Self-Brand Management and Re-Invention
Let us examine two aspects of self-branding: how one’s self-brand changes as he or she moves through a career and re-inventing/re-branding ourselves. Figure 5 highlights both notions.
Each year, the Career Advisory Board conducts a “Job Preparedness Indicator Study.” Included is a look at what employers expect of employees at different stages of their careers. For its latest report, Career Advisory Board (2014) found the following:
- Employers of entry-level candidates–“Managers hiring recent college graduates rated high integrity, a strong work ethic, accountability, self-motivation, and strong basic interpersonal ability as the most critical attributes for successful candidates. Tangible skills like technology, decision-making, presentation, and risk-taking skills are not essential.
- Employers of mid-level candidates: “Manager respondents ranked many skills with about the same level of importance as at the entry-level. The most important skills were slightly more common at the mid-level than the entry-level, though the most critical skills and attributes of high integrity and accountability were still not considered ‘very common’ among mid-level job seekers. At the mid-level, the most significant gap between what hiring managers need and what candidates are delivering is again seen in the area of written communication.”
Figure 5: An Illustration of a Career Ladder Approach to Self-Branding
