When it comes to your career, it’s not quite as simple as simple getting paid to do what you love as soon as you start out.

For most of us, we’d love to run our blogs full-time. The question you have to ask is this: is it realistic?

Usually, the answer is no. So instead, we look for a job that’s somehow related to blogging. But the question I see people asking all the time is, but how do I find a job when I don’t have any skills or experience?

The truth is the skill set and professional value you’ve developed as a blogger means that your career options can be far more diversified than you think.

When I graduated from my Masters and started looking for jobs, (you can read more about my career journey here), one thing I noticed was that most companies in the digital marketing sector were looking for the same things: management of social media accounts, high quality writing skills, editing experience, coming up with ideas, working as a team, being organised and so on.

Yes, they’re very general skills to ask for, but the majority of them can be applied to a variety of scenarios and a variety of career paths. And do you know what’s even better?

You can do all of them.

So today, I wanted to talk about the skill set that all bloggers have at their disposal. Hopefully, this will help you succeed in your next job interview or inspire you to be more confident in the job you’re in now.

Just before we begin, I know how stuck you can feel when it comes to updating your CV, so I’ve created a checklist of all the skills you can include on it. Click the button below and it’s yours for free!

#1 | Your own opinion and writing experience

When you become a blogger, you instantly create your own voice. The content ideas you come up with are from your own mind and you write about them using your own thoughts and opinions. And as you grow as a blogger, your view and your words develop an authority that people want to hear, to communicate with and to get involved with.

Think about the way you communicate with your audience right now. It’s online right? But think of all the different ways and the different channels you communicate on:

Blog posts
Comments
Social media
Live video
Imagery
Online conversations (Twitter chats/Facebook groups)
Email marketing

The amount of ways you can communicate is so diverse and even better than that - you have the knowledge about how to use that communication for each one too.

You know blog posts are where you can establish your expertise and authority. You know Facebook can be used effectively to help drive traffic to your site. You know that Twitter is meant for lasting conversations and connections.

Businesses are looking for ways to diversify their brand online. They don’t want to share the same thing on every social media platform. They want variety. They want to cater for all their audiences. You have experience of that and you can adapt the way you communicate with your audience to how businesses can communicate with theirs.

#2 | A portfolio of work

Your own branded content is the ultimate and original way of standing out in an interview. It’s your product and your own tangible asset that you have to offer.

Businesses want to work with people who have got results. They want to know that the things you’re going to implement are going to have an effect. That’s where your experience comes in.

For every blog post you write and every tweet you send, you’re not just building up a portfolio of work. You’re building up a success story - your success story.

You’re growing your audience everyday, you’re improving your writing skills all the time and you’re constantly thinking of ways you can do things better. This is exactly what businesses want to see when they’re hiring someone.

Your portfolio of work is fantastic. You’re showing people exactly what you can do. It’s like saying a fact and backing it up with evidence.

Fact: I can write high quality SEO blog posts.

Evidence: Take a look at these examples from my portfolio.

A portfolio isn’t just great for showing people what you can do - it also backs up your skills. And don’t think you have to go printing off your blog posts and put a book together. Include a live link to your website on your CV. Then in your interview, you can talk about navigating your site and describe your different categories. This will definitely make the interviewer want to go back for more.

#3 | Community building

If you’ve included links to your social accounts on your CV, chances are that potential employers will check them out. So you want them to look good. You do that by leveraging your social influence.

Sure, some people are more knowledgeable about social media than others, and some people love it more than others too. (Seriously, I see SO many bloggers saying they hate scheduling tweets ;) ). But no matter what your relationship or expertise is with social media, that doesn’t mean to say you don’t know anything about it.

Social media is a game pool for businesses. These channels provide such a huge opportunity for influencers in our world today. Whether you want to feature a new product, talk about an experience or show your knowledge, you can bring people new content all the time - and that comes with a valuable price tag.

So talk about social media. Say you’ve got experience of managing platforms (because you do). Say you’ve got experience of scheduling (because you do). And don’t leave out your community building. You ask questions, you share other people’s content, you use polls, you take part in challenges and chats - the list is endless.

#4 | Networking

What are some of the requirements you see listed in almost every job description? Good written and verbal communication skills. How do you know you have these? Because you network. And the best thing is, you’re actively networking without even realising it.

Think about some of the ways you have conversations online right now:

Leaving a comment on a blog post
Replying to a comment on your own post
Sharing someone’s blog post on social media (and mentioning them)
Thanking someone for sharing your content on social media
Taking part in an Instagram challenge
Being active in a Facebook group
Hosting a Twitter chat
Attending a blogger event

These are all examples of networking.

The likes of these things all allow you as a blogger to build up your communication skills, whether it’s written or verbal. For people who can communicate this effectively in an interview, you can imagine how impressed the potential employer would be.

#5 | Idea creation

We’re part of a generation that wants everything at the touch of a button. Just look at the success of ‘how to’ content. So it’s crucial that you’re staying at the top of your game and coming up with ideas as frequently as you can.

Each business wants to be the next big thing so you can start by bringing your own wisdom and experiences to the table. What have you learned that you can pass on? What opportunities could you bring this business with your knowledge?

Expanding your online presence by generating new ideas is a great way for any blogger to develop their skill set. Whether you’re thinking about creating a course, or you want to go bigger and develop your own product - the way you go about developing this idea can be transferred to whatever company you work for. You want to create an eBook? Use the same formula. It could be for two different industries, but the way you come up with the idea will be the same.

The opportunity to diversify your online presence through new ideas is something you should take full advantage of. And you don’t need to be a huge blogger to do this. Look at your most popular content - those ideas have been loved by your audience for a reason. Work backwards and find out how you can transfer that skill to another situation.

#6 | Creative direction

Whether you’re a hobby blogger, or you’d love to run a blogging business full-time, you still have a direction. I know you don’t want to stay standing still. You want to grow, develop and move forward.

But creative direction is even more valuable than direction. Let’s say you have five possible ideas for a product you can create for your blog. You’re able to narrow it down to just one, because you know what is right for your brand. You know what will take your forward, you know what will grow your online presence and you know what your audience wants.

If you can prove the success of an idea you’ve had in an interview, you’re onto a winner. This means that you have a credible voice to give advice to others on how you did this. Where did the success come from? How did you know the idea was going to work? The methodology of how you did this means you can consult other businesses on how to do the same.

Want a list of the exact blogging skills you can add to your CV? Get the free checklist!

a final note

In such a fast-paced and evolving industry like digital, the opportunity to leverage your skills and experience to help others is so valuable. Don't be afraid to show off what you know. Your blog is your best friend - it's what got you here.

Did you find this post helpful? Are you a blogger looking for a job? Did this post help you realise the skills your blog has helped you develop?