I met Ryan through his ideas and opinions. I commented on his blog posts and often disagreed. When I started my own blog, I linked to his, and often disagreed then too. In fact, Ryan was a big reason I established Modite; I felt like I had something to say, something different than was already being said.
The Gen Y blogging niche was small then, the quality blogs were much fewer, but it all exploded very quickly. At the center of it all were Ryan and Ryan at Employee Evolution and then Brazen Careerist. The exchange of ideas was powerful and exciting. Tightropes were walked, ideas were spun, and manifestos were formed with each click of the publish button.
The constant filtering and challenging of ideas accelerated learning, encouraged my dreams, and helped me form key relationships. These ideas and relationships are the reason for my last position, my current position, and why Ryan and I are together.
I knew Ryan long before we exchanged emails, long before we talked on the phone. And by the time Ryan and I met in person, everyone else around us disappeared, and I could only see him. Admittedly, he stands head and shoulders above everyone else – he’s really tall – but don’t scoff when I tell you it was just like a movie. My life changed in that moment.
And from that moment to this, I could not be more impressed and proud that Ryan, the co-founder of Brazen Careerist, is launching a new social and professional network for the Brazen site. Instead of relying on the traditional online resume approach of current job sites that showcase static experience and background, Brazen Careerist provides a platform for you to dynamically manage and enhance your professional identity.
Tech Crunch reports that the Brazen site offers “an environment where users can share their thoughts and activities alongside their resumes.” To fully leverage this environment, Brazen Careerist provides users with a host of opportunities to actively showcase their expertise and develop their network. Users can find and talk with people of similar interests, location or profession, engage in dialogue on career and life topics, and create and join groups that relate to their goals.
That is, your ideas are your value. Brazen allows you to level the playing field against more experienced candidates. And since I’ve been lucky enough to have my ideas already benefit my career and relationships by virtue of Brazen Careerist, I know this is only the beginning of how truly great Brazen will be.
What do you think? Can ideas be your resume? Does a professional network help your career?
15 replies on “How to manage your career”
A resume might get you in the door; knowing someone, however, will get you in faster. Ideas can serve as a forward-looking resume; they show what you’re capable of and your creative side, something that’s neither explicitly nor necessarily visible in a resume. If you’re able to explain the idea, outline and describe your methodology, and provide possible routes of execution, then you can easily turn an interview into a job offer and more.
My take on a resume is simply an oversized business card that directs the hiring manager to their online existence, therefore showcasing thoughts and ideas. This takes your resume and puts it in an authentic form where true characteristics, traits, ideas, opinions and personalities are seen in a job candidate.
Why is the new landing page a gate? Can’t even get a look unless you sign up. Cold, uninviting, rigid, not transparent. That seems like a mistake a boomer like me would make, not a GenY worker. Just curious.
@ Brian – Great points. I am a big one of knowing people to get me int he door, it’s why networking through actual conversations is so important. So that person can vouch for you and speak intelligently about who you are. Love your methodology for getting a job offer – right on!
@ Eric – I agree that this makes your resume more authentic, more human – and more living. It’s no longer static, which is completely exciting. Thanks for the comment!
@ Bret – There are many pages you can see without logging in: explore All People, Groups, Resources and Featured Blogs at the bottom of the page. Having said that, making you sign in makes the site more authentic in my opinion so that you can’t be anonymous (no point in staying anonymous to manage your career), and is also fairly standard for a network. Those are just my opinions though, you’d have to ask the BC team for the real answer : )
And you got me blogging and into Brazen…ah the circle of life…
When I click on the link embeded in your post, it only takes you to the sign up landing page. There is nothing at the bottom of that page. Just FYI. Bret
@ Emily – Indeed! Thanks for the comment : )
@ Bret – Yep! At the bottom of the sign-up landing page, under the press quotes, you can find those links I described.You can also check out What is Brazen Careerist and the How-To Pages to see and learn a lot more.
Brazen can be directly blamed for Carla Blumenthal and I hooking up (in a business sense) and starting to kick The Lost Jacket into high gear.
I can thankfully say that Brazen has done nothing but encourage, inspire and be a voice out there where we haven’t always had one.
They let us onto the platform to say our piece…it’s about time they got a bigger stage to talk on.
I’m a little late to the party, but have just recently been introduced to Brazen Careerist. I’m excited to make connections and to introduce the site to my friends and colleagues.
@ Stuart – Thanks for sharing your story. I love to hear how other people used networking and relationships to help them towards their goals!
@ Kimling – Great to hear, thanks for the comment!
I will graduate college in December and I am slightly scared to death. I have just recently stubbled upon all the great career advice from blogger such as yourself. But I feel like I am way behind in so many areas; a couple are networking and doing meaningful work outside the classroom.
I just signed up to Brazen Careerist yesterday and I am still feeling quite overwhelmed by the grand amount of information and advice out there. I am hoping to get more involved with the Brazen site and use it to meet people and learn about career development. Any advice for how to use Brazen wisely would be great!
Hey Cameron,
When you first sign up it can be quite overwhelming. With so much content coming from every which way, how do you get started?
I’m Brazen Careerist’s Community Manager and I’m happy to help. First, try not to think of what you’re getting from Brazen Careerist as strictly advice. Try to think of it as sharing ideas and it will be a little less intimidating to start reaching out to people. Most of us aren’t qualified to give advice, we’re just trying to meet people through conversation.
Second, join a couple groups that seem aligned with your passions and maybe one around the city you’re hoping to move to after graduation. Start talking to people in these groups and become fans of the people who you find interesting.
Once you’ve developed a solid base of people you follow, you’ll start coming back to Brazen Careerist and realizing how easy it can be to track conversations and make even more connections.
Get started with these couple of things and then send me a message through my Brazen Careerist profile. I’m always happy to help out.
-RP
[…] stock of life, reflecting on the five areas I wanted to focus on this year: Alice, Modite, Health, Relationships, and Financial. I discovered I felt like I had Alice and Relationships down, but the rest could use […]
[…] called the dip,” Ryan reminds me. “You’re trying to get to the other side. It’ll happen. Have you read The […]
[…] stock of life, reflecting on the five areas I wanted to focus on this year: Alice, Modite, Health, Relationships, and Financial. I discovered I felt like I had Alice and Relationships down, but the rest could use […]