Okay slackers - If you have any level of motivation in life, any desire to move up the corporate ladder, it would behoove you to start building your brand. In this case, your name is your brand. And you want to give your name value.

If this concept is new to you, it might seem like a load of bullshit. But I’m telling you, a company is far more interested in hiring a known quantity than risking salary space on a nobody. And not only that - it’s just cool to see your name in Google search results.

This info will come in handy if you’re the type of person who has handed in a resume with your email address listed as hotwhore69@hotmail.com. Or maybe your potential employer Googled your name and the only search result was a page listing “The drunkest douchebags on campus, class of 2002″. You can fix all that in a few simple steps.

1. Get a real email address
   You’ll need to put it on your resume. And of course, you’ll use it to keep in contact with your potential employers - to send your resume and cover letter, and to send a thank you note after the interview. hardcorepothead@gmail.com won’t suffice. Try firstname.lastname@gmail.com. And if that doesn’t work, try lastnamefirstnamemiddleinitial@gmail.com (that’s the one I use), or any combination of those elements.
2. Register a URL
   I use GoDaddy. Try to get firstnamelastname.com. And if that’s taken, try firstname-lastname.com (That’s the one I registered). Try to steer clear of .org and .net URLs if at all possible. Owning a .com shows you put some effort into it. You could buy a hosting package and create a website with your resume and some links to relevant websites, etc. Or just do what I did - redirect your URL to your online professional profile at LinkedIn.
3. Join a professional networking site
   Speaking of LinkedIn… you can use a professional networking site to build your online resume. LinkedIn is leading the pack on this one, with features similar to MySpace or Facebook, but geared towards the workforce. Make sure to add everyone you can think of so your profile gets as much visibility as possible. I’ve joined all the sites listed below, and my firstname-lastname.com URL redirects to my public LinkedIn profile.
   LinkedIn
   Plaxo
   ZoomInfo
   spoke
   XING
4. Write a decent resume
   Update your resume, adding your professional email address and URL. Add that newly spiced-up resume to every professional networking site you can find. Make sure to link back to your URL from all of your online profiles so you increase your Google page rank (where you show up in web searches). It’s not terribly difficult to get Google to notice you, but it does take time. Be patient.
5. Keep your personal profile private
   If you have a MySpace or Facebook profile, make sure to mark it “private”. You have to assume that anytime you apply for a job, at least one of the interviewers is going to run a search for you on personal networking sites. It’s just natural curiosity. It’s best to build up your professional online presence and keep your personal life private. You don’t want the hiring manager to see an old picture of you guzzling a Bud Light through a beer bong while dressed in a Mighty Mouse costume.

That’s about it. Good luck - and let me know if you have any other tips.