Everyone has a blog. You have a blog. Your mom has a blog. Your dad has a blog. Your uncle that smells like cheese and burps awkwardly at the dinner table has a blog. Blogs are free and take no effort to start, and thanks to the first amendment, you can write about anything that you want.

Yet for some reason a disturbing trend has grown in the job market: Many applicants are starting to talk about their experience working on their blog in their resumes, only to find that these “qualifications” do considerably more harm than good when it comes to improving your chances of getting the job.

Your Blog Doesn’t Matter

Writing for a blog is not a qualification for any job other than “Blog Writer.” Just because you are passionate about a topic enough to write about it on a regular basis does not mean you are suddenly qualified to apply for a job in that industry. Though it may help you feel like you know a great deal about the subject and you are welcome to drop terminology into your job interview that you learned when you were writing on the blog, there is nothing about you website that makes you more qualified for the job than your burping uncle.

When you start writing your resume of cover letter, remember to always stick to qualifications that matter. You wouldn’t use babysitting your little sister as a qualification for a management position just because you “showed leadership,” and you should use a blog as experience for any job that doesn’t involve blog writing.

Only Talk About Important Information

Your cover letter and resume need to always focus only on the things that matter. Interesting jobs that you held in the past matter. Writing for a blog in your spare time does not.