Today, I spoke to Ryan Paugh, who is the co-founder and community manager at Brazen Careerist. Ryan is one of my good friends and I had the pleasure to connect with him close to when I started blogging a few years back. Ryan, along with Penelope Trunk and Ryan Healy (also good friends), have re-launched or “officially launched” Brazen Careerist today, which is the career management tool for next-generation professionals. Already, they have garnered attention from TechCrunch, Mashable and Lifehacker! In this interview, I ask Ryan about his company, personal branding, what he’s learned as a Gen-Y’er, and he points out how bad job boards are.
How do you define personal branding in the context of
BrazenCareerist.com?
If you have a solid brand, people can easily identify what you’re worth. The problem is that most people don’t know how to showcase themselves in a way that makes them look like rock stars.
We created Brazen Careerist believing that we could help people manage their brands better. Today, we unleashed an amazing toolset that going to help professionals manage their thoughts and ideas while connecting with the people who matter most.
Looking back at your career, from working at a large enterprise, then start EmployeeEvolution.com and now Brazen Careerist, what are the 3 most important things you’ve learned along the way?
I learned that working for yourself is hard! Entrepreneurship is no fantasy life. Still, if it’s your passion, you need to do something about it ASAP.
I also learned that there’s room for creativity and innovation in any business that you’re part of. I leveraged my frustration with Corporate America and co-founded Employee Evolution with Ryan Healy. Even if we didn’t start our own business, the blog was propelling us in so many exciting directions that the possibilities were endless!
The most important thing I learned is to be a giver. Personal branding has very humble beginnings. If you want to build a powerful brand online, make a conscious effort to help at least one person every single day.
How can Brazencareerist.com be added to the personal branding mix? Any success stories so far?
It takes most people 2-3 months to make a few connections through social media. That’s pretty annoying. Isn’t it?
Brazen Careerist helps you connect with the right people today. If you’re ready to stop taking the passive route to online career management, set up a profile and we’ll introduce you to the right people, right now.
We’ve seen tons of people land jobs through the connections they’ve made on Brazen Careerist.
Some of my favorite success stories from the Community are:
- Meg Roberts
- Lance Haun
- Sydney Owen
Why is a resume no longer enough and how does Brazen Careerist bring your true self to life?
It’s not enough to post your resume to countless job boards and hope for the best. It doesn’t work!
Resumes tell employers what you’ve done, but there’s little opportunity to talk about the things that you want to do—potential. Brazen Careerist helps you share the important things you have to say. Things employers needs to know, but aren’t visible on a traditional resume.
What have you learned from the startup life and working with Ryan and Penelope?
I learned to be honest, with myself and with others. Be yourself at all costs. Penelope, Ryan and I are very different. We disagree a lot. But we wouldn’t have it any other way.
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Ryan Paugh is the co-founder and community manager at Brazen Careerist. Ryan graduated Penn State University in 2006, with a degree in journalism. He then worked at Merck & Co. and Worrall Community Newspapers, while starting a very popular Gen-Y career blog called Employeeevolution with Ryan Healy, who is also a co-founder of Brazen Careerist. Ryan teamed up with Penelope Trunk, an author and a syndicated blogger, to develop the first social network exclusively for Gen-Y.
