From Classroom to Career: The Role of Personal Branding in Shaping Opportunities

In today’s evolving professional environment, academic performance alone is not sufficient to ensure career success. Employers look for candidates who projects a clear professional identity and can have practical visibility in their field. This expectations from employers have made students and fresh graduates to look Personal Branding as a crucial factor for their employability and career advancement. This study investigates the gap between the expectations of employers and the state or preparedness of the students to build and communicate their personal brand. The two central issues dealt with in this study includes the impact that the personal branding has on students’ employability, and the role it plays in enhancing hiring prospects and networking opportunities for freshers and experienced professionals. By analysing awareness levels, branding practices, and intended career outcomes among students and graduates, the research highlights the challenges, of limited awareness, inconsistent engagement, and lack of institutional support, by the student. This findings aim to establish personal branding as not just an skill that is optional but as a key component in providing practical insights to students and fresh graduates, professional readiness and career development programs to bridge the classroom-to-career divide.