The Future of Your Personal eBrand is a URL
June 11, 2008 at 10:43 am | In Career Development, Futures, Personal Branding, Podcasts, Recruitment, Success Strategies, eBrand, social media | 14 Comments
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The future
I’m still holding onto my future prediction that instead of a resume, video resume, cover letter, portfolio, paper business card, and references document, your personal eBrand will exist as a single URL. You won’t be able to toss 10 different URL’s to hiring managers because they don’t have time to make sense of them. In your world of personal branding, you see all of these websites and blogs as assets, and I couldn’t agree more. In the future, you will need to compile, centralize and store these elements into a master website (yourname.com). The future is all about consolidation of social networks and seamless integration across websites. Also, there will be heavy emphasis on mobile computing, where someone will be able to conduct a background check on you from anywhere. One URL will tell your complete story.
Now is not the time
When I speak about this future prediction, I’m thinking a minimum of 10 years in the future because HR databases are still present and social media (despite our bubble) is still in infancy, just like personal branding. Whether it’s a corporate or job board database, they collect similar information from you, such as work experience, education, etc. Basically, this is the information that is included within a resume. Over time, social media will force these companies to undergo a metamorphasis. First, they will open up their boards. Second, they will capture different content, such as video resumes and finally, they will realize that with a single URL, one can experience an entire candidate.
For one, there is not enough comfort around a single URL representing an individual or applicant. Also, believe it or not, only a small percentage of the population has registered theirname.com (domain name). Where this gets tricky is that everyone in the world would have to have their domain name, yet people share the same name.
I get a lot of emails asking me about how to choose the proper domain name, despite some being taken. Try using either your middle name, middle initial, nickname or pick a concept and then tie your name to it in the title (in the description as well).
The new HR database (In the year 2020)
How to prepare for the future
- 1) Purchase yourname.com
- 2) Start a blog, either on yourname.com or yourtopic.com
- 3) Register your blog on Technorati.com
- 4) Write byline articles for online websites and guest posts for blogs
- 5) Become a personal PR person and pitch your story to media
- 6) Use Twitter and email to build deeper relationships
- 7) Create a website summary of your personal eBrand, which includes all of the above
- 8 ) Use that URL on all your promotional material moving forward
The future is never certain, but by preparing today you will be best equipped for confronting the future.
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Thanks, Dan, for the compelling and succinct advice.
Claiming “yourname.com” is a critical first-step (or next-step) in personal e-branding to be at the ready to launch your master website. Especially if you have a fairly common name.
Viable variations, as you suggest, will be taken quickly. You may not be happy with what’s left to identify you. Since it’s so easy and inexpensive to buy a domain name, it makes sense to jump on it right away.
Comment by Meg Guiseppi, Master Resume Writer — June 11, 2008 #
When you say “business card” I assume you mean paper business card?
-Lief
http://lieflarson.businesscard2.com
Comment by Lief Larson — June 11, 2008 #
I just “dugg” this – great post and one I can absolutely say people need to begin acting on to brand themselves efficiently…
Comment by daniel martin — June 11, 2008 #
@Lief – yes paper business card….not a Businesscard2
I see websites having Businesscard2 widgets though
Comment by Dan Schawbel — June 11, 2008 #
Thanks Dan. I was just pulling your chain. This is a great suggestion. Since I have your attention, I might propose a future topic for Personal Branding Blog. I’m interested to know with this period of stagflation that we’re in (stagnant economy while also recognizing inflation) we’re seeing higher gas prices and commodities. I think most people (at least here in Minnesota) are realizing that we won’t be eating blueberries from Brazil in January anymore. This inflation is having enough impact that our geo lives are starting to contract a little. We’re not traveling as far (presumably to conserve gas) and many grocery stores are going to more local suppliers to keep shelves stocked. I would love to hear your opinion on how personal branding is impacted, and how the strategy might change, if we are increasingly living our lives more local???
This reminds me of an earlier time in our country when few people traveled outside of the county they lived in, consumed almost all of their food from locally grown farms, and transacted a majority of their business locally.
Comment by Lief Larson — June 11, 2008 #
I agree wholeheartedly, but forget 10 years out. If you want to protect your name from being used by someone else, buy your name as a URL. You don’t even have to use it; domains are so cheap to buy from GoDaddy and other registrars, you can park it on their servers and not worry about it.
If your name is John Robert Smith and johnsmith.com is taken, I suggest buying one of the following variants:
john-smith.com
john-r-smith.com
john-robert-smith.com
johnrsmith.com
johnrobertsmith.com
jsmith.com
jrsmith.com
j-smith.com
and so forth…
People forget hyphens, but that is a valid character for a URL.
You can aim for a dot-net or a dot-org domain, but most people will type dot-com anyway so that’s your best bet. I’m not a fan of the dot-name domains.
Daniel Scocco posted some useful advice on buying a yourname.com at Daily Blog Tips. There are many useful comments, too.
Comment by Ari Herzog — June 11, 2008 #
@Ari – good pointers
Comment by Dan Schawbel — June 11, 2008 #
Dan, great pointers, and something that you reinforce often. I am going through a bit of a rebrand myself right now (I do have my name as a url!). I had the greatest difficulty separating my business blog and business website from my personal blog and website – I think I am close to getting the mix right, but time will tell!
Comment by Luke Harvey-Palmer — June 12, 2008 #
Dan, I love your clarity around trend predictions. And I completely agree. I’ve been saying for years that the resume is a dinosaur.
Sure, companies ask for them now, but what is more important — understanding your brand/value prop and building visibility around that message, or relying on a paper document (usually badly written and typically task- rather than results-oriented) to get you in front of your targets.
A “one-stop shop” URL that gathers all your web presence, thought leadership and accomplishment activity, as well as your accomplishments, can be a portal to all that’s needed to present you. With profiles on LinkedIn, FaceBook, and other social netorking sites acting a resumes anyway, and sites like Twitter building real-time relationships, a static document like a resume has increasingly limited application.
I’ve been doing full-scope C-level personal branding and resume/collateral development for years, and in that time I’ve seen the resume go from the focus of the project to a minor deliverable. Branding and value, along with elevator pitches, branded interview prep, and accomplishment case studies tied to the brand are what’s critical now. When a careerist has to tell their story in so many mediums, she has to know that story inside and out. Doing rez dev alone won’t get her there.
I’ve had clients get jobs while still doing branding, before the resume was even done, because of the clarity the brand brought. Translating that message to a portal site is a natural extension.
I’m completely on-board with you on this trend prediction.
I already own DebDib.com. Guess I’d better start building it
Comment by Deb Dib — June 12, 2008 #
[...] Money Non-Profit Personal Development Politics Technology Dan Schawbel The Future of Your Personal eBrand is a URL [...]
Pingback by The Future of Your Personal eBrand is a URL : Brazen Careerist — June 12, 2008 #
Another thing that brings an interesting element into the mix on this subject is that more and more, experts are actually advising hiring managers not to use things like profiles on social networks in their screening and hiring decisions. There aren’t legal precedents yet, but it’s only a matter of time before an applicant or employee sues an employer for any number of things (harassment, discrimination, etc.) related to information that they have online at MySpace, Facebook, like their race, age, faith, etc.
So the question is, will personal websites fall into this legal conundrum too?
All this is not to say, however, that your eBrand isn’t very powerful in your career – if you’re a “knowledge worker,” that is. This whole concept doesn’t currently seem to apply outside this segement of the workforce, and there’s a very real fault line there, but that’s another subject for another time. For knowledge workers, the relationships you build online are tremendously powerful in your professional development and career path, so I wonder if in the future, we will start to see people with strong, active brands moving much more quickly up and around in their careers, based simply on their broad, supple networks and their demonstrated expertise and skill.
Comment by Tiffany Monhollon — June 12, 2008 #
@ Tiffany – Excellent comment. Looking forward to how everything pans out in the future.
Comment by Dan Schawbel — June 12, 2008 #
[...] to tag “a digital representation of you on the Internet”, recently suggested on his Personal Branding Blog: “I’m still holding onto my future prediction that instead of a resume, video resume, cover [...]
Pingback by Stake Your Claim to Your Online Identity | Career Management Alliance Blog — June 17, 2008 #
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Comment by cycleAttextnimistoof — December 29, 2008 #