Last year I interviewed social media expert Dan Schawbel, the publisher and founder of “Personal Branding Magazine.” He is also the author of Me 2.0: Building a Powerful Brand to Achieve Success and was a very quotable guest.

Dan Schawbel quotes from John Lawlor interview on September 29, 2008:

“Personal branding is how you market yourself to others.”

“The age of privacy is gone.”

“The lines between applying for a job and actually working there are diminishing.”

“The connection between us and the hiring managers is getting closer.”

“80% of jobs are not listed.”

Mr. Schawbel calls himself a personal branding expert for Generation Y. “Personal branding,” he says, “is how you market yourself to others.” As he explains, over 92% of Gen Y owns a cell phone and are connected to other individuals via technology. “We are hyper-connected,” he says. This hyper-connectivity has both negative and positive aspects. “The age of privacy is gone,” warns Mr. Schawbel, and he believes that identity theft should not be a surprise in today’s environment. But, the many positive aspects outweigh the privacy sacrifices we make.

“The lines between applying for a job and actually working there are diminishing,” he says. “The connection between us and the hiring manager is getting closer.” This is happening in several ways, including the widespread use of social media. Over 80% of jobs are not listed, and looking for jobs on job boards is not the most effective use of one’s time. “You have to play where the people are,” he says. He maintains that the best approach is to advertise your personal brand on social media networking sites.

Employers today want to recruit the top talent, so they, in the words of Mr. Schawbel, play where the people play. The corporate sites on Twitter and Facebook are there to recruit and, more importantly, to interact with prospective employees and customers. “These are valuable channels you can use to get your name out there,” says Mr. Schawbel. Corporate branding is not so different than personal branding. A person who works at a company personifies the company, and this person is an ambassador of the company.

Mr. Schawbel offers some valuable advice to today’s college students. “I wouldn’t work hard until you discover your brand,” he says. He advocates finding a niche, becoming expert in that niche, and becoming a content producer. Once you have the expertise in a niche, you can network within that community and “you can give value.” This, explains Mr. Schawbel, is one of the fundamental concepts of personal branding.

Dan Schawbel quotes (part 2) from John Lawlor interview on September 29, 2008:

“You have to play where the people play.”

“These are valuable channels you can use to get your name out there.”

“I wouldn’t work hard until you discover your brand.”

“You have the ability to tell the world who you are and what you want to do…that is one of the most amazing things about social media.”

“You will have a subscription base of people who like you and know who you are.”

Over the past 5 years I have had the pleasure of having Kate Smith as a frequent student in my workshops and seminars.

Congratulations Kate on your call-out by Stephen Drucker, Editor in Chief of House Beautiful in the September 2009 issue. Your blogs are outstanding and informatitive on the use of color. Keep up the great work.