Ever since the Boston Globe suggested that blogging is ‘essential’ in getting the job you want Irish bloggers have been putting the idea to the test. Tom Raftery is putting himself on the market to blog readers to see if his skills can be taken advantage of through blog-publicity alone. Piaras takes a cautious approach and suggests that while blogging has been everything but a waste of time for him one day soon it may take a backseat to a more beneficial tactic.
Blogging for me has always been a hobby but it has great potential for someone hoping to get into journalism like myself; with that in mind blogging for me would never be what creates opportunities, it is more something that can work in your favour when the chances to appear before you.
On the topic of developing my career, blogging has so far played a substantial role and I expect that to continue but in the same vein my blog has never directly resulted in me getting work. The successes I’ve had so far in journalism have all come from me suggesting ideas and submitting articles, my blog comes into the mix after this.
One example being the first article I had published in a national newspaper; after submitting the article to the features editor of The Irish Times one issue proved to be a stumbling block; as I’m a complete unknown how could the newspaper be sure that I was indeed Adam Maguire and not just the person interviewed in the article having a conversation with myself? Going by the statmeter details, shortly after I sent in the article my name was googled and this site was found. My blog served as part of the evidence toward proving I was Adam Maguire and helped me to gain the trust of someone who had never heard of me before and had little to lose by turning my article down. On top of that it meant that people within the newspaper got to read more of my work, for better or for worse.
In other instances my blog has been visited by people from national newspapers for different reasons and even when articles I submitted were rejected or even ignored I could take solace in the fact that next time they may know a lot more about me, and sometimes that’s half the battle.
I can’t imagine a time when I get a commission based on my blog alone, but it could always happen. Until then I’m happy for my blog to be a place of research for any prospective employers who want to read up a little bit more about me. Besides, if ever there is a time that someone reads an article of mine and wants to find out more (for whatever reason they may have), I know that a google of my name will bring them where they want to go.