Several Tweets and blog posts over the last 24 hours have heralded the launch of the Brazen Careerist, which transformed yesterday from blogging network to a full fledged social media hub.
It’s just the latest step in the evolution of a brand that began as an old-media syndicated magazine column. The site is the brain/love-child of columnist and bloggers Penelope Trunk, Ryan Paugh, and Ryan Healy.
Trunk has been a long-time favorite blogger of mine, having read her since her days on Yahoo. Her career advice is on target, and her personal life event blog posts inspire thoughtful reflections on my past, both the good times, and bad.
So naturally, I’m interested in joining what is sure to be successful social network, led by someone who I consider on of the blogoshere’s best writers.
Well, maybe not so fast.
What separates Brazen Careerist from the likes of LinkedIn and Facebook, is that Brazen Careerist links a person’s ideas with his/her resume, as opposed to the traditional career website model of profile, skills, and resume. The network is geared toward Generation Y, (those born between the mid 70s and early 90s, also often referred to as Millenials, according to Wikipedia) whose current work experience is less than older workers. This melding of ideas-to-person is said to level the playing field of Gen Y candidates competing for jobs against more experienced Gen Xers.
Okay, I’ll buy that concept. I’ll even sign up for an account and start adding my details and “ideas.”
There is one small problem, though; I’m not part of Generation Y. In fact, depending on who you talk to, I’m either part of the late Baby Boomers, (born between1946-1964) or Generation X (1960-1980). So I’m probably one of the people who has more experience, and therefore, is a better, more employable, candidate than the Millenials this site aims to attract.
So does that mean I can’t join?
In her own blog post announcing the new site, Trunk states that “LinkedIn is for gen x. Brazen Careerist is the job site for the next generation, demographically speaking.” I’m not sure what “demographically speaking” means, but I do have great ideas, and I’m positive that I’m at least as tech-savvy, or more, than a host of Gen Y employment candidates.
Of course, there are no hard and fast rules preventing myself or anyone on the web from joining Brazen Careerists network, regardless of age. Many bloggers and old media types have rehashed ad nauseum the validity or stupidity of generational labels, and frankly, these labels are nothing but terms developed by marketing types to help focus campaigns and studies.
At PodCamp Boston 4, there were Millennials, Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, grandparents, retired military, parents, musicians, PR types, marketing types, work-at-home moms, cube dwellers, former reporters, bloggers, teachers, administrators, and countless others.
I’m confident that every one of them will be interested in joining the Brazen Careerist community, because of their interest in sharing ideas, along with their resumes and accomplishments.
Postlouge:
It’s interesting to note that on the sign-up page, the birth year drop-down goes all the way to 1935. That’s someone joining the Gen Y “idea” network at 74 years old!
Hey Ed, thanks so much for writing about Brazen Careerist! Over the past few days, we’ve actually had this question a lot. People who aren’t Gen Y want to join the site, and we ABSOLUTELY think they should.
We are targeting Gen Y job seekers, mainly because the other sites out there aren’t giving Gen Y a place that they want to be. If other people outside of the Gen Y demo like what we are doing with Brazen Careerist, and they want to be there, then they absolutely should. Plus, as a Gen Y member myself, I love having conversations with people of all ages. It’s always best to learn from people who have been there before.
So, I guess what I’m saying is don’t be hesitant to join because our main audience is Gen Y, really Brazen Careerist is a mindset, not an age group.
Cheers
Ryan