Professionally in 2008, we launched a site on a tight budget, we raised a round of funding, we moved Brazen headquarters from a coffee shop to an office, we hired great people, we re-launched a site on a bigger budget, we let great people go, and we changed our business model on a dime to have a chance of surviving the economic crisis. Personally, I’ve been lucky enough to live with my brother, to work with my friends and to start a great relationship. I’ve also dealt with the pain of two friends deaths in the past two months.

While all of this has happened, blogging has unfortunately taken a back seat. This is something that will change in 2009, expect a lot more posts. But 2008 still had its fair share of thought-provoking, controversial, and heart-felt posts on Employee Evolution. Here are a few of my favorites.

The hands down favorite

10 Ways Generation Y Will Change the Workforce
We have a voice, and we have the ear of the decision makers. Not bad for a group of lazy, entitled, twentysomethings. We’ve learned the importance of balancing work and life from our overworked parents, and we’ve watched our older siblings and cousins struggle with their baby boomer bosses who refuse to retire. Now we’re primed to change the workplace for the better. Here’s how we’ll do it…

You know your company should be using social media. Don’t you?

Why Every Company Should Use Social Media
Social media is changing everything. Business Week recently published an article about the power of social media and how companies are beginning to embrace it, because they really don’t have a choice. Not everyone has a blog, or wants to blog, but you would be hard pressed to find many people who aren’t on some type of social network. Now it’s time for corporate America to follow suit and meet their potential customers on their own turf, or risk falling behind the times…

3 More New Marketing Rules for Recruiting Millennials

What I’ve come to realize is that recruiting and marketing are not as different as one would expect. Godin’s 14 new rules for marketers capture perfectly the new rules for recruiting and retaining Gen-Y…

Why Your Company Can’t Afford to Ban Social Networking
Social networking is not a fad. It’s not one of those things that people think is cool for a few years and then it simply fades away. Much like the internet did, social networking and social media have changed the way the world works. We’re now connected to every friend, acquaintance, girlfriend, boyfriend, and business contact that we have ever encountered – it’s a powerful and even revolutionary tool…

Gen-Y is the best! Just kidding. But we are going to change the world.

Does Gen Y Really Want to Change the World?
Generation Y and activism have been braided together for some time. And while it makes me proud to say that this generation has what it takes to make improvements in the world. I wonder if we’re kind of jumping the gun…

A Message to Generation X
Most of the questions I get from Human Resources and Recruiting professionals about Generation Y are the same. They are all about why this generation expects to get so much so fast, why we feel entitled to flexibility, why we think we deserve high pay immediately, and so forth. The thing that surprises me every time is that it’s not the Baby Boomers who are so upset with Gen Y, it’s the Gen Xers…

Generation Y: Inheriting a World That Must Be Fixed
The world, and more specifically, The United States, is screwed up right now. The House just rejected a $700 Billion rescue plan, effectively causing the largest drop in the stock market since 1987. And the word is that House members pending reelections played a major role in the rejection. You’ve got to be kidding me…

Forget About Generation Y. We’re All to Blame for Workplace Woes
We all have a lot of similar traits that make the workplace really suck sometimes. But for some reason we’re so distracted by the minor differences between us that we forget how we’re all a pain in the ass sometimes. Generations aside, here are three things that will always remain the same…

7 Things to Look Past When Managing Generation Y
Managing Generation Y isn’t all that different from managing anyone else. You need to demand a lot, manage a lot and respect the fact that they have a life outside of work. That being said, there are some things that Gen Y employees believe that past generations may not have thought at the same age. So for all you confused managers out there, here’s a list of things you should consider accepting when it comes to managing Generation Y…

Generation Y: Here Are The Real Dues We Have to Pay
Due paying gets a bad rap because it’s consistently associated with cubicles, meaningless work and low-paying jobs with little benefit. But I believe that there are other inevitable obstacles—more important ones—that we need to conquer before deciding where we stand within the working world…

Community Manager might just be the hottest new job out there. Learn a few things from one of the best, Ryan Paugh.

10 Tips for Successfully Managing Online Communities
When companies, especially startups, get caught up in the hustle of post-funding mayhem, a sturdy bridge is what will keep you aligned with your loyal, pre-funding customers. And those loyal customers are important when you’re community building. It’s a messy and erratic job, but somebody’s gotta do it…

Why Bringing Your Online Community Offline Is So Crucial
I can’t think of a more important goal to be able to meet as an online community manager. Because while we all know the Internet can be a powerful vessel for cultivating relationships, nothing beats the personal touch of face-to-face interaction…

What My Frat-Guy Years Taught Me About Building Community
But here’s the deal. I learned a lot from my years as a greek. Sure, I partied hard, got up late and skipped a bunch of classes. But I spent a lot of that time building community right outside my door, in my frat. Here are few things I took away from the fuzzy, fun-filled days and nights I spent with my fraternity in college…

List Posts get a bad rap. These ones are really good though

3 Ways to Be More Professional Than You Really Are
Being thought of as a professional is not all suit and tie. It’s not all about qualifications either. True professionals have an aura about them. And even though they may not completely understand every situation they’re thrown into, they can navigate their way through it with little problem…

3 Ways to Appear Older Than You Really Are
While most women love to hear they look much younger than they are, it’s not necessarily a good thing when you’re trying to get people to invest in your start-up company. People seem to think that if you’re older you have a better chance of being successful. I don’t think it’s true, but it’s something you have to deal with as a young professional…

7 Reasons Why You Won’t Be Getting a Raise This Year and What You Can Do About it
In the grand scheme of things a big raise won’t make much difference in your life, but we’ll all keep chasing it anyway. Maybe it’s the big number, maybe it’s the increased value that society places on us when we make a lot of money, or maybe we all just want more stuff. Whatever it is, everyone’s gunning for that big raise. Unfortunately, most of us won’t be getting anything more than the standard 3 to 6% Cost of Living Adjustment anytime soon…

8 On The Job Rules Your Unfortunately Won’t Learn in College
College is a great place to learn how to work hard, party hard, and make friends. College also teaches us how to live on our own and why debt sucks. But, college doesn’t teach us as much about the business world because business in the real world is more about experience, confidence and the network you build. Here are 8 business rules you didn’t learn in college…

5 Steps to Never Worrying About a Job Search Again
The economy sucks right now. Every media site you go to is littered with stories about the pending doom and gloom of the job market. But the truth is, if you’re young, smart and motivated, there is no reason finding a job should be difficult. You just have to put in the extra time and effort to make yourself employable…

Everybody loves a little controversy. Especially me

Is Gen-Y the First Post-Racial Generation?
The bar immediately started booing. I looked at my friend Keith and said, “Why does it have to be about race?” He shook his head and remained silent. None of us wanted this election to be about race. To us, it was never about race. It was about hope and change and the future of our country…

Death is a part of life. Unfortunately this only becomes more obvious as we grow older.

All the Little Things Really Are Important
Tragedy will happen more and more as we get older. When it does, we sit back and reflect, but unfortunately we probably forget too soon. And we go on stressing out about life. But you know what; I’m not going to forget. Maybe for an hour, maybe for a day, and maybe even for a week, I’ll get wrapped up in my own head and my own worries. But somehow, I’ll remind myself of Val and how she handled her hardships – real hardships, and I’ll snap out of it…

Thinking about going into business with a friend? We did it. Here are a few tips before you make the big leap.

I Just Went Into Business With One of My Friends. Now What?
Every day is different. Some days are just like college. Others, we’re nearly at each other’s throats. Starting a business with one of your friends is an incredible experience, but if you don’t prepare yourself for the unavoidable drama, it’s really going to suck…

I Used to Be Terrified of Public Speaking. Now I love it. You Can Too.

6 Public Speaking Tips for the Young Professional
Its been said that the number one fear in most people’s minds is the fear of public speaking. Does this mean that people would rather die or become critically injured than speak to a group? I doubt it. But standing in front of a group of people alone and vulnerable is a scary thought for most of us…

So you’re sure you want to be an entrepreneur. Are you really sure?

Before You Commit to Being an Entrepreneur, Stop and Think
In hindsight, I was probably ill-prepared to make such a big commitment. Would I have made the same decision if I knew about the pressures I deal with today? Sure, but I’d certainly plan better. Preparation is key for any soon-to-be entrepreneur. Timing can be everything, and the people you work with can make you or break you. Not to mention, it’s a commitment that’s not easy to walk away from…

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And for those of us who need a job and a paycheck to pay our bills, things are certainly getting interesting.

Business Week just published an article stating that November’s 6.7% unemployment rate is a full 2% higher than last year at this time, and that number is severely understated. The unemployment number only counts a very specific portion of the population — people who do not have a job, are currently available for work, and have actively sought employment within the last four weeks.

A friend of mine just applied for unemployment and the woman told him that the number of people applying in Madison the past few weeks has been astronomical – she’s never seen anything like it. A few of my other friends own a burger joint that was the hottest restaurant in town. Now they’re struggling to break even. When college students stop eating burgers and fries, you know something is off.

We’re certainly feeling the effects at Brazen Careerist too. Finding funding is about as much fun as sticking needles in your eyes, and we’re all adjusting accordingly to keep things going.

Things are bad. But strangely enough, I side with Nadira Hira of Fortune Magazine when she says, “The outcome of the financial crisis may not be a defeated Gen Y, but a more determined one — determined, that is, to follow fulfilling work.”

I don’t know about you guys, but when I turn on the news to see the doom and gloom of the economy, or when I worry about getting a paycheck, I can’t help but think that in the long run, this will make our generation more resilient and better able to handle the challenges we will face in the next 50 years.

And as far as fulfilling work goes, Hira is right on point when she says, “the trifecta of entrapment for the company men of generations past — they’ll be harder to corner. Every time they get a paycheck, they’ll be wondering if it’s their last. And they will always resent a company that uses that paycheck as a shackle.”

The advice you read for start-ups tell us that now is the time to settle in and hunker down. It may not be fun, but it’s what you have to do. The same advice holds true holds true for individuals, and if there was ever a time to take a less than perfect job that uses “a paycheck as a shackle,” just so you can pay the bills, that time is probably now.

But remember, the start-ups and individuals who will survive the worst of times, and emerge better than ever, may appear to the outside world to be “hunkering down” but I guarantee that on the inside their wheels are spinning at a million miles per hour.

So make sure that if and when you settle in to ride this thing out, you never stop planning your next move. Because if you get complacent and wait ‘til it’s over, you may be too late.

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As I read through the entries, I got the chills. The posts were amazing. The ways that blogging and online communities have changed people’s lives for the better is unbelievable.

I probably can’t compete with our winners, but here’s my story.

I always wanted to be an entrepreneur. So much so, that sophomore year of college I created a major called Entrepreneurship. I chose my course load and handpicked the classes that would give me the best all around business education.

But the next semester I spent too much time drinking and partying. I listened to the negative people who told me I couldn’t get a job without a “real” major. And my motivation to be the next Donald Trump quickly faded away.

I majored in Accounting, and sure enough, I followed the crowd to awkward interviews and boring get-togethers. I interviewed with the Big 4 in New York and D.C. But the interviews never felt right. I didn’t want to be there. I was going through the motions and I was looking down on my life, slowly watching it become what I feared most – boring.

I still didn’t do anything about it. I moved to D.C. and started a job with IBM. I did good work. I received two raises in less than a year, and my boss targeted me as a top prospect for a spot in an exclusive graduate program.

But the truth is, I was a walking zombie. I was on a project stationed at the Pentagon. It sounds cool, but every time I walked through the endless rows of people in tiny cubicles, and every time I strolled the courtyard filled with folks trying to escape the monotony of their day, I couldn’t help but think, “This is totally depressing.”

So I started a blog. I partnered with Ryan Paugh because he was a good friend, and he had a Journalism background. The beginning was fairly innocent. We wrote about work, and life and our jobs. We responded to articles that characterized our generation as lazy and narcissistic. It was fun.

Then one day something crazy happened. Paugh was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal. I snagged one of the copies I found at my apartment complex and made the commute to the Pentagon with the paper under my arm and a smile from ear to ear.

Flash forward to today, two years later. I’m sitting in my apartment in Madison, Wisconsin, worried sick about how my blog-based company is going to raise a second round of funding in one of the worst economies since the Great Depression, and how I’m going to make my rent in a few months if I can’t pull in a salary. And despite all of this, just like that morning that Paugh was in the Wall Street Journal, I’m still smiling from ear to ear.

I’m smiling because the posts I read this weekend, the posts written by the people who are proud to be in the community that I helped build, gave me the opportunity to step back and look at how much a simple little blog has changed my life in two short years. And I’ve realized; my life is far from boring.

In two years of blogging I’ve made new friendships that I would never trade. I’ve taken existing friendships to a whole new level. I’ve started an amazing relationship with someone I never would have met if she didn’t find my blog and leave a comment. I’ve had the opportunity to live and work with my brother after six years of living in different states. I founded a company that people believe in. I turned a great mentor into a great business partner. I found the discipline to train for and run a half marathon and I demolished my paralyzing fear of public speaking.

And I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing all of these things with a community of like-minded people who are all conquering their goals and living out their dreams right alongside me.

Blogging is a beautiful thing.

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No, I’m not remembering an awesome rock concert. And I’m not having flashbacks to watching my favorite football team play for the national championship. I’m thinking about the upcoming presidential inauguration and I’m remembering the scene that took place one month ago.

We were in the middle of New York City – in Soho, at a bar with a diverse group of professionally dressed twentysomethings. It was November 4, 2008 and CNN had just officially announced that Barack Obama would be the 44th president of the United States of America.

The scene was magical. I couldn’t help but look around with a huge smile on my face. I was watching history, and all I wanted to do was soak it in.

Then John McCain took the stage for his concession speech. The bar went silent. Everyone turned toward the television. And some of the first words that came out of John McCain’s mouth (after “My Friends” of course) were about the special significance that this election had for African Americans.

The bar immediately started booing. I looked at my friend Keith and said, “Why does it have to be about race?” He shook his head and remained silent. None of us wanted this election to be about race. To us, it was never about race. It was about hope and change and the future of our country.

Remember, this was not a bar full of people who all looked the same. It was an extremely diverse group of all races and cultures. And nearly every single one of us did not think John McCain should have brought up Barack Obama’s race.

“What’s the point? Who cares?” We thought.

Then something weird happened. The pundits came on and every single one of them acknowledged race and how significant this was for African Americans. To me, and the rest of us in the bar, this was really surprising. Race wasn’t a factor in our minds, but it was obviously at the very top of the list for everyone talking about the election – everyone who just happened to be much older than us.

Over the next day, I watched pundit after pundit and television host after television host talk about the historical significance of the election, and it sunk in that, yes this election was very much about race – for everyone who could remember the days of segregation.

But for a generation of people who have only read about separate water fountains for whites and blacks, and Rosa Parks refusing to move to the back of the bus, and Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream Speech,” this election was purely about a new direction for the world and the one man who may be able to guide us there.

So, when I presented on a panel on the afternoon of November 5, and the panel host asked us, “Is Generation Y the first truly post-racial generation?”

I thought back to the night before and said,

“Almost.”

For one, I can’t possibly speak on such a big issue for an entire demographic of people. And secondly, despite what I felt and witnessed at the bar in Soho that night, I’m not sure if I totally believe our generation is post-racial.

What do you guys think? Is Gen-Y the first post-racial generation? Is this even a conversation worth having?

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My favorite point is about the importance of hiring GREAT people if you want to build a great company. Collins claims that people are not the most important asset. GREAT people are. He goes so far as to say that “good to great” companies first worried about getting the right people in the door and the wrong people out, and then worried about setting the right vision or plan for the company. Some companies lost millions of dollars a day while they waited around to find the right people.

They lost millions because it’s not easy to find GREAT people to work for you. Most great people have great jobs and make great money. They’re not hanging around Monster.com waiting for someone to read their resume. The truth is, it costs a company a ton of time and money to find great people. And most companies would rather settle for good or even average people. Unfortunately, that’s not good enough.

Seth Godin reaffirmed Collins point in his post the other day, when he wrote

“If your organization can thrive with ordinary folks, then the marketing you’re doing right now to fill the ranks might even be overkill. You’ve got plenty of resumes. No need to pretend you’re doing anything much more than bottom fishing, though. That plaque for employee of the month? You can sell it on eBay.

On the other hand, organizations that work best with extraordinary talent are almost certainly not investing enough in finding and developing it. If marketing works so well that you spend a fortune on it, why aren’t you marketing your jobs? If talent is so important that you are betting the company on it, why aren’t you actually investing in finding and retaining that talent?”

Godin’s absolutely right. To be a truly successful business, you can’t just market your products. You have to constantly market your jobs.

The top companies already get it. There’s a reason that the big four - Deloitte, Accenture, Ernst & Young and KPMG appear at the top of the list year after year for best places to work. They spend money, time and energy marketing their jobs by branding themselves as employers of choice. It’s not like they have earth-shattering positions available. They’re mostly accountants, auditors and consultants. But they take their hiring seriously. And that’s why they’re great companies.

So yes, finding great people is expensive and time consuming. But hiring the wrong people is even more expensive and more time consuming. If your company is trying to figure out where to cut costs right now, make sure you consider the advice from Jim Collins, Seth Godin and The Big 4 before you decide to cut those recruiting and marketing budgets.

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Students flooded the streets. Beaver Canyon, the core of off-campus life, became a sea of blue and white. And when I first watched the footage I thought, “Awesome!” But I changed my mind.

You see, I love Penn State. It’s still a huge part of my life. And when something remarkable happens to that community, I can be as rowdy as they come. But when a community as great as Happy Valley turns on itself—and ends up hurting itself— it’s just way too ugly to ignore.

Communities are a wonderful thing—college communities, neighborhood communities, online communities—and most accomplish great things. But sometimes, communities can turn dangerous. And last week at Penn State was a perfect example.

It’s easy to be an asshole in chaotic situations.

I first found out about the Penn State riot online. My younger frat bros who are still in school had pictures up on Facebook. A few sorority girls I knew had links to the footage on Instant Messenger saying how “fucking awesome” it was. To be fair, that was my first reaction too.

But things got ugly. And they didn’t get ugly because of a community of criminals. They got ugly because of a handful of criminals scattered amidst thousands in a massive celebration.

A couple of meatheads, drunk off their own stupidity, thought it would be cool to rip down some street lights. Or break some bottles. Or smash some cop-car windows. And everybody suffered.

This kind of thing happens in communities all the time. Big or small, minority behavior tends to put us all in a whacked out situation. It even happens with communities online.

It’s like that blog post that organically creates passionate response. Usually the response is civil … but then someone realizes they can say anything they want, with no consequence. And a passionate, engaging dialogue turns sour.

And guess who usually gets burned in this equation? It’s not the person who was just there to throw some stones. It’s the people who showed up to genuinely enjoy the celebration. They’re the ones who end up with mace in their eyes.

And then the blame game begins …

I don’t know what happened first at PSU, the rioting or the mace. I’m pretty sure nobody will ever truly know. But regardless, we’ll still try to place blame months from now no matter what.

Students will blame the cops, because let’s face it: cops are the Anti-Christ to a college kid. And the cops will blame the students, because they’re just the spoiled-rotten kids their job forces them to deal with seven days a week. And when I read the post-riot articles online, I can really sympathize with both sides.

Fortunately, the online communities I’ve experienced are far tamer. But the blame game remains the same. Because how individuals act within any community affects how the entire community is perceived.

If some wild card decided to get slanderous tomorrow on Brazen, there wouldn’t be any long-term damage. But someone is going to be offended, or hurt. And when you’re trying to build a community that respects one another despite their differences in opinion, you do your best to make sure nobody walks away bruised.

And there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.

Just like overcoming great odds as an individual, communities that overcome great odds become stronger and more composed once the next obstacle erupts. The Penn State community will, and so will any other community that looks at what they did wrong the first time and makes changes in response.

I think the first step is to recognize how powerful we are when united. With that unity we can do great things, but can also wreak havoc. And sometimes pride and passion are great catalysts for people with violent intentions.

But I don’t think that means that we should dilute ourselves either. We just have to be more aware of the actions of the people around us. And if they’re malicious, it’s our responsibility to do something about it. And it’s harder to do than you think.

But I think that’s a leadership skill many of us don’t use that often, maybe we don’t even have it. But it’s certainly one that every community needs.

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My friend, Valerie Ludwig, passed away on Monday morning. She had been sick for a few years, but as far as I knew, she was doing much better. We’d drifted apart since High School. Sophomore and junior year we were close. We traveled in the same group. My guy friends dated her girl friends. We hung out on the weekends. She was a great person. Always happy. Always smiling. Always having a good time.

When I got the call from Andrea on Monday morning, I had eerie flashbacks to junior year of high school. It was too similar to the morning I found out about my friend Mike passing away in a car accident the night before.

I pictured Val at Mike’s funeral with the rest of our group, tearful, sad, and most of all confused about how something like this could happen to a 16 year old kid. I remembered Val at my best friend Ben’s father’s wake three years ago. I walked out of the funeral home, balling my eyes out after a tearful encounter with Ben and his mother. Guess who was there to comfort me? Val, strong and compassionate, she gave me a huge hug and told me everything would be ok.

Now it’s her turn. Her wake is tonight. I can’t be there. I wish I could. Now she’s gone and it just doesn’t seem fair. Nobody should die at 25.

I’ve come to find out that she was sick for a long time. She was on steroids that changed the way she looked. But she was never down. At our high school reunion, she looked a little different but she was the same old Val. Happy as hell and chatting with everyone – from the theatre kids, to the bandies to the jocks, she didn’t care. She never cared. She was never stressed. Or at least she never let it show.

And that’s why I was so disappointed in myself for stressing out. I have a good life. I have a healthy family. I have great friends. I have an amazing girlfriend. I’m doing exactly what I wanted to do with my career. Why stress about the little things?

Then I spoke with a mentor of mine. I told him how silly and unimportant all of this stuff seems when you hear about something so tragic. He told me it’s not silly. It is important. We’re put here to do something – to make a difference. What we do with our lives should be very important to us. So we continued on and talked business.

Tragedy will happen more and more as we get older. When it does, we sit back and reflect, but unfortunately we probably forget too soon. And we go on stressing out about life.

But you know what; I’m not going to forget. Maybe for an hour, maybe for a day, and maybe even for a week, I’ll get wrapped up in my own head and my own worries. But somehow, I’ll remind myself of Val and how she handled her hardships – real hardships, and I’ll snap out of it.

But I will continue to care about the things that are important in my life. And for me, with caring comes stress, and that’s ok. I just can’t let the stress consume me and bring me down. Instead, I’ll put it to good use and fight like hell for my friends, my family, my company, my career and whatever else is stressing me out. Because that’s what Val did, she fought like hell for her life. And even though she didn’t win that fight, she made the world she left behind a better place for everyone who knew her. And that’s what really matters.

Rest in Peace, Val.

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1. Figure out what your interests are

You hear it all the time, find your passion and pursue it. Well, I don’t totally buy it. You don’t have to find that one true calling to find a job you like, but you should, at the very least, have an interest in the field you pursue. As far as I’m concerned, being interested means that you would do the work in your free time - without getting paid. You’ll most likely have multiple careers throughout your lifetime, so forget about searching for the perfect one.

What do you read about, talk about, or blog about on a regular basis? Can any of those things be translated into a career? I’m sure they can, you just have to get creative.

2. Specialize to make yourself employable

Learn as much as you possibly can about the ONE field you want to work in. It might take a few weeks, a few months, or even a year, but if you devote enough time and energy into learning everything you can about your field, you will be employable in any economy.

We just hired an SEO guru who has a degree in psychology, and was in grad school for information studies. One day, less than a year ago, he decided he loved social media and SEO. Now he’s turning down job offers from Microsoft and saying no thanks to consulting requests every other day.

Our newest Software Engineer doesn’t have a college degree, but we had to woo him away from multiple other companies in Madison to get him to join the team because of his expertise in open source software development. A 4-year degree is great, but true knowledge and expertise in a particular field will trump a degree any day of the week.

3. Share your ideas with the world (Hint: start a blog)

You can be the most knowledgeable 22 year old in the country on your subject matter, and you can have a great resume, but that’s not enough. If you want employers to come to you, you have to communicate your knowledge and ideas to the rest of the world. Quite simply, this means start a blog! Blogging is, hands down, the best thing you can do for your career.

In his post about how much resumes suck, Robert Scoble says that only 1 out of 98 resumes he receives include a blog URL. Think about it, all you have to do to get to the top of the pile is put your URL in your cover letter or resume. And when you get to the top of the pile, your chances of getting the interview improve astronomically.

Additionally, a resume cannot show an employer your personality or express your ideas. A blog can. I wouldn’t be in the position I am today if it wasn’t for Employee Evolution. And I’ve heard of countless others who have turned their blog into a job. All you have to do is ask around the Brazen community to find some great blog success stories.

4. Control your online brand

When you decide to put your ideas out there for the world to see, you are making a conscious decision to market yourself as a brand. Dan Schawbel, the king of personal branding, has some great resources for anyone who decides its time to create “brand you.” The short version is that you should pick an area to brand yourself in and be conscious of everything you do online.

But this doesn’t mean you have to take down every Facebook picture of you drinking a beer. We’re all fully rounded people. We all have a social life, and a work life. We just happen to live every part of our lives online these days. Use the appropriate social network or blog platform to show each side of your life, and be conscious of the image you project. But don’t be scared, just don’t do anything illegal, and you’ll be fine.

5. Establish a Network of weak ties

We’ve all heard how important networking is for your career, but how exactly do you network with experienced or high profile people when you’re barely out of school? It’s easy, you put yourself out there. Start by researching who you want to get in touch with, then send them an email that adds some type of value and request a quick meeting.

In the past two weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with high level folks from companies like Accenture and Ceridian. And I’ve had random meetings with young CEO’s of great start-up companies like Banyan Link and Unigo. I used to be unsure of setting up phone calls just to chat, but I’ve now realized that that’s what successful people do. They connect with other successful or soon to be successful people, just because. And if you want to guarantee yourself a job no matter how bad the economy is, that’s what you have to do. You have to create as many weak ties as possible.

There are many different ways to approach your career. If you want to find decent jobs by actively job hunting for the rest of your life, a good approach is to have a degree, a solid resume and some relevant experience. But a great way is to do all those things, and embrace this 5 step process. Do it right and you’ll be amazed how many potential career opportunities come knocking on your door.

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At first glance, this seems crazy because Gen Y is job hopping every couple of years and employers can’t figure out how to get us to stick around. But as I thought about it a little more and I discussed the topic with other retreat attendees, it made total sense. We grew up watching our parents get laid off, then we went to college and saw the collapse of Enron, Arthur Andersen and others, and even now, we’re watching Wall Street completely screw up the economy. Couple that with the rapid pace of change we’ve seen throughout our lives, and a little security sounds pretty comforting.

But here’s the thing. We shouldn’t be looking for job security. And companies shouldn’t promise it. Promising job security means promising employment. And when everything changes at the blink of an eye, no company can promise employment. But what they should be able to promise is employability.

Promising employability means that a company is promising to provide you with the right mix of training, skills, experience, and mentoring, which will ultimately leave you employable no matter what happens with your current job. The best security you can have is the security of having the skills that employers need—the skills that make you employable.

So, when you go on your next job interview or when you talk to your boss about your career plans, ask him what the company is doing to make you employable. If he can quickly give you a list of five things, congratulations, you’re secure. If he’s stumped, it’s time to rethink the job you’re in.

Many companies have no idea how to provide Generation Y with the skills we need to be employable. So, they need our help. Jeanne Meister is researching and writing a book to help companies understand what Gen Y really wants. She has the ear of corporate America, but she’s asking for a little help and insight from us – Gen Y.

CLICK HERE to take the Four Generations @ Work survey and do your part in helping Corporate America understand what changes they need to make. And hey, if for no other reason, there are some pretty cool prizes you could win if you take the survey by October 15.

The Prizes:
1. Ipod Touch
2. Flip Camera
3. $50 gift certificate to Amazon

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And at first, saying that leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Frat guys get a bad rap, because a lot of us flat-out suck. But many of us are actually pretty good guys … promise.

But here’s the deal. I learned a lot from my years as a greek. Sure, I partied hard, got up late and skipped a bunch of classes. But I spent a lot of that time building community right outside my door, in my frat.

Here are few things I took away from the fuzzy, fun-filled days and nights I spent with my fraternity in college.

You can get a lot by doing a little.

The worst part about joining a fraternity is the pledge process. But after it’s all over, the rewards you’ll reap over the next four years (and beyond) are immeasurable.

I try to think about blogging the same way. During the first few months of your blog, you’re pretty much at the bottom of the food chain. Hardly anyone wants to talk to you and you’re putting a lot of time into something when time is pretty scarce.

Some days you want to quit—and lots of people do—but for those who stay, you get to enjoy a community experience that other people miss out on.

Just like pledging, once you’re initiated, the blogosphere becomes your playground. It’s effortless to make connections. And if that’s all you’re looking for, you’re in great shape.

But going above and beyond is better.

A lot of people pledge frats, “pay their dues” and coast their way through college with all the perks of fraternity life. But others take a leadership role. They strive to make a difference within their community. These people gain the most out of fraternity life.

Being a part of the blogosphere is very similar. The more you put in, the more you get out.

The Brazen Careerist community has leaders in every niche. They’re not just blogging; they’re making their niche better or even the entire sphere better.

A telltale sign of a community leader is someone who takes it beyond the blog. They connect via email, on the phone or in person. They’re finding ways for bloggers to work together and they’re actually creating a movement for change in some cases.

I like to think about it in terms of the people in the frat who would stay in their rooms during a party versus the ones who left that sanctity to be more social. Sure, you can lure people back to your room to party, but you’re a lot more likely to experience something fun if you throw yourself amongst the masses and let loose.

Mixing it up is a good thing.

My favorite thing about frat life was our diversity. We weren’t the homogeneous crew of greeks you see in movies. We had lots of differences. And it’s what made our house so distinctive.

And what would any good community be without a little diversity? What I love most about being Brazen is all the perspectives and passions we share. We are all quite different, but at the same time, united by the common desire to build relationships with fascinating people.

And sure, you may think frat guys are far from fascinating. But the good frats aim to be. Mine was. We had the meatheads, but we also had philosophers and some-day corporate execs. We were far from dull, and that’s what most communities should strive to be.

There are tons of different people with different agendas in the blogosphere. Some are writing, some are commenting and some are just reading with little-to-no visibility at all. But they’re all fulfilling a role that’s important to any community’s existence.

Inter-fraternal relations are vital.

It only takes a moment for a good party to go bad. One second you’re drinking a beer, the next, you’re getting jostled around in the midst of a frat-on-frat brawl. Lame.

Community leaders try so hard to build relationships with similar organizations. Then, out of nowhere, beer muscles get the best of someone and all goes sour.

It’s understandable. Everyone wants to be at the best. And in a way, you are, of course, competitors. But like anyone who understands community knows, it’s better to have an alliance with the competition than a vendetta against one another.

When building online community, establish good relations with your competition and try not to talk trash too much. The party is a lot more fun when you don’t have to worry about bad blood over spilt beer

Because in the end, it’s all about throwing a great party.

That’s the biggest similarity between my frat-guy years and my new adventure building an online community. Every day Brazen is working to bring the most thought-provoking mix of readers and writers together.

Our goal: To be the most stellar group of thought-provoking young professionals online. The community everyone wants to party with—the big name on campus.

And maybe that sounds too greek for you … and if that’s the case, don’t get turned off. I’m far beyond those years (for the most part). I’m just happy to (right now) have my dream job. A job that bonds my party-boy years with the (quasi)-professional I’ve become today. And I’m loving it.

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