Fatin Atiyah Suharafadzil

Personal and Professional Development (BUS133)

Importance of Personal Branding

for Employers and Students

This briefing paper focuses on the importance of

personal branding for both employers and students. It will
cover the setting of the problem, current research about the
importance, current issues that people are aware of from it,
implications for employers and students, as well as a
conclusion

about

the

importance

and

some

recommendations. The aim of this paper is to understand

how important personal labeling is in order to get a job, also
suggesting recommendations to make you stand out.

It is obvious that each and everyone have their own

personal brand. Though most people are not aware of it.
What does personal branding actually mean? Traditional
personal branding is similar to business branding;

communicating values, personality and ability to its audience

to produce a positive emotional response (Rampersad,
2009). It is apparent that personal branding has become
more significant than corporate branding as having a
virtuous professional reputation or brand seems to be
increasingly vital quality in todays virtual, and technological
age. Peters (1997) first popularized the idea of personal
branding in his article The Brand Called You, which has
increasingly vital in this digital age.

According to Microsofts research in 2013, 56% of adults

surveyed dont actively think about the consequences of
their online activities and 1 in 7 adults have experienced
negative consequences due to online activities by others.
This proves how important online branding is and how it can
affect your daily lives, as some people may not be accepted
for work do to their inappropriate posts online. However,
more than 90% adults have taken steps to manage their
online profiles.

Information found online provides a digital imprint that

implicitly brands people (Lampel and Bhalla, 2007 and
Madden et al., 2007). The evidence for personal branding is
that all has the ability to control their own brand and a

persons focal job is to be their own marketer (Peters, 1997).

If the power is given to someone else chances are that their
brand description wont be what you have in mine (Kaputa,
2005), thus it is key that you manage your own brand
individually. Personal selling shares roots with the concept of
personal branding since often several character qualities
leads to sales success. However, there is no employer
connection in personal branding, though one selling oneself
individually than a business associated brand (Shepherd,
2005). In the current digital age, self-branding strategies
entails generating and maintaining network and social
profiles, individual web sites and blogs. Similarly to product
branding, personal branding involves seizing and endorsing
ones individual potencies and exceptionality to a target
audience (Kaputa, 2005, Schwabel, 2009 and Shepherd,
2005)

Personal branding should speak the explicit value you

convey to an employer, coworker, or direct report. Its a
blend of: who you are in terms of achievements, abilities,
education and occupation history, who you want to be which
are your professional aims and vocation ambitions, how you
present yourself to the world - interaction style, manners and
character and how the world identifies you. Being open,
truthful

and

reliable

when

you

showcase

your

accomplishment,

talk

about

professional

targets

and

complete your everyday work is one of the best ways to get

others to alter their opinion of you.

Once you outline and grow your personal brand, you

need to live daily with it in mind, including everything from
how you dress to how you mingle with others - both in
person and online. If you already have a job, keep your
personal brand in gatherings, discussions, networking events
and

while

communicating

with

colleagues.

Its

these

everyday exchanges that will strengthen your personal

brand and gain the reverence of your colleagues, heads and
assistants.

As a student, possibly looking for employment, make

sure your personal brand is reflected appropriately online.
Make sure your curriculum vitae precisely reflect your skills,
achievements, and ambitions and to include three to five
adjectives that you would define for your personal brand.
LinkedIn is the major social media presence for job hunters.
Make sure your LinkedIn profile supports your personal brand
and includes industry relevant keywords. This will help
companies find you and make you stand out. If you are on
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., its virtually impossible to

make everything private and unattached the personal from

the professional. Thus, just make sure youre only posting
what youd be contented sharing with the general public.
The best way to practice promoting your personal brand in
person is by contributing in networking events, industry
conventions and professional courses.

It may be challenging to live your personal brand but the

more you practice, the better youll get at it. If you express
you brand based on your real persona, capabilities, and
involvement, it will soon feel like second nature to express it
in a professional perspective. There are definite benefits for
the time you put into making your brand.

Reference

Kaputa, C., 2005. UR a Brand! How Smart people Brand Themselves for
Business Success. California: Davies-Black Publishing.
Lampel, J. & Bhalla, A., 2007. The Role of Status Seeking in Online
Communities: Giving the Gift of Experience. Journal of Computer
Mediated Communication. 12(2).
Madden, M. et al., 2007. Digital Footprints: Online Identity
Management and Search in the Age of Transparency. [viewed 22

January 2016]. Available from www.pewinternet.org

Peters, T., 1997. The Brand Called You. Fast Company.
Rampersad, H.K., 2009. Authentic Personal Branding: A New Blueprint
for Building & aligning a powerful leadership brand. USA: Information
Age Publishing Inc.
Schwabel, D., 2009. Me 2.0: A Powerful Way to Achieve Brand Success.
New York: Kaplan Publishers.
Shepherd, I.D.H., 2005. From Cattle and Coke to Charlie: Meeting the
Challenge of Self Marketing and Personal Branding. Journal of
Marketing Management. 21, 589-606.