brazen careerist launches new career site (oklahomans between 20-30 read this now)

Dear Generation Y (b. 1982-2000)

Today, something important is happening that I want to tell you about, but first, a story.

When I graduated college nearly 20 years ago, my work experience consisted of cleaning houses and working retail. For a year, I foundered. I signed up to substitute teach; I drove a school bus part-time and I worked for four days as a secretary in a cancer ward until someone died; I cried (a lot), and as they say, the rest is history.

My Lifelong Dream?
Once, when I landed an interview for a job in the finance industry, the hiring manager asked me, “So, tell me, why do you want to work for Blazer Finance?”

It had been a long day. It was my fifth such interview for a job that paid about $700 a month. With a student loan payment just over $300, the future looked grim. Sitting there in my little hounds-tooth dress with my hair pulled back in a girlish clip, and sporting my keen ability to explain Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, I could not help my reply: “Because this is my lifelong dream?”

I should have known, one day I would blog about Generation X.

Jumping Up and Down on the Bed
Suffice to say, networking opportunities were slim in 1990, the year I entered the workforce. I still remember exactly what I did when, at 23, I landed my first big job as a writer making $1,500 a month. I jumped up and down on my already-broken down bed in my one-room apartment. Then, I called the hiring manager back and asked for $25 more a week to cover my gasoline expense – because all the magazines said I should negotiate and I’d forgotten to do that.

Generation Y: Your Ideas Mean Everything
A lot can change in 20 years, and now you, a young professional have opportunities I could not have envisioned.

I mean, imagine a Web site that can help you become known for your ideas; a site that can help you find your voice; a site that will allow you present a dynamic picture of your strengths. Imagine a site that will help you find a financially rewarding career that you love, and a site where your experience or the lack thereof is the focus.

BrazenCareerist.com
That site launched today, and you have the opportunity to be among the first to sign up. So, march your happy, ambitious self over to the BrazenCareerist.com. It's free.

The site is similar to Facebook in that it allows for a self-expressive feed. But, it’s different in that members benefit professionally by keeping personal posts on Facebook. The site is also similar to LinkedIn, which caters to Generation X. But, it’s much more than LinkedIn, which operates more like a database of Gen X professionals than a true networking platform.

The BrazenCareerist will help Gen Y:

• Manage your professional brand with a search-optimized profile.


• Build your network with a customized, professional feed.


• Be found by your top-choice employers with an ideas-based resume.


• Meet future collaborators through location and skills based groups.


• Create financial stability by managing your career as an asset.

If You Only Have Time for One Professional Blog
One of the brilliant minds behind the new career management site is Penelope Trunk, co-founder and CEO of the Brazen Careerist. I think she has one of the most relevant and helpful blogs for professionals on the Internet. If you aren’t reading it, you should be – yesterday.

Early Adopters Make More $
Finally, in 2006, I was studying for my accreditation in PR and I was following a PR blogger named Kami who was writing consistently about something called Twitter. I joined, but never participated. Two years later, I became active. Kami was a true innovator and through her blog I had the opportunity to become an early adopter, but instead, I settled for being part of the early majority.

Don’t do that! Join BrazenCareerist and see what happens. After awhile, come back and tell me about it, because I think an awful lot of Penelope, and I think an awful lot of you. Unlike that guy at Blazer Finance, I really do care about your lifelong dreams because our country can’t afford to suffer the loss of your brilliant ideas, especially at a time like this.