Are connections as important as skill in the job world?

Always.

I think connections and networking are important in pretty much every industry, and the copywriting/marketing world is no exception. (And don’t even get me started on the publishing industry!) It’s part of why being a serial contracting copywriter served me well: I did years of short contracts that got me out into different companies and constantly mixing with different people. Many of those people became friends, and friends help friends find work.

A few examples…

One of the designers who I worked with at The Seattle Times in 2003 ended up becoming a recruiter, and she’s the one who got me my gig at Jobster in 2006. A colleague I met at the Blog Business Summit last year referred me for my current position at Microsoft, which we now job-share. Your coworkers and colleagues and friends and associates are your lifeblood, especially if you ever want to think about freelancing.

Did Electrolicious help you with your skill as well as in making connections/friends/finding community? And so you would suggest an interested writer try that?

Electrolicious helped with my skills in some ways — it’s certainly acted as a sandbox where I could test what kind of writing got what kinds of responses. But in many ways blog writing has only exacerbated my lazy writing: I don’t do much research, and I do a lot of opining.

As far as making connections, absolutely! I owe so much to my blog. It’s delivered countless people to my digital doorstep, and some of these people have become close real life friends — too many to list for fear of leaving some dozens off! My blog has helped me find housing in Madrid (Hi, Javier!), got me a book deal (Hi, Liz!), lots of media exposure (Hi, NPR and Seattle Times and so many others), lots of free stuff, lots of good times, free booze, copious amounts of free drugs, gratis hookers, etc etc etc.

Part of what the blog does is it gives people I meet face-to-face an odd familiarity with me. For better or for worse, readers feel as though they really know me after reading Electrolicious. There have been more than a few times when new coworkers have done their homework, read Electrolicious, and decided they liked me before we’ve even had a chance to properly meet. Had they not read the blog, those friendships might never have gotten off the ground and flourished.

So yes, I suppose I would recommend having a blog as a way of developing your writing and your career. If nothing else, it’s a great way to ensure that the first things people find when they Google you is what you WANT them to find (aka your blog) as opposed to your MySpace profile or some bitter essay an ex wrote about you back in the day.