On Sunday night, as the Oscars wrapped up, I found myself thinking about something the film industry understands very well:
The people who stay top of mind are rarely the most generic.
They are the most recognisable. They have a point of view. A style. A presence. A set of strengths the market can identify quickly.
That is where I think many professionals need to focus now. Because I know the mood out there is heavy. The news is exhausting. The economy feels unstable. The job market is frustrating. AI is making everything faster, louder, and more crowded.
And in moments like this, it is very tempting to respond by becoming safer, broader, and more polished around the edges.
I think that is a mistake.
What I am seeing more and more is this: as job seekers use AI to help with resumes, cover letters, and applications, their professional story is starting to sound the same.
More polished, yes. More efficient, maybe. More memorable, no.
In fact, many people are becoming more vanilla at the exact moment they need to become more distinct. Applications are now easier to produce and easier to send at scale. That may feel productive, but it can create a false sense of momentum. You can apply for 50 roles and still not be any clearer about what makes you compelling.
And that matters. Because recruiters do not remember the most generic candidate. Networks do not refer the most generic professional. Hiring managers do not champion the person they cannot describe. They remember the person who is known for something.
That is why I keep coming back to examples from film and television. Aimee Lou Wood is a good one. She does not look like every other actor, and that is exactly the point. Her distinctive smile is part of what makes her memorable. Jack Nicholson is another example. You know his energy immediately. His presence, expression, and style made him unmistakable. In both cases, the market knows where to place them. That does not limit them. It brands them. It makes them easier to cast, easier to remember, and easier to talk about.
A client story: Why being more specific may be your best career move
A client of mine, let’s call her Natalie, had been applying for jobs for months with very little traction. She was qualified, experienced, and doing all the right things, including using AI to help with applications. But somewhere along the way, she had become too generic. Her story was polished but not memorable.
Once we clarified what she was truly known for (leading teams through complex change and rebuilding trust in messy environments) everything shifted. She stopped applying for every role and started inquiring, "Before I send you my application, can you clarify for me if this organization is planning a large-scale, complex change? Because that's my expertise."
She applied for fewer roles, but with more focus. Recruiters understood her faster. Her network started referring her more confidently. And within weeks, she said something I now repeat often: “I thought I needed to make myself more marketable. What I actually needed was to make myself more memorable.”
Other client stories include the following adaptation:
- From any retail job to physical retail/stores (i.e., no ecommerce)
- Any fashion design job to technical sports design fashion
- Any CFO role to CFO in the education sector
- Any project management role to project management for non-profit foundations
- Any energy sector role to wind farm energy projects
Professionals need to think about their careers like actors do: focusing on their distinguishing features rather than their sameness.
- What are you known for?
- What do people trust you with?
- What problems do you solve better than most?
- What is it about your experience, temperament, expertise, or leadership style that makes people think of you first?
That is your asset, your edge. That is what needs to become clearer, not blurrier. For experienced professionals, especially, I believe the future belongs to those who are willing to become more relevant, more specific, and more intentional about their professional identity. Not narrower in a limiting way, but sharper in a useful way.
Because when the market is noisy, clarity wins. When everyone sounds the same, specificity wins. When technology lowers the barrier to entry, reputation, discernment, and distinctiveness become even more valuable.
So instead of asking yourself how to apply for more roles, ask yourself this:
- How do I become more top of mind for the right ones?
- How do I make it easier for my network to remember me, refer me, and recommend me?
- How do I communicate my value in a way that sounds like me, reflects my strengths, and helps other people understand exactly where I fit?
That is the work.
And yes, it takes effort, reflection, strategy, and usually it also takes support. But it is far more effective than disappearing into a sea of AI-assisted sameness.
If you are ready to stop job searching in a broad, exhausting way and start positioning yourself with more focus, more confidence, and more intention, I would love to help.
I work with professionals over 40 who want to get hired sooner, make smart career decisions, and present themselves in a way that cuts through the noise.
If that sounds like the kind of support you need, book a discovery call and let’s talk about working together over the next few months.
Because in this market, being more human, more specific, and more memorable may be your greatest advantage.
Have you listened to my conversation with Patrick Dunlop, organizational psychologist and professor at Curtin University's Future of Work Institute? Patrick updated us on how the hiring process is actually done across organizations and how AI in recruitment often doesn't live up to the hype. At least not yet!
Time Out
- I'm reading The First Forty Days: The Essential Art of Nourishing the New Mother. I want to make sure my son, my daughter-in-law, and I are on the same page once the baby comes. I'm also in charge of making the nourishing recipes in the book. Will start this weekend and freeze everything. We are all in standby mode waiting for the baby :)
- We are visiting the little towns around us. Everything is so pretty in Spring. Daffodils everywhere. Unfortunately, we drove to three different towns only to realize we could not find a place to eat because it was Mother's Day in the UK!
- I'm listening to Noah Kahan's entire 2024 album, Stick Season (Forever) - it's so good!. Also, Janis Joplin's Piece of My Heart, and because we went to Camden last week, I got into Amy Winehouse big time. I love this song; very Motown.
- You can follow my work-from-abroad trip on my Instagram Stories.
Until next week, and wishing you all the best
RB
