Essential Branding and Networking Tips for College Seniors

The dreaded "what do you want to do?" has always been a deceptively hard question to answer. Hang in, or go out? Stay together, or break up?

But it's never been such a puzzler as when you're asked what do you want to do, um, for your professional career, which starts, uh, really, really soon.

The hugeness of the question can be paralyzing for college students, but "the biggest mistake is taking no action at all," says Lindsey Pollak, millennial workplace expert and spokeswoman for The Hartford Financial Services Group. You've got to do something, she says: "Anything to not be sitting in your bedroom or your parents' basement twiddling your thumbs, hoping for the best."

Here's one thing students can do: Build a professional brand, so employers, recruiters and other contacts can find you online and see the value you'd bring to a job. And you don't have to be a professional (yet) to build a brand; it's all in how you present yourself through your online presence, handshake, résumé and other aspects that make you you. Part of branding is also getting others to pay attention. And in students' cases, that means being seen as qualified job seeker, rather than a college kid scarfing down late-night calzones over a term paper. "You've got to stop being a student and start acting like a mature professional," says Pollak, who is also the author of "Becoming the Boss: New Rules for the Next Generation of Leaders."

Here's how to perfect your professional brand -- and in turn, build your network -- online, offline and outside your comfort zone:

Online

First, bury your dirt. While your beer-bonging photos and sexy selfies may have entertained your Facebook friends and Twitter and Instagram followers, they'll turn off sleuthing employers and recruiters. "Think of yourself from the perspective of the other side of the desk," says Brian Krueger, founder and CEO of CollegeGrad.com, an entry-level job site, and author of "The College Grad Job Hunter." He asks: "How do you want an employer to see you?"

So what kind of content should be off-limits? Jobvite's 2014 Social Recruiting Survey showed that recruiters are most turned off by finding illegal drug references, sexual posts, poor spelling and grammar and profanity, in that order, on prospective candidates' social media profiles. Delete unflattering content, wise up with future posts and up the privacy on your social media accounts.

Google yourself, too, Pollak says. Until you do, you never know if that photo of you -- in your underwear -- snapped by the local newspaper during a campus production of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" is staring hiring managers in the face when they search your name. Pollak says you know an unflattering search result when you see it. "If you're uncomfortable about it, if you hope no one comes across it, that's a pretty good sign you should get rid of it," she says.

"The best way to get rid of bad content is to make more good content about yourself," she adds, and what better content is there than a LinkedIn profile? "In the job market, people aren't going to know you. They're not going to have months and semesters of experiences having you in the classroom," Pollak says. "Learning how to represent the best parts of you in a very short amount of time or space is really a new skill for a lot of graduates."

If you don't have a LinkedIn profile, make one today. "As students, it shows you're a young person who understands that you need to have a professional online presence," she says. Plus, it's a page where you can, as Pollak puts it, show off your "best parts" that would otherwise go unseen by the loads of recruiters, hiring managers and professional contacts on LinkedIn. Check out students.linkedin.com for help creating a profile and engaging on the network.

On Campus

"[Students] really need to complete career planning before they go into the job search," Krueger says. Otherwise, students won't be able to articulate what kind of role they want and why, let alone narrow their search to relevant opportunities. Krueger points out that a campus career counselor, along with various personality, interest, aptitude and values tests, can help determine what types of jobs to seek.

Visiting the career center will also help you hone the all-important soft skills needed for networking, interviewing and thriving in the workplace. "Etiquette 101 is so unbelievably important," Pollak says, citing examples such as being a good listener, speaking articulately, making eye contact, answering questions thoughtfully, saying "thank you" and giving a firm handshake. While they may sound easy enough, "those are things that often require practice, and if you're a young person today who's mostly in front of a computer screen, you may need to brush up," she says.

Those soft skills are part of your professional brand and will be on display during interviews, too. "One of the most valuable things you can do is go to your career center and do a mock interview," Pollak says. "They're showing you exactly what you need to do to be successful in an interview."

Along with career counselors, be sure to connect with favorite professors before graduating. Ask them for letters of recommendation, Krueger says, and after thanking them, also request suggestions for potential contacts or employers. "College professors are very well connected," he says, pointing out that many of them consult, do pro bono work and belong to professional industry associations.

Contact employers you've worked for in college, too, and ask them for letters of recommendation and advice for whom to contact next. Even if the job was menial or unrelated to the career you'd like, you've demonstrated your work ethic and what type of employee you are, Krueger says. Both attributes will likely be important to your next employer.

Outside Your Comfort Zone

Your network can start with your peers, professors and previous employers, but also connect with people you barely know -- if at all. "Start to make your world a little bigger," Pollak says. "Move a little bit beyond your social network and social circle. I think that's part of being a grown-up."

That person your professor suggested you contact. Your mom's tennis partner who works in a related field. A friend of a friend of a friend who graduated a few years ago and lives in your target city. The recruiter who gave you a business card at the job fair. The young professional you came across on LinkedIn who has a role similar to the one you want in a few years. Reach out to these people via LinkedIn or email, tell them what job you're looking for and ask for advice. And cushion your message with a special word. "Always use the one magic word when you contact someone: network," Krueger says. "When people hear 'network,' they're like, 'Oh yeah, I'm supposed to be networking.'"

The people you're less connected to are often those who will be particularly helpful in growing your network and finding opportunities, Krueger says. For example: If you and that professor connect on LinkedIn, that's great, but you likely have several overlapping contacts. However, it's unlikely you have the same contacts as the industry professional your professor suggested you email. So you're broadening your network by a greater amount by making those second- and third-tier connections than by sticking with people you already know. (And you should be confident reaching out, with that spiffy professional brand.)

Stepping out of your cozy social sphere to make those connections may be uncomfortable, but it's a necessary part of the hustle for finding a job out of college. Pollak puts it like this: "It becomes a numbers game where you're making a lot of connections to just get a few important connections that end up becoming the interviews that end up becoming the offers that end up becoming the jobs."

Laura McMullen is the Careers editor at U.S. News and was previously a Health + Wellness reporter. You can follow her on Twitter, connect with her on LinkedIn, circle her on Google+ or email her at lmcmullen@usnews.com.