Who you are and who you know: managers' employability, networking competence and personal brand

Purpose Nowadays networks are one of the key factors supporting career development, while personal brand ensures visibility on the network, thus increasing chances of employment. Together, networking competence and personal brand allow finding new opportunities for career development and achieving professional success. The purpose is to identify and provide an in-depth assessment of the interdependencies between the variables of employability, networking competence and personal brand of managers in the latest journal publications. Design/methodology/approach The first stage consisted of a systematic literature review (SLR) conducted using PRISMA 2020 guidelines. The second stage involved a bibliometric co-word analysis (BA) carried out using VOSviewer software for data visualization. Findings Networking competence and personal brand impact employability, but among managers this impact is limited to networking competence contained in social media. Research limitations/implications Managers can increase their employability not only by delivering high-quality knowledge-based work, but also by demonstrating networking competence. A manager's personal brand creates a strong, consistent and specific association between its owners and the perceived professional value they offer. Originality/value The originality and value of the research result from the recognition of networking competence and personal brand simultaneously as determinants of managers' employability.