Welcome to the ResumePower Blog! Kim Isaacs and Karen Hofferber offer real world, proven advice on
resume writing, cover letters, career change, and job search strategies.
Job Seekers: Have You Dot-Commed Yourself?
One of our clients is a graphic designer who is about to launch an aggressive job search. Two weeks ago, we asked her to register her name (e.g., MaryJones.com) to use for her online portfolio. Her own name would help her site rank high in the search engines if an employer or recruiter Googles her name, and would reinforce her name brand. We checked and her name was still available. She wasn’t quite ready to develop her online portfolio, but we advised her to register and park her name at GoDaddy.com for future use.
You know how this ends, right? Today, her name is gone. She snoozed, and she lost. Of course, you can be creative and use a dash, middle initial, or an alternative extension like .net or .org, but it’s more desirable to have the .com version of your name.
If you haven’t yet secured your name (even if you’re not ready to develop your website), please find a registrar — GoDaddy is my favorite — and register your name so that it’s available when you’re ready. I am recommending this for all career fields, not just creative professionals. For more information about picking a name, check out Katie McCaskey’s post on Ladies Who Launch, “What’s in a (domain) Name?”
Best wishes,
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Kim,
All is not lost. She should snag up the .net on godaddy.com and then you can pay to have them watch the .com name for you and let you know when/if it comes available. http://www.myretailcareer.com was not available when I started my business but 4 months later it was. Now I have both but since I built the business on the .net address the .com just forwards. I think the cost was $18 to monitor for the .com.
Hi Brad - Thanks for writing and I’m glad you got the domain you wanted! That’s great advice and I will pass it on to her. She did end up registering the .net version of her name (I made sure by walking her through the process on the phone - lol). Thanks again for your excellent advice! - Take care, Kim
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