When The World Seems Full Of Evil, But We Must Go On

When The World Seems Full Of Evil, But We Must Go On This morning I checked Facebook and saw a friend had checked in that he was okay in Las Vegas. Whats this all about? Was he joking, or did something happen? As we all know, now, he wasnt joking. A horrific event happened, changing the lives of tens of thousands of people (the domino effect means that when something like this happens, with dozens of murders and hundreds of injuries,  many families and communities are changed forever, which touch many tens of thousands of people). Last May I was on a month-long trip with two of my kids and a friend in Europe it seems like right before or after we were somewhere, something horrific happened. Knife attacks, bombs (Manchester, and in recent years, Paris and Belgium), vehicle attacks (the bridges in London) we had just avoided them, although the presence of heavily armed military and police throughout Europe was hard to miss, and heavy reminder of perilous times. Just this weekend the Catalonia region of Spain, where we were for a week, had horrific protests and police action resulting in deaths and supposedly over 800 people injured. (correction: someone from Spain emailed me to say that this number is highly inflated, and their mainstream media is exaggerating things) Recently weve had devastating fires in Montana and Oregon, horrible earthquakes in Mexico (where I have friends), even just a few hours north of where I am, where I went to school and lived for nine years, they have had over 200 small earthquakes a few weeks ago (leading many to wonder, here in Salt Lake, if The Great Shake is coming soon).   Boko Haram is still a complete mess in Nigeria, the country of friends of mine, where many, many peoples lives are being ruined. Mainstream media has been consumed with the Trump vs. The NFL debacle, in which a bunch of players are exercising their freedom of speech to express their views on something, something we used to call civil disobedience, but I fear hardly anyone knows what the real or root issues are. Its become to sensationalized and too politicized, all the while the U.S. President spends time tweeting on the NFL thing while being accused of not sending enough aid to Puerto Rico, who is supposedly going to be without power for months, and the Jones Act is preventing non-U.S. help from really getting in, and getting to the people who need it.   The last president was a great public orator, this current president seems to be a third grade whiny victim/bully   but if you look at the policy and leadership  coming from the office, it seems like horrid and long-lasting things are creating rifts and unwinnable situations for the U.S. and the world. I recently went to a huge conference where the main keynote speaker derided Corporate America for having too many white males leading companies, sitting on boards, and being in key positions. While males have become the villain in todays rhetoric, all the while I know plenty of white guys who work very hard to eke out a living. They are good people trying to do good by their family but at every step they are criticized for being privileged, as if any of their hard work is completely irrelevant and anything they can enjoy in life is almost like blood money that they dont deserve. By the way, Im half white, half Mexican. I dont know if that means I am half entitled to say what I just said, or half privileged (so thats why I could say it), but as I drove home after that keynote I thought about my teenage son who is very white-looking, with beautiful blonde hair and light-colored eyes hes 1/4 Mexican but for those that cry white privilege hell never be given a chance. I wondered if my son will be vilified along the rest of the white privileged males, regardless of their drive, ambition, work, integrity, and dreams. The level of intolerance I see, whether it has to do with lifestyle, gender, religion, etc. is disgusting and sickening. Right now is a time of chaos. Whether it is the next natural disaster (aka, an act of God), devastation brought on by mental illness or hate, or the politics and horrid media bias, there is much to worry about. I dont talk about this stuff with my kids because they dont need to know it.   I cant bring myself to talk to them about the amount of hate and dispair in a world where they need to see optimism and hope. So what do you do? You keep trying to do the right thing. For some people that means they will be warriors either physically or spiritually or mentally or socially. Some people will need to save and serve, while others will need to find just enough courage to save themselves (and make themselves healthy and whole, so they are in a position to not need as much, and someday serve others). If you look at history youll see similar patterns and times of chaos. Can you imagine being in China in the few years that over 50 million people were essentially murdered?   FIFTY MILLION PEOPLE, because of one very evil person.   Or the many millions of people who were murdered by other political mass murderers What about being around when the Black Plague devastated almost 1/3 of the entire European population? We can read about many horrors in the history of the world, but we can also read about people we respect as heroes. Not the fake heroes of todays popular movies, rather heroes of epic proportions, such as Joan of Arc and Stanislav Petrov. We are probably not going to be the Joan or Stanislav of our time but we can be heroes nonetheless. In todays world we need heroes of epic proportions, because there is enough devisiveness, selfishness, and hate.   We need heroes who will love and serve and give and build. We need heroes who will help heal and overcome. We need heroes with compassion and strength, and personal integrity and fortitude (defined as courage in pain or adversity). We dont need to save the world, single-handedly stop the fires, rush somewhere to destroy evil. But we do need to do that first in and for ourselves, building our own character and resolve, and then love and serve where we can. After 9/11, New Yorkers and Americans (and others) said NO to terrorism. They said NO, this wont stop us for living and loving, from working and serving. We went on doing our day, instead of hiding in fear. We must do our day, lest the terrorists win. Today, we must not live, or hide, in fear. We must do our day, but we must do it better.   When you post something on facebook, is it about love and life, or is it about hate and divisiveness?   Are your communications and actions full of integrity, or is there a bit of selfishness? I challenge you, I even beg you, to build your own character a little more. If we want the world to be better, safer, and more hopeful, we must act where we can have an influence, and that is first, on ourselves. Lets awaken the hero inside ourself heaven knows the world could use more heroes today. When The World Seems Full Of Evil, But We Must Go On This morning I checked Facebook and saw a friend had checked in that he was okay in Las Vegas. Whats this all about? Was he joking, or did something happen? As we all know, now, he wasnt joking. A horrific event happened, changing the lives of tens of thousands of people (the domino effect means that when something like this happens, with dozens of murders and hundreds of injuries,  many families and communities are changed forever, which touch many tens of thousands of people). Last May I was on a month-long trip with two of my kids and a friend in Europe it seems like right before or after we were somewhere, something horrific happened. Knife attacks, bombs (Manchester, and in recent years, Paris and Belgium), vehicle attacks (the bridges in London) we had just avoided them, although the presence of heavily armed military and police throughout Europe was hard to miss, and heavy reminder of perilous times. Just this weekend the Catalonia region of Spain, where we were for a week, had horrific protests and police action resulting in deaths and supposedly over 800 people injured. (correction: someone from Spain emailed me to say that this number is highly inflated, and their mainstream media is exaggerating things) Recently weve had devastating fires in Montana and Oregon, horrible earthquakes in Mexico (where I have friends), even just a few hours north of where I am, where I went to school and lived for nine years, they have had over 200 small earthquakes a few weeks ago (leading many to wonder, here in Salt Lake, if The Great Shake is coming soon).   Boko Haram is still a complete mess in Nigeria, the country of friends of mine, where many, many peoples lives are being ruined. Mainstream media has been consumed with the Trump vs. The NFL debacle, in which a bunch of players are exercising their freedom of speech to express their views on something, something we used to call civil disobedience, but I fear hardly anyone knows what the real or root issues are. Its become to sensationalized and too politicized, all the while the U.S. President spends time tweeting on the NFL thing while being accused of not sending enough aid to Puerto Rico, who is supposedly going to be without power for months, and the Jones Act is preventing non-U.S. help from really getting in, and getting to the people who need it.   The last president was a great public orator, this current president seems to be a third grade whiny victim/bully   but if you look at the policy and leadership  coming from the office, it seems like horrid and long-lasting things are creating rifts and unwinnable situations for the U.S. and the world. I recently went to a huge conference where the main keynote speaker derided Corporate America for having too many white males leading companies, sitting on boards, and being in key positions. While males have become the villain in todays rhetoric, all the while I know plenty of white guys who work very hard to eke out a living. They are good people trying to do good by their family but at every step they are criticized for being privileged, as if any of their hard work is completely irrelevant and anything they can enjoy in life is almost like blood money that they dont deserve. By the way, Im half white, half Mexican. I dont know if that means I am half entitled to say what I just said, or half privileged (so thats why I could say it), but as I drove home after that keynote I thought about my teenage son who is very white-looking, with beautiful blonde hair and light-colored eyes hes 1/4 Mexican but for those that cry white privilege hell never be given a chance. I wondered if my son will be vilified along the rest of the white privileged males, regardless of their drive, ambition, work, integrity, and dreams. The level of intolerance I see, whether it has to do with lifestyle, gender, religion, etc. is disgusting and sickening. Right now is a time of chaos. Whether it is the next natural disaster (aka, an act of God), devastation brought on by mental illness or hate, or the politics and horrid media bias, there is much to worry about. I dont talk about this stuff with my kids because they dont need to know it.   I cant bring myself to talk to them about the amount of hate and dispair in a world where they need to see optimism and hope. So what do you do? You keep trying to do the right thing. For some people that means they will be warriors either physically or spiritually or mentally or socially. Some people will need to save and serve, while others will need to find just enough courage to save themselves (and make themselves healthy and whole, so they are in a position to not need as much, and someday serve others). If you look at history youll see similar patterns and times of chaos. Can you imagine being in China in the few years that over 50 million people were essentially murdered?   FIFTY MILLION PEOPLE, because of one very evil person.   Or the many millions of people who were murdered by other political mass murderers What about being around when the Black Plague devastated almost 1/3 of the entire European population? We can read about many horrors in the history of the world, but we can also read about people we respect as heroes. Not the fake heroes of todays popular movies, rather heroes of epic proportions, such as Joan of Arc and Stanislav Petrov. We are probably not going to be the Joan or Stanislav of our time but we can be heroes nonetheless. In todays world we need heroes of epic proportions, because there is enough devisiveness, selfishness, and hate.   We need heroes who will love and serve and give and build. We need heroes who will help heal and overcome. We need heroes with compassion and strength, and personal integrity and fortitude (defined as courage in pain or adversity). We dont need to save the world, single-handedly stop the fires, rush somewhere to destroy evil. But we do need to do that first in and for ourselves, building our own character and resolve, and then love and serve where we can. After 9/11, New Yorkers and Americans (and others) said NO to terrorism. They said NO, this wont stop us for living and loving, from working and serving. We went on doing our day, instead of hiding in fear. We must do our day, lest the terrorists win. Today, we must not live, or hide, in fear. We must do our day, but we must do it better.   When you post something on facebook, is it about love and life, or is it about hate and divisiveness?   Are your communications and actions full of integrity, or is there a bit of selfishness? I challenge you, I even beg you, to build your own character a little more. If we want the world to be better, safer, and more hopeful, we must act where we can have an influence, and that is first, on ourselves. Lets awaken the hero inside ourself heaven knows the world could use more heroes today.

Horoscope Careers What Job Should You Have According To Your Star Sign

Horoscope Careers What Job Should You Have According To Your Star Sign Do you believe that your destiny is written in the stars? A reported 8% of Britons (and double the number of Americans) believe that your horoscope can predict the future, though some estimates place this figure as high as 26% of Americans. Having scoured various sources and authorities, here is a guide to which career you’re best suited to, depending on your all-important star sign. Aries (March 21-April 19) Born in the early Spring, if you’re an Aries your high level of ambition will have you aiming high in life. Your desires may just come true as you’ll be willing to put in hard graft to get to where you want to be. Your skills lie in logic and common sense, which when combined with your hard-working attitude are likely to reap rewards. Most likely to be: An athlete, CEO, or in other roles of a competitive nature. Taurus (April 20-May 20) If you’re a Taurus then security is crucial to the structure of your everyday life, and to how you plan for the future. Your determination and patience will see that you achieve financial security, whilst your morals and sense of honesty will ground you securely in a spiritual sense. Most likely to be: An accountant, lawyer, or in another established, secure profession. Gemini (May 21-June 20) The artistic Gemini is likely to be interested in philanthropic work. A tedious, repetitive job is definitely not for you if you’re a Gemini, as you’ll thrive in busy environments with fast-paced, interesting work. Whilst you may get bored easily, use this as motivation to find an interesting job to keep you engaged. Most likely to be: A project manager, in PR or publicity.   Cancer (June 21-July 22) If you were born under the sign of cancer you won’t wait for the world to fall at your feet â€" you’ll go out and get it. As a self-starter you’ll forge your own career, and in an age of innovation you’re able to thrive off technological advances. Most Likely to be: A programmer, entrepreneur or in digital media.   Leo (July 23-August 22) As the lion is king of the jungle, so Leos are born leaders. Whilst you do at times need to be careful that the desire for status and power doesn’t become overwhelming, you can successfully utilise your strengths to climb the career ladder. Also be sure to embrace the spontaneous element of your personality, and don’t constrict yourself too much in your work.  Most Likely to be: CEO, director, founder  Virgo (August 23-September 22) If one type of person is a perfectionist, it’s a Virgo. Brilliant with languages and highly detailed in both work and life, as a Virgo you’re meticulous and will pick up new skills efficiently without any mistakes. Most likely to be: An analyst, statistician, translator â€" or perhaps combine your skills and work in international intelligence.   Libra (September 23-October 22) If you’re a Libra you’re highly likely to be brilliant with people, thriving in social situations; this makes you ideal for any client-facing role. Effortlessly charming and gracious, Libras avoid conflict and bring people together, creating a thriving network of connections that can help propel their careers forward. Most likely to be: A diplomat, salesperson or dealing directly with customers. Scorpio (October 23-November 21) The resourceful Scorpio is not only smart, but will use their brain to analyse situations and get the most out of the resources available to them. As a Scorpio you’re unafraid of hard work, but are nevertheless private about your career, making you ideal for positions of high confidentiality. Most likely to be: A physicist, researcher or spy Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) Sagittarius is the most moral and principled of the star signs. With particular strengths in decision-making, your fair, logical approach as a Sagittarius makes you an ideal leader. Born in the winter months, if you’re a Sagittarius you’ll love traveling and will spend as much of your time as possible in the great outdoors. Most likely to be: A pilot, police officer, entrepreneur Capricorn (December 22-January 19) Whilst Capricorns often get bad press as workaholics, their responsible and conscientious style of working is likely to see them excel. Ambitious with a desire for power, if you’re a Capricorn make sure to be careful to make time for yourself, whilst embracing your enjoyment of work. Well suited to high pressure, intellectual situations, a Capricorn is never happy unless they’re given a challenge. Most Likely to be: A scientist, IT expert, lawyer or CEO      Aquarius (January 20 to February 18) As kind-hearted individuals, those born under Aquarius are likely to thrive in humanitarian roles. However, as an Aquarius you’re not to be underestimated, and are drawn to adventurous, unconventional careers. An Aquarius is least likely to be found slaving away at a desk at all hours to climb up the corporate ladder. Most likely to be: In humanitarian work, farmer, musician, (amongst other unconventional careers). Pisces (February 19 to March 20) Those born under Pisces have a strong natural intuition, and will incline them towards the arts both in their work life and their free time. The traditional arts such as dance hold a draw for you as a Pisces, but you are also highly flexible and hugely compassionate. This combined with your strong work ethic makes a career in medicine or care as appealing a vocation to you as the arts. Most likely to be: Doctor, nurse, dancer or musician.   Alexandra Jane  is the writer and editor of  graduate careers advice  for Inspiring Interns, a  graduate recruitment  agency. Check out their website to see which  internships  and  graduate marketing jobs  are currently available, as well as their graduate jobs Manchester page for further opportunities.

How to Survive Culture Shock When Moving for a New Job - VocationVillage

How to Survive Culture Shock When Moving for a New Job - VocationVillage Worldwide, work is more often a source of frustration than one of fulfillment for nearly 90% of the world’s workers.To explore better work situations, many people decide to move to a different place. For people with spouses and children, this means disrupting life not just for the relocating employee or business owner, but for everyone in the family. Is it possible to accomplish this in a way that keeps everyone happy in the end? To discuss this topic, I invited Anne Gillme from Expatriate Connection to answer some questions. Anne became interested in the topic of relocation after moving several times to various countries to pursue job opportunities for herself or for her husband, each time with their four children in tow. Originally from France, she has lived in Germany, Belgium, and now Australia.Anne runs Expatriate Connection to help people deal with culture shock and the emotional impact of international moves on all family members. Expatriate Connection provides tools and ins piration to deal with the stress and reap the rewards of relocation. Her advice is helpful whether you plan to move 100 miles or halfway around the world.Anne, what are the main factors affecting each family member when you move?Moving causesgrief. This might sound overly dramatic as we usually think of grief for the death of a loved one.However each change, even positive, involves loss and gain.Before fully appreciating the gains, you need to process the losses.Its this healthy process that’s called grief.As Mark Twain said, Nothing that grieves us can be called little: by the eternal laws of proportion, a childs loss of a doll and a kings loss of a crown are events of the same size.Moving triggers two types of losses: definitive loss and ambiguous loss.Examples of definitive loss include the sale of a house or resignation of a job.Whatever the future holds, you wont have the same house nor the exact same job ever again. The situation is clear, even if painful but there is closur e possible.Closure doesnt happen for the other type of loss: ambiguous loss. Leaving friends, colleagues and extended family behind is a typical example. Theyre not present any longer in your daily life but they’re still alive, in your thoughts a click away on the Internet or on social media.Pauline Boss, a therapist who has studiedambiguous loss for 30 years, says, It feels like a loss but it’s not really one. This is what makes it so stressful.This confusion makes people feel stuck. On one hand, they’re sad and frustrated because they miss family and friends. Moreover, they often have to repress those feelings because they feel guilty to complain while they made the decision to leave. On the other hand, they enjoy the excitement of a new life or an interesting job without having to put up with whatever bad things they left behind.How do you know youre grieving? Physical symptoms includebody pains, crying, disturbed sleeping patterns, eating problems, lack of energy, chest pressure, and sweaty palms.Emotionally, you may feel sad, anxious, frustrated, angry and/or guilty. You may numb your emotions to protect yourself from acute pain.You may be tempted to withdraw from social activity and regret your decision to move.Each person grieves in his/her unique way. There is no prescribed time frame or time limit in this process.It may be even harder on the accompanying partner and the children who didn’t really have a choice but to follow. Boss says the impact on an individual can ripple out and affect the whole family. Family members can become so preoccupied by loss that they withdraw from each other.What can you do to deal with the grief in a healthy way?1. Inform yourself about grief and share the information with your loved ones.2. List your losses and discuss them together.3. Validate each others feelings without dismissing, ridiculing or r epressing them. If not, youll only intensify them.Keep in mind the motto of grief specialist Therese Rando, What grievers need most is acceptance and nonjudgmental listening.Anotherfactor of importance in a move is culture shock.Relocating from a village to a city or moving interstate or overseas will involve a change of culture. Whether its a subculture (when you stay in the same country) or a totally different culture, you’ll experience culture shock.In the 60s, renowned anthropologist Kalervo Oberg described culture shock in four stages:1. Honeymoon When you first come to a new place, you’re excited by the novelty of your surrounding. Youre curious to discover and to explore. Like in love at first sight, you see life with rose-tinted glasses.2. Crisis When dust settles, you start to perceive the differences and to face reality with its positive and negative aspects. You compare with what youre used to… and you despair. You become angry and resentful when you struggle with administrative delays, communication problems, lack of familiar food, and climate vagaries.3. Recovery Little by little, you find ways to adapt and you develop coping skills.4. Adjustment This is the stage where you develop a sense of belonging in your new community.It’s important to mention that you may NOT experience ALL those stages you may skip the honeymoon stage, for example, if you’re coming to a new place against your will. In some cases, you may even go through the stages in a different order.What can you do to make this process go more smoothly?1. Be prepared to deal with stress. You may want to learn or apply relaxation techniques and breathing exercises. Make sure you get enough sleep. Avoid excessive use of alcohol or self-medication.2. Communicate effectively. This includes paying attention to verbal and nonverbal cues, getting information on local customs, and being flexible and curious.3. Realize that moving will challenge your identity. You may want to think about how you define yourself to new acquaintances: through your professional activity, through your family role, and through the country/city/state you’re coming from.What are the challenges experienced by the accompanying partner?Accompanying partners are vulnerable: they very often give up their job and lose their support networks in the move. They become the natural resource to pick up the slack while the working partner is drawn into his/her new function. In some cases, they don’t have the opportunity to find another professional activity because they lack a work permit / visaor recognition of their professional qualifications. In other cases, they have to find work, a highly demanding task in the current troubled economic situation.The lack of professional activity is often a deal breaker in the morale of the accompanying partner leading to loss of self-confidence, loss of self-esteem, and financial dependence.Without support, depression looms.If youre the employee or business owner who precipitated the familys move, what can you do to support your accompanying partner?Lending an attentive ear is always a priceless gift to your partner, even more when he/she has fewadult conversations during the day. Listening is even more important than trying to problem solve, which is particularly challenging for men because they are so tempted to fix problems. Remember, your full attention and your empathy are essential AND enough..How can you help the children?Children are also affected by culture shock and a grieving process. The latter is particularly important to keep in mind. Psychologist John Bowlby said children age four and up mourn in similar ways to adults.If children sometimes seem forgetful and insensitive, it’s because they live much more in the present.Children grieve like adults but theyre more vulnerable because theyre dependent on grown ups to make sense of their new reality. They don’t have access to the same amount of i nformation.There are three golden rules for supporting them.Rule #1: Be fully present â€" physically and mentally â€" as often as you possibly can. Paramount is listening without judging, arguing, or denying. Ask questions when youre not sure but encourage anger, frustration, sadness, resentment to get out. Its so important. Bottled feelings intensify before exploding… sometimes decades later!Rule #2: Outline what’s changing and what’s not. Children need stability and continuity. Don’t hesitate to state even the obvious. You may have a list with two columns and place pictures of what’s going to stay the same and what’s going to change.For example, you’re changing houses but you’ll always have breakfast together.Rule #3: Explain what grief is. Take this opportunity to teach your children a lifelong coping skill because life is also a succession of losses.Finally, don’t forget yourself. You’re a role model. Children do what you do, not what you say.What happens when you come back?When you move to a new place, you’re experiencing culture shock. When you come back, you face reverse culture shock.This is the first surprise: people who have repatriated mention that its more difficult to go back to your original country than moving abroad!You think you’re going back home and it’s going to be easy, right? Well, think again.Why is it harder to come back?There is a huge gap between your expectations and the reality.You think you know the country, the culture and the language, so you expect to adjust quickly and easily.But you have changed.A friend of mine went to the local supermarket of her hometown in Germany and was waiting for the cashier to put her groceries in a bag like is usual in Australia. She got told off becau se she was daydreaming instead of packing.You can’t pretend that youre a foreigner! Sometimes, people were more understanding when they spotted your accent or looked at your face. You were clearly not from there. Now, you’re a hidden immigrant!The country has changed. You need to identify what has changed and sometimes it takes lots of concentration and energy to pick up what’s now different.Your relatives and your friends have changed. They moved on with their life while you were away. Very often, you realize that they’re not interested in your stories. A friend of mine mentioned that she had to hide her expat life in general conversations because people couldn’t relate.You’ll still have to deal with grief: the loss of your expat life.Reverse culture shock is still a kind of culture shock. So you’ll experience stress, communication issues (think about non-verbal cues!), and identity conflicts. Who are you? For example, if you are American, you seem to be a normal Amer ican but you’ve got another worldview and experience than the average citizen who never lived away from his country.So what can you do?Considerrepatriation as another new expat assignment. Consider yourself in discovery mode. Change your perspective and play the foreigner in your own country!Make expat friends to cultivate the diversity of worldviews.How does it sound? Ready for the challenge?This is very helpful, Anne. Thank you!Anne Gillme founded Expatriate Connection, a free online resource for helping expats deal with loneliness, expat grief, and uprooted children. To build a supportive online expat community, she runs video-based peer support groups for trailing spouses. The next group starts in February, 2015.

5 Reasons Why Writing a Blog Could Help Your Job Search

5 Reasons Why Writing a Blog Could Help Your Job Search Youve probably heard it all before building an online presence is essential for your job search. Not only can you connect with other professionals  working in your field of work, expanding your professional network; but by having a voice across social media you can get yourself known within your desired industry and build a bit of status for yourself. Your efforts dont need to be limited to social media channels, however, and starting up a blog could be a great way to get one up on your competition. Nearly anyone  can set up a Twitter profile and follow a few relevant accounts, but by putting the time into creating a blog that shares your insights and knowledge, you prove that you have ambition and are passionate about  working in the industry. Here are a few reasons why blogging can help you to find a job. 1) It can set you apart from other job seekers. A lot of job seekers do the bare minimum in their job hunt and then wonder why they dont have loads of job offers flying in. By taking the time to start up a blog and writing about relevant topics within your industry you show initiative and prove that you are a go getter and are serious about building a career within the sector. 2) You can showcase your knowledge. Employers want to hire people who know what they are doing, or at least show potential. By writing a blog that showcases your expertise in a certain area, you can demonstrate  to prospective employers that you have the required knowledge and career goals for a job within their company. If there is a particular role or company you are interested in, you can tailor your blog posts so that it demonstrates your suitability for the position. 3) You can use it to build a personal brand. Along with your social media accounts, CV and cover letter, employers may also wish to check out your blog when screening you for a role, so you want it to depict you in the best light possible. You are in control of how you would like to present yourself, so put thought into the topics you write about and the style you use. Injecting a bit of personality into your blog posts can give employers an insight into the kind of person you are, but try to keep it professional. By sharing your blog across social media, etc. you can expand your audience and build a name for yourself in the industry. 4) You can use your blog to network. The aim of your blog should be to create conversation. By encouraging engagement on your blog posts, you can get to know other industry professionals and build an online network. A large, dedicated following on your blog will reflect positively on your level of expertise and employers like to hire individuals who are well connected. 5) You can use it to make money. In the meanwhile why not make a bit of extra dough during your job hunt? A lot of bloggers offer advertising on their blogs and can earn money by placing ads on their website. Companies such as Google AdWords offer PPC (pay-per-click) arrangements, where the blogger can earn each time the banner ad is clicked. [Image Credit: Shutterstock]