The Importance of Personal Branding for Employers and

Students
By Alex Graham

Background
This briefing report focuses on the question of how personal branding is
important for employers and students. The report focuses on the various
aspects of personal branding and how the development and maintenance
of it is crucial to future employment.
Personal branding is how someone wishes to appear to others, it is used in
various aspects of life ranging from social, professional and online. One
might aim to achieve a personal brand which identifies themselves as
unique, whilst another person might want to come across as being highly
social and another person might want to appear as a true professional.
More specifically, in terms of employers looking to hire students, personal
branding is highly important. With such a competitive job market, positive
first impressions really do make the difference. Ward and Yates, Personal
Branding and e-Professionalism (2013) mention impression management
which refers to the activity of controlling information in an attempt to
steer the impression others form of oneself in the service of personal or
social goals. The authors refer to two tactics which are often used during
interviews, ingratitation and self promotion. Ingration tactics are used to
evoke interpersonal attraction or liking, while self-promotion tactics are
intended to draw attention to the positive qualities of oneself, ones future
plans, or ones past accomplishments.
Personal branding might also be seen as something which employers do in
order to attract graduates. The company or organization might want to
brand themselves through their website or interviews as being better to
work for than rival organisations. Top graduates are in high demand
currently, companies are looking for those individuals who will give them
the competitive edge in business and potentially be their leaders of the
future.
Current Research
In a business world which is increasingly dominated by social media,
mastering the ability to sell oneself online is crucial. According to Brown
and Vaughn (2011) social networking sites (SNSs) such as Facebook,
Myspace, Twitter and LinkedIn are often used by hiring managers to learn
more about job candidates.
In a 2009 survey done by CareerBuilder, found that 45% of employers
used social networking sites to research candidates (Grasz, 2009).

Current Issues
In a questionnaire done by Cain, Scott, & Akers (2009) found 84.8% of
students reported that the image they presented online through Facebook
accurately presented who they were as a person but only 65.2% believed
their Facebook profile accurately presented who they were as a
professional. Surprisingly, only 42.6% thought an employer should
consider the profile information when making a hiring decision.
An implication of promoting your brand on social media is that anyone is
able to post comments or pictures which could negatively impact a users
image. Also it may be noted that students may be unaware of the possible
long term implications of the content which they post online, such as
potential employers making judgments based on a Facebook post created
a year ago which does not accurately reflect the current individual.
For employers, reputation towards potential candidates is just as
important. Reports such as The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers and
The Guardian UK 300 identify the companies which graduates consider
the best to work for. Ranking on one of these would promote the
organization in a positive light, making it an attractive prospect to a large
amount of potential job seekers and potentially boosting its reputation
among other businesses.
Implications
An article written by Hernez-Broome, McLaughlin, & Trovas emphasize the
importance of intentional and strategic self-promotion - self-promotion
often gets a bad rap (Hernez- Broome et al, 2009, p. 18) and is often
labeled as brownnosing or sucking up. It is critical, however, to note that
individuals who promote themselves often get promoted or other
opportunities like special assignments. Four techniques were outlined.
First, self-promotion can enhance your career with promotions, increased
responsibility, and additional visibility. Second, self-promotion techniques
can help you stay motivated by developing additional skills or potentially
getting recognized or rewarded for your contributions. Third, it can build
credibility by having a reputation that aligns with accomplishments and it
helps to make you a known commodity in your organization or community.
Finally, self-promotion can also help you gain influence as other may view
you as effective, well-connected, powerful, knowledgeable, and up to
date (p. 20).
Focusing too much on an online personal brand and not on your offline
personal brand can also present implications. For example, if a student
creates an online personal brand on LinkedIn, fills the profile with hobbies,
interests and qualifications which dont actually apply to the individual,
the employer looks at this prior to the interview and when meeting the
candidate in person will notice a difference.

Conclusion
In terms of this question the importance, is it important? The answer in
short, is yes. Particularly in the digital age which we live in, personal
branding is something which forms a huge part of what we do online. To
name a few; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram are highly popular social media
platforms which are all based around the image or profile of ourselves
which we portray to others in order to meet, interact, network or even self
promote.
Personal branding is something which potential employers will base their
judgment on for students because other than a CV listing qualifications
they have little else to judge an individual by. Additionally, employers will
look to maintain an impressive personal brand in order to attract students
or other job seekers to their organisation.

References
Brown (2011) The Writing of the (Facebook) Wall: The Use of Social
Networking Sites in Hiring Decisions, Journal of Business Psychology, 26,
pp. 219225.
Cain (2009) Pharmacy Students Facebook Activity and Opinions
Regarding Accountability and E-Professionalism, American Journal of
Pharmaceutical Education, 73(6), pp. 16.
Grasz.J (2009) Forty-five percent of employers use social networking sites
to research job candidates, CareerBuilder survey finds. Available at:
http://www.careerbuilder.com/share/aboutus/pressreleasesdetail.aspx?
id=pr519&sd=8/19/2009&ed=12/31/2009 (Accessed: 21 January 2016).
Hernez-Broome (2007) Spreading the Word How to Self-Promote with
Integrity, LIA, 26(4), pp. 1216.
Ward, C. and Yates, D. (2013) Personal Branding and e-Professionalism,
Journal of Service Science (Online), 6(1), p. 101.