Secure your domain name for job search success

July 22, 2:38 PMSan Diego Job Search ExaminerJohn Walker

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Your personal domain name is a key to establishing and maintaining your personal brand online and plays a very important role if you happen to be conducting a job search.

Just as businesses around the world register domain names to help promote their products, services and establish their websites as a destination for their customers. individuals now must consider registering their own names to promote their area expertise and careers.

Reasons why a personal domain name is important to job seeker:

1. It provides you the avenue to establish your personal brand.
2. It is your "calling card", your address on the Internet. This is how people will find you online.
3. If you don't register your name, someone else will and you may lose the opportunity to brand yourself successfully and stand out in the mind of the employers.

Items to consider when registering your name:

1. You have to decide if you want to register your full name, or name using a keyword or phrase from the area of expertise or field in which you want to work. For example, bobsmith.com or databaseanalyst.com. The problem with the latter is that you may at some point in your career no longer be a database analyst so that form might not be appropriate. Your name is always a sure bet.
2. If you have a really long first and last name, you may want to consider a shorter version or nickname.
3. Don't be too concerned if you can't find your name as a .com, there are several domain designation now that are available. .net, .info, .me. you can use a hyphen in between your first and last name if it is not available as one word. Use a combination of both techniques to find the one that works best for you.

There are several domain name registrars that provide domain registrations at reasonable costs. You can purchase a domain name in the range of $4 to $20 year. Do your research to find the best deal.

Once you have purchased your domain name you can do several things with it to help you in your job search. You may want to start a blog and write about your area of expertise, create a personal home page to post your resume, attach your domain name to a profile on a service that allows you to use your own domain name rather than the one they provide. You may also do nothing, "park" your domain name and be comfortable in knowing that no one else can grab it.

Place your domain name on all your personal marketing material, business cards, email signatures, handouts and of course your resume if you have a home page, blog or website where you want employers to find out more about you.

Think of all the ways you see businesses marketing their domain names and apply the same techniques to your personal marketing efforts.

Here are are two examples of domains and personal brands I have found in my industry. Look for good examples in your industry.

Michael Marlett - http://www.cloudrecruiting.net - Recruiter/Mobile Recruiting Guru

Ryan Chartrand - http://www.ryanchartrand.com - Web Developer

If you have any questions about personal branding and personal domain names, contact me or leave a comment.