Gen Y: Never Alone in Our Cubicles

Generation Y (a.k.a the Millennials) has entered the workforce not individually but collectively. We are a generation that is used to—and seeks out—a community of support, a network of friends and strangers to collaborate with as we grow in our careers.

Brazen Careerist captures this spirit as the after-work watering hole for young professionals on the Internet. The social network has taken off as a hub for Millennial bloggers and careerists to connect as we examine the intersection of our lives and livelihoods.

When Brazen reached out to me and started featuring this blog regularly, my readership went from nothing (my mom and a few devoted friends) to hundreds of hits from people I had never met. I discovered so many other bloggers and professionals like me: motivated and passionate people trying to navigate “the real world,” which doesn’t always quite mesh with our style.

Brazen started out as a blog-driven Web site, and last year it unveiled the ability for users to create profiles and connect. Today the social-networking site is officially launching a much more user-driven interface (like a LinkedIn for young professionals). Profiles on the site feature a resume tab as well as an "ideas" tab of ongoing activity (new blog posts, status updates, etc.):




The profiles go beyond the traditional resume; putting a career on paper (or copied and pasted from Word) isn’t enough anymore. Our world is constantly refreshing and sharing, and resumes should mirror that by emphasizing not just our bullet points of accomplishments, but also an interactive display of who we are and what we want to achieve.

The career landscape is daunting, and even as a Web-savvy young professional, I find myself struggling to keep up with the ambition and digital-branding power of my peers, who always seem one step ahead of me. Well, despite how much you all annoy me, it’s exhilarating to hang out with my friends at Brazen Careerist—a bunch of other pesky Gen Yers whose brazenness rivals my own.