We Launched the Team Brazen Blog Today

Be sure to check out the official Team Brazen Careerist blog, we just launched it today. Here's a quick taste of what the blog will be all about.

It's been a long time coming, but we've finally launched the official Team Brazen Blog. After a year of telling companies how important it is for them to blog, we figured we would drink the Kool-aid and start one too.

Most of the team has a unique online identity. And as Dan Schawbel would tell you, that's great for personal branding. But we also need a collective voice from the company. People want to know what's new at Brazen headquarters, where we're headed in the future and why we're doing what we're doing. So this will be the place to find all the latest Brazen gossip.

At Brazen, everyone has a unique job (in most cases, multiple jobs) and a unique personality.

Ryan Paugh, our Community Manager/Editor/Fill in Designer, loves talking to people. In fact, Ryan genuinely wants to be friends with every single person on our network. I often wonder how he'll do this when we have a million users, but I wouldn't be surprised if he finds a way. Ryan is determined to showcase as many community members as humanly possible through his community member Q&A's. I'm sure he'll also write about life as an online Community Manager – the coolest new job around……

Read the rest at the official Team Brazen Blog

E-Book: Career Blogging for College Students

2009 is going to be a tough year for everyone. It's impossible to ignore that jobs are being shed, people are being laid off and companies shutting down. The economy is in the tank and no one is safe.

Despite all of this, I'm a big believer in seeing the silver lining in the midst of crisis. If you bring it upon yourself to not be fired, to get that great job, or to not let your company go under, you can thrive. It's certainly not easy, and sometimes it's not even fun, but tough times show you what people are really made of.

College students are at an especially big disadvantage right now. Not only do they have to deal with an inevitable quarter life crisis, but now they have to deal with finding a good job in the worst economy since the depression.

Despite being extremely tech-savvy, college students typically live in a giant bubble. They associate with people at school, they go to the bars on campus, they wear sweat pants every day of the week, and the only social media they use is posting last night's pictures on Facebook.

Unfortunately, those giant bubbles need to burst. As the web brings people from all corners of the globe closer together, college students need to step outside of their campus bubbles to compete with top talent and eventually get great jobs. The best way to do this is through social media. The connections you make and the knowledge you gain by immersing yourself in these tools cannot be achieved offline.

Sites like Twitter, LinkedIn and even Facebook can do a lot of good for your career because of the networking opportunities. But to really showcase your thoughts, opinions and strengths to the people looking to hire you, a blog can't be beat.

Because of this, I've written the E-book "Career Blogging: A Guide to Empowering Your Students through Social Media" as a basic guide for university staff, career centers, parents or anyone else trying to help college students succeed in this recessionary job market. The E-Book explains three things:

1. Why blogs are the most effective career tool
2. How students can be successful bloggers
3. How students can use a blog to get the job they want

While this book is clearly written to higher-ed staff, it's just as useful for students who are considering starting a blog or getting involved in social media. So check it out, and don't forget to let me know what you think!

Career Blogging: A Guide to Empowering Your Students Through Social Media

Corporate Social Media Use Will Lead to the Evolution of Web 2.0

Corporate social media use has been a hot topic in the blogosphere for awhile now. Most articles discuss ways that companies can get involved in social media from a very theoretical perspective. There are some absolute rules like; people want to talk to people rather than a brand name, transparency is essential, and employees need to be empowered to represent the company without jumping through a thousand hoops.

All of that information is great, but it's not concrete enough for companies to implement. Some companies have jumped into the world of social media, but many others are still resisting because they are in a highly regulated industry or they don't have the resources to get involved. The thing is, not getting involved in social media now is only delaying the inevitable. Social media isn't going anywhere, and the companies that are actively pursuing how to get involved today will have a major leg up when corporate social media use is the norm.

Gaspedal, a Chicago based word of mouth marketing company, started an organization called The Blog Council. It's a private community of senior executives in charge of social media at the largest corporations in the world. The community is defining how companies can best use social media to attain their business goals. In short, they are putting processes and controls on what is now an unregulated industry. And I think it's brilliant.

I'm sure many people believe that social media cannot be regulated, that applying rules and best practices go against the nature of the medium, but I disagree. Companies cannot use social media the same way that individuals can. Rules and procedures need to be put in place, and that's OK.

Last Friday, I drove down to Chicago to hear from some of corporate America's early adopters of social media at the Blogwell conference. I was blown away at the progress that some of these companies have made.

Home Depot has a three pronged strategy for their social media use. They plan to recapture attention, connect with new customers and engage current associates. Their main medium is Twitter, and they even have a set of rules for what type of information should be posted to it. It needs to be Trusted, Timely, Relevant, Accurate and Appropriate. Most importantly, they don't want people to be selling.

When Hurricane Gustav touched down, the company decided to stay open for 24 hours to allow customers to stock up. They put the word out through traditional media, but it didn't have the same effect as a simple tweet from Home Depot's Twitter handle. The news quickly spread virally, customers streamed in all night and Home Depot got the recognition they deserved for helping their community.

Sharpie's social media campaign is a one-woman show. "Sharpie Susan" started a blog and a Twitter account for the company. She is doing the whole thing on her own, and spent less than $2,000 on the whole campaign. Sharpie's blog does two things. First, they target artists who use the pens and display the art on the blog. Second, they show celebrities signing autographs with a sharpie. It's a simple strategy, but they know what they're doing and they're using social media the right way.

Molson is another great example. The company has embraced the huge social media scenes in both Toronto and Vancouver to spread their message of great tasting beer. Molson's marketing team identified top bloggers in each city and invited them to a beer tasting event. They mingled with the bloggers, educated them on how to brew beer, and politely asked that they write about the event if they enjoyed the night. Most bloggers were more than happy to write a quick post about Molson, despite being hesitant before the event.

There were many other companies at the conference including P&G, Allstate, H&R Block and even the U.S. Coast Guard. Each company was doing something unique, but they shared one common trait, they each had specific processes and best practices for social media use.

As time goes on and more places like The Blog Council spring up to aggregate new ideas and processes for corporate social media use, every company will adopt social media as an essential business tool. And I would be willing to bet that after corporate America comes to some sort of agreement on how they can effectively use social media, we will see web 2.0 companies with actual business models emerge on the scene.

A New Year, A New Blog (And, Why I'm Doing It)

It's been a long time coming. It started months ago when people started asking why I didn't blog anymore. It sure felt like I was still blogging. And I was, just not on Employee Evolution.

What I realized is that I'm not that passionate about writing on careers anymore. When I was sitting in a cubicle every day it was great, I was living it. But that's just not the air I'm breathing anymore.

Today, I live and breathe community. In retrospect I always have. So as hard as it is to say goodbye to EE—the blog that started it all—I've decided to move into something I can be more passionate about.

I'm feeling a lot like I did during my last semester of college—anxious. I guess that's fitting since I bought my domain (ryanpaugh.com) at about that time.

I was sitting around with a couple or friends—drinking tequila—and talking about what we would be doing after graduation. I decided that it would be a good idea to own my domain name. So I hopped on GoDaddy, whipped out a credit card and made the most intelligent choice I'll probably ever make while drinking tequila.

I squatted on that domain for going on three years. Today, it's finally being debuted: My new bachelor pad on the World Wide Web.

The landing page (ryanpaugh.com) is nothing more than an introduction to who I am, where I've been and what I hope to accomplish through the site. My real focus will be at ryanpaugh.com/blog, where I contribute regular content about personal discoveries, social media and community.

Here are a few things you can come to expect week to week …

Blog posts about community: Online, offline, in popular culture, etc. I'll continue to focus a lot of my attention on Generation Y.

Brazen Community profiles: Every week I'll feature a member of the Brazen Community as part of my continuous quest to bring great Gen-Y voices into the spotlight.

Brazen Community updates: Every week I'll blog (or vlog) about what's going on at Brazen HQ. One of my big goals in 2009 is to bring better streams of communication to our Brazen Community. This is the first step in that process.

Lots of pictures: I love taking them. Now that I'm out meeting the stellar people of the Brazen World, I want to be able to share the experience with all of you.

So now that we've gone over the basics, go subscribe to the site! Leave comments! Your feedback is really important to me, and I'll be making changes based on what you say.

Thanks to everyone who has supported Ryan Healy and I with Employee Evolution. It's really sad to walk away (I feel like I'm neglecting a child), but it's a good decision. Employee Evolution will be a more focused blog, and I'll finally have a place to explore my own passions more deeply.

I hope you'll come and join me for the ride!

*Special thanks to Benjamin Jancewicz and the team at Zerflin. They go above and beyond with their work and I'm happy I had the chance to work with them again. Check them out. They do everything, online and offline.

**And congrats to the Jancewicz family on their new baby boy!

5 Reasons Every College Student Should Start Blogging In 2009

Since founding Brazen Careerist, I've blogged less and less each month, to the point that I only posted three times in December. And that's not cool. Especially since blogging has given me more value than any other activity I do on a day-to-day basis and is the reason I have my dream job today. In short, blogging has changed my life.

So here are five reasons why every college student that wants their dream job needs to start a blog in 2009.

1. You stand out from the crowd
Jarred Taylor works in the legal department at Google in Mountain View, CA. As far as dream jobs go, Google headquarters is probably right there at the top of a lot of lists. Jarred loves his position, and he's pretty convinced that he got the job because of his blog.

"Everyone who interviewed me," Jarred says, "from the recruiter in the phone screen to the senior attorneys during the videoconference, asked me about the blog. 'What do you blog about? Why? Give an example of something you've learned from what you've researched.'"

His blog didn't have a huge following or a ton of readers, but the interviewers at Google understood that if Jarred took the time to write about his career interests in his free time, he would also go above and beyond at work. Including his blog on his resume allowed Jarred to get his dream job by standing out from the crowd.

2. People find you
I'm not all that good at seeking out people or new opportunities. I push myself, but it's not my strong suit.

The beauty of blogging is that people find you. When I posted several times per week, the amount of emails in my inbox from seemingly random people was through the roof. Publishers contacted me about writing a book, journalists sent interview requests, generational researchers asked for input, companies requested speaking engagements, and readers wrote in with career-related questions on a regular basis.

On the days I post, good things happen. And I can say for certain that it's not a coincidence. By putting yourself out there with your blog, people will find you, and your dream job could come knocking at your door. Just make sure you recognize the opportunity when it does.

3. You can show your true personality
I get a lot of applications from people applying for a job at Brazen Careerist. We have a special set of questions that we ask everyone to answer when they apply so we can get a sense of their interests, goals and personality. The answers always give me some good insight, but I often want to know more, before we decide to do an interview.

Because of this, I love when someone leaves a link to their blog along with their resume. It's like saying, "Here's a sneak peek into my world. I have nothing to hide." Other than face-to-face interaction, nothing shows who you really are more than a blog.

Unfortunately, we are in a temporary hiring freeze (click here to read more), but if we were scaling the company at full strength, the people who directed me to their blog would be at the top of the interview list.

4. The connections are amazing
I'm confident enough to say that if I needed a job tomorrow, I could skip the typical Monster.com or Careerbuilder job search and find a great one through the connections I've made blogging.

I've networked with executives, authors, entrepreneurs, CEO's, professional speakers and more. I've maintained as many relationships as possible, some as mentors and others as weak-tie connections, but simply having the opportunity to meet such a diverse and influential crowd could have never happened without writing my blog.

5. You grow up, quick
I never would have admitted it at the time, but before I started Employee Evolution I was pretty immature. I thought I knew more than I did, I didn't work as hard as I could, and I didn't fully appreciate all the things I had. Two years later, I still have a lot of growing up to do, but the amount I've grown as a person has been astounding.

Someone tells me I'm wrong on nearly every post I write. Sometimes I listen and rethink my position, while other times I chalk it up to the other person being wrong. But I'm always able to re-evaluate, compose myself and reply with an insightful response or a nice email. Learning to deal with people who disagree, and treating your blog like a business will teach you a lot about how the world works, giving you a huge leg up on your "non-blogging" peers

It may not be easy, and it certainly won't happen overnight, but starting a blog and following through can take you anywhere you want to go. What are you waiting for?