Me 2.0: "Strike the proper balance"

Our interview with online branding expert Dan Schawbel, bestselling author of "Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success" (Kaplan, April 2009), about what you need to know when building your cross-cultural "Me 2.0".

You are welcome to include this interview on your blog or website with proper link credit to © Germany-USA Career Center 2009.

Dan, what is the idea behind  “Me 2.0”, when it comes to career planning and job search?

Me 2.0 teaches you how to use social media - blogs, podcasts, social networks - in order to stand out, be recruited based on your passion, and take command of your career.  It forces us all to get online because recruiters are already searching for us. We all have the ability now to advertise our skills for free, and gain the necessary visibility - through marketing - to accomplish our dreams.

“Branding” yourself American-style is a concept quite often met with suspicion in some countries with different cultures.  What would you tell someone from the U.S. looking for a position with, say, a German or a Japanese company?

If you truly want to work at a non-American company, then it's best that you learn their language before you apply.  If you aren't serious about the company, then you won't do the investment, it's really that simple.  The same concepts I talk about in Me 2.0 apply across the board, not only to foreign companies, but to people of all ages.

What would you suggest for someone raised in Germany, as an example, to overcome their cultural programming when building their “Me 2.0” in this - the U.S. - culture?

They need to do a lot of research on this culture before they start trying to market themselves here.  Once you learn the cultural values, then it will be easier for you to fit in and get a job.

It takes a lot for some job seekers to leave their comfort zone and pro-actively build what you call “Me 2.0”. What is your suggestion how to take that hurdle in a way that is rewarding from the outset?

You have to understand that there is no other way now to reach a large audience and contact recruiters directly. The internet makes networking more comfortable and you have full control over how people perceive you by maximizing the amount of content connected to your brand name. You should start small and work your way up. For instance, start playing around with Google Blogger or Wordpress.com to learn the basics of blogging before you get more serious.

Do you agree it’s a fine line between creating a maximum-impact “Me 2.0” and being flat-out obnoxious? Even in a culture and a job market that is more open to such an approach...

...you need to strike the proper balance between self-promotion and the promotion (or giving value) to other people, I agree. Of course you need to self-promote, because that's how you become known for your skills and how people find you and want to hire you.

But the only way to make money and to maintain your personal brand is to give value to customers, clients, etc.

What is the biggest mistake, in your view, one can make when building his or her “Me 2.0”?

The biggest mistake you can make is not marketing it.  Most people think they can get away with writing blog posts and that people will just come.The only way to be successful is to spend 10 times more time marketing your online assets than you do creating them.

Interview: Gerd Meissner for the
Germany-USA Career Center
© 2009 All rights reserved.