Get ahead with the wow factor

In today's competitive job market, no one can afford to be anything other than memorable and exciting, say John Purkiss and David Royston-Lee, authors of Brand You - Turn Your Unique Talents Into A Winning Formula.

Perhaps our parents could afford to be faceless, nameless employees but they didn't have multiple careers then (or multiple redundancies).

"We often do seminars and when we ask the question "hands up how many people have had twice as many jobs as their parents, everyone raises their hands," says Purkiss, a former economist and banker turned head-hunter.

Once we had personalities: now we are brands that should be, if you follow the advice of this book, as recognisable as, say, a pair of Nike trainers.

As Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, once said: "Your brand is what people say about you when you're not in the room." Hardworking, dedicated, non-shouty people don't cut it. "They have weak brands that hold them back," say the authors.

The logic is simple. With up to 40,000 unemployed young professionals vying for very few positions in today's lean market, those with the wow factor will get there first. Companies have no loyalty so the only thing that keeps you in your job is: Brand Me. Rather than worry about pleasing one's bosses, we should consider if our bosses are pleasing us. Strong brands include The Queen, Damien Hirst and David Beckham (all of whom have PR machines behind them, a must for any top brander).

To be a great CEO of ME inc demands a bit of hard work. First, you must figure out who you are. Then, you must figure out what you are good at. Finally, you must decide what your values are (for a brand to work it must be authentic. The authors cite Coca-Cola).

To really know what it is that your brand is pushing on the world, you must look deep within to identify your talents. For this the authors have a series of exercises including a fun one where you have four minutes to spend 1,000 times your income (I spent four minutes deciding).

Some people develop strong brands without any assistance from management coaches (think of a Groucho Marx moustache). Others are not so lucky. For your brand to be communicated effectively to the outside world, it must shout its purpose loud. People must immediately know the archetype (the way we project who we are) that we adhere to.

The authors identify 12 archetypes including ordinary guy, care-giver, lover, explorer, hero, creator, innocent, jester, ruler, outlaw, sage, magician. Your archetype should not demand any investigation on the part of the potential customer or employer. So if you intend to run a Footsie 500 company in your lifetime, your brand must communicate that. A weak handshake, untidy hair and a frayed shirt do not fit the bill. The creative applying for a job in the art department should not look like a boxed-up accountant. Personally, I'm not sure what the lover (he wants to give love and communicates sensual pleasure) will attract by his touting his brand in an office apart from unwanted attention from the opposite sex.

Another critical point made is that no one is THAT interested in you. To get noticed you have to have your three-second statement ready. "I am a finance director" doesn't cut it. It has to be "I am a finance director and an amateur actor" or "I am a mother and a black belt in karate - I also speak 12 languages." This allows the person to remember your brand rather than just you.

Of course, in 2009 brands must be meaningful. One must reek of self-acceptance and spirituality which can be easily achieved (the authors say) by doing some simple meditation exercises.

For the ultimately successful, there is the question of how to manage your brand once you become famous. David Beckham is cited as the example of someone who has carefully developed, maintained and nurtured his brand to be where he is today.

"His lack of fluency in his mother tongue is consistent with the ordinary guy and has made people warm to him," say Purkiss and Royston-Lee.

Ever since management guru Tom Peters first wrote the influential article The Brand Called You, businessmen have been hysterically updating their Linkedln and Google entries (rather, some say, than focusing on the job). It's a bit sad to have to think of ourselves as iPods or Nike trainers, but as Purkiss says, being invisible is no longer an option.