How Job Seekers Can Build Their Online Brand

Personal branding expert says creating a yourname.com website is the first step

January 18, 2011 RSS Feed Print

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Personal branding. The term was used so much last year that it's almost become cliché, yet you can bet it's only going to become more ubiquitous in 2011.

But what does personal branding mean, exactly? And how can job seekers use it to their advantage?

U.S. News spoke with Dan Schawbel, managing partner of Millennial Branding, a personal branding company, and author of Me 2.0: 4 Steps to Building Your Future about steps job seekers can take to build a quality presence online. Excerpts:

[See 11 Tips for Getting Hired in 2011.]

Can you start by explaining what personal branding is and how it applies to job seekers?

Personal branding is a process by which you uncover what makes you special, relative to everyone else who is competing for the same opportunities, and then communicate that to the right audience … You need to take control of your brand, project the right image, and capitalize on your personality.

The Internet is the global talent pool, there's no doubt. That means you need to be in that pool. And the only way to get in that pool is to have a strong online personal brand. That can be composed of, at a minimum, your own website, so your full name dot com. That's the cost of entry to compete in the new marketplace.

[Your online brand should also include] your social network profiles on the top three social networks [meaning Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn], because people are searching for you on those networks—or people like you—and when they do, you need to come up … In the current economic environment, you can't have anything against you. You have to use everything at your disposal [to get a job]. … Your online presence becomes your chief career asset.

You say everyone should have their own website. Can you go over what should be on your website if you're looking for a job?

You can have a section for your resume. You can have a section for your different skills, and you can have a section for projects and results. You can have an introduction video or video resume of your stuff that's under two minutes, that shows who you are, what makes you unique, what value you contribute, and what type of job you're looking for. You can have links to LinkedIn and Twitter … You can have a list of published works and the links to those [works]. You can have endorsements from people you've worked with in the past and key influencers in your world. You can have your portfolio of work if you're in a creative field ... And you can easily outsource the web design.

[See 10 Ways to Use Social Media in Your Job Search.]

For a job seeker who's just beginning to think about personal branding, how should they get started? What should come first, the website or social networking?

The first thing is none of that. You need to discover your brand before you create it. Discovery is the most challenging but most important stage, because that's when you figure out what you're really passionate about, what career you want to pursue, and how you describe your brand.

If you put yourself out there in an authentic way, and you tell the world what you're good at and what kind of job you're interested in, you're going to attract only the right opportunities because you're telling people what you want. And that's the reason why social networking and blogging and getting yourself out there is so empowering. Because you're dictating what you're looking for. You're not just submitting your resume to random jobs … You're telling the world how you want to be judged and what you're looking for.

Which social network do you think is most helpful for job seekers?

Twitter is extremely valuable … It's effective because it's public networking, and people feel comfortable. It's like going on a first date at a restaurant instead of going to that person's house. That's why it's a good starting point. It helps build your brand in [other people's] eyes if you share good content, and if you connect with them and support them on Twitter. And once you have that, then you can take the relationship to LinkedIn or Facebook or e-mail. That's why I think Twitter's probably the best tool for starters.

Tags:: media,; internet

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I am appalled at the number of people in today's society, especially the 20- and 30-somethings who are all-too-willing to be lemmings. They just follow down whatever path these giant Internet corporations sell them on - their products (e.g., Apple, Blackberry, etc.) and "services" (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In, etc.).
These corporations, especially the ones who offer no tangible product and are nothing more than Internet posting boards, enticing you to disseminate to the world at large just bout everything about yourself and/or your family (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In), are merely using YOU so that they can ENRICH THEMSELVES at the expense of YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION! BIG BROTHER is not, as we all feared in the past would be the case - the government. It is Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In, Intelius, and similar types of corporations that cyberstalk us and violate our privacy.
In this day and age where being online and participating in "social media" (which would be more appropriately called "ANTI-social media") is often times EXPECTED of us by employers, it is CRUCIAL that our privacy be respected, and it is ETHICALLY INCUMBENT UPON these providers of "social Internet space" to create policies that PROHIBIT: the dissemination of highly personal information about the poster, information and comments about others who have not agreed to such information being disseminated about them, and similar COMMON-SENSE matters. It is also incumbent upon OUR GOVERNMENT to control content on these sites. Yes, yes, we all know about the GRIEVOUS ERRORS IN CRITICAL REASONING AND THINKING committed by our JUDICIARY, especially the U.S. Supreme Court justices; however, we must test the limits of constitutionality vis-a-vis PRIVACY matters and the EMOTIONAL HEALTH, SAFETY and WELFARE of our citizenry.
Society is falling apart at the seams as a result of the dizzying rush by Internet corporations to DESTROY OUR PRIVACY FOR THEIR FINANCIAL GAIN. It is high time that WE, THE PEOPLE, PUT AN END TO IT and ASSERT THOSE RIGHTS! I seriously doubt that our FOUNDING FATHERS AND MOTHERS risked their lives so that the likes of the owners of Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In and Intelius can enrich themselves at our expense! We did not fight a war of Independence, nor did we craft our Constitution for that nonsense (just as we did not do so in order to have the First Amendment erroneously interpreted by our UN-esteemed judiciary as protecting pornography). Enough said!

Mary D. of CA 5:34AM February 17, 2012

I can tell that Alexis Grant (Ms. or Mr.?), the "author" of this article, is not concerned about PRIVACY. This individual should be well aware that if one creates one's own personal web site, as part of which would be included our resume, EVERYONE in the world will have access to it, including: criminals, terrorists, identity thieves, those scumbag aggregators of our personal data, who cyberstalk us to find more and more information about us, and then splash it all over the Internet, every stranger out there, abusive ex-husbands whom we do not wish to find us, and other people whom we do NOT want to know everything there is to know about us, including our entire educational and professional history. These matters are PRIVATE between our employer and ourselves and others do NOT HAVE THE RIGHT to know that. That is why one's EMPLOYEE FILE IS CONFIDENTIAL! It's that simple!
Let's just STOP THIS NONSENSE about personal branding and go back to the basics that have worked in the PAST and should continue to work just fine: Email or mail to the employer 1) a cover letter and 2) our well-written resume. That should more than suffice. At that time, if upon reading our submission they are interested in us, they can give us a call, do a preliminary phone interview, and determine whether they wish to interview us in person.

Mary D. of CA 5:11AM February 17, 2012

Today you need to let people know why you are special, the reasons why people will not only read your content, articles, and emails, but see that you have something to offer. You need to sell yourself in today's fast paced society, it means looking at yourself as a product, with special features, and these skills can help others, such as employers, temporary employers, or others what want to hire your services. No one will know you unless you are willing to discuss that make you a special brand, that has specific skills that will benefit others.
Expect rejection, setbacks, failure while you sell your most important brand: yourself. You are special, and you need to continue to let the world know you have a bucket load of skills, talents and abilities that are special. You can do it. Go for it.

William J. Bond, Author, Motivator,Speaker,Educator of MA 2:01PM March 18, 2011