Jobs and blogs

I find it so interesting that almost everyone’s blog on my blogroll has had discussions about life at work and new policies that their jobs are implementing. Of course that’s because most of the people on my blogroll are journalists and many newspapers are trying to implement (to borrow from The Spokesman Review) “transparent newsrooms.” They’re encouraged to blog.

I’ve mostly kept work-related issues to myself because, well, I don’t know how my job would react to me talking about policies we run in the office. Earlier this week I did learn the policy when they gave me back my contract to review for employee evaluations. What I learned is that I’m not supposed to publicly disclose anything about clients or our “trade secrets.”

In other words: don’t talk shop on the blog, it’s simple enough. But I get so surprised when I wander around the internet how many non-journalists talk about their jobs and how much they hate their bosses and how work sucks, and they wonder why they’re not getting a raise/more respect/a pony. Maybe it’s because your manager’s reading your blog, genius.

So here are some things to think about before you blog about work-related stuff:

1. Don’t name names. Try to keep your coworkers names out of your blog as much as possible. People ego search all the time. I overheard my supervisor the other day say “I’ve looked you all up on Google at one point.” Crap. Well maybe your supervisor is looking at you, too.
2. Don’t talk about clients. If you have a job where your livelihood depends on a happy client, don’t talk about about clients in your blog. I’m sure your job (like mine) probably has some sort of confidentiality agreement with certain clients, and since you may not know who does not want their name broadcast on the intertubes, just don’t talk about them at all. If you do, it goes back to not naming names again. Give them a clever alias that no one will be able to figure out, like Sicromoft.
3. Watch your spelling and grammar. I have to work at this a lot as well so there’s no judgment if you have something misspelled on your blog from my end. But if you’re currently seeking a new job and have a public blog, it may be a good idea to give some of your recent posts a once-over and check for grammar, spelling and how you use the English language. If a potential employer were to find your blog, wouldn’t you want to sound as articulate as you could. Even if you’re blog isn’t supposed to be for professional use, if you can find your blog using your real name (i.e. johnsmith.wordpress.com) then maybe you should keep it professional.
4. If you want to have a just-for-fun blog, give yourself an alias like “kumquat” and stick with it. But even the best aliases can be broken if you’re hitting too close to home (remember the Washingtonienne?)

I’d also like to hear what you think about how we present ourselves on blogs. What’s the impression you get reading someone’s blog? I’m curious to hear people’s answers.

Ego Search: Google loves you

Some of you may already know, but a few weeks ago I had an incident with a former employee at my work trying to get me fired with some arsenal he found in a Google search of me. Well my boss didn’t see fit to me using incorrect that/which agreement during my days editing at the Green River Current, so it was this employee who got fired instead. (There were numerous other reasons why he was let go, mainly he was a jerk.)

After that I’ve really started taking a look at what was showing up about me on the Web. I’m not a very public person. I don’t have a MySpace and when I did it was set at private, you won’t find my Facebook through a search engine and I usually keep to myself.

But one thing was posted online that got me thinking about how much information I put out without even realizing it: my resume. I posted an old PDF of my resume on Collegefrontpage.com and though I removed the PDF months ago, it still shows up within the first 10 hits on Google as an indexed HTML file. (UPDATE: My resume was finally removed a few days ago, hooray!) Information like my phone number, old address and personal e-mail address are all on my resume, as well as the phone numbers and e-mails of my references. While this isn’t a MySpace shot of me taking a hit of a beer bong, it’s personal information of me that I don’t want the general public having open access to.

So how do you take unwanted information about you that’s been cached an archived down?

Rice Cooker Recipes

I bought a new rice cooker when I moved into my apartment and so far I haven’t really used it as much as I should. I got it at Costco and it’s a really great cooker. It comes with a timer I can set so I could set it up in the morning and it would start cooking the rice or whatever I put in there in time for dinner. So I did a little sleuthing around the internet and I found this Web site:

Recipe Zaar

It has a bunch of recipes all just for the rice cooker. It sure beats having to buy the book off of Amazon.

My job gets extra classy

I had an “I miss the Evergreen” moment today. This morning everyone was in a flighty mood and people were saying things that were totally off the wall. It made me miss the quote board.

Here are a few of the things that made everyone stop and stare today.

“If someone called me a harlot, I would feel really special.” ~ Me
“Do animals have teats?” ~ Heather
“I think sex offenders are just misunderstood.” ~ Tucker

Today I got to help with some analysis work for a Web site we’re going to be translating for work. While some of the Web translation and international design has been for Xbox and Amazon this site really takes the cake.

Phishing Scam …

I went to check my e-mail today and found this in my inbox:

It is my pleasure to inform you that you are being considered for inclusion into the 2008-2009 Princeton Premier Business Leaders and Professionals “Honors Edition” section of the Registry.

The 2008 / 2009 edition of the Registry will include biographies of the world’s most accomplished individuals. Recognition of this kind is an honor shared by thousands of executives and professionals throughout the world each year. Inclusion is considered by many as the single highest mark of achievement.

You may access our application form using the following link:

http://app.formassembly.com/forms/view/11970

Upon final confirmation, you will be listed among other accomplished individuals in the Princeton Premier Registry.

For accuracy and publication deadlines, please complete your application form and return it to us within five business days. There is no cost to be included in the Registry.

 	On behalf of the Managing Director, we wish you continued success.

 	

	Sincerely, 

 	Jason Harris 

Managing Director

Princeton Premier

Needless to say I was surprised because I am not a business leader and never have accessed abnything to do with Princeton affiliates.

Don’t know how to spot a phishing scam?

Check out this Web site to learn more.

Learn how to spot

Craigslist the ultimate job source

I’ve been doing a lot of applying these past couple months and I can honestly say that Craigslist has been my best friend when it comes to potential job sources. Yes it’s no longer for just for creepy personal ads and fake iPods, it has real jobs on there, too. I’m trying to find a job on the west coast, but I’m not against relocating to anywhere that would pay me a reasonable wage. (I’m going to be out of college soon, I’ll work for cheap.) I’ve been looking at a lot of design and public relations jobs in Seattle as well as any internships that might strike my fancy. I’ve also looked at some internships and jobs abroad, but I don’t know how I feel about it just yet. I found an internship for a magazine in India that would set me up with an apartment and a company bicycle (score!). The downside is I would make less than $200 a month. That’s a reasonable living wage for India, but barely enough to get me started if/when I come back home. I’ve depleted my savings enough as it is, should I keep running it down for a new experience?