Careers - Brand You in a world of TMI

When Tom Peters first coined the idea of Brand You - the mindset and practice of differentiating ourselves in our vocational (and personal !) lives - it seemed like just one more common sense cool-tool to help us stand out in the herd.

In the world of TMI - Too Much Information - Brand You is practically a field survival manual. After all, how do we get noticed in a world of 120 million websites, 30 billion active server pages, 70 million blogs, 200,000 new books each year (U.S. only), etc., etc. ???

Anyone who's ever submitted a resume into those blackholes called Careerbuilders or Monster knows that even the slickest CVs with optimized search words simply earn you the right to throw your hat in the ring with 200 - or 2,000 - other stellar (or not) applicants.

After recently rereading The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing and Selling the Invisible, two cornerstones of modern branding, it struck me that more than ever companies and individuals need that extra edge to make others (customers, employers, etc.) stand up and take notice - and recognize their value (e.g. the benefits they provide).

Ironically, many of your young people are already grasping the subtleties of self-branding; albeit unconsciously, through social networking - what are all those likes/dislikes and "favorites" on MySpace and Facebook if not a way of differentiating (and associating)- branding - oneself? Meetup groups take it a step further with the physical community, building bonds that in addition to "good company" can provide (directly or indirectly) pathways to self-expression, resource connection - even employment?

My whimsical suggestion to educators, particularly those teaching business/marketing or "The Arts": have your charges create a Coat-of-Arms. They'll have a blast with the creativity aspect of it; and you get to vicariously prod them into examining their values, aspirations, strengths and the mirror-to-the-world they want to project. It's amazing how much of this won't change over time - even if their career choices, friends and physical locales do. More importantly, they get one step closer to tapping into to their Most Wonderful Uniqueness - a quality that's bound to reap dividends as they search for the holy grail of their "right" career.