Stuart Pittaccio

John Le Page
Personal and professional development

Briefing paper
Introduction
In this report I will be discussing the current issues and implications regarding personal
branding before giving recommendations based on analysis. When discussing current issues I
will be identifying the cause and ultimately solutions to the problems discussed. This in turn
should therefore act as a guide on how and why to personal brand. This section of the report
will also include attitudes shared by many towards personal branding.
Background
Personal branding is the process of creating a recognisable professional name and
reputation for yourself or your company/business. It is a way to create a personal image and
a way to approach or be approached by businesses or employers. Effective personal branding
gives you a unique selling point over peers that ultimately allows you build a working
relationship quickly and efficiently. Personal branding is largely carried out online as it is
important to audit your online presence through the use of things such as personal website.
(ANON., 2009. What is personal Branding? Definition of a personal Branding)
Current issues
One current issue with personal branding is that personal branding is not seen to be
accessible for everyone. One article blue sky resumes tries to explain how personal branding
can be applicable in any context, Personal branding is for your mom who wants to find a
new job, and she is really talented at arranging flowers, but has never worked in a flower shop.
If they could only see her designs, they would hire her instantly. (FLETCHER, L., 2009. The
problem with personal Branding) The problem with this statement is that that personal branding is
currently not seen as accessible to all whether that be personal struggles or whether the
industry simply doesn't require personal branding.

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Another current issue is that personal branding can be seen as false and exaggerated
with one source claiming that The problem arises when individuals become infatuated with
their own brands and start looking for shortcuts. (RICE, B., 2013. SAPVoice) The main
problem as explained in this article from Forbes is that personal branding can lead to false
accreditations meaning anyone can claim to be an industry expert and be quick to share
knowledge that can ultimately be over-optimised with poor execution. This therefore means
that it is easy for false claims to be made and employers may struggle to identify genuine cases
of personal branding. If this becomes hard for businesses to segregate then their attitudes
towards personal branding may change and it may be seen as unnecessary.
One final current issue is that personal branding isn't always taught to everyone at a
young age in their career. As personal branding teaching isn't accessible to al students, those
that do get informed such as students here at Solent are at a clear disadvantage when
approaching businesses for potential employment. This issue is basically an issue regarding
poor accessibility in educational facilities.
Implications
There can be multiple implications that occur with personal branding. One key
implication regarding this topic is the issue regarding confidentiality of personal details. Due
to personal branding being published, anyone can access personal details such as email
addresses, phone numbers and housing information which can be used inappropriately.
In addition to this as mentioned earlier, personal branding is not always welcomed by
employers as it can be seen to establish false relationships between business and employee.
This again is because personal branding can be over exaggerated and therefore unreliable.
This means that some businesses will disregard personal branding meaning it can be seen as a
waste of time.
If personal branding is seen as a waste of time by some employers, it may not be seen as
an effective use of time management. This is because personal branding can be time
consuming and time spent could be seen to be used more appropriately doing things such as
compiling a better CV to hand in.

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Personal branding is all about how a personal image is portrayed and another
implication is that it can be easily interpreted due to simple mistakes that are easy to make.
Forbes created a list of six common mistakes made when personal branding. Some of these
six things include not sharing the right things and You havent clarified your purpose.
(LEARNVEST, 2013) Again this can be misunderstood due to false accreditations such as
being a self proclaimed industry expert.
Conclusion
Personal branding is an easy and efficient way to communicate with potential
employment options. Also it allows us to build a personal image that companies are interested
in that will ultimately open up greater opportunities for us. In addition to this it is an
alternative way to portray our specific talents and gives us the opportunity to tell employers
about key skills that we possess if they fail to be picked up on. Personal branding also gives us
a reference point to highlight key characteristics that employers will be able to use to gain our
best abilities such as our preferred learning styles and personality traits. This in turn leads to a
better working relationship and better utilisation of our working skills.
However, personal branding definitely has its drawbacks, the biggest being the fact that
employer attitudes towards personal branding are changing. If employers show significantly
less interest in personal branding then already it could start to be seen as an outdated method
to approach companies regarding employment prospects. As well as this, there are significant
concerns regarding user confidentiality with personal details and there is a definite problem
with how easy it is to self proclaim and exaggerate achievements. This ultimately suggests that
personal branding could be seen as highly unreliable and unnecessary.
Personal branding definitely gives us a unique form of communication with employers
that immediately gives us a competitive advantage simply because it is an extra
communication link. Also According to research, 92% of companies are using social mediaas
part of their talent strategy, with three out of four hiring managers checking out a candidates
social media profiles. (BARRY, 2015. CIPHR Blog) As well as this, it is a unique opportunity
for us to convey additional talents and creative abilities that we have that may be left out in a
normal job application. Overall personal branding definitely gives us a comparable advantage

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over peers as it primarily allows us to portray ourselves in exactly any way we want, which in
itself is a unique form of portrayal and communication.
Recommendations
One key recommendation that I would suggest would be to make personal brand
teaching compulsory in all higher educational facilities, to give graduates the best possible
chance to portray their achievements. This would also give students the chance to depict key
skills and specific times they have shown these skills in more detail than a normal job
application would allow. The problem with this recommendation would be that there are an
ever increasing number of university graduates meaning that the whole point of personal
branding (being unique) loses its significance.
Also I believe that their must be guidelines and restrictions with regards to personal
branding as it is too easy to falsely claim accolades. This means that personal branding loses
its creditability and therefore has far less worth. Also this would be extremely difficult to
implement, I believe personal branding should not include anything that a CV wouldn't .
One final recommendation is to improve user confidentiality issues. Instead of giving
personal details that can be easily exploited, users should have a private way to inform
employers of their contact details. There are certain creative ways to tackle this problem such
as a drop box where employers can show interest in the applicant and therefore gain contact
details in return. This would give personal branding a sense of security and therefore give
users an added incentive to use it again to gain a comparable advantage.

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ANON., 2009. What is personal Branding? Definition of a personal Branding [viewed

20 January 2017]. Available from: http://www.job-interview-site.com/what-ispersonal-branding-definition-of-a-personal-branding.html
FLETCHER, L., 2009. The problem with personal Branding [viewed 20 January
2017]. Available from: http://www.blueskyresumes.com/blog/personal-brandingproblem/
RICE, B., 2013. SAPVoice: The problem facing personal Branding and social MEdia
today. Forbes, 17 June
LEARNVEST, 2013. 6 things that could be hurting your personal brand. Forbes, 31
October
BARRY, 2015. CIPHR Blog [viewed 20 January 2017]. Available from: http://
www.ciphr.com/blog/personal-branding/

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