Becoming your own brand

In September, Alexandre, a student from Normandy, took the microphone on the Paris–Toulouse TGV to introduce himself to passengers and land a work-study placement. With apprenticeship starts in French higher education down 16% in 2026, his initiative was applauded by thousands on social media, against the backdrop of an increasingly tight job market on both sides of the border. The student was bold and original; but it is rather sad to see that the ‘product’… is him.

His is one case among many: Generation Z has entered a saturated job market in which traditional applications are no longer enough. Candidates have to stand out, design interactive CVs and make videos that present themselves like a film trailer.

Indeed, we no longer introduce ourselves; we ‘pitch’. Reputations are now built before any face-to-face meeting, since everything is out there in the digital jungle. Our society now asks everyone – students, executives, freelancers and creators alike – to make themselves visible as if they were a product.

A human being is not a product. We all have grey areas and contradictions that personal branding is determined to smooth over. Alternatives reject this fatalism by distinguishing what we show from who we are, and by relying on human recommendation rather than algorithm-optimised visibility.

At the societal level, the debate is taking shape. In France, the Constitutional Council this summer struck down the ban on social media for under-15s, even though it had been passed by Parliament: the debate itself remains wide open. In Belgium, a similar proposal is being drawn up: the federal Minister for Digital Affairs, Vanessa Matz, is pushing a bill setting the same threshold of 15, while Flanders is arguing for 13. That is the age proposed by the European Commission, which is preparing its own continent-wide verification tools.

While the debate is officially about protecting minors, it raises a broader question: what kind of digital society do we want to live in, and how much room do we leave for what cannot be seen? For, as Saint-Exupéry wrote, ‘what is essential is invisible to the eye’.