Machaz H, Shokoofh, K. (2016). Personal Branding: An Essential Choice?

From Digital Culture & Society

Amanda Caron IASC 3P90 Article 1 Review

Personal Branding Article Review

Article- Machaz, H.-A., & Shokoofh, K. (2016, Summer). Personal branding: An essential choice? Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, 8(2), 65-70.

Should someone rely on their social media presence to dictate whether they get a job or not? This article is focused on reasons why people should brand themselves when in the job market. The article emphasis is on the pros on why people should promote themselves online and create a positive image for them self. Facebook and LinkedIn are the main two applications mentioned within this article. LinkedIn can be viewed like an online resume that you create purposefully to promote yourself to employers.

The article goes into detail with many facts showing how employers today look into their prospects social media pages and judge them critically to see if they are the right employee for them to hire. Social media pages can make or break ones chances on getting their dream job. Recruiters look into your posts and photos to gain a sense of who you are, but can come upon inappropriate content and cost you your job. The article discusses that oneself should be aware of what they are posting and sharing online because a future employer could view it one day. Yet, this also brings up the question if employers should be able to deny you based on your social media presence. Especially when social media is private and a way to express yourself.

The article touches base on a few main topics in regards to personal branding. It explains briefly what it is, the importance of it, the issues that co-exist with it and how one should go about personal branding. Personal branding is described as, 'personal branding is more related to self-packaging and the ability to positively affect public opinion of one’s digital brand.' (Lair, Sullivan and Cheney) Such as when you brand a product, you make an image for that product so people want to buy it. Personal branding is selling yourself just like you would sell a product. Personal branding makes you stand out from your competitors, you want to make employers notice you over other applicants. Because of this the article discusses why you should positively promote yourself online and make a digital identity.

The article goes over many topics that helps the reader gain a broad sense as to why they should brand themselves online. The article notes that, 'choosing to refrain from creating an online social media profile is not the answer.' (p.68) I believe a lot of people should become aware of this because many people who apply for strict jobs in government fields tend to delete they social media accounts. The article goes on to hare that this can negatively impact oneself because it can show lack of communication skills in the digital world. The article gives a few examples on what should be expressed on your Linked In and Facebook page and what employers tend to look for and what they do not like to see.

The article does not discuss actual ways to promote yourself online. What is appropriate to be posting and sharing online and what is really not okay. Another weakness from the article was that they quoted four phases from, 'A New Blueprint for Powerful and Authentic Personal Branding,' Rampersad (2008) where one of the phases mentions, 'Formulate your personal balanced scorecard (PBSC),' but the article never discloses what a PBSC really is and how it can help you. The article promotes people having a clean social media presence for employers to view, but does not give any reasoning as to why employers look into their applicants accounts.

Lair, D. J., Sullivan, K., & Cheney, G. (2005). Marketization and the recasting of the professional self: The rhetoric and ethics of personal branding. Management Communication Quarterly, 18(3), 307-343.


Machaz, H.-A., & Shokoofh, K. (2016, Summer). Personal branding: An essential choice? Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, 8(2), 65-70. Rampersad, H. K. (2008). A new blueprint for powerful and authentic personal branding. Performance Improvement, 47(6), 34-37.