Building Your Professional Reputation

April 13, 2009 -- As the job market becomes more and more competitive, students and recent grads need to do everything they can to stand out from their peers. One great way to do this is by building your professional reputation, also known as your "personal brand."

For advice on creating your personal brand -- and using it to help you land a great job -- I turned to Dan Schawbel, the leading personal branding expert for Generation Y.

Dan is the author of the brand new book, "Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success" (Kaplan, April 2009), as well as the publisher of the Personal Branding Blog and Personal Branding Magazine.

Here is an excerpt of my recent interview with Dan:

Lindsey: How do you define personal branding?

Dan: Personal branding is the process by which we market ourselves to other people. The process that I've developed in my new book, "Me 2.0," is to "discover, create, communicate and maintain (DCCM)."

The first step in this process is to discover what you're passionate about and your area of expertise, while establishing goals and forming both a development plan and a personal marketing plan.

The second step is to create marketing materials, which could include a business card, portfolio, Web site, blog, social network profiles, a podcast, a video resume, as well as traditional documents, like a resume and cover letter.

The third step is to become your own personal PR person and communicate your brand to others through speaking engagements, commenting on blogs, writing for magazines, pitching journalists and more.

The final step is to maintain your brand, which consists of online reputation management and keeping your profiles up-to-date and accurate with changes in your career.

Lindsey: Does personal branding change (in definition or activities) based on the stage of your career? In other words, should Gen Ys think of personal branding differently from more established professionals?

Dan: Personal branding is based on who you are as a person. Depending on your career status, your branding strategy will change. For instance, you would position yourself differently if you were a job seeker, instead of an entrepreneur trying to raise venture capital, or a marketing consultant. The personal branding process is still the same, but your marketing strategy will differ based on your audience and goals.