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Is Personal Branding Overhyped?
Personal Branding pioneer @DanSchawbel was one of the first people that I found and followed on Twitter and I still enjoy following his blog and other enterprises. I just feel like every 3rd post I see is on personal branding and I just don't get why other topics like Career Acceleration, Mastering Performance Reviews, Getting Bigger Raises or How to Get a Job (all self-serving, I know) aren't getting more attention.
Maybe Dan has been so successful promoting the topic that others are trying to hitch on to his success. Maybe with record unemployment people are seeking any advantage they can get and are making great customers for the Personal Branding message. Perhaps my gray hair is getting in the way. I need your help. Here are some of my questions:
1) Most of the Personal Branding content seems to be aimed at those at the entry-level in their career. Doesn't it make more sense for young people to be totally focused on knowledge and skill development that will be important for their career growth? Is it really possible for a programmer or accountant with 6 months of experience to have a brand? (As a hiring manager, what I am seeking at that level is a hard worker with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge)
2) Isn't the Personal Branding message better targeted to entrepreneurs than employees? If I were a large employer, do I really want my Director of Customer service branding herself "The Call Center Queen", especially if she is doing so on company time?
3) As I think back over my career, my value/brand has evolved. I have gone from "tech weenie", to "coach", to "trusted advisor", to "entrepreneur" back to "trusted advisor". Most of the people that I know evolve in similar ways. As I think how much it costs a company to re-brand, imagine how much it would cost for individuals to build new websites, blogs, and Twitter persona's as they evolve. Can most employees really afford the time and money it takes to effectively build and maintain a personal brand?
I really would appreciate your thoughts on these questions! Thank you!
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Comment by Dave Opton on December 23, 2009 at 8:33am -
Joe,
Without gonig on forever, my short answer is I would tend to agree with you. Personal branding is the current buzz word (phrase?) for building your reputation inside and outside the organization.
Yes there is "marketing" involved, especially given the electronic tools available to us all, but at the end of the day, most people make career changes as the result of relationships built over time through the expansion of their personal and professional networks.
At ExecuNet we often say to members be they in a job search or trying to develop business connections, the name of game is to be remembered and referred. At this point in time, it's called personal branding.
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Comment by Joe Lavelle on December 23, 2009 at 10:32am -
Dave - thanks so much for your thoughts! You have done a terrific job at ExecuNet building a brand and marketing to your target audience. To be successful you had to define your niche to a narrow audience (executives) and not try to be all things to all people looking for jobs.
I personally think that the opposite is better for an employee in most cases. I think that employers would rather have multi-dimensional or well rounded skillsets from their employees. For example, someone that can build a business case for a new product they just designed and help bring it to market will be far more valuable than someone that only designs products.
I wish I was a better student of Marketing so I could articulate my point better. Several others have articulated quite well in the LinkedIn Discussion Group for Career Rocketeer
Happy Holidays!
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Comment by Gary Alan Miller on December 23, 2009 at 1:39pm
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Regarding working with entry-level folks (college students in my context), I've shifted my language away from "personal brand" and toward "online presence." There's enough data to support the fact that employers are paying attention to the information that people are putting forth online to merit having them do so. But, when I have those conversations or do those presentations, I'm focused more on the idea of owning your online identity than intrinsically figuring out how to brand those activities.
That's not to say that branding at that level is untenable for everyone. But, many of the students I work with struggle enough to figure out other aspects of their career path and job search and feel more weighted down by the branding aspect than liberated by it.
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