Gen-Y start-up Brazen Careerist gets a new look

August 25, 2:31 AMOffice Politics ExaminerJi Hyun Lee

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What started in college as a couple of freshman roommates hanging out as buddies has turned into a business partnership that grew into Brazen Careerist, a networking site geared specifically for the Gen-Y demographic.

When Ryan Paugh and Ryan Healy graduated from Penn State, they entered an unwelcoming workforce bothered by the perception the young workers were, dare we say, entitled brats? So the Ryans decided they were going to do something about it and as typical Millennials, they tapped into their friends, technology, and their entrepreneurial instincts to start a Web site geared specifically for the young workforce confounded by the job market.

In just a few years, Brazen Careerist was born and it became bigger than they’d ever imagined. The company is currently the number one go-to service for college grads looking for career management advice. Now, it’s being reborn and just in time in a work environment saturated by job losses and grim economic statistics. The newly designed and updated Brazen Careerist Web site will officially go live Aug. 25 and co-founder Paugh expects an overwhelming response from its current members and new visitors.

“At the core of the new Brazen Careerist profile is an idea-based feed that showcases your knowledge, opinions and thoughts,” says Paugh. The existing site’s blog-driven homepage is being retired. The redesign will direct jobseekers to a Fan Feed— a directory of key members offering real-time information on their favorite topics and interests. Visitors will still be able to access content from their favorite writers but they will first be engaged “Twitter-style” conversations before seeing blog posts.

It’s a concept that brings peoples’ ideas to forefront as opposed to a traditional career Web site that only lists an employee’s background and experiences. The new mission behind this start-up of only one year has target-specific appeal for Gen Y job seekers, as well as other generations, looking to transition into a new career path.

“Brazen Careerist can help job seekers of any age build a network that really works,” Paugh says. “The new site is a career management tool. Traditional career management communities focus on experience. Young professionals don’t have a lot of experience to share so they’re overlooked.”

What has not changed is its founding mission of pushing young leaders to get to the top by emphasizing teamwork and in helping one another reach their potential. In a workforce that’s still bogged down by traditional methods of hiring and management, Brazen Careerist hopes to level the playing field for young professionals who are unfamiliar with the ways in which to get their foot in the door.

The re-launched Brazen Careerist Web site will offer more personalization and insight into meeting the individual’s needs in a way that sets it apart from other career networking sites.

“Something that really frustrates me about networking online is that most sites run like a Rolodex,” explains Paugh, which he believes is like being at an in-person networking event where people exchange business cards without actually speaking. “Real networking involves sharing ideas and leaving people with something memorable. It happens through conversations. We try to foster a community that gets people talking and Brazen Careerist is fueled on the ideas our community shares with one another,” he says.

Paugh’s friendship with Healy explains the duo’s adherence to sharing and working collaboratively with like-minded professionals. As 25-year-olds, they’re seasoned pros now: The new Brazen Careerist is their second site in just the three years since they graduated from college. Their first venture resulted in Employee Evolution, a blog that was one of the first to be geared specifically to Gen-Y, and owned, operated and written by Gen-Y.

The popularity of the site opened more doors and opportunities for the pair to spread the word about the needs of young job seekers. They carried their Gen-Y ideas over into Penelope Trunk’s Gen-X blogosphere of Brazen Careerist.

“I thought this is the best blog about Gen- Y at work that I have ever read. I need to be working with them because I really, really don't want to be competing with them,” recalls Trunk, syndicated career columnist and author of the book Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success. Their mutual admiration and respect for one another grew into a professional partnership of what is now the new and improved Brazen Careerist, and the rest the say is networking history.

“I knew I wanted to create a place where Generation Y could manage their career collaboratively,” she says. “I knew I wanted to help Gen-Y bloggers amplify their voice online. I think people are fascinated by generational differences because we are fascinated by ourselves,” she says of the impact of Millennials in the workforce. Trunk’s experiences in working with Paugh and Healy have taught her that there is gold where there are individuals fueled by the motivation to succeed.

“We started Brazen Careerist to help young professionals have a voice online. The site has grown remarkably over the past two years and I definitely think we accomplished what we set out to do,” Paugh says.

For more articles from Ji Hyun Lee, please check out:

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