Recently, a hiring manager told me personal brand means little to average jobseekers. He went on to say that when he needs his next employee, he puts up an ad and receives thousands of candidate resumes in a few days.
 
It occurred to me that he is following the template for hiring. It also occurred to me that all those job seekers are following the template for finding a job. It got me thinking that following a formula has a downside. It promotes a monotonousness that tends to blur individual instances. At some point, many of those thousands of resumes create a blur where no one stands out – much like dull reports on the evening news.

In thinking about templates and dull news reports, I recalled this video.

Personally, I’d choose standing out. But hey, if you’d rather blend in, and risk that no one is really listening to what you’re saying, follow the template.