It is a great relief that I entered the job market before the term “personal brand” had entered common parlance, because God only knows who I’d have decided to be if I was let loose on the project at the age of 22. 

Back then, I understood that one’s “true” self was something to hide from potential employers, to curtail any doubts about how serious, responsible and committed a worker you might be. I’d set my social media to private after submitting a job application, try my best (and usually fail) to keep the filter on during an interview, and keep as quiet and compliant as possible for the first six months once I got my foot in the door. I imagine I wasn’t terribly good at suppressing myself or my opinions most of the time, but I was terrified of coming across as unprofessional, and the way I saw it, having a personality at work was something you had to earn. 

But the world, and especially the job market, has changed. If we want to stand out, compete, succeed and even survive, it seems it is no longer talent or ability that we must prove and sell, but an identity itself. Women, especially, seem to be encouraged to develop a niche, something that makes us unique, a snappy, bullet-point summary to appealingly........

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