Companies are hiring only 1.3 percent more graduates in 2009 - down from 16 percent in 2008, according to The National Association of Colleges and Employees.
Personality and perception rather than professional merit are factors that can contribute to a worker's success, said Dan Schawbel, author of "Me 2.0," a guide to finding and achieving career success.
The book covers topics that are relevant to this generation of young graduates. It explores how Facebook, the Internet and an increase in global competition are redefining what it means to be employed.
The book is an in-depth analysis of what elements have changed in the professional world and what students can do with technology to help improve their overall image.
"If you want to get a job out of college or succeed in the job you're currently in, you have to be the commander of your career, which means that you're accountable for your own destiny," Schawbel said.
Published by Kaplan Publishing, the book hit shelves on April 7 and is currently the top-selling business book on Amazon.com.
The Eagle had a chance to sit down with Schawbel to talk about his book. We asked him five questions to find out if all of the hype about "personal branding" is perception or reality.
The Eagle: How did you come to write this book?
Dan Schawbel: It's a story that's been ongoing for years starting in middle school, acquiring skills such as graphic design, web development and then at the end of high school not going back as a summer camp counselor and starting my first internship in sales for a small company.
I didn't realize how important networking was, shying away from it and trying to get the internships on my own ... developing a personal branding tool kit, which I did not call it back then.
I built a Web site, business cards, custom cover letter, CD portfolios and references documents and custom résumé.
It took me eight months, meeting fifteen people and getting rejected twice before I got the job I wanted.
The Eagle: The book has an example of an employee skipping out of work early to go to a supposed funeral but was later tagged on Facebook after going to a party that night. The lesson from that is obvious: don't be dishonest. But in the old days you could separate your work life from your personal life. Are you now saying that with this new technology that this is not possible anymore?
D.S.: The big issue is that you have one out of every five employers looking at social networks and using them as criteria as part of the job background check process and then one in every ten admissions officers for college.
You're capturing one of the biggest trends that are happening right now and I'm one of the most obvious examples where I can't separate what I do from work and what I do outside of work with personal branding and the book, the magazine and the blog.
The credibility I gain outside of work helps what I do inside of work. This doesn't happen for everyone, especially for students who are just starting off. The idea is that this trend is going to keep going there's no way out and you are who you are. You have to be smart and use common sense.
The Eagle: Do you think that there's a difference between perception and what is actually true?
D.S.: That's actually a subtitle in the book and the reality is that perception is reality, that's the subtitle of the chapter.
It's the people who you know or who know you already, you're friends or family, you can't fool them. Personal branding is more important to people who you don't know because you have the opportunity to showcase everything you have, here's my résumé and here's everything I can do for your organization and you can decide for yourself if you want me or not and through the web and blogs and everything it's just basically a filter - it's a filter for people who are attracted to your brand.
The Eagle: I've looked at your background and you come from a technical background. Can every discipline benefit from personal branding? Does a waiter need a blog?
D.S.: I'd say anyone in a sales-type role, or service organization - let's say a lawyer or a doctor - I'd say anyone who's really judged by their reputation: financial analysts, people who work with insurance, real estate ... there's a huge market for that.
Everyone can have a blog, what are you going to write about if you're a waiter? Maybe you're interested in cooking as well. You need some sort of angle; you can't just go in as a waiter or just go in as a doctor. You need something special and that's just business in general.
If I'm a customer and I want to go to the best doctor in Atlanta, they'll have one person in mind, and if that's you then you'll get that business and you can charge a higher price.
The Eagle: What would you say to those who want to set up their own online identities but don't have the technical expertise? Where would they start?
D.S.: Online tutorials, HTML is a skill that I think everyone in the world should have ... just Google HTML and then you can pick up a book to teach you how to use Photoshop.
Or you can have a friend who's a geek help you, or you could pay for it, or you could use a free online site like bravenet.com. For blogs, wordpress.com and blogger.com are all free.
You know everyone has to figure from the ground up too and I think you can pay for all of these services all you want but I think to update them everyone needs to learn these skills and it's only going to be more important in the future.
The Eagle: In the book you talk about discovering your personal brand. How do you find your personal brand?
D.S.: Well, it's what you think about yourself, how you describe yourself versus how people describe you. It's all about the feedback mechanism. Ask people who know you well and how they would describe you. It's all about seeing what your strengths and matching your expertise with your passion and that's the important thing.
You can reach this writer at news@theeagleonline.com.
