding Niall Kennedy. I think this is a good release of pressure on all parties. I don’t generally make comments on individuals in cases where I’m many steps removed, but support for Niall Kennedy was something that I was looking for in the communications. Clearly Technorati would not have put Niall Kennedy in the position of Community Manager if they didn’t have faith in him, so Dave’s post is consistent.

All updated posts by Niall, Feedster, and Technorati clearly outline the values of the parties. Plus the posts do a good job mark out the boundaries. All looks to be on track. As alluded to in the same prior post I wrote, I still wonder whether best practices would be to have employees have separate personal and professional blogs if only to put the blogger in an elevated psychological mindset.

Dave indicates that sometimes things get overblown in the blogosphere. The events that have erupted here are probably special in the sense that Technorati and Feedster are market leaders. These two companies watch a lot of blogs. Additionally, there are a lot of blog authors that watch them and utilize their services.

I suppose best practices for posting, measuring volume levels, implementing policy, and communicating are still being developed. To date, the Harvard Business School has only one written case that covers employee-company dynamics in the context of blogging, so I think the case here is very worthwhile to trace through.

Maybe in addition to the best practices of identifying "sponsored posts", the blogosphere needs to identify "satirical posts" as well. Satire has always made me uncomfortable.

Steve Shu
Managing Director, S4 Management Group