If you've not considered this yet, let me explain that my blog has been responsible for hundreds of inquiries over the years. Why? Because people who might want to know about using video or blogging or making podcasts or tying this all together into a strategy see examples, almost daily, of what I think, what I know, and how I've accomplished some of this in my own life and career.

Blogging about this stuff is like writing out my experience for a resume, line by line (only less boring).

Once you start thinking of your blog as a way for people to know more about you, what you stand for, and who you are, you might consider doing a few things.

Listing your previous jobs and titles is not nearly a full picture of who you are, what you know, what you're capable of, and whom you know. There are other ways to do this. You might want to give some thought to posting more information about you online. There are ways to do this that don't seem so threatening to current employers, by the way.

If you haven't considered using LinkedIn,^[23] that's a baseline. But LinkedIn is still a resume of sorts, with a few (really useful) features added in. LinkedIn can be explained to wary employers as a way to network with fellow professionals in your field and to find people who share interests. But don't stop there.

A few people have talked about a social media resume. My first exposure to it was Bryan Person's post^[24] about it, with a link to his own social media resume. I've not employed this specifically, because I feel my profile on LinkedIn^[25] covers all that ground, but I could see someone choosing to split their professional credentials from their social media experience, and then this would be the right tool.

First, I have to say that I have a problem with the notion of traditional networking, in the social sense. I perceive networking to mean those cocktail gatherings where you stand around and ask each other what you can do for each other. Though I understand it's usually genuine in intent, I've rarely found the right kind of relationship by doing the cursory dance at these events. Too shallow for my tastes.

Online social networks are different, insofar as we have the opportunity to know more about someone through repeated interactions. If you and I are friends on Twitter, I get to see what you deem interesting enough to post into a box. If we're friends on Facebook, I might learn a lot about your interests and the like from what you put on your profile, which groups you belong to, and your other posted media.

One more thing about Facebook^[26]: The question of whether it's for business is coming from people who aren't in there messing around with it. It's not the best thing in the world for businesses, and I can tell you lots of things I hate about it, but it's a way to find a more enriched profile of someone than you get on LinkedIn, and that's the value statement there.

I think social networks, blogs, and all these various places like Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr, are great touchpoints to understanding someone's personal interests and tastes, and to learn about their professional proclivities as well.

You might consider putting up a video about yourself. There's something different and more intimate about making video, and people can see more about who you are and how you act in a video.

One friend, Ben Yoskovitz, made a start-up out of the idea of video in recruiting.^[27] It's brilliant, really, because it adds that piece that's missing.

And making video isn't especially hard these days. You can use a Flip video camera and pop a video onto YouTube without a lot of effort.

Now, making a good video is another matter altogether, but you might consider getting some help from a local expert.

This has changed a great deal over the past few years. Popular blogs and web sites now have their own job boards (e.g., 37 Signals,^[28] TechCrunch,^[29] and tons of other places). It's not just the world of Monster^[30] or HotJobs.^[31] Now, people and individuals are becoming hubs for jobs. Oh, and don't forget Craigslist.^[32]

At any given time, I have someone pinging me for either a social media position that's open, or a software engineer, or someone with an Internet skill set that isn't easy to find by sifting through resumes. So be attentive to that as well. Sometimes, jobs aren't circulating in the traditional places, and the folks who might want to find you are the same ones spending time online.