Why Student Blogging Is Useful

1. You will get noticed – Not only is blogging useful for making connections with other students and getting your name out as someone who cares about their success and well being, but writing for a blog is a great resume builder. Not to mention, many businesses require a writing sample in their employment applications or at a job interview. Practicing your writing skills in this way is useful in furthering your career aspirations. Additionally, having writing samples to draw from may be helpful in applying to transfer colleges that require a writing sample.

2. People seek you out. Don’t be surprised to find your inbox flooded from students seeking your advice. On a larger scale, you may find publishers contacting you to write for them. You never know; writing an innovative article on something someone has never written about like nifty hardware tools that you build yourself, could lead to a public speaking opportunity at the Homebuilder’s Association! Ok, so maybe that sounds far-fetched, but don’t be afraid to dream BIG! In any case, practicing your writing skills can lead you in another direction or world that you didn’t expect.

3. Providing a link to your blog on a resume can give employers and/or potential institutions that you are applying to for transfer purposes a true sense of who you are and the creative depths of your personality. Because blogs are written from a personal perspective, others will be able to see what you are really about and what you are passionate about.

4. It can lead to instant connections. People will know you from seeing your writing which will facilitate effective networking opportunities.

5. It improves your communication skills. When you are writing for an audience and receiving feedback for your blog regarding a topic that you are interested in, it challenges you to think about the other person’s perspective carefully if you receive feedback and responses from peers. Learning new perspectives can create more blogging ideas in the future, challenge more thinking among the masses and therefore, invite more of those meaningful connections. In essence, you are practicing synergy with people who respond to your writing by opening your mind to their feedback and finding new ways to view and collaborate on an area that several people find interesting and worth talking about.

We strongly encourage and welcome student bloggers to participate in our ELife Student blog to submit posts related to social networking, academic goal setting, test taking and study skills and/or any area of interest that you would find worthwhile to communicate with other students. For more information about submitting blog posts or to submit an ELife article, please e-mail Kristin Shriver at: kshriver@nvcc.edu.

Visit this link for more information on this topic.