All the Little Things Really are Important

I'm stressed out. I'm stressed about money. I'm stressed because we're rolling out a big feature that should change the way people interact on Brazen Careerist. I'm stressed because we can't seem to hit a development deadline to save our lives. And I'm stressed because I'm traveling to New York and Boston all next week, right in the middle of all this chaos. But most of all I'm stressed because after what happened on Monday, I think that being stressed out is a total waste of time, yet I continue to do it.

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.

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. So for all you college seniors and recent grads, here's a 5 step process to making sure employers are knocking on your door, and not the other way around.

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.

Job Security Is a Dumb Goal (And a Survey with Some Cool Prizes)

A couple of weeks ago I attended a "future of work" retreat. Many people presented their research, but one specific trend consistently showed up, and truthfully I'm amazed by it — Generation Y values job security more than anything else.

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

What My Frat-Guy Years Taught Me About Building Community

Most of you don't know the Ryan Paugh that people knew in college. Most of you know Ryan Paugh "the BC community manager." But back in college I was Ryan Paugh "the frat guy."

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.