It's all quandarious, ain't it? (This is why I don't get writing jobs: I invent words.) I've never kept my site a secret. I'm a designer, and people like to hire creative people to be designers, see, so on my resume I basically hang it all out. I mention all the writing on my site, and even use it as a sample of my web work in my portfolio.

It's never been a major thing for me, though I did have to consciously stop using people's real names on the site once it became obvious that I wasn't going to be able to *not* gossip about the people I work with.

I do have moments of abject nervousness, though, about certain things being read by certain people who would interpret it differently than my average reader, and I have nightmares about the site reflecting poorly on me to the bosses, but so far I've had pretty good (and pretty disinterested) bosses, so it works out.

Um, Anonymous Poster No. 1 is me. Not sure what happened there. But I figured writing 'I've never really kept my site a secret' and then forgetting to claim authorship of that would be construed as wanting to keep my site a secret, so.

Blimey. Got exactly the same issue.

The worst bit is you give somebody important the URL, then you spend days on end a) checking the stats to see if you can identify whether they've looked at it and b) trying really really hard to write extra good but non-controversial stuff. So it doesn't work...

Maybe try:

'I guess you're not one of my readers, then?'.

Confidence always wins out...

Also, Deb, you had a real live literary publishing type person contact you b/c of your blog about writing a book, right? You are a legitimate writer, blogfare or not. Personally, I would never point a potential employer to your blog, but I wouldn't hesitate to do exactly what you've done--pull some posts and explain the background of them.

Blog Sharing Lesson Learned: (3x to be exact)

Do NOT in ANY case, share your blog url with a dating partner. In the case that lover turns into creepy-ex-with-nothing-better-to-do-than-catch-up-on-my-newly-single-life. This had led to THREE url changes for me, and now I have a readership of a big donut...again...

Bond Girl - Uhm, good point. Thank you.
Miss Koolaid - Oops. Alex should have never told me about his site :)

Agree with Miss Koolaid - I myself am wrestling with this issue, hence the reason i cannot post about not-so-cool date a few weeks ago. email being attached to a weird domain name promotes the person checking your url. and then when you log in to check your stats - you see them checking it every half hour to see if maybe you wrote about them. when what you want to write is not-too-flattering stuff. besides, it's so much better to write stuff about all those crazy dating partners, ex boyfriends, and whatnot. as for writing... you're a writer regardless of experience. it's stupid for hiring folks to think otherwise.. t.s. eliot was a banker, chekov was a doctor, and wallace stevens was an insurance salesman.. an insurance salesman, and yet one of the most brillian poets of the twentieth century. just tell them you're freelancing and trying to get stuff published..

I'm a retail manager, I've done a great deal of hiring over the years. If I was hiring for a job that required writing skills I'd want to see samples. Printing off several posts and explaining the context would work for me.

I would however, ask for the URL. One of the catchisms of hiring is that past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. I'd want to take a looky-see for trash talk about former co-workers. Such venting is perfectly normal and understandable, but doing it in a public place could cause needless workplace tension. I'm realatively new to the blogosphere, but it seems even the most anonymous of blogs get found out eventually. The internet is after all a public place.

I wouldn't really be worried about anything else, well, other than writing quality. But that's just me, I'm sure other bosses would feel differently.

I'm not sure what you can do if you don't want a potential employer to see some of the stuff in your blog. My suggestion would be to pull anything that would really bother you and then be up front about it. In the end do you want to work for someone who doesn't understand blogging?

Also, when I'm hiring I'm trying to get an understanding of who that person is and how they'll fit in. This is almost as important as finding out what skills they have. An honest blog would tell me much more about that than any interview would. If you want to find a job that matches you're beliefs and personality giving potential employers the URL might be a good thing.

Good luck.

Doesn't go to your main issue but . . . . I'm sure you know but CakeLove makes the best cupcakes in DC. They are also sold at LoveCafe http://www.cakelove.com/lovecafe/

The paradox of the job hunt.

"Got any experience kid?"

"No, sir, but I'm a hard worker, and I learn quick."

"Go learn somewhere else."

When I was hiring folks for a major suburban weekly newspaper, I often evaluated unpublished non-fiction student work (stories from j-school class, essays). Of course it was even better to see published work -- articles, book reviews, so forth. The idea is to be able to see if the person can use verbs and nouns that sort of match. There was no Internet in the 1970s, but if I were hiring today, published blog entries would count. I would be less worried about getting the URL, I think. And you can learn the requirements of the job; nobody wants to spend time teaching you grammar and spelling, so make it good when you interview.

Don't fret; there are enough smart people who will be able to evaluate your writing without a blood test or psychiatric exam. (And, no, I would definitely not submit the, uh, more explicit essays on schtupping and its many delightful variants to a corporate interviewer.)

I just used one of my posts as the basis of a writing sample for a job application. And I got the job. So yeah, it's helpful. IMHO, I would make a site that I proclaimed my name on, and put my "nice" stuff in, for employers to look at. But that's just me.

On an entirely different note, in my new job, I need to be a web designer. If you could have any tools you wanted to design web sites, what would you use?

Deb, it sounds like the fella that you and Fish and everyone else has been talking to (but me, sniffle) has some thoughts on blogs-in-life. I say turn it around on that guy and ask him for some unique thoughts. Additionally, if you'd like for me to send you a copy of my article about emmployment law and blogging, I'd be happy to share it, though it is a bit technical....

Weird synchronicity--I'm applying for a job right now that asks for writing samples and am wrestling with if and how to use my blog. I definitely wouldn't give out the url to an employer, but I'm trying to figure out how to give a blog-derived sample and explain the context without the potential boss finding it. I know I'd google my little fingers off until I found the blog, if I were the one interviewing.

I wonder about this too.
So far, I am most likely to agree with Courtney.
Good idea!

I'm with Courtney, make a website purely to promote your work.

I'd second a portion of what Coelacanth said - in my humble and limited experience, providing a printed sample of your writings works better than pointing to an url. You should maybe set up a sort of resume page, away from here, where at least you know what a potential employer would end up reading. I've found myself at ease in the past keeping co-workers and employers far away from my personal life and the subsequent blogging of it, but I guess it depends on one's own mindset.

I'd second a portion of what Coelacanth said - in my humble and limited experience, providing a printed sample of your writings works better than pointing to an url. You should maybe set up a sort of resume page, away from here, where at least you know what a potential employer would end up reading. I've found myself at ease in the past keeping co-workers and employers far away from my personal life and the subsequent blogging of it, but I guess it depends on one's own mindset.

Would you feel as compelled to say, "Oh, but I keep a journal and right in it every night"?

Good writing is good writing. But writing experience is being able to match tone, content (whatever) to the audience and medium. It's being able to cave to endless revisions by too many people. And it's showing a skill to address more than one's own life.

It seems like you could do those things. But a blog only proves so much.

As someone who is a professional journalist with a blog, I have to say that recreational writing is very far removed from writing for a publication or a corporate audience. I worked at State Farm for a year writing executive speeches, company memos, and the like, and I wouldn't expect an HR person there to look at my blog and say, "Now there's someone cut out for writing inspirational speeches to agents about selling life insurance." Likewise, my recap of this past weekend's bachelor party isn't the same as writing a recap of a major horse race. It's all about spin, though, and somethings you could say to your advantage are, "I really know how to write for an audience" or "a lot of people read my work."

it's all in the packaging: "developer of creative content for personal web site with 1M+ readers per day. cited source for article on blah blah blah."

Maybe print out samples. And I'm feeling important today -- maybe let them know that I read this stuff with passion and interest and delight.

I most certainly will!

Ugh-I can't even begin to imagine the nightmare of maintaining a work blog as well as a personal one. Way too much effort.

I too keep my blog hidden, strictly not-for-acquaintances, although I have been found. And I absolutely second the above notion that one's bed buddy should not know about blogs. Where else can one vent about their relationship, otherwise?

i write a fair amount for my job. it is nothing like my blog. my blog is kept very hush hush. i suppose like anything else it depends on the job and you.

well, i'm really glad you wrote about this. i am in the same position.... sort of. i have a very strong writing background, have written all my life and love books, etc, but somehow ended up being a computer geek. so i've been writing and writing and submitting pieces to places that i normally wouldn't have bothered with, just to get a portfolio built up... never thought to fix up my blog a little and submit some of those pieces... yay.

Someone just sent me a link to their blog/photojournal looking for work at my magazine.

Don't do it. Don't. It's just not professional.

As someone else commented, writing for yourself (or your blog readers) isn't the same as writing for a publication. It's one thing to muse about love and loss like a champion; it's something totally different to write about a product/person/event with factually correct info, in the tone of your publication, and geared toward a specific audience.

I might print out some blog posts that were relevant, though. A research paper from college might work, too.