Kirsten Dixson, Personal Branding Strategist

The Expert Factor

Article by Kirsten Dixson, originally published on TheLadders.com.

Like it or not, emerging technology for social networking and job matching is going to impact your career. Employers are increasingly searching for the exact right fit, and they're using this technology to reach out to talent. Paul Copcutt, a Toronto-based recruiter, tells us, "Two years ago they might have settled for 8 or 9 off a list of 12 must-haves, now they are saying they want 10, 11 or even all 12. They know people are not going to stay with them forever, so if they are going to hire someone for a 'limited' amount of time, they want the best."

The ideal situation for every job seeker is that, instead of applying for jobs, employers find you. So, how do you position yourself to be the hunted rather than the hunter? Become known as an expert.

Take Control of Your Digital Resume

Article by Kirsten Dixson, originally published on TheLadders.com.

What do our technology choices say about us? With email now the standard method of resume distribution, a lot!

A professional-looking resume on paper is well and good, but digital resumes are a necessity. A resume garbled in transit brands you immediately as someone who isn't tech-savvy. A resume that looks impressive when emailed shows that you're current with the job market.

Search Engine Optimization for Web Portfolios & Blogs

Since we build websites and blogs for individuals to help them establish and control their online identities for career management, most often we are thinking about their search engine rankings when someone is looking for them by name.

If you have an uncommon or unusually spelled name, like Kirsten Dixson or Brandego, then you will probably get the results that you want organically — without a lot of effort and investment. If you also have a presence on a very popular site, then you might need to work a little harder to get your own site to rank higher.

If you do have a common name, like our client William Reed, then you will have to optimize for your name and your niche — for example, William Reed Healthcare Finance. Try Googling that. The results just aren't the same if you only type in William Reed. If he also consistently uses William F. Reed, and people know to look for him by that in the search engines, then he will come up near the top of page one in Google.

Here are 10 Search Engine Optimization tips from our fabulous personal branding client and the Search Marketing Insider, Jessica Bowman: