This week’s pick:

Art Director for E! & G4 Networks

If you love art, graphic design, celebrity entertainment, and all things “geek culture,” check out this job with NBC Universal’s two popular networks: E! and G4. In this position you’ll be responsible for designing creative materials for both print and online. This includes projects like outdoor advertising and logo creation– and everything in between.

This may not be the right job for a recent grad, but if you have at least 3 years experience in the field working at a design firm, studio, or ad agency, you could apply. You’ll also need some entertainment experience and a degree in Fine Arts, Graphic Design, Film, or have a comparable portfolio and experience.

You can expect to let your creativity shine in this position; the right person will have a unique and exciting design aesthetic and can handle projects from start to finish. If you think you’d be a good fit for this artistic job, apply!

We’re trying to decide whether to keep this weekly feature or replace it with something different. Do you look forward to our Sweet Job each week? If so, let us know in the comments! Your feedback will help us decide how to move forward.

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Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, we offer edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work -- this isn't your parents' career-advice blog. Be Brazen.

If you were lucky, your parents and teachers set tasks, rewarded success and protected you as best they could from anything scary that threatened during the last 18 years, providing a stable, reliable world. Then you went to college, and things might have gotten a bit wilder, but in many ways they also stayed remarkably similar –your professors set assignments and gave out grades while TAs and phone calls (and checks) from the parents protected you from many of the world’s ups and downs.

Now you’re out on your own and looking for your job. Isn’t it reasonable to expect to find an employer that looks out for your interests, directs your efforts and rewards your successes at least a little like those surrounding you in your early life did? Isn’t that, after all, what the employee-employer compact is all about?

Fat chance. Several decades ago, workers might have been able to trade hard work and loyalty for a job that provided security, advancement and a modicum of security from life’s strongest storms – but not anymore.

According to London Business School professor Lynda Gratton, author of a new book entitled The Shift: The Future of Work Is Already Here, new career realities demand we give up our dreams of a sheltering employer that protects us like children and face up to the fact that we all need to grow up. She recently wrote in Forbes:

We are in the midst of an industrial revolution greater than the world has ever seen with all the turbulence, the challenges and the opportunities that previous revolutions have brought. Partly as a result of this, it seems to me that the relationship between companies and their employees is undergoing a fundamental shift. All over the world the old Parent to Child relationship is moving towards a potentially more balanced Adult to Adult relationship.

So what does that mean for young careerists struggling to come to terms with this new reality of work? How does acknowledging that your employer these days is in no way like your mom change how you approach your working life? Gratton offers some suggestions in The Wall Street Journal:

Temper tantrums don’t change reality. Make the tough choices. Is the current reality harsh? Sure, it is. American workers face a tough economy and stiff competition from abroad as well as from ever more efficient and intelligent technology. But covering your eyes, whining and bitching, and generally refusing to accept reality doesn’t change that.

“Being a young graduate in a country with near-zero growth is not pleasant and we know the psychological scarring this experience can leave. Context can indeed be overwhelming and it can feel as if there are no real options against which choices can be made,” Gratton writes, but “it is crucial to see choices even in these potentially more restricted contexts.”

Don’t let yourself pretend that a lack of good and easy choices is the same thing as no choices at all.

Stop waiting for someone to explain the assignment and direct your own development. In this new world, you need to set your own assignments and direct your own development because making it in a tough market is all about building skills. You need to ensure you keep learning.

“Good work provides opportunities to do exciting and stretching work with talented peers,” Gratton writes. “Bad work may pay well but in the long term erodes your intellectual capital.”

Don’t be a baby about saving and retirement. Our parents and grandparents may have had long-term employers looking out for them in their golden years, but Gen Y is unlikely to be offered these same sort of benefits.

Be realistic about this and look out for yourself. Gratton suggests most of us have three options: “Build a career that enables you to work longer (at least into your late 60s or early 70s), be prepared (like the Chinese who save around 40 percent of their income) to save a significant proportion of your income throughout your working life, [or] consider ways to reduce your consumption and live more simply.”

What do you think of Gratton’s prescriptions? Are they strong but necessary medicine for young people who are often in denial about career realities – or overly cruel?

London-based Jessica Stillman blogs about generational issues and trends in the workforce for Inc.com and GigaOM.

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Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, we offer edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work -- this isn't your parents' career-advice blog. Be Brazen.

We all have our own style, signature and colored lens to look at the world. It’s a gift, so find your own voice, embrace it and stop trying to be like someone else. At least, that’s what we often think about people who steal our ideas, criticize us unfairly or watch us just a little too closely. We tell people like that to stop hatin’!

But what happens when we become the haters? I don’t mean on someone else, but on ourselves. What should we do if we find ourselves dumbing down our ideas to gain others’ approval, or tearing down the personal brand we’ve established for ourselves, or nit-picking at every little thing we do wrong because we saw someone else do something that looks better?

You’ve got to tell yourself to stop hatin’!

As an emerging professional, it’s super important to find mentors and other people in your field who are where you want to be. But the most successful people haven’t gotten where they are because they CC’d themselves after someone else. Driven and successful people glean from other successful people, but they learn to adapt new ideas and fuse it into the plans they’ve already set for their lives, both personally and professionally.

Ready to embrace the you that others should want to follow? Here’s how:

Establish or review your personal brand

You can’t really make plans to go anywhere in life until you know who you are and where you want to go. Reading the how-to books and blogs like this one are great, but if you don’t know who you are, you’ll just be spinning your wheels.

Your brand is your personal manifesto. It’s your thesis statement. It’s what you want to be known for. It’s a succinct summary of your values and goals. As you assess the types of projects you engage in and the direction you want to move in for your career, match that to your brand.

Are you being true to what you want? Does your brand reflect your priorities? If you find yourself busy with a bunch of activities that don’t meet your goals, that’s a pretty good sign you might be headed in the wrong direction.

Identify your niche and expand your knowledge

Assess your interests, knowledge and experience. Ask yourself what you’re most passionate about, then start to focus on those areas — which means most of what you read, blog about or get involved in professionally should support those interests.

Join professional associations and Linkedin groups that reflect those interests, and get involved in conversations in those online hubs. Don’t pass up opportunities to learn more and interact with others who know more than you, so that you can start to add that information to your skill box.

Become an authority in your field

Now that you’re soaking up all this awesome information and growing and developing as a professional, don’t be stingy! It’s time to share what you know.

Offer yourself as a resource. You can do this within your professional circles by presenting at conferences, starting a blog and creating content that answers questions most people in your field want to know, or by launching a listserv, throwing out introspective topics that let your peers know you’re a focused thinker and a leader, and that you truly care about what you do.

This helps to build your reputation on the playground, so to speak. Before you know it, someone else will be gleaning insight from you.

So don’t sleep on what you have to offer. Self-evaluation is worthwhile, and we should always be looking for ways to bring fresh ideas to the table. But don’t ever compromise who you are for the sake of keeping up with the guy next door. If you do, you’ll likely never advance beyond that neighbor.

Christina Wood is an admissions counselor at Harrisburg Area Community College. She blogs at Community College Voice and is a contributing writer to The LI$T. Tweet Christina @ChristinaW82.

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Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, we offer edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work -- this isn't your parents' career-advice blog. Be Brazen.

For many recent graduates, the decision to leave their first post-college job is happening earlier and earlier in their careers. In fact, according to a recent study, 55 percent of college graduates only expect to stay at their first jobs for 1-3 years.

Some say the reason is because GenY gets bored easily, while others speculate that we’re eager to get as much as experience as possible. Regardless of the reason, young professionals are moving on from their first jobs, and since it’s their first time making this transition, many have no idea how to go about it the right way.

I’m the first person to raise my hand and admit that I had absolutely NO idea how to leave my first job gracefully. When I accepted an awesome new job in November, turning to Google proved futile in finding the answers to questions like, “How do I give two weeks notice?” and “How do I write a resignation letter?” I quickly turned to a few trusted mentors for tips and relied on my professional instincts to get me through the dreaded day when I had to break the news to my boss and colleagues.

While I’m sure I could have done some things differently, here are six tips I found particularly useful for leaving a job gracefully and with your network intact:

1. Your immediate supervisor should always be the first to know. Out of respect, be sure to break the news to your immediate supervisor first, and preferably in person. Depending on the type of office environment you work in, you may need to request a meeting or simply ask if they have a moment to talk in private.

I’d recommend giving notice in the morning, to give your supervisor the chance to absorb the news and get the ball rolling on the resignation process. Also, have your resignation letter drafted and ready to submit.

2. Break the news to the rest of your colleagues in person, if possible. In person is always better. Avoid sharing the news of a new job in an email. You’ll find that most people will be happy and excited for you, and will appreciate the fact that you took the time to tell them personally.

3. Create a “how to be me” document. My first order of business once I gave two weeks notice was to create a master document of every single project I was working on, outlining point people, processes and deadlines. This document ended up being close to 10 pages long and extremely detailed, but it was worth spending the time; I wanted to offer a resource for whoever would take over my responsibilities.

4. Do what you can to make the transition as smooth as possible. After creating the “how to be me” document, I set up a meeting to review the document and allow my colleagues to ask questions and get clarification about all of my duties. I purposely scheduled the meeting mid-way through my final two weeks to ensure there was time to schedule a second transition meeting, if needed.

Additionally, if your supervisor is looking to fill your position quickly, do everything you can to help replace yourself. Spread the word on Twitter and LinkedIn, help review resumes, recommend people you think could be a good fit. After you leave the job, let your supervisor and colleagues know that you’re still happy to answer any lingering questions they may have about your responsibilities.

5. Show your gratitude. Buy a big box of thank you notes. And prepare to have your wrist hurt after handwriting multiple notes of appreciation for colleagues.

After spending a year and a half at my company, I knew I couldn’t leave without showing my supervisor and colleagues how much I appreciated that they took a chance on a fresh-out-of-college new professional, and most importantly, for their mentorship and friendship.

6. Keep in touch. This is perhaps the most difficult tip to follow, and one I’m still trying to figure out. We all know that staying in touch is key to creating a lasting connection and maintaining your network.

If you aren’t already, connect with your former colleagues on LinkedIn. Ask for a recommendation while your skills are still fresh in their minds – and be sure to return the favor! Stay in touch via email; share useful articles or send a note to say hi and ask how they’re doing every once in awhile. You don’t want to be a pest, but you also don’t want to be easily forgotten.

What other tips do you have for leaving a job gracefully?

Jessica Lawlor is a public relations professional in Philadelphia. In her free time, she manages a book review and writing blog and is currently writing a novel.

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Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, we offer edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work -- this isn't your parents' career-advice blog. Be Brazen.

Raise your hand if you’re really sick and tired of hearing that story.

While we can’t deny the effectiveness of that attempt, trying it now might not result in the desired outcome. More often than not, when people want to meet their idol, snag an interview or land a mentor, they send a half-assed email that neglects to get the job done.

There are other more subtle – but just as effective – ways to get in front of someone you admire:

1. Send a handwritten note

Want to know how many handwritten notes I’ve received this year? One. From my grandma on Christmas. Want to know how many handwritten notes that industry idol of yours has probably received? One. From their grandma on Christmas.

Let’s take it a step further – how many emails do you think they’ve received this year asking for some favor/coffee/Skype/interview? A million billion, that’s how many.

Meaning a handwritten note is the best way we can possibly think of to stand out from the crowd, make an impression and seem sincere in your admiration, all without looking like an asshole.

A great time to send something is after seeing your idol speak or meeting them at an event. Send a quick note (to their office; don’t be creepy) saying how much you enjoyed hearing them speak and how you love everything they do. Be genuine here.

2. Make friends with their assistant

Never, for a second, forget who runs the joint. If your dream mentor has an administrative or personal assistant, you absolutely need to be their best friend. This is important because a) they transfer the calls and can make your life infinitely easier and b) can give you all the inside knowledge.

I don’t mean “make friends” like, be nicer than usual, but actually make friends. Find them on LinkedIn or Twitter or Facebook and invite them out for a drink. Be honest. Say you really admire their boss and would love to learn more about the industry and what it’s like to work for Hotshot X.

This has a 50/50 chance of working as there is some serious creep-sounding potential. But it’s worse to try and make friends with someone only for them to feel used and abused later on. Telling it like it is and getting in with the office in a genuine way can make all the difference.

3. Comment on their blog

A few years ago, when I was looking for a job in publishing, I made a point to read every publishing blog out there. I read, shared, commented and met in person all the bloggers I could. Through one little blog comment, I met a guy who ran a major publishing website. And through that comment I landed my first-ever freelance writing gig.

This is the power of comments. It’s more than just putting your name in front of someone you admire. It’s more than just sending an email. Commenting on someone’s blog shows you read what they write and care about their opinion – and that you have something valuable to share of your own.

Become a regular commenter and you become part of their community. And trust me, bloggers notice when a name comes up on every post. On my own site, I let commenters guest post, answer their emails before anyone else’s and many have become close personal friends. Meaning if you want to be seen, start on the blog first.

How did you end up meeting someone awesome you really admired? How did you meet your mentor? What other tips can you add to this list?

Marian Schembari is a blogger, traveler and all-around social media thug. She’s based in Auckland, New Zealand, hails from Connecticut and blogs at marianlibrarian.com.

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Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, we offer edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work -- this isn't your parents' career-advice blog. Be Brazen.

Last Run-Around, we asked you to blog about your professional goals for 2012. Now, let’s get a drum-roll for your next topic…

The February Run-Around

The topic: How has blogging helped your career?

Or, how do you hope blogging will help your career if it hasn’t yet? If you’re a successful blogger, what tips do you have for your fellow Brazenites who are interested in using their blogs to boost their professional life?

How to participate: Write a post about this topic on your blog, and leave the link to that post below in the comments. Only one post per participant.

Deadline: February 29, 2012. That gives you a month! Then watch for your link in our next Run-Around post in early March.

Ready to get writing? We can’t wait to see what you come up with!

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Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, we offer edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work -- this isn't your parents' career-advice blog. Be Brazen.

One of the big challenges of launching your career as a freelancer is figuring out how much to charge – and convincing potential clients you’re worth that amount.

Do you start at $15/hour? $25/hour? $50/hour? What if you overprice your services and the client balks?

About five years ago — maybe one year before the recession hit — I quit my full-time job in book publishing to go full-time freelance. I wanted the flexibility to focus on my writing and work on breaking into my favorite publications. That, and I hated wearing pantyhose.

But as thrilling as the switch from nylons to bunny slippers was, building up a strong client base was tough, and I struggled for years to figure out how much I was worth — and how to find editors willing to pay it.

When the recession happened, I realized I had to diversify, so I got my career coaching certification. But in launching that business, I had to figure out the whole rates thing all over again. How much was I worth as a coach, and how was I going to find clients willing to pay professional coaching rates?

In both cases, I was afraid. Would my target clients/publications have the money to hire me? And if they did have the money, would they want to pay professional rates for someone who was such a n00b? Would I pay that much for me?

I suppose that last question was at the crux of it all, especially in the case of my coaching practice. As a DIY-er who was into self-education and puzzling things out on my own — and as someone who regularly told people that the best way to learn was to dive right in — of course I wouldn’t pay that much for me! Creating glimmering rainbows of word magic and planning out the next epic steps in my career came naturally to me. They seemed so easy. Why would I pay someone to tell me what I already knew?

It took me awhile to realize that if someone was looking to hire me, word magic and career planning didn’t come easy to them. They needed me to do that work for them.

And assuming their need was great, they would willingly shell out the money for it, right?

Over time I learned my lesson: people will always spend money on the things that are important to them. I mean, that’s why I spend so much money on sparkly things and yoga paraphernalia. Those things are important to me.

And if someone is unwilling to pay your writing rates or your coaching rates or the rates for whatever it is you’re trying to sell, perhaps they’re not a client you actually want to have. Perhaps they don’t value career fulfillment or quality writing as much as they say they do.

If you’re so quick to lower your rates to bag those reluctant clients, perhaps you don’t value these things either — or yourself, for that matter.

So how should you set your rates and stick to them?

1. First ask yourself: What do I want to be making on an hourly basis, and what can the market bear?

The details of how to do this are beyond the scope of this post, but I highly recommend resources like the Freelance Switch Hourly Rate Calculator, and Laurie Lewis’s What to Charge. You can also do research on market norms by simply surfing the Internet and scoping out your competition. And industry-specific professional organizations also tend to offer resources that help out with this. The Editorial Freelancers Association, for example, has a resource page with average editorial rates.

2. Don’t be afraid to aim high. And be strong.

If someone asks you for your rates, don’t let all your self-doubts about possibly losing business cloud your better judgment. Also, don’t say something like, “I charge $100 an hour, BUT that is negotiable / I’m having a World Nutella Day Sale / I think you’re so pretty I’ll only charge you $15 an hour.” (Of course, there can be exceptions, but they’re rare. Consult this handy-dandy flowchart if you’re considering such craziness.)

3. Consider negotiating.

If you’re at the whim of another publication’s rates, or wacky contract terms, or an oh-so-arbitrary “budget,” and you still really want to work with them, that’s when you can try negotiating.

But don’t go below what you truly know, deep down, you’re worth. If you do, you’re probably not helping yourself in the long run.

If someone is not willing to pay what I refer to as my “deal breaker rate,” I tell them politely and respectfully that “I’d love to work with you but, unfortunately, I cannot work for less than $BLAH. When your budget has expanded to the extent that you’re able to pay standard professional rates, please keep me in mind!” It sounds ballsy, but the ones who see the value in what I do are always willing to play ball.

And no matter what the outcome, a prospective client will respect you more for holding fast to what you’re worth. (In fact, if you’re charging less than standard rates, they may wonder why.)

So don’t worry too much about being seen as a hard-ass. It’ll garner you respect from the clients who matter – and scare away the clients who will only waste your time.

If you need someone to whip you into hard-ass shape, consider hiring Steph Auteri, a freelance writer, editor, and career coach. And if you’d like to receive Freelance Awesome: A Starter Kit, a free packet containing the five worksheets necessary to jumpstart your freelance writing career, sign on the dotted line right here!

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Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, we offer edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work -- this isn't your parents' career-advice blog. Be Brazen.

Happy weekend, Brazenites! We appreciate you being here and participating in our community.

Remember, that if you ever want to make a suggestion about this blog, you can always connect with our managing editors on Twitter. Alexis is @AlexisGrant and Jaclyn is @J_Schiff. They love connecting with readers so drop ‘em a line whenever.

Some weekend links for you:

1. Some companies aren’t using resumes in the job application process anymore.

2. Are you making this little mistake that kills your productivity?

3. Why you should adopt “The Hacker Way” (even if you’re not in tech).

4. To get the job you want — stop dreaming.

5. Got fired? Use the experience productively.

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Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, we offer edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work -- this isn't your parents' career-advice blog. Be Brazen.

In our podcast series, we’re hoping to provide insights and answers to that very question. We talk to people who have amazing jobs, are doing something really cool, or have a neat tip or story to share, and we ask them how they did it. So listen along for good information and some inspiration, too.

Have you ever been stuck in a meeting that just makes you want to scream from boredom or frustration? Like lift your butt-off-the-chair-and-roar type of thing?

The good news: meetings don’t have to be that way. The maybe not-so-good news: you have to be bold enough to actually do something about it.

To learn exactly how to make meetings a less dreaded experience, I interviewed Jon Petz, a time management expert who is the author of “Boring Meetings Suck.”

As a corporate executive, Jon started thinking about meeting efficiency because he couldn’t stand boring meetings. In fact, he stopped attending meetings all together. When some of his coworkers challenged him to run a meeting he’d actually like to attend, Jon came up with ground rules and ran his first productive meeting. He refined his ideas even more and eventually left his job to work on this full time. These days, he helps other companies improve their meetings and also works as a motivational speaker and magician.

In the podcast, Jon discusses his unique career path (hey, I’d never met anyone who has done this before!) and provides some excellent tips on how to have productive meetings — even when you’re the youngest person in the room. To get a flavor of his approach, here are five components every meeting should have, according to Jon:

1. Meetings must have a clear focus. The first five minutes is dedicated to stating the clear objective and desired outcome of the meeting.
2. Meetings shall not be held to just review material. Materials shall be reviewed before any meetings are held. If material has not been reviewed, then no meeting shall be held. If the material has not been reviewed at the time the meeting begins, then the meeting shall be cancelled and rescheduled.
3. Meeting shall be used to resolve, develop and interact creatively and amicably.
4. Meeting presenters are not allowed to prepare in FRONT of the audience. They must come prepared or not come at all.
5. NEVER ask or allow “What did I miss?” Do not let stragglers commandeer control of the floor. Do not aggravate, punish and disrespect the other people in your conference. Do not rehash what has already been discussed.

Just hit play below or download it later to hear more about how to make meetings suck less. And if you’ve got any tips on how to manage effective meetings, let us know in the comments!

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Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, we offer edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work -- this isn't your parents' career-advice blog. Be Brazen.

“We have been giving careful consideration to our policy for some time, and we are changing it to apply the good-faith payment to the customers’ balance after they resume a track record of on-time payments,” Patricia Christel, a spokesperson for Sallie Mae, told Brazen Life in an email.

Previously, when recent grad (or not-so-recent; we know how long those loans last!) took advantage of forbearance — which allows you to suspend or reduce your student loan payments under certain circumstances and for up to one year at a time — it required a fee of $50. Now that fee will go toward the payee’s balance.

The change will be retroactive to private loan forbearances granted on or after Jan. 1. Christel did not respond to a question about how the new policy would affect Stef Gray, the recent college grad who started the petition.

A previous Brazen Life post covered Gray’s motivation to launch the petition:

“I refuse to borrow $300 (for the fees) from friends and family … just to line Sallie Mae’s pockets,” said Gray, who received her M.A. in Geography from Hunter College this past May.

After graduation and a short stint as a temp, Gray found herself staring at mounds of private student loans. With no full-time job or cosigners (her parents passed away before she went to college), Gray chose to go into forbearance on her Sallie Mae loans — an arrangement that permits her to suspend payments, though the loan still accrues interest.

Are you swimming in student debt? Check out these 10 tips for zapping student loan debt, or let us know in the comments how we can help you better navigate this increasingly monumental problem.

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Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, we offer edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work -- this isn't your parents' career-advice blog. Be Brazen.

This week’s pick:

2D Game Artist with Kabam

Kabam is an interactive entertainment company that creates games for social networks. They’re growing fast — in just two years, they’ve gone from 25 employees to more than 400!

This booming business is looking for a 2D game artist in their San Francisco office who can contribute everything from sketches to production-ready art for games and everything in between.

In this position, you’ll have leeway to contribute your creative ideas to the games. To qualify, you’ll need to have two or more years illustration experience in Photoshop, Painter, Illustrator or Flash, a passion for gaming and strong art skills. 

If this illustration job sounds like a fit for you, remember to submit your professional portfolio along with your application! Kabam won’t consider applicants who don’t provide art samples or a link to a portfolio, so be sure to show off your best work when you apply.

Does your company or organization have an awesome job opening you want the Brazen community to know about? Email a link and description to alexis[at]brazencareerist.com.

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Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, we offer edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work -- this isn't your parents' career-advice blog. Be Brazen.

You want a decent job at a good company. As the saying goes, employers hire for attitude and train for aptitude. So, if you’ve already got a great attitude, fantastic – you’re halfway there!

But what if you don’t have much job experience or don’t have a demonstrated record of specific, in-demand job skills?

No experience? No problem!

Don’t worry! You can develop just about any skill an employer is looking for – and make some extra cash while getting that real-world experience.

What skills can you learn?

• Accounting
• project management
• marketing
• strategy
• product development
• expense management
• logistics
• business planning
• management
• web development
• the list goes on.

There’s a little secret here too: if you do really well getting that real-world experience, you may never need a “real” job again.

So what’s the secret? How do you get such great experience in virtually any skill? Do you need to go back to school, spend months or years in classes, and fork over thousands of dollars that you don’t have or can’t spare?

Nope.

Start your own business

Wait. Did you feel it? That sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when you read “start your own business?” That’s because you think business is risky, right?

Well, it can be – if you do it wrong. But every good entrepreneur manages risk, and you’ll do what you can to lower that risk. Nobody wants to spend years of their life and thousands or millions of dollars to fail.

How can starting your own business not be risky?

Here’s secret #2: You start a business on the side, test your ideas and assumptions quickly and cheaply, learn from your results, and incrementally move toward greater success. (That’s the formula I follow, and it’s also a popular entrepreneurial movement called the Lean Start-up Model).

That’s a very different way to start a business than most people think. Most people think they need a pile of cash, have the “perfect” idea and quit their job to start a business. A pile of cash might be nice, but it’s not necessary. And the “perfect” idea? It doesn’t exist.

What about quitting your job? Definitely a bad idea. Without a job, you’ll be so stressed about paying your bills – or going into debt – that you’ll doom yourself to fail. Instead, use your day job to fund your fledgling business.

I know, I know. You think starting a business is unrealistic. Or that it’s complicated. Or costly.

Nope.

Nope.

And nope.

You can start a business. It’s not terribly complicated. And you can do it on the cheap.

You’ll need to do some basic planning, but don’t waste too much time on this phase. You only need a back-of-the-envelope plan, just a handful of bullet points to get started. Figure out what value you’ll provide, why you’re the best person to do it and who your ideal customers are.

To figure out the value you’ll provide, think of the benefits to your customer. For example, car companies don’t sell cars; they sell status, speed, comfort, image, etc. That’s their value. Figure out your value, and what benefits you’ll give customers.

Test your idea quickly and cheaply

Next, you’ll want to test your ideas to see if they work and whether there’s a market (aka paying customers). The testing part is where the details come in, but fear not. There are plenty of ways to test your ideas quickly and on the cheap – or even free – so you can see whether people will pay for what you’re offering, and you can do this testing whether you’re offering a physical or digital product or a service.

For example, Google’s Keyword tool lets you analyze a market to determine how many potential customers you might have, and both how competitive and profitable the market is. Cost? Free. Time needed? A couple hours, tops.

Once you’ve researched your market niche, you can get a domain name, set up a website using WordPress and start marketing to potential customers to see if they’re willing to pay for what you’re offering. Cost? Less than $100. And, yes, you can do this in an evening, even if you’re not a techie.

One of the easiest and cheapest kinds of businesses to start is a freelance or consulting business. Freelancing/consulting is a great business model – either as a side business or with the intent of building it into your full-time endeavor – because it has:

• low start-up costs
• flexible hours
• a high hourly pay rate

And best of all, you likely already have the expertise to get started.

But even if you end up starting another kind of business, you’ll still get tons of real-world experience that will have potential employers drooling. Maybe 1 in 100 other job hunters have experience running their own business. Some applicants have hands-on experience in one or a few skills, like accounting, marketing, product development, project management, or any of the other things you’ll learn while starting and growing your business. But you’ll get real-world experience in ALL those areas. How’s that for standing out from the crowd?

Plus, if you do really well, you’ll never have to look for a “real” job again.

Greg Miliates started his consulting business in January 2007, grew it through the recession, ditched his day job and quadrupled is former salary along the way. His blog gives specific tips, tricks, techniques and tools for starting and running a successful consulting business on the cheap.

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The Dilemma

Let’s just say that you want it all and you’ll happily take it right now. However, I’m a firm believer that as entrepreneurs, we should accept “the process.” I’m keen on how important it is to take definitive steps. After all, a process is a series of actions or steps taken to achieve an end… Who knew?!

The fastest way to get what you want out of life and business is to ask for it. It must seem like a mundane concept, I know. But it works like a charm, most of the time.

In my personal experience, I’ve had issues with asking for help for two reasons: a) it made me feel vulnerable and b) I had a vague idea that successful people never ask for help. I was thankfully wrong on both accounts.

The quicker you master your fear, rooted in whatever misconceived notions you have about your abilities and your business, the faster your company will grow.

The Solution

I mastered my fear of asking for what I wanted by making a silent pact with myself. I would purposefully ask for something on a regular basis: if I needed a contact, I’d ask for it; if I needed a recommendation for a new dog groomer, I’d ask for that too. The point is: each day I was, and still am, learning to become comfortable with asking for what I want.

Research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology suggests that we grossly underestimate just how willing others are to help us out. I have to agree.

Successful people often take pleasure in helping, giving advice and revealing gems of insight. To that end, most ‘unsuccessful’ people would rather tell you to “bugger off” (in my slightly strained British vernacular). I don’t recommend that you consult with the latter anyway!

If you’re ready to catalyze your business take the following steps today:

1. Take inventory of your current business ideas and needs—make a list.
2. Consolidate your list by functional area (i.e. marketing, sales, customer service, etc.)
3. Brainstorm and develop a list of potential experts and associates in each area.
4. Create a concise email to introduce yourself, communicate your need and offer your support to help your new contact meet his or her goals. Don’t even think about receiving without giving.
5. Ask for a brief five-minute call. Give them an opportunity to graciously bow out.

This may seem contrived, but understand that it’s a numbers game. Don’t get caught up on who doesn’t respond, who says no and who won’t be your friend. In my stern yet sympathetic friend tone, “Cry a river, build a bridge and get over it.”

You should only be interested in developing partnerships with people who have the time to commit, understand the potential value and are ready to act. And if they aren’t a match, be gracious; ask them if they know of anyone who you should contact and move along. Not every opportunity is right for everyone at any given time — it’s not personal.

The Result

I’m convinced that some partnerships, deals and opportunities are simply meant to happen. There is someone literally praying that someone like you would miraculously fall from the sky to help them on their journey too. If you disagree, think back to the various stages of your business — you were likely one of them. We all were, are or will be.

The moment you develop the gumption to “show and tell” your vision and follow up to close the deal — asking for help — the whole world will promptly step aside. Why? For me it was simple, I knew where I was going and like Nancy Sinatra, “these boots were made for walking and that’s just what they’ll do.”

Instead of moping around your office, “back and forth, back and forth” in your Badgley Mischka stilettos or Born Airdam Mocs, “stop, think, and ask!” Who’s ready to help me today? More importantly, what are you willing to give along the way?

If you have a vision for your business, then it is your duty to bring it to fruition — period. What are you ready to ask for?

Erica Nicole is a serial entrepreneur, syndicated columnist, small business expert, national speaker, Christian thought leader and founder of the internationally acclaimed and award-winning small business news site, YFS Magazine: Young, Fabulous & Self-Employed. She is also a member of The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only nonprofit organization comprised of the country’s most promising young entrepreneurs. The YEC promotes entrepreneurship as a solution to youth unemployment and underemployment and provides its members with access to tools, mentorship, and resources that support each stage of a business’s development and growth.

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While most of these ski industry careers still fall into the dream job category, if your heart’s set on the slopes, take a look!

1. Ski Patroller

When injuries, accidents, or avalanches occur, you’re the first on the scene. While spending the day rescuing skiers, providing medical care, and enforcing regulations can be stressful — not to mention it won’t make you rich — the rewards can be high.

Not only do you generally get to be an all-around mountain hero, the job comes with free ski passes, promo gear, and the chance to be first on the mountain every morning.

Average salary: $15,000 – $28,000

2. Snowboard Designer

Designing snowboards is one of the most competitive fields of niche art, but it’s also a seriously cool profession. Mixing engineering know-how with a strong dose of creativity and style, you fashion boards that can flex well, handle rails and hold an edge in deep powder. And, of course, you must personally test each and every one of your products on snowy days.

Average salary: $32,000 – $96,000

3. Massage Therapist

Playing in the snow is fun, but it can also lead to aches, pains and tight muscles. As a ski resort’s in-house massage therapist, your job is to ease these minor ailments and help your clients relax after a long day on the drifts.

The perks? Beyond free ski passes, many resorts have a “six inch policy” — if it snows six inches or more, day shifts are staggered so every workers gets to enjoy the powder.

Average salary: $17,000 – $69,000

4. Mountain Resort Designer

When developers want to create a mountain tourism destination, they hire a team — headed up by a resort designer — to envision, plan and build it from scratch. As an alpine-themed mastermind, you offer services ranging from architecture and engineering, to environmental expertise, project management and interior design. In other words: You do it all.

Average salary: $42,000 – $123,000

5. Heli-Ski Guide

Heli-skiing — skiing in areas so remote that a helicopter has to fly you in — ranks fairly high on the Dangerous Sports meter. But the presence of an experienced guide (that’s you!) can minimize the hazards for pleasure seekers and adrenaline junkies alike.

Risky? Yes. Some of the best skiing in the world? Definitely.

Average salary: $17,000 – $54,000

So, would you want any of these winter wonderland careers?

Annie Favreau works for Inside Jobs, a career exploration site where people can discover what opportunities exist and learn what paths can take them there. Have an opinion? Join the conversation on Twitter @InsideJobs.

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Too often the difference between a good conversation and a terrible one is a matter of who did most of the talking. If it was you, you probably loved it. If it was the other person, it was probably awful.

Whether it’s first dates, interviews or introductions, no one wants to hear someone prattle on and on about him or herself. In fact, that’s the opposite of what people want. People enjoy talking about themselves, hearing themselves speak, so why get in the way of that, especially when networking or during an interview?

Why quiet is better

Taking a more measured approach and letting people indulge the desire to hear themselves speak can pay off in two ways. First, it lets the person do what they want, which is steer the conversation toward something they know well and like.

If you get a new contact or interviewer going on how great or exclusive or prestigious their company is, it makes them feel good because it’s (indirectly) about them. Now you’ve set the stage for them to form a favorable impression of you. It’s the same reason judges are more lenient after lunch – if their mood is elevated, your chances are way better.

The second way shutting up and letting people talk pays off is by preventing you from grabbing the conversation like a greedy kid. It also prevents the other person from having that negative feeling of “Ugh, when will this end!?” If a date, or new acquaintance, or interviewer starts looking at their watch, you’re toast.

Do the asking rather than the answering

So turn the mental filter on high, and whenever you get the urge to interject with something about yourself, just say nothing. Obviously you shouldn’t turn into a robot or ignore questions asked of you, but try not to take hold of the conversation.

Asking a lot of questions is a great way to not only shut yourself up, but to encourage the other person to talk about themselves. How to Win Friends and Influence People one of the oldest and most popular self-help books in history, advises “Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.” Again, we’re setting the stage to make you look good.

Now put it to practice

People love talking about themselves, and conversations can quickly become a zero-sum game. If one person is talking the whole time, the other person isn’t, and it becomes awkward quickly.

The more aware of this fact you are, the less likely you are to monopolize a conversation and make a bad impression. Just relax, ask good questions, and try to let them do the talking.

Tim Murphy is founder of ApplyMate.com, a free application tracking tool.

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Networking is one of the biggest career buzzwords out there. But it’s easy to focus on cultivating a massive network and forget to network strategically. In other words, quality is often more important than quantity.

If you find yourself making any networking mistakes, it might be time to come up with a new approach:

1. The oldest person in your network is 25

Who are the decision-makers in a typical organization? And who has the experience and industry know-how to guide you in your new career?

Likely seasoned professionals, not a company’s young employees.

I’m in no way discounting the significance of more junior employees (looks in mirror). But higher-level execs are often more knowledgeable, better networked and more influential than their junior counterparts. Their referrals will pull more weight with hiring managers – they might even be hiring managers – and they’ll be more experienced mentors. So get out there and get chummy with people who have been in the industry since before you were born.

2. The youngest person in your network is 65

If this is your problem, then nice job networking with experienced professionals. They’ve been there, done that and can probably offer you invaluable insights.

But now it’s time to diversify your network. Why? Because the best networks are those with mentors, peers and everyone in between.

You can’t go running to a seasoned pro every time you have a question, want support or need a helping hand. It just doesn’t work that way. Even those who have the time and are willing to help may not be the optimal go-to.

For instance, let’s say you’re having growing pains at your first job. Someone who has been working for 40 years may not empathize with you in the same way as someone who shares your experience level.

3. Your contacts are in a different location than you

I was Little Miss Overly Involved in college and had a pretty impressive network to show for it. Yet after graduating, I moved from Michigan to Los Angeles to start my career – which created a slight problem. My entire network was back home. (For those of you who need a quick refresher in geography, Michigan and Southern California are 2,000 miles apart.) In a city of 10 million people, I knew not one person.

The moral of the story? If you plan to move out of state after college – or even if you’re just entertaining the idea of moving — make contacts in the locations that interest you.

4. Your contacts are in a different industry than you

It always surprises me how many people make this mistake. They build a solid network, only to realize that none of their contacts are in the field they want to work in.

This can happen easily if you’re the odd man or woman out in your circles (for instance, if all of your friends are aspiring doctors, but you’re an aspiring lawyer). If you feel yourself falling into this trap, work hard to make connections in your target field, both through in-person and online networking.

5. Your contacts are all in the same industry as you

Some estimates predict the average person will change careers 5-7 times over a lifetime. You might end up hating what you do, you might fall in love with something else, or you might not be able to find work. Regardless of the reason, career changes happen, and your transition will be easier if you already know people.

Another advantage? Readily available sources for when you need help with something outside your area of expertise.

6. Your network is Facebook – and Facebook only

Congrats on having over 1,000 friends on Facebook – you’re quite the social butterfly! But how many of them can credibly vouch for you professionally?

If you’re like most new grads, your Facebook friends are more likely to have seen you in a toga than a suit. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s not the most helpful when looking for a job or picking references.

What all of this really comes down to is this: diversity and relevancy are the keys to a rich network.

How are you networking your way to success?

Rachel Dotson is the communications manager for ZipRecruiter.com, an employment website for job seekers and employers. You can read more from Rachel on the ZipRecruiter blog.

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How’s a harried worker to avoid being overwhelmed?

Create a solid anti-stress arsenal. You may not have control over the demands of your job, but you do have control over yourself and, to a certain extent, your immediate surroundings.

Here are some must-have items to keep you from going under when things get hectic:

First Things First

One of the best ways to combat stress is making sure you’re not unintentionally adding to it. This starting checklist can go a long way towards making things less frantic than they need to be:

Organization, organization, organization. Not only does a messy desk make it infinitely harder to keep on top of your tasks or find things when you need them; a visually messy environment makes you feel more stressed than a neat one.

Use inboxes, folders, and trays to keep the piles on your desk in order. Know where your action items are at all times. Make things easier on yourself by having a workspace that’s under control — even when everything around you isn’t.

Light. A dim workspace can make you feel groggy and create eye strain. Make sure your work areas are well-lit (but not too bright). Soft, indirect lighting is a good way to go.

Comfort. The human body wasn’t meant to sit in one position for eight hours a day — and it will let you know that. Poor posture and repetitive movements can lead to everything from back pain to tension headaches.

Fortunately, there’s an ergonomic everything now — keyboards, mouse pads, footrests, chair cushions. Get some comfy gear and visit resource sites to make sure you’re not stressing out your body in addition to your brain.

Fuel. Stock your desk with healthy, energy-packed snacks and be sure to drink plenty of (noncarbonated, non-sugary) fluids throughout the day. Flying and crashing on waves of caffeine and vending machine candy won’t make any day easier.

Toolkit Must-Haves

Alright, you’ve got the groundwork laid. Here are some basic tools to have on hand for when the crazy times hit:

Happiness-Inducing Pictures. Whether it’s a collage of your beloved pets or a screensaver of your favorite vacation spot, surround yourself with images of the people, places and things that make you smile. It will lift your spirits and can help you hang in there by reminding you you have a (much pleasanter) life outside of work.

Quality Tunes. If you can wear headphones, crank up whatever makes you feel a little less stabby — whether it’s some soothing Michael Bublé or the most cathartic Rage Against the Machine you can find. If you can’t wear headphones, try playing some (office-appropriate) radio (at a respectable level). Music makes the time pass faster and can be a huge mood booster.

Indulgent Drinks. No, I’m not condoning adult indulgent drinks. (This is a professional community here.) I’m talking more along the lines of exotic chai, soothing green tea, or rich hot chocolate. Sipping a comfort beverage in the midst of a hectic day can calm your nerves and reinvigorate you.

Stretching. Even with an ergonomic setup, sitting at a computer for eight hours straight builds up tension throughout your body. Take a pause every now and then to release some of that pent-up stress. Let your clenched jaw go slack. Stretch out your keyboard-cramped hands and wrists. Find some great stretches (and exercises) you can do right at your desk.

Breathing. It’s one of the oldest tricks in the relaxation book because it works. Try some of these deep breathing exercises to regain your physical and mental composure.

Moving. It’s easy to get sucked into a stressful project and lose all sense of space and time. Physically stepping away from your desk can help clear your head and reset your composure when you’ve entered the work wormhole.

Take a walk up to the second floor to deliver that memo, stroll over to the water cooler, or even just stand up and shake out your limbs for a few seconds — anything to break your concentration and release a little of that stressed-out energy.

Bathroom Breaks. Don’t laugh. They work. When all else fails, no one can fault you for excusing yourself and disappearing into the restroom for a minute or two. If things really start to overwhelm you, give yourself a chance to escape and pull yourself back together.

What’s in your anti-stress arsenal?

Kelly Gurnett, a.k.a. “Cordelia,” runs the blog Cordelia Calls It Quits, where she documents her attempts to rid her life of the things that don’t matter and focus more on the things that do.  You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

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Recent college graduate Stef Gray started the petition.

“I refuse to borrow $300 (for the fees) from friends and family … just to line Sallie Mae’s pockets,” said Gray, who received her M.A. in Geography from Hunter College this past May.

After graduation and a short stint as a temp, Gray found herself staring at mounds of private student loans. With no full-time job or cosigners (her parents passed away before she went to college), Gray chose to go into forbearance on her Sallie Mae loans — an arrangement that permits her to suspend payments, though the loan still accrues interest.

She soon learned she was charged a $50 per month fee for each loan in order to go into forbearance. The fee does not go towards her loans’ principal or interest.

“As an unemployed person desperately looking for work, I need every extra dollar I have to pay for rent, electricity and groceries,” Gray says in her petition.

Sallie Mae encourages its lenders to try modified, reduced payment programs if they cannot make their originally scheduled monthly payments. Gray said that even those – at more than $400 a month – are out of her reach and she was unable to negotiate a lower payment.

According to Patricia Christel, a spokesperson for Sallie Mae, the $50 fee is used as a kind of guarantee. “When customers ask for a concession to suspend required payments, we in turn ask for a good-faith deposit that acknowledges the importance of and commitment to resuming payments in the future,” Christel said.

Stef Gray created a video of her conversation with Sallie Mae about changing her loan repayment terms.

Gray acknowledged that federal loans do not have these fees and she could have been more careful when selecting her loans, although she says her college’s financial aid office and Sallie Mae were not clear when differentiating between federally backed loans and private Sallie Mae loans.

Gray says she is blown away by the success of her petition, which in less than 24 hours gained more than 17,000 new signatures. She hopes the petition will cause Sallie Mae to change its policies.

A petition on Change.org is widely credited for getting Bank of America to drop its monthly $5 debit card fee in late October.

Katie Bethell, Change.org’s director of organizing for education, said the site has seen dozens of campaigns around the student loan issue in the last month alone.

“There are a million different ways that students are discovering that the student loans that they received are not the deal they thought they signed,” Bethell said. “It’s a widespread issue that I think we’re going to see blow up over the next few months.”

Hadas Gold is a recent graduate of two degrees from the George Washington University. Born in Israel, raised in Arizona and now living in D.C., she juggles multiple jobs while she looks for that dream position.

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To give you a better idea of what I’m talking about, a conversation like the one below is all too common:

Me:  What is your ideal job description?
College Grad: Oh well my degree is in marketing so I want a job like Mad Men. Barcardi is cool too. I’d like to do sales for Bacardi.
Me: Ok, well, that’s a great goal to have, but it’s not going to happen for you right now. You need a lot of experience to land in sales for Bacardi and you may want to consider moving to another city if you want to pursue advertising like in Mad Men.
College Grad: What are you talking about?
Me: You’re just out of college and have very little experience. You also live in the wrong city to pursue advertising.
College Grad: Oh, well, that’s not what they told me in school.

College grads may not realize this, but conversations like this are off-putting for interviewers and recruiters. It shows that you aren’t being realistic, which can create challenges for people who are trying to help you get a job or might want to hire you.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to have professional goals like the ones stated above, you just have to be aware of what kind of market you’re dealing with when you graduate. So here are some tips to help you remain realistic during your job hunt while still pursuing your goals:

Forget what they told you in school

Forget that they told you that your Finance degree would get you a high paying job right out of college. Forget that they told you that you’d be making 40k upon graduation just because you have a B.A. Forget that they told you that your law degree would make you a shoe in. Nothing is guaranteed these days and there is no way to gauge how long your job search will take.

Research the industries in your area

Different industries thrive in different areas. For instance, if you’re looking for a serious career in finances consider going north, somewhere like New York. Or if you’re really into nonprofits, head to Washington, D.C. or maybe Seattle. The type of jobs you’ll be able to find often times depend on where you live. Do your research and see if maybe you need to start making some moves. You can find a complete list of U.S. industries and statistics on the U.S. Department of Labor website.

Educate yourself about salary ranges

This is a big one. Far too often, people — who were making tons of money up north — walk in to my office only to find out that the same type of job in Florida pays way less. This often comes as a huge shock and it makes it a lot tougher to have successful salary negotiations. Salaries are contingent on where you live! Do your research so you’ll know what you’re facing when applying for jobs. This page on the U.S. Department of Labor website can help you get started with that.

If you’re not at least somewhat realistic in your job search, you’re going to experience a very rude awakening. While it’s great to have grand professional goals, you’ll do yourself a favor by learning more and developing realistic expectations. It also makes you appear more mature and experienced to recruiters and employers.

What other things can you do to get your visions of the job search in line with reality?

Amanda Abella is a personnel administrator for a Miami-based employment agency and a freelance writer. She also runs Grad Meets World, a popular Gen Y blog where she discusses health, career, personal finance, entrepreneurship, and more.

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This week’s pick:

Marketing and Communications Manager for From The Top, Inc.

From The Top, Inc. is a cool nonprofit in Boston that shares the stories and performances of pre-collegiate classical musicians with millions each week through NPR and PBS programs. Pretty interesting, huh? They describe themselves as being an organization that identifies, celebrates, and supports outstanding young classical musicians.

In this position, you’d be responsible for PR and marketing. To qualify, you’ll want to be know-how about social media and e-communications. The organization is looking for someone with 2-3 years of professional experience, and they’ll pay $40,000-50,000 a year.

If you’re detail-oriented, enjoy working in a fast-paced environment, and support music and the arts, this job might be for you. You’ll excel if you have strong writing and oral communication skills and can juggle multiple projects at once.

Is this job music to your ears? If so, give it a shot and apply!

Does your company or organization have an awesome job opening you want the Brazen community to know about? Email a link and description to alexis[at]brazencareerist.com.

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Your networking sucks.

No worries, though. Mine used to suck, too, until I discovered the secret: stop networking altogether.

See, a few years ago I was a young professional, fresh out of college and ready to conquer the world. “It’s all about the people you know,” everyone told me. And so I went out to meet some people — I went out to “network.”

No matter how hard I tried, though, and no matter how many people I talked to, it never really got me anywhere. I couldn’t understand what I was doing wrong. I couldn’t understand why people weren’t offering me jobs or leads or becoming my new BFFs. Instead I was lucky if they even remembered my name.

Fast forward two years to the fall of 2011.

I stared at my computer screen in disbelief.

“I’d like to fly to Boise and meet you in person. I’m really interested in what you’re doing,” read the message in front of me.

“Me?” my voice echoed around the empty room.

I looked around to see if there was any other Therese Schwenkler he could have been speaking of. Nope, it was just me.

Soren Gordhamer, the founder of the Wisdom 2.0 Conference? The guy who knows all these awesome people at Google and Facebook and whose sold-out conference features Eckhart Tolle (one of Oprah’s favorite peeps)? Soren Gordhamer wants to come talk to me? In my hometown of Boise, Idaho?

This was only the first of many unexpected and wonderful relationships that I’ve built in the past half year, one of many that have helped shape me into the person I am today.

So what am I doing differently now? How did I go from being a complete networking loser to forming relationships with some of the most genuine, most interesting, most well-connected people around?

It’s simple, really: I dropped the whole notion of “networking” and did something completely different instead — a little something I like to call “non-networking.”

Here’s how it’s done (or rather, here’s how it’s not done).

How to non-network in two simple steps:

1. Develop your own brand of awesomesauce

Awesomesauce is simply that thing that makes you interesting. It’s that thing that makes you, well, you.

Joel Runyon has it. So does Amber Rae. And Charlie Hoehn. You know what those people stand for when you see their names, right? That’s their awesomesauce.

Have you found your awesomesauce? If you haven’t yet, get on it. Otherwise you’ll forever be out of the game.

When I started growing my website, The Unlost, I unwittingly discovered my own brand of awesomesauce. All of the sudden people started coming to me. Bloggers and authors and brand strategists and entrepreneurs — suddenly they wanted to know who I was and what I was doing.

The concept’s simple, really: When you’re doing something interesting and unique, something that’s truly you, when you’re infused with energy and passion and life, people become intrigued. People want to get to know you.

And that’s the goal of networking, right? Developing your own brand is simply coming at it from a different angle.

Everybody — yes, everybody — should take the time to discover and build their own brand of awesomesauce.

2. Stop caring about results and start caring about relationships

You know what’s complete bullsh*t? Trying to “befriend” someone for the sake of getting something from him or her. That’s what.

Instead of making connections because you want something from that person, ask yourself one question: What can I truly give to this person?

When I started “non-networking,” I sought out people I found interesting, those whose beliefs and values were in line with my own. Then I asked myself what I might be able to offer them.

If I had an idea for their project or heard about something they might be interested in, I’d let them know. If I thought that what they were doing was awesome, I’d tell them. If I thought of any way I could add value, I’d offer it.

More importantly, though, I quickly realized that the best thing I could offer anybody — regardless of who they were — was a genuine interest and appreciation for the person they really are. No fake bullsh*t, just genuine regard for the inherent value within them.

Give it a try. Shift your question from, “What can I get from this person?” to “Who is this person at his or her core, and how can I best appreciate this person for exactly who (s)he is?”

In many cases, the friendship, the connection, the relationship, is worth more than what you might’ve asked for anyhow. The relationship is the reward.

And yet I often find myself in a state of grateful awe for what I do end up receiving in return: wisdom beyond my years, true friendship and connection and understanding, and the confidence to know that, dammit, maybe I’m not just a nobody. Maybe I really do have something special. As corny as it sounds, when amazing people believe in me, I believe in myself.

It’s more than I ever could have asked for — without ever having asked for anything at all.

Therese Schwenkler is passionate about bringing more & better direction to today’s generation. Get more from Therese at her blog, The Unlost.

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Somehow, it worked. Despite myself, and within only six months, I had matched my previous corporate salary.

But being a business owner is nothing like being an employee, and I couldn’t sustain my business on quality content and charm alone. Eventually, I had to start actively marketing myself.

Those new to marketing — and those downright wary of it — can end up floundering in their search for that one, magical, no-fail marketing trick that will lead them to success. Why? That one, magical trick doesn’t exist. Different services and products — and different clients and customers — require different types of marketing. So how can you figure out which tactics will work best for you?

1. Write up a mission statement

Your mission statement does not have to be long and involved. Nor does it have to be the height of creative genius. It should, however, list your business goals — monetary and otherwise — and should also specify the things that set you apart from the competition. Why is this necessary? Writing out your mission statement can help you clarify exactly what it is you’re trying to accomplish. As you make future business decisions, you can refer back to it and ask yourself: does this bring me closer to my business goals?

2. Specify your target markets

Your product or service probably won’t appeal to everyone. So list the people you’re trying to help, and get specific. Once you’ve pinned down your target markets, you can start researching the best ways to reach them. Where do they hang out? Which social networking sites are they on? Which blogs are they reading? Do they participate in any online forums, or attend any professional conferences? Knowing all of this will keep you from marketing blind.

3. List your competition

And then look to see what they’re doing right, what they’re doing wrong and what they’re not doing at all. How can you differentiate yourself from the competition? And, in the end, should you even consider them competitors? If you can set yourself apart from them, it will leave room for future collaborations.

4. Finally, list your marketing tactics

This is the fun part. (Then again, I get excited by spreadsheets and cookware.) Referring back to number two — your target markets and where they’re hanging out — come up with some marketing ideas that go beyond direct mail spam and pricey space advertising. Think about how they might like to be marketed to. Think about what they want and need. And think about how you like to be marketed to, too. What makes you decide to shell out the cash?

And then? Write a really long and wacky list. Seriously. Go all out. You probably won’t use everything on your list, but at least you’ll have options.

This is what my initial list looked like:

• Coordinate a speed-networking event, and find a fellow coach, writing professor, media company, educational institution, professional organization, or publishing company to co-sponsor it.
• Plan additional networking events, panels, workshops… anything that will build up a community of industry professionals willing to share tips, war stories, contacts, etc.
• Join a planning committee or host a panel at an industry-specific conference. Or hop onto someone else’s panel.
• Offer a free giveaway or discount at someone else’s event.
• Advertise in industry-specific magazines, blogs, websites, or newsletters.
• Create a targeted advertising campaign on sites like Facebook or Yelp.
• Hold seasonal contests.
• Start a monthly newsletter as a means of building up a mailing list, establishing yourself as an expert, and promoting products and/or services.
• Gather testimonials for your business’s fancy-pants website.
• Offer a reward for referrals.
• Start focusing magazine and newspaper pitches on content related to the business, thereby establishing yourself as an expert.
• Further promote yourself as an expert by answering questions on sites like Brazen Careerist or LinkedIn, or responding to reporters’ queries on HARO.
• Create a Facebook page for the business.
• Start guest posting like a madwoman.
• Reach out to former employers, clients, editors, etc., letting them know you’re available for work.
• Attend far more networking events.
• Eventually open a co-working space that can also act as a venue for networking events, lit events, workshops, etc.

Some of these items may work for you. Others obviously won’t. But it’s my hope that you’ll be able use this list as a jumping-off point for your own. Once you’re done drawing up that list, pick a few items and execute them. See what works and what doesn’t. Try a few more. Analyze results. Adjust accordingly.

And once you’re up and running, don’t stop marketing. Even when business is booming. Without consistent marketing, it just won’t last.

Steph Auteri is the founder of Word Nerd Pro, a one-stop word nerd shop offering a variety of writing, editing, and coaching services. She has been published in Playgirl, Time Out New York, Nerve, The Frisky, and other bastions of fine writing. She is a member of The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only nonprofit organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. The YEC promotes entrepreneurship as a solution to unemployment and underemployment and provides entrepreneurs with access to tools, mentorship, and resources that support each stage of their business’s development and growth.

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And when I spoke to James Marshall Reilly, founder of The Guild Agency Speakers Bureau and Intellectual Talent Management and the author of Shake the World: It’s Not About Finding a Job, It’s About Creating a Life, a few weeks ago, he suggested something similar. Young careerists, he felt, should stop trying to carefully plan and reduce risk and instead dabble boldly in whatever catches their interest. Only through repeated experimentation can most of us locate a career path where we’ll thrive.

But not everyone is so taken with this frenetic, constantly shifting approach to work. In fact, some note that always searching for the next newer, better gig can get pathological. Brazen Careerist founder Penelope Trunk, for one, has cautioned against perpetually searching for that perfect job and advised readers to settled into whatever gig they can get, focusing on excelling where they are at least for the immediate future.

WSJ columnist Alexandra Levit gives similar advice in a post entitled, “The Perfect First Job Doesn’t Exist.” Stop imagining the grass is always greener, she advises, and focus on what’s in front of you. She even cautions against rushing to get promoted, suggesting you “enjoy this time in which you don’t have to worry about anyone but yourself.” CAREARREALISM has also warned professionals of all ages about getting obsessed with finding your dream career.

A Delicate Balance

So which is it? Should we be constantly roving with an ear out for the faintest rumble of a new opportunity, eager to jump ship the first chance we get? Or should young careerists fight the impulse to believe there’s always something better out there and focus on whatever work is in front of us now?

Both paths have obvious risks. Spend all your time daydreaming about what you hope to be doing next, and you’re likely not only to be restless and unhappy in the present, but also less than stellar at the job you have now, missing chances to learn and develop new skills.

Plus, building a network and a solid professional reputation generally takes time and commitment. By changing paths often, you may end up skidding sideways rather than building up to better things.

Hunker down in a less than awesome job, however, and exciting opportunities could pass you by. You may even regret your lack of experience and adventure when you’re older.

As with most life decisions, the answer probably comes down to self-knowledge and finding a balance. Clearly, the two extremes of frantic job hopping or decades’ long cubicle drudgery are bad bets, but that still leaves plenty of choices between those two poles.

To decide where you should be on that spectrum, you’ll need to honestly assess what makes you more unhappy: missing an opportunity or the constant stress of watching out for one. Answers will almost certainly vary by personality and may change over time, but it’s a question each of us needs to ponder when choosing between career ADD and settling in professionally.

Which do you fear more: too much professional change or too little? 

London-based Jessica Stillman blogs about generational issues and trends in the workforce for Inc.com and GigaOM.

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And so we waffle and jump from job to job. In my personal (and humble?) opinion, we should be spending more time interviewing people from various industries, reading career books and actually doing trying things, traveling the world, apprenticing, etc. Sitting around and whining that we don’t love our jobs isn’t enough.

Here are four things you can actually do right now to figure out the next step in your life:

1. Travel

I know, I know. It’s a bit of a stereotype, isn’t it? 20-something gets job post college. 20-something quits job after a few months. 20-something packs bags and goes somewhere like Thailand or Germany and fucks around for a year.

But I can’t emphasize enough the benefits of travel for figuring out what you want from life. I’ve lived in three countries in the past year-and-a-half, and during that time I’ve learned more about the world and myself and what I want to do long-term than I ever did at my plush Manhattan PR gig, while waiting for something to happen to me.

Travel opens your mind to possibilities. It takes you outside of your comfort zone, helps you appreciate what you have at home, or, on the flip side, helps you discover an alternative, expat lifestyle.

So what are you waiting for?

2. Work an internship

Not getting paid for work is a bit of a joke. Even if you’re making coffee or filing all day, just because it’s called an “internship” instead of “bitch work” doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get paid.

HOWEVER. The beauty of internships is that they can last anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. There’s not a ton of commitment involved, and it allows you to try lots of new things without making a long-term investment with one company. Through internships, you can meet and talk to people honestly from various industries, pick up a few solid skills and learn whether or not you want to actually pursue a career in that field.

For those of you whining that internships are almost as hard to get as real jobs, don’t forget that internships don’t have to be “prestigious” to be beneficial. Tons of startups, websites, freelancers and family-owned businesses would eat their right arm for an intern and will be just as accommodating and useful to your eventual career (if not more so) than a major corporation.

3. Get a hobby – or five

One of my favorite stories ever is of Sydney Owen, who runs the awesome blog over at Sydney: Unfiltered. Sydney got into skydiving while working at her day job, developed an addiction, and ended up quitting said job, going freelance starting her own business and now does work for a skydiving company on digital strategy and events.

If I hear one more person bitch about how they don’t have any passions but sit around on their computer all day dicking around, I might scream. Trying heaps of new hobbies can introduce you to passions you never might have discovered. It gets you out of your house and meeting people.

And, hey, maybe that book club makes you realize you want to own a book store or that windsurfing lesson makes you want to jump on the next plane to Bali and teach. You can’t discover what you want to do with your life if you don’t take advantage of everything life has to offer. (I’m torn between whether that line is significantly too corny for me or really profound. You choose.)

4. Talk to someone

Life coaches. Therapists. Your old high school career counselor. Writing “dear diary” every night isn’t enough. While using something like 750words.com can be really useful in getting to root of whatever block you might be facing, sometimes we need an outside observer to point out things we never would have noticed otherwise.

Above all, the beauty of being GenY is that we’re the first generation to have been given permission to just not know. So calm down. We’re career changers. In the words of Alec Baldwin in 30 Rock, “We are an immigrant nation. The first generation works their fingers to the bone making things; the next generation goes to college and innovates new ideas. The third generation snowboards and takes improv classes.”

Amen.

Marian Schembari is a blogger, traveler and all-around social media thug. She’s based in Auckland, New Zealand, hails from Connecticut and blogs at marianlibrarian.com.

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Fresh out of college, you toss off your graduation cap, frame that hard-earned diploma and iron your most professional outfit for your first day at your very first post-college job. Everything you’ve accomplished thus far has prepared you for this moment. Or has it?

The journey from college to career may not be perfectly seamless. Now more than ever, young professionals often experience a serious learning curve coming fresh out of college. But no matter your level of experience, your approach and attitude to that all-important first job can serve as a valuable learning experience and stepping stone for future success.

Here are five of the many lessons I learned from my first post-college job:

1. Arrive early. During my first week at work, I noticed that my boss got to the office very early, about a half hour before our scheduled start time. I followed her cue and started arriving at work around 7:30 a.m.

That gave me plenty of time to grab coffee and a banana and settle in to check emails and make my to-do list for the day before the office really started buzzing with activity. I enjoyed the distraction-free quiet time before the emails started pouring in and my phone started ringing. Also, when you consistently arrive early and do good work, people take notice and it definitely enhances reputation.

2. Make work friends. Let’s face it: We spend 40 hours a week with our colleagues, more time than most of us spend at home with our families. I learned quickly that one of the best ways to make work enjoyable was to make friends. It helped that I worked with a great team of people who I would want to be friends with anyway, but taking lunch breaks together to chat and learn more about each other’s personal lives only strengthened those relationships.

A recent study out of Tel Aviv shows that having social support at work will even help you live longer, yet another reason to make friends at work. But studies and research aside, this is common sense; friendships make us feel good, and when we feel good, we are happier and more satisfied.

3. Mind your manners. I grew up minding my p’s and q’s thanks to my parents, but my first job reinforced the importance of being polite and respectful to absolutely everyone. No matter someone’s job title or rank in the organization, every employee is important and has a role.

A smile and hello in the hallway or small talk in the elevator can go a long way in building relationships. When you have a positive relationship with someone at work, it’s much easier to be efficient and get things done when you need help.

4. Organization is key. I was organized in college, obsessed with my day planner and crossing items off my to-do list. Yet when I joined the real world, I took my organizational skills to a whole new level. Staying organized wasn’t just helpful, it was imperative to success in my job. Keeping organized was the difference between completing tasks well and on-time and being sloppy and late.

I learned to love my Outlook Calendar and its reminder features, and my daily to-do lists were detailed, even down to the simplest task. I also tried to keep my desk and office tidy because working in an uncluttered space made me feel calm and motivated. A clean office gives a good impression to your bosses and co-workers, too.

5. Recognize that building skills takes time. One of my major responsibilities at my job was writing newsletter columns and speeches on behalf of the company’s CEO. It was a huge challenge to learn and adapt to his voice and writing style when as a young professional, I’m still working on developing my own voice.

The first few times I submitted a column for review, I became frustrated when I would get back the document full of edits and changes. Finally, I realized that building skills takes time. If the task was easy, anyone could do it. It was absolutely okay that my writing wasn’t perfect the first go-around.

With time and guidance from my boss, I slowly began to get the hang of it. And when I finally felt like I really conquered the skill? That made all the frustration completely worth it.

What lessons did you learn from your first “real world” job?

Jessica Lawlor is a public relations professional in Philadelphia. In her free time, she manages a book review and writing blog and is currently writing a novel.

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In other words, the more often you get promoted to another position, the more likely it is you’ll suck at it.

While the Peter Principle has not been proven in any scientifically verifiable way, we see anecdotal evidence of its truth everywhere. After all, have you ever secretly thought to yourself that your supervisor has no idea what she’s doing? Or have you ever wondered how the 200 hundred-year-old head of the company got to where he was, considered he falls asleep in meetings and seems otherwise completely clueless?

Now, if you’ve been working with one company for awhile and have excelled at your entry-level job, chances are that you, too, will be promoted to your own special level of incompetence at some point. After about a year working at my first job, I was promoted to a managing position in which I had to lead several people, many of whom were smarter, more talented and older than me. And I was expected to tell them what to do.

If you find yourself in a similar position, where you don’t really know what you’re doing just as all eyes are set on you, then here are a few tips based on my sometimes-bungling-but-never-boring experiences.

1. Don’t assume authority until it is conferred on you from those on your team.

This is perhaps the most important lesson any person new to managing should learn. While someone above you has deemed it appropriate to leave you in charge of a handful of people, the people you will be working with on a daily basis probably had no say in the decision.

Even if you are technically above them on the hierarchical ladder, you do not truly become a leader until your employees see you as one. It is absolutely essential to curry favor with and gain respect from your colleagues before they’ll listen to you.

2. Listen carefully and always ask questions.

I really did not know what I was doing when I first started my new position. After a few weeks, I was soon becoming the perfect Peter’s Principle poster girl.

Since I did not yet possess the management skills, I figured out early on that I’d have to learn by listening to my colleagues carefully and observing other managers who were skilled and respected. Main point: you can effectively avoid becoming a victim of the Peter Principle by making a commitment to learning from others.

3. Get to know your teammates’ strengths and weaknesses.

As this Business Week article notes, it’s important to demonstrate to those who you will lead that you’re going to take charge and make substantive changes to team operations that will make everyone’s job more efficient and enjoyable.

The best way to give this impression from the beginning is to make a genuine attempt to get to know everyone by meeting with each team member individually. Become acquainted with their personal work-related aspirations, their working styles, their weaknesses and any other information that will help you manage more effectively.

4. Always own up to mistakes.

There’s no escaping the fact that you are going to screw things up fairly often when you first start. The quickest ways to lose respect from your colleagues is to cover up your mistakes, pass the blame around, or simply just portray an image of yourself that you haven’t yet lived up to.

If you want your team to admit to their own mistakes and correct them, then you’ll have to do the same yourself.

5. Understand that you can’t make everyone happy.

While being liked is an instrumental component of succeeding as a manager, you will often be forced to make decisions that not everyone will agree with. Don’t kowtow to others’ desires just because you want to please everyone. Assess every decision you make and by all means consult others’ opinions. But in the end, once you’ve chosen a particular plan, stick to it until significant evidence demonstrates it’s not working.

Of course, even if you’re a completely incompetent manager, you’ll likely still keep your job for awhile. But eventually you’ll lose your sense of personal accomplishment, and your colleagues will begin to resent you, especially those who feel that they can do a better job than you can. So commit yourself to rising to the challenge and striking out into uncharted waters – and you’ll  eventually excel in your work.

Angelita Williams writes about online courses. She welcomes your comments at her email, angelita.williams7 @gmail.com.

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Here’s some quality media to round out your weekend:

1. The job search in Atlanta got a whole lot more Twitterific.

2. Sometimes new jobs aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. Tips for how to quit a job you just started.

3. On her own blog, Brazen Editor Alexis writes about figuring out how to make a living by doing what you love.

4. Do you live in one of America’s most stressful cities?

5. Cool office alert: a behind-the-scenes tour of the audible.com offices in Newark, NJ:

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Then trend lists come along with all the things we should be watching for in the new year. These are a little more interesting if you ask me. Nod to Brazen, the 20 Young Professionals to Watch in 2012 was a nice compilation of push-the-envelope go-getters.

Here are a few other trend lists that caught my eye:

6 Social Media Networks to Watch in 2012:  Do you know how many social networks you’re signed up for? I mean, the TOTAL number, because I sometimes forget.  Sometimes I hear about a new social network or social media tool and go to check it out — only to discover that I already have an account.  That’s the curse of being a digital marketing professional, I guess!

Read this list by Jeff Bullas because it takes a minute to step back and “reflect on some significant events and evolutionary changes that are impacting how we communicate and connect.” Oh, and there are infographics!

Top 5 Diets to Watch in 2012: I decided that January would be the month when I cut back on drinking and continue improving my lifestyle.  I’ve never been a diet person but there are plenty of different ways to modify habits and lose weight.  This article says 2012 “looks like a return to sensible eating” after the year of fad diets in 2011. From science-based slim downs to “real food” diets, you just might find the plan that’ll fulfill your needs.

Fitness Bloggers to Watch in 2012: There’s been a rise in niche blogging over the last couple of years, and fitness is one of the biggies. If you’re into that sort of thing, this post has a list of 13 fitness bloggers to watch this year.

5 Tech Trends to Watch:  Mashable is great when it comes to lists and they didn’t let me down when coming up with a tech trends to watch list in 2012. In this article, Lance Ulanoff, Mashable’s editor-in-chief, has collected what he thinks will be the five big memorable trends that will make a “big impact in our technologically-enhanced lives.” I’m personally curious to see how augmented reality will grow and take over our lives.

12 Education Tech Trends to Watch in 2012: There’s no denying that technology is reshaping education from K-12 to colleges. From adaptive learning to game-based learning, technology is creating new ways for educators to incorporate technology into their curriculum.

Four Employment Trends to Watch in 2012: According to the latest job report, the unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent as the economy added 200,000 new jobs.  What does that mean for jobs in 2012? According to this International Business Times article, “[t]hirty-eight percent [of employers] plan to train people who don’t have experience in their particular industry and hire them for positions within their organizations in 2012.”

6 Important Marketing Trends to Watch in 2012: My favorite part of this list is the predication that creativity will take center stage and “if your company’s DNA doesn’t carry the gene for nimble creativity, you may not make it to 2013.”

20 Bloggers to Watch in 2012: I’m a huge fan of Problogger and look forward to the site’s “bloggers to watch” list every year.  This year, the list includes a few people who are already at the top of my Google Reader, but I will definitely be adding a few more based on these recommendations.

12 Cute Animals to Watch in 2012: I mean, really, what is the internet without our fuzzy friends?

What are some fun trends that you’re watching this year?

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This week’s pick:

Blog Producer for MTV.com

If you love blogging — and we know most Brazenites do — check out this NYC-based position. The ideal candidate is a college graduate who has experience using WordPress, Final Cut and Photoshop. And, of course, to work for MTV, you should “know the difference between Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato,” the ad reads.

Producer jobs can be tedious, but they’re also a great way to get your foot in the door, especially if you have coveted online skills. In this role, you’d update Web content, manage video and photos, write and edit copy, and more. The position is freelance or project-based, which probably means no health insurance, but who says you won’t move into a full-time role once you prove how awesome you are?

If you’ve got the online skills and thought the Gomez-Lovato reference was a no-brainer, go ahead and apply!

We’re trying to decide whether to keep this weekly feature or replace it with something different. Do you look forward to our Sweet Job each week? If so, let us know in the comments! Your feedback will help us decide how to move forward.

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Those are all worthy goals for 2012 and with enough dedication, you’ll be speaking Mandarin and shedding pounds in no time.

But the New Year is also a perfect opportunity to take stock of your job or your pursuit of one. Like a car in need of an oil change, we too often forget about the basic maintenance required to stay sharp.

In case you haven’t added any career-related goals to your resolution list, here are 12 that will help you gain momentum professionally in 2012:

1. Update your resume

Even if you have a job and don’t plan on leaving, you just never know. Your resume should always be fresh and presentable. Once you update it, have a friend with a sharp eye look it over for errors. That way, when an exciting opportunity comes along, you’ll be ready.

2. Back up your computer files

Put all your files on a backup hard drive or server like Dropbox. If you have a job, make sure you ask about your company’s server and how to use it. That way, if your computer crashes this year, you’ll have a plan to fall back on. Don’t be that person who forgot to back it up!

3. Ask about or reassess your 401(k)

See if your company offers a 401(k) retirement plan. If you can’t afford to max out your 401(k), at least contribute enough to get your employer’s matching contribution (aka “free money”).

4. Network, Network, Network

Set a goal to meet with 1-2 people in your industry each month, or folks who could help connect you to the industry you want. Again, even if you’re in love with your job and could never imagine leaving, maintaining and growing your network is one of the best things you can do for your career. Keep your options open and your contact list robust. If setting up 1-2 lunches a month is too taxing, join a business networking group and attend monthly meetings.

5. Learn a new job skill

In between Mandarin verb conjugations and your flourishing garden, find time to add a technical skill to your repertoire and make yourself more valuable professionally. Most people like being asked for their knowledge and expertise, so sidle up next to a friend or co-worker and gain a new skill for free.

6. Develop quality habits

All those random business cards you collected over the past year? Store the info on your computer or cell. You might need one of those people in 2012, and this way you won’t have to search all over for someone’s email or phone number. Get in the habit of connecting with new people online right after you meet them in person, so you can toss the biz cards.

7. Have a sit-down with the boss

Yeah, I know. You would rather get a root canal than ask for a one-on-one with your boss. But it could be the smartest thing you do all year. Lay out reasonable expectations for 2012 and make sure you’re both on the same page. Your boss will respect your initiative and maybe even give you more responsibility, which could equate to a raise.

8. Hit the road

If you are out of work (and can afford it), professional conferences are a great place to learn new skills and network. If you have a job, it’s a terrific way to show you’re serious about your role with the company and want to grow. You may even be able to convince your company to pay for it.

9. Take care of yourself

Ever get really tired in the mid-afternoon and want to crawl under your desk for a nap? Think about what you just had for lunch. What you eat has a direct impact on your focus and productivity. Healthy eating isn’t just good for your body; it’s also good for your bottom line.

10. Pick a distraction

Make it a priority to find something you love to do outside of work. Creating time for yourself provides balance and might even help you enjoy your job that much more.

11. Keep your chin up

If you’re on the hunt for a job, stay positive. Some people won’t return your calls/emails and others will shuts the door in your face. That’s life. Work on the job search a little every day, and the results may surprise you.

12. Don’t get too comfortable

This should be the mantra for our generation. So many companies are in flux, and even great employees can be let go at a moment’s notice. Work hard every day, learn as much as you can and always have a Plan B. Hopefully, 2012 will go according to plan, but in the event that it doesn’t, never forget to look out for yourself.

Cheers to a fabulous 2012, everyone!

Danny Rubin is a national news consultant for media research firm Frank N Magid Associates. He is a former television news reporter, lives in Washington, D.C. and tweets as @dannyhrubin.

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We’ve compiled your smart and interesting blog posts to make it easy to check out what others in the Brazen community are saying on this topic.

Excerpts from some of our favorite posts:

“Looking back on this year and seeing the progress I’ve made with certain goals, I can try to set the bar a little higher every year in order to see long-term growth in the career path I’ve chosen.”

-Wannabe/Employee: 2012 Goals: Out With the Old, In With the New

“With the new year approaching, think about some of the most mundane assignments that you dread doing on your job, and make one of your goals to implement one idea that will revolutionize the way that you and your colleagues get it done.”

-Community College Voice: On Your Mark…Get Set…Revolutionize!: Be an Idea Trendsetter on Your Job

More posts to check out

• The Vanity Pounds: Go to Lots of Meetings in 2012 (to Learn the Rules of the Game)
• The 90 That Matters: Most Necessary Step for Your Teams
• The LI$T: Forget New Years Resolutions: Set 2012 Professional Goals

Don’t forget to leave a comment or tweet at the author if a particular post resonates with you. Not only will the writer appreciate the feedback, but it’s also a great way for you to connect with someone new and expand your network!

Want to participate in the next Run-Around? Keep your eyes on this blog. We’ll announce the next topic soon!

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Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, we offer edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work -- this isn't your parents' career-advice blog. Be Brazen.

If you’re a young and hungry professional, don’t expect to stay relevant resting on your diploma. Even if you have a handful of years of on-the-job experience under your pretty Prada belt, it’s probably not enough.

With jobs getting cut faster than the fat off Heidi Montag’s bum, members of the currently-employed elite need to upgrade their professional cred – and now. It’s too easy for an employer to say “no” – to a raise, promotion, or renewing your contract. So give ‘em every reason to green-light your professional success with a few career upgrades. Here’s how:

1. Do-it-yourself

Sometimes you’ve got take educational matters into your own hands and exercise all the “can-do” enthusiasm you can muster. Living in a world where anything you’d ever want to know is a click of a mouse away makes it easy to pick and choose new skills to learn.

Someone who’s doing it: 22-year old Zoelle Egner recently transitioned from a position as a business analyst at a major retail company to a new role running marketing, communication and digital projects for an after-school provider.

In her new role, Egner has had to brush up on graphic design, public relations and web development skills. She also began following key thought leaders, curators and commentators in her industry, and reads absolutely everything she could get her hands on – blog posts, books, white papers, you name it. “The internet is really my best friend for learning new skills,” she says. “It turns out, if you know where to look or how to search, it’s very easy to find free tools to teach yourself just about anything related to web development and programming.”

You don’t need a new job, of course, to teach yourself new skills. In fact, it’s best to do this before you transition, to help yourself land the job you want.

2. Get an internship

Let’s face it – nobody really wants to schlep coffee and work for free. But all signs and trends indicate that if you put in hands-on hours at an internship (in your field of interest, of course), it may improve your resume and increase your job-finding odds.

And since many companies downsized during the recession, plenty of employers want interns to complete important tasks rather than refilling the decaf drawer.

Someone who’s doing it: Sara Covich was working retail when she decided to apply for an internship at Bicycle Paper, a monthly newsmagazine in the Pacific Northwest. She knew she wanted to wander down the career path of writing and editing and needed some experience. Cycling is also the 31-year-old Seattleite’s favorite sport, so it was a great fit for many reasons. Covich worked as an editorial intern for three months, which didn’t immediately segue into her current position (she first paid her professional dues as a Safety Analyst), but gave her an advantage when the Consent Form Editor position opened up.

3. Create smart alliances

Go out of your way to find yourself a mentor or make friends with someone who’s just slightly more accomplished than you. Sometimes simply having a trusted sounding board and the right connections can help boost your career.

Someone who’s doing it: Before the ink dried on Julie Webb’s college diploma, the 22-year old intern had snagged an in-house copywriter position at Marketing Maven Public Relations. Within six months, she moved to a full-time Assistant Account Executive position.

“This is a great career move for me because I can work closely with my Account Executive, Aljolynn Sperber (a.k.a. “Jojo”), and learn from her as I grow and develop in the company,” says Webb. She believes that by having a mentor, she can learn more about the industry in a hand-on environment with people who care about her success.

4. Go back to school

Sometimes you can fake it ‘til you make it or work with what you’ve got. But in some professional instances, you may have to commit to additional coursework, or perhaps a new degree, to take your career to the next level.

Someone who’s doing it: When Katie Allegretto first decided to get her B.S. in Education at Central Michigan University, she was smitten by the promise of summers and holidays off. (Hello, who wouldn’t be?)

But five years into her career, the 29-year old Bellows Spring Elementary School teacher loves the diversity of her job. “It truly is rewarding when you see everything ‘click’ for a child and you know played an integral part in helping them gain knowledge,” says Allegretto. Now she’s expanding her education by pursuing a Master’s Degree in Reading, which will help her fine-tune her teaching skills to diagnose reading difficulties.

How else are you learning skills that will make you a catch in the workplace?

Charyn Pfeuffer is a food, travel and lifestyle writer and journalist based in Seattle. She can be found on Twitter at @charynpfeuffer.

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Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, we offer edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work -- this isn't your parents' career-advice blog. Be Brazen.

This year’s presidential race – along with hundreds of Congressional, state and local contests – will dominate the news until Nov. 6, spurring many young professionals to seek political jobs.

With campaigns, parties and political action committees rapidly hiring staff for primary battles, nominating conventions and the general election, this is an opportunity for recent college graduates. But thousands of resumes are floating around – so how do you make sure you’re the one who lands the job?

Here are some tips to help you stand out in the political job hunt:

Broaden your network – because who you know gets you in the door

Campaign hires are made through established networks. Introduce yourself to every elected official who represents you – your city councilor, mayor, state legislator – and ask for their help in getting a campaign gig.

If you’re affiliated with an identity or issue group – LGBT, ethnic minorities, evangelicals, women, sportsmen, environmentalists, Young Democrats, College Republicans – reach out to leaders in those communities. Tap college alumni networks to identify elected officials and senior political staffers who went to your school.

Get an edge through formal campaign training

Sure, you aced your political science classes in undergrad, but few professors cover the nuts and bolts of campaign management.

Training programs like Camp Wellstone and the Leadership Institute not only teach campaign skills, but they can also expand your network and lead to a job. EMILY’s List’s Campaign Corps even includes job placements as part of its regular program.

Be prepared for the campaign to research you

Make sure your personal brand matches the campaign or political committee’s values.

Don’t waste your time trying to work on a Republican campaign if you’re a registered Democrat. (If you’re not registered to vote at all, immediately run to your local elections board.) If you tweet your staunch anti-choice beliefs, NARAL will throw your resume in the trash, and I doubt Rick Santorum is hiring people whose Facebook profiles call for “legalizing it” – be it marijuana, marriage equality or the Occupy Movement.

Don’t be a prima donna

A competitive campaign requires grueling, 100-hour weeks full of phone calls, door-to-door canvassing, data entry, chauffeuring candidates and clerical tasks.

I have quickly rejected applicants who expressed disdain during interview for “grunt work.” Although paying dues is anathema to us Millennials, demonstrating a strong work ethic and proficiency in basic campaign skills are the only ways to advance in the profession.

Volunteer or intern first

If you’re not able to get a paid campaign job immediately, offer your help as an intern or campaign volunteer. Political organizations create a farm team of good volunteers and interns, and they’re among the first to be called for paid openings.

For example, a college friend who started as an intern for a state political party six years ago is now a media strategist for the White House.

Realize it’s not about you

Many aspiring politicos think they’re as smart as Karl Rove or James Carville, ready to take the limelight and ink an exclusive cable news deal. But don’t get labeled a self-promoter. Show potential employers that your priority is helping the candidate win rather than purely advancing your own career.

The best political workers toil in anonymity. If campaigns were like the music business, Adam Levine would be the candidate and the rest of Maroon 5 would be staff. Fans love the band’s music and appreciate its hard work, but the lead singer gets 99 percent of the media attention.

Like a lead singer, your candidate faces intense public scrutiny and bears the ultimate responsibility for the campaign’s success. Your job is to support him or her as best as you can.

The first of Robert Greene’s 48 Laws of Power is “never outshine the master.” If you start making more news than your candidate, run quickly. Either the campaign’s implosion or your termination letter is imminent.

Derwin Dubose is a public affairs strategist who connects people to policy. Connect with Derwin on Twitter or LinkedIn, and see his work at www.derwindubose.net.

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So if you’re the type who likes helping others help themselves, check out our list of top transformation-inducing careers:

1. Nutritionist

Food can be one of life’s greatest pleasures or most frustrating pains. As a nutritionist, you help people develop an understanding of what constitutes a healthy meal. Whether working with an athlete who needs to improve energy-levels, a working mom who wants to get organic food onto her dining table, or a patient who recently discovered he’s allergic to just about everything, you help clients lead better lives through food.

Average salary: $33,000 – $75,000

2. Personal Image Consultant

Everyone’s heard the phrase, “You only have one chance to make a first impression.” It’s good advice to follow; in fact, as an image consultant, you base your entire business on this idea. You work to revamp your client’s overall look by suggesting new clothing, explaining the best colors to complement their complexion, or pulling their hair and make-up combo out of the ‘80s. You might even focus on behavior — dealing with issues like etiquette, communication styles or outward confidence.

Average salary: $31,000 – $97,000

3. Person Fitness Trainer

A personal fitness trainer helps gym-goers reach their full fitness potential — without getting injured or discouraged. Your individualized workout plans help clients lose ten pounds, run a half marathon or learn how to use the latest fad in fitness equipment. But more than your knowledge of how to perform the perfect pull-up, your ability to motivate is what makes you great at your job.

Average salary: $16,000 – $62,000

4. Financial Advisor

Whatever financial goals your clients may have for the New Year, a personal financial advisor provides information and options. While doling out advice on paying off debt, putting money in savings, finding tax advantages, you keep a close eye on the books to ensure everything adds up to a healthy financial future.

Average salary: $68,000

5. Life Coach

Stop smoking. Write the great American novel. Change careers. Build self-esteem. These are all common New Years resolutions, and a Life Coach — the granddaddy of personal development positions — can help with all of them. You give your clients the tools they need to succeed by setting goals, working through road-blocks, and, ultimately, making them accountable for their achievements and failures. Providing motivation, inspiration, structure and support, you help people effect positive change in their lives.

Average salary: $24,000 – $69,000

We want to know: which professionals have most helped you transform your life?

Annie Favreau works for Inside Jobs, a career exploration site where people can discover what opportunities exist and learn what paths can take them there. Have an opinion? Join the conversation on Twitter @InsideJobs.

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Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, we offer edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work -- this isn't your parents' career-advice blog. Be Brazen.

Either they think a sales job is beneath them, they don’t want their pay to be tied to performance or they just “don’t like the idea of selling something.”

I’ve been there, too; I actually felt bad for my friends who were “reduced” to sales jobs right out of college. And I’ve seen friends adopt an air of apology when explaining that their job involved sales. Oh, the shame!

But that approach is plain old stupid. Being able to sell is everything.

Every idea you pitch to your boss, every business you want to start and every job interview you have are all about selling. Sometimes it’s an idea, other times it’s a product or service, and it almost always involves selling yourself. The ability to sell is an absolutely critical skill, and taking a job that forces you to learn and master the art of sales early on in your career is a great move.

Get over yourself

If you are a recent college grad, chances are good that nothing is beneath you. Sorry, but that’s how it goes. People love to say they’re willing to “start at the bottom” and “work my way up the ladder,” but when they are presented with such an opportunity, they recoil in terror.

Taking a sales job is hardly starting at the bottom, but there’s definitely an air of superiority implicit in anyone who disregards sales as an unworthy profession.

Are you just afraid?

The reasons why we have negative perceptions of sales as a career vary, but part of it is the thought that salespeople are “sleazy.” That stereotype does a great disservice to young professionals everywhere. “Sales involves being sleazy,” so the flawed logic goes, “thus my dismissal of a sales position must be due to my integrity.”

The fact is that a career in sales can be quite challenging, and that’s intimidating. But associating a sales position with being “sleazy” allows people to give themselves a pass, rather than take on a difficult, sometimes uncomfortable job. In other words, a lot of people don’t want to do it because they’re scared.

To the bold goes the paycheck

While some of us are intimidated by the prospect of salary being tied to performance, others wouldn’t have it any other way. They see a set salary as a cap, a limit to their potential, while a sales commission-based salary is only limited by their abilities.

That’s why lots of people in sales make great money, eventually landing the set salary and the ability to make a bunch more via commissions. Adopt the right attitude and sales-based pay can be very attractive and lucrative.

Learn to pitch

The ability to sell is one of the most versatile skill sets a person can have. It doesn’t matter if you’re an engineer, an architect, a waitress or a business owner – if you can’t sell, you’re severely handicapped.

At some point, probably more often than you’d think, we all have to sell, and taking a job in sales forces you to learn the craft quickly. Making sales calls and presentations hones your critical thinking, on-the-fly thinking, public speaking and interpersonal skills like nothing else.

Plus, part of making a sale is negotiating – another tremendous skill set. By the time you need to negotiate a salary, ask for a raise, buy a house, a car, a business or sign a lease, the practice you’ve had at negotiating and working through alternative prices to close a deal will pay huge dividends.

Bottom line: taking a sales job is a great way to jumpstart your career, make good money, become a pitching and negotiating pro, and turn yourself into a well-rounded professional.

You might not want to be “in sales,” but the fact is, you don’t really have a choice. You’re going to have to pitch, sell and negotiate regularly throughout your life. Rather than brushing off sales as “not for you,” why not embrace it and get to work mastering a skill you’re going to need, regardless of profession?

Tim Murphy is founder of ApplyMate.com, a free application tracking tool.

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Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, we offer edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work -- this isn't your parents' career-advice blog. Be Brazen.

Here’s some weekend reading for you to enjoy:

1. The secret to pitching yourself well.

2. Facebook is an accurate reflection of who you really are.

3. The four-year career. Just read it. You’re probably living it.

4. Good question: Is traditional business attire becoming obsolete?

5. 23 successful people who wake up early every day.

6. How to get more done without doing more work.

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Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, we offer edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work -- this isn't your parents' career-advice blog. Be Brazen.

In our podcast series, we’re hoping to provide insights and answers to that very question. We talk to young people who have amazing jobs or are doing something really cool and interesting and ask them how they did it. So listen along for good information and some inspiration, too.

This certainly isn’t the first time someone has pointed out the similarities between dating and the job hunt. But the comparison is just so apt!

So when I learned about A Little Nudge, Erika Ettin’s online dating business, I knew her experience helping people find love would give her an interesting take on job search and personal branding topics. Apart from that, I was also really interested in learning more about Erika’s business and how she left a career in finance to become “part dating coach, part matchmaker,” as her website puts it.

In the interview, Erika talks about that journey and explains how she makes a living as an online dating consultant. But the best part might be her dating tips. This girl really knows her way around an online dating profile!

Erika Ettin

Listen to the interview now or download it later:

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Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, we offer edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work -- this isn't your parents' career-advice blog. Be Brazen.

Development Officer for World Federation of United National Associations

Don’t get WFUNA confused with the United Nations; rather, it’s a non-profit that’s working to strengthen the UN (their description, not ours).

But this job looks pretty cool regardless. The position requires at least three years of fundraising experience at a nonprofit, academic or related sort of organization. If you’re looking for the opportunity to work with high-level folks, this might just be perfect — the Development Officer works directly with the organization’s Secretary-General on certain projects. Are you a natural connector? The position is also responsible for maintaining relationships with advisory board members, donors etc.

Another perk? If hired, you get four weeks of vacation! Don’t see that too often. So if you’re a development professional and working with an organization that focuses on human rights, climate change and nuclear disarmament sounds awesome, go ahead and apply!

Does your company or organization have an awesome job opening you want the Brazen community to know about? Email a link and description to alexis[at]brazencareerist.com.

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Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, we offer edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work -- this isn't your parents' career-advice blog. Be Brazen.

The lifestyle of a slasher – a term popularized by Marci Alboher in her book One Person/Multiple Careers – can be invigorating. As a guest lecturer / researcher / translator / web designer / writer, I love playing many roles and connecting with people from many industries and countries.

But it can also be stressful. When you work with people who have committed a larger part of their own “pie” to a certain task, sometimes they demand more than you have to give. Deadlines can overlap. Weekends can disappear. And the slashes that let you use your diverse skills and interests can become slashes that slice into your sanity, stability and mental health.

The word “ninja” gets used a lot in discussions about working independently – and it makes complete sense. To successfully sustain a slasher lifestyle, you must take self-defense seriously, just like a martial arts pro. But here, self-defense doesn’t mean preparing for physical attacks. It means building and maintaining a strong core, to give you the agility and flexibility to rise to the slasher challenge.

Give these slasher self-defense techniques a try:

Create a day-righting ritual

As someone who might work on several projects in one day, how do you start your morning on the right foot?

Try “day-righting,” a term coined by Keith Ferrazzi, author of Never Eat Alone. He says it’s “The 15-Minute Secret for Individual Effectiveness:”

Almost all of you, I’m willing to bet, have a “morning ritual.” But how many of you have created one by design? This is so important for individual effectiveness, for everyone but especially for entrepreneurs who work independently or at home.

I first became aware of this idea when interviewing a pair of salesman for Who’s Got Your Back. Together, they did an early morning gym session followed by a brainstorm, a process they called “day-righting.” After about a month of this routine, the team told me they saw dramatic improvements in their business and their lives.

Ferrazzi goes on to suggest exercise, journaling, meditation and breathing as day-righting options.

My day-righting ritual has consisted of coffee and newspaper reading with my partner, followed by a quick gym workout, a hearty home-cooked breakfast, and then going into the office to start the workday. In the days when I’ve followed at least part of this ritual, I’ve been able to balance my slashes. The days when I’ve skipped the newspaper, workout and breakfast to immediately sit down in front of my computer, a few hours later I realize that my neck is sore and I’ve been clicking around on the computer without getting much done.

Be conscious of stressors in your environment

Is your office filled with the sounds of colleagues talking on the phone, other people’s music, or buses and honking outside? Even low-level noise has a subtle but insidious effect on our health and well-being. The best solutions can be the simplest: earplugs, headphones, and, if possible, choosing a quieter place to work.

Do one thing at a time

If you’re a surgeon / violinist, you obviously cannot pursue both slashes at the same time (at least not if you want to have any success at either!) But if you’re an event coordinator / editor, the distinction between might be less obvious.

When your slashes involve the same tools, you might find yourself trying to reserve a room and edit a blog post at the same time, perhaps while also reading the news and chatting with a friend. This makes each task take longer, and you’re more likely to make mistakes.

There are dozens of tools to help. For writing, I like OmmWriter, Microsoft Word’s Full Screen mode, and Gmail pop-outs, which let me write an email without having to look at all my other emails or all my friends who might want to chat.

Say no

The main reason to pursue a slasher lifestyle is to do what you love. But if you’re overwhelmed with commitments, it’s time to scale back. Once a week or so, perhaps as part of your day-righting ritual, make a list of your priorities and consider whether the way you have been spending your time fits with those priorities. There will always be more events and projects than you can possibly commit yourself to. Learning to say no is perhaps the most important self-defense tactic of all.

What about you? What self-defense tactics work best for your slasher lifestyle?

Leslie Forman is an entrepreneur connecting Chile, China, and California. She blogs at Beyond Chile´s Single Story.

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Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, we offer edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work -- this isn't your parents' career-advice blog. Be Brazen.

These people get on our nerves, ruin our days, even make us dread coming in to the office at all.

But what if you’re “that guy” to your co-workers?

Don’t think it’s possible? Check out this list of common workplace annoyers and see if any of them sound familiar:

The Guy Who Comes in to Work Sick. Yes, you’re a dedicated little trooper for dragging yourself in sniffling and hacking. But think of your poor, defenseless co-workers. Showing up when you’re sick only makes you feel worse and exposes all of your co-workers to your germs.

Stay home, have some soup, and keep that flu to yourself, please.

The Gossiper. I know; you’d never gossip. Most of us don’t think we do; we know it’s mean and childish. But anything you say about someone who isn’t in the room with you qualifies as gossip. Few of us launch secret campaigns against our co-workers, but plenty of us say things like “Guess who took another vacation day?” and “Did you see what Sheila’s wearing today?”

One simple rule to follow: If you wouldn’t say something to someone’s face, don’t say it behind their back.

The Guy Who Made the Dress Code Necessary. Here are some things you should never display at work, no matter how “business casual” your office is: cleavage, Crocs, holes or tears, sweat pants, jean shorts, tiaras on your birthday (or any other form of overdressing/teenage regression).

There are no exceptions that make these things OK. Just Say No, we all beg of you.

The Guy Who Acts Like a Wannabe Celeb. Unless you’re Tom Haverford from Parks and Recreation, you are not being cool and charming by using phrases like “broseph,” “OMG,” or fist-bumping in normal office conversation. Actually, even Tom Haverford is charming only because he’s so ridiculous he’s funny. Take a look at him; he’s a great sitcom character, but would you want to be his cube neighbor 40 hours a week?

The Guy Everyone Else Has to Pick Up After. If the copier runs out of paper on your project, refill it for the next person. Clean up your spills in the break room. It’s common courtesy. Don’t make us tape up the cheesy “your mom doesn’t work here” sign.

The One-Upper. Empathizing with someone’s situation creates camaraderie. We all like to hear that someone knows what we’re going through. But if you find yourself wanting to counter your co-worker’s story about her awful mother-in-law with a story about how awful your family is, reign it in. It’s small talk, not a competition.

The TMI Guy. Have people in the cubes around you asked about your fight with your girlfriend — when you never told anyone about it? It might be a sign you’re not using your “indoor voice” on the phone. And that you might want to conduct sensitive personal calls on your own time.

The Awful Emailer. It’s Email 101: Don’t put the contents of an email in the subject line. Don’t “reply all” at whim. And please, for the love of god, no pink italic inspirational quotes in your signature block. (I trust I don’t even have to mention emoticons.)

The Antisocial Guy. Most of us don’t love grocery store birthday cake or giving long accounts of our weekend activities. But you should at least show up now and then, say hello, or ask how someone’s hobby/family/etc. is going. (If you can’t think of one single hobby, family member, or other personal detail about your co-worker, that’s a good sign you might be this guy.)

You don’t have to be BFFs with everyone, but you spend most of your time with these people; why not at least be friendly and pleasant? It makes the time go by faster — and it makes you easier to work with.

Aack! I Am That Guy!

Are you guilty of any of the above annoyances? The first step to getting better is realizing you have a problem.

You don’t need to find another job or start baking cupcakes to entice your co-workers to like you again. (Another common peeve is people who bring in goodies and throw everyone off their diets, so I’d steer clear of that one.) You just have to be a little more considerate.

Try to be the kind of person you’d want to work with. It’s not that hard, and it’s never too late to start over. At least you’re not Crazy Cat Picture Lady.

Kelly Gurnett, a.k.a. “Cordelia,” runs the blog Cordelia Calls It Quits, where she documents her attempts to rid her life of the things that don’t matter and focus more on the things that do. You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

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Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, we offer edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work -- this isn't your parents' career-advice blog. Be Brazen.

One of the great things about living in a capitalist economy is that there is quite literally a business for everything.

Candidates have come into my office with all kinds of projects and jobs. I’ve heard job applicants talk about coordinating the production of an iPhone App, raising money for a village in Africa, working in a business that plays the middle man between lottery winners and the government, and more.

The coolest jobs are often some of the most unconventional, which makes it difficult to translate that experience into a marketable resume should you ever find yourself needing or wanting to enter the traditional workforce.

Many of these candidates ask for assistance because while they may have spectacular experience, putting a non-traditional job on paper sometimes leaves hiring managers scratching their heads. The good news is that you can tailor your resume to meet the needs of the job while still touting your work history.

Here’s how:

1. Think about your transferable skills

If you have an unconventional or just plain random work history, it’s your job to find a way to make your resume functional. That means identifying a skill set that’s transferable and using it as your angle.

For instance, let’s say you worked for a non-profit by raising funds and then also sold Mary Kay to make some extra money. In both cases, you had essentially the same goal: get someone to give you their money by using your marketing and selling skills. As a result, you would focus on how your sales abilities, whether you’re selling a product or a good cause.

2. Call yourself an employee when you can

It’s common these days to come across candidates who ran their own small businesses and had to close them down because of the recession. While I personally love go-getters and entrepreneurs, they can run into some real problems when entering the traditional workforce.

The biggest problem is credibility. You can have all the legal documentation in the world, but you still won’t have the professional reference of a superior, making it difficult for someone to attest to your work abilities. The other issue is that anyone can say they ran a business, and sometimes they’re lying.

You need to list these businesses, of course, but don’t call yourself the owner or president on your resume. Instead, simply state the tasks that you accomplished, such as sales or operations, and when possible, show how you worked as part of a team. When the time comes for an interview, make sure you can quantify those accomplishments; that will help the interviewer feel confident you’re telling the truth.

3. Always Stay Honest, But Don’t Say Too Much

When describing your entrepreneurial pursuits, keep it short and simple, just like you would if you worked for a legacy company. There’s no need to explain that your second cousin was your partner in XYZ business venture or that you were helping a friend with their catering business. Simply say that you worked at said company and what you accomplished, not why you did it.

Resumes are not autobiographies; rather, they should be a marketing tool to help you get a job. For this reason, it’s okay to get a little creative while staying honest – especially if you come from a non-traditional line of work.

Amanda Abella is a personnel administrator for a Miami-based employment agency and a freelance writer. She also runs Grad Meets World, a popular Gen Y blog where she discusses health, career, personal finance, entrepreneurship, and more.

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Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, we offer edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work -- this isn't your parents' career-advice blog. Be Brazen.

When you’re young, taking advice from older people can be difficult. The short explanation of why is simple – it’s annoying. But however much your mother or grandfather may drive you crazy with unsolicited tips and suggestions, most of us know deep down that those with vastly more life experience than us have valuable insights to offer.

It’s been a bumper year for online posts and columns offering to pass on the wisdom of age to the young and curious, with The New York Times columnist David Brooks leading the way.

Over the past few months, Brooks has asked elderly readers to send in their life stories, as well as the lessons they’re learned over the decades for the benefit of his readers, with Brooks summarizing the results in a series of thought-provoking columns. Among the many insights from the project:

Divide your life into chapters. The unhappiest of my correspondents saw time as an unbroken flow, with themselves as corks bobbing on top of it…. The happier ones divided time into (somewhat artificial) phases. They wrote things like: There were six crucial decisions in my life. Then they organized their lives around those pivot points. By seeing time as something divisible into chunks, they could more easily stop and self-appraise. They had more control over their fate.

Beware rumination. There were many long, detailed essays by people who are experts at self-examination. They could finely calibrate each passing emotion. But these people often did not lead the happiest or most fulfilling lives…. Many of the most impressive people, on the other hand, were strategic self-deceivers. When something bad was done to them, they forgot it, forgave it or were grateful for it. When it comes to self-narratives, honesty may not be the best policy.

In the same vein, hospice nurse Bronnie Ware made waves online with a somewhat wrenching post on the most common regrets of the dying (not all of whom may have been seniors, but all of whom presumably were forced by short time horizons into hard reflection). The post is worth a read in full, but one regret from the list might be of special interest to young careerists. She wrote:

I wish I didn’t work so hard. This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children’s youth and their partner’s companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.

Of course, not all the wisdom of senior citizens is reserved for weighty matters and the most fundamental values decisions of life. Less somber advice is on offer too. For example, a recent post on Wise Bread provides a 94-year-old’s tips on making good decisions. Among the ideas:

Be grateful that you have choice. It’s natural to dread having to make a tough choice — I know I often do. But what if you thought of that choice as a privilege? My grandmother grew up at a time in which women just weren’t given much say; she was raised to listen to her parents and then later, all the big decisions went to her husband. Now that she’s all on her own, she relishes doing what she wants, even at the cost of sometimes making choices she regrets. So next time you’re struggling with a decision, remember that you’re actually indulging in a luxury that has not always been available to everyone — and that in some parts of the world still isn’t.

Do what you want. As an active and able 94-year-old, my grandmother relishes being able to do whatever she wants. Maybe some of that’s a luxury of old age, but she’s also learned that you just can’t make everyone happy, so it’s best not to try. Going with the flow can often be a way of taking the easy way out. Make the decisions that are right for you.

For those looking into the really deep dive, Stanford professor Tina Seelig (merely middle-aged but clearly onto some of the secrets of career success) has a whole book on subject entitled What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20: A Crash Course on Making Your Place in the World.

When asked in an interview what single piece of advice she’d like to give her younger self, she replied:

I would tell myself that the uncertainty of life never goes away. There are always choices in front of you, challenges to overcome, and failures from which you need to recover. If you embrace the challenges and view them through the lens of possibilities, then you will not only be happier, but will be much more likely to turn the inevitable obstacles into opportunities. The world is always changing, and it is up to you to be flexible and optimistic.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received from an elder?

Jessica Stillman is a freelance writer based in London and is the author of BNET’s Entry-Level Rebel column.

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Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, we offer edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work -- this isn't your parents' career-advice blog. Be Brazen.

Yeah, that happens all the time. And especially when it comes to your career, sometimes the movies just so perfectly represent where you’re at.

In our (maybe not-so-humble) opinion, here are the eight best career movies and the crazy lessons they teach us:

1. The Devil Wears Prada

Plot: Girl gets everybody’s dream job at fashion magazine. Boss is bitch, takes over girl’s life with ridiculous demands. Girl becomes pretty, learns valuable career lesson.

Valuable career lesson: Sometimes from the outside it seems like we should take that amazing-sounding job or do that one little thing for our bosses that’s actually completely inappropriate – until one day we find out the job has completely taken over our lives. When it comes to drastic career moves, trust your gut on what feels right and what feels like too big a compromise.

2. The Pursuit of Happyness

Plot: Man who’s always struggled to make ends meet gets custody of his son, becomes homeless and manages to become a fancy pants stockbroker with a lot of determination and elbow grease.

Valuable career lesson: It’s never too late to change your career and “make something” of yourself. Also? Life is hard. Deal with it.

3. The Social Network

Plot: Facebook. ‘Nough said.

Valuable career lesson: Sell out your friends, be an asshole and you will be one of the most successful people on the planet. But that doesn’t mean you won’t Facebook-stalk your exes just like the rest of us.

4. Jerry Maguire

Plot: Sports agent has an epiphany about the future of his industry and gets fired because of it.

Valuable career lesson: It is, in fact, possible to love what you do, make a difference and have an “important” career without being a completely asshole in the process.

5. Office Space

Plot: Group of friends hate their jobs. Layoffs affect the office place. Group plants a virus to steal money from the company but it all goes horribly wrong! And by “wrong” we mean “oh-so-right.” (This is easily one of the best movies ever and so perfectly depicts what it’s like to be in a job you hate.)

Valuable career lesson: Co-workers are everything. The best thing about this movie is the cast and how the characters work together (and sometimes completely mess with each other). They teach us how you can stand even the worst job when there are awesome people involved. And also that if you don’t have awesome people, you may or may not “set the building on fire.”

6. Clerks

Plot: Classic Kevin Smith movie about two slightly obnoxious guys who work at a convenience store.

Valuable career lesson: Be nice to the people behind the counter. “Just because they serve you, doesn’t mean they like you.”

7. Up in the Air

Plot: Guy has a job that involves firing people. His home is essentially – wait for it – up in the air. He’s all lonely and empty and stuff.

Valuable career lesson: Even with a job as glamorous as constant travel, coming back to a proper home is worth more than you’d think. There’s something to be said for downtime and, as Americans, we rarely get that in the workplace. Which means home needs to be a place where you feel safe, relax and chilled out. We promise it will make you more productive and better at your job in the long run.

8. Wall Street

Plot: It’s called Wall Street, people, which means it’s even more relevant today than in 1987. Stockbroker is ambitious. Stockbroker makes a few dirty decisions.

Valuable career lesson: Don’t work on Wall Street. Greed is bad. Watch out for shady stockbroker mentors.

What awesome movies did we miss?

Marian Schembari is a blogger, traveler and all-around social media thug. She’s based in Auckland, New Zealand, hails from Connecticut and blogs at marianlibrarian.com.

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Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, we offer edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work -- this isn't your parents' career-advice blog. Be Brazen.

Users between the ages of 18 and 29 tend to use the site mainly to interact with friends and family, not as a career resource, according to a new study by Millennial Branding, a Boston-based branding consultancy that worked with Identified.com to pull data.

Only a third of GenY users add a job title to their Facebook profile, the study found, yet more than half of those young professionals add at least a handful of work contacts as their Facebook friends.

That leaves Generation Y in a bind. While many don’t see Facebook as a professional space, we still interact with work contacts – which means how we present ourselves on the social networking site spills over into our professional life.

“GenY needs to be aware that what they publish online can come back to haunt them in the workplace,” said Dan Schwabel, a personal branding expert and managing partner of Millennial Branding. “GenY managers and co-workers have insight into their social lives, which could create an awkward workplace setting or even result in a termination.”

Before it gets that far, you can take some simple steps to ensure your Facebook profile feels and looks professional, even while remaining personal. It might even help you use your network to your advantage.

Facebook as a resume

First, add your current and past job titles. While 80 percent of Millennials include their college or university on their profile, only 36 percent list an employer, Millennial Branding reports. Especially if you’ve changed jobs recently, make sure to keep your work information current.

Then check out Facebook’s recent design changes, which make your work history even more important. The redesigned profile is more than a new look; it presents a timeline of each user’s life, with past events ordered chronologically and easily accessible.

The timeline format could effectively become a digital resume, says Job coach Gerrit Hall. He predicts employers will increasingly turn to Facebook to vet potential hires.

“From the giant cover image at the top to the chronological organization down the line, your Facebook profile is a resume for your life, not just your career,” Hall, co-founder of RezScore, a company that analyzes and grades resumes for job seekers, wrote on digital news site Mashable.

If you activate the new look, Facebook gives you a week to review everything on your profile before making the changes public. Take that time to review old status updates or photos, and delete ones that might not be appropriate for your professional friends. And don’t just think about what to take off; the switch is a good opportunity to literally see what information, including your work experience, is missing and what you might add.

Other helpful Facebook features

Hall also recommends taking advantage of another relatively new feature on Facebook: the ability to tailor status updates for specific groups of people. If you organize your contacts into lists of friends, classmates or business contacts, you can then make updates visible only to certain groups.

That way, you can share personal news only with your real-life friends. Have an industry-related piece of information? Share it with your business contacts. On average, young professionals have 16 friends from their professional circle, Millennial Branding reports.

And don’t forget that Facebook isn’t just a place for you to offer information; you can also gather precious details about possible employers and co-workers, which can be helpful during a job search.

In the end, using Facebook to your advantage in the workplace should fit well with the entrepreneurial spirit of GenY. Among those who did list a job title, the fifth most popular entry is “owner.”

What’s your policy on friending co-workers? Do you use Facebook’s list feature to send updates only to certain friends?

Jessica Binsch is a digital journalist living and working in Washington, D.C. She holds a master’s degree from the Medill School of Journalism and blogs at CuriousontheRoad.com.

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Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, we offer edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work -- this isn't your parents' career-advice blog. Be Brazen.

Some cool content to share with you this week, just take a look:

1. The U.S. comes in at the bottom of this list of the 23 best countries for work-life balance

2. Architecture, arts and humanities grads face highest jobless rates among recent college grads

3. Professional tweeters might not own their Twitter accounts

4. Facebook business cards have arrived

5. Want 2012 to be a superb year? Read this

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Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, we offer edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work -- this isn't your parents' career-advice blog. Be Brazen.

As a former hiring manager at Google, I can tell you that the first secret of getting hired at Google is that there are no secrets to getting hired at Google. The truth is that Google’s hiring process is highly decentralized; so while there are general company guidelines, each group has its own best practices, go-to questions and, most importantly, ideal candidates.

If you’re fortunate enough to be called for an on-site interview, the first thing you should know is that the person asking questions most likely really wants to hire you. After all, few people at Google like doing interviews as it takes away from their core job.

With that in mind, here are some tips to help get you into Google CEO’s Larry Page’s Google+ circles:

1. Answer the question you’re asked. This may seem intuitive, but I can’t count the amount of times that a candidate answered a different question than the one posed. For example, one of my favorite questions is, “How could Facebook make money outside of advertising?” About 7 out of 10 candidates will give me an answer that in some way ends up coming back to advertising, and I am left to conclude that the person doesn’t pay close attention to details.

2. Don’t impose your agenda. You may be very eager to tell your story and phrase your candidacy, but it may be that the interviewer is interested in elements of your resume you hadn’t considered especially relevant. Pay attention to the clues embedded in the interviewer’s questions to determine what she’s looking for and how you might fit the bill.

3. Expose your thought process. Google is famous for asking brain-teasers (how many blue cars are there in Arizona?) and the purpose is to determine whether or not the candidate can break down a complicated problem and distill it into composite parts. To do this, be sure to verbalize your entire thought process and feel free to use the whiteboard or paper to draw out what you are thinking. I once had a candidate use the white board to organize and visualize all of his answers. He got hired.

4. Don’t be intimidated. If the interviewer pushes you for a more detailed answer, the worst thing you can do is become defensive (my favorite failed candidate once stated in exasperation, “wow man, you’re really putting me on the spot here!”). If you’re feeling intimidated, be sure to smile, breathe and stay on track. If you require further clarification don’t be afraid to ask for it. Remember: sometimes seeing how you respond to intimidation is part of the test.

5. Don’t mention the food. Regardless of what role you are applying for, at some point someone is going to ask you why you want to work at Google. This is a trick question to see if you focus on the famous benefits or the role. Responding to this question is your chance to talk about your knowledge of and passion for the position.

6. Do your homework. Google hires a lot of athletes, meaning super-smart competitive generalists who know how to get things done. This doesn’t mean, though, that you’re not expected to understand the product you’ll be working on. The strongest candidates show their initiative by knowing the product well, the competitive landscape and the industry space. You also want to demonstrate an appreciation for how Google brings products to market and then iterates on their development. Ultimately, if you’re not prepared to engage in an in-depth conversation about the product and strategy, then you clearly haven’t done your homework.

7. Examples and anecdotes are your best friend. Tell the interviewer about yourself through examples. If an interviewer must distinguish you from ten other candidates, the easiest tool you can give that person is great stories that illustrate your strongest attributes. Similarly, you should also have some flexible stock anecdotes available at will to answer questions such as, “Tell me about a time when you’ve worked cross-functionally to solve a problem?” If you need to spend a lot of time considering the question, you probably don’t often work cross-functionally. Any candidate, for example, can state that they possess leadership qualities, but if you can tell a story that proves your point, the interviewer will be far more likely both to believe and remember you.

8. Asking questions is your time to shine. Interviewers will judge you based on the quality of questions you ask. The person interviewing you probably spends a lot of time thinking about her product and its impact on the world. Your question, therefore, should be engaging, slightly gratifying, and hopefully unlock the passion of the interviewer. Don’t ask what someone’s average day is like or about her favorite part of working at Google. While the interviewer can easily deliver a canned response that will take up the rest of the allotted time, she is likely already thinking about which cafe she wants to eat lunch at. Ummm: Hot Pots!

9. Give me an answer I’ve never heard before. Your goal shouldn’t be to provide a satisfactory answer to every question. Instead, your goal is to be memorable; after all, what the interviewer is looking for is a non-standard answer to a question he may have asked a dozen times before. Sergey Brin, for example, is famous for asking people to explain to him the most complicated thing they understand. That way, if you bore him to tears, at least he’ll hopefully learn something. If your encounter isn’t memorable the chances of you moving forward are slim. Make it memorable for the right reasons.

10. Passion and enthusiasm are deal-breakers. The presence of these two qualities can often make the difference between a number of highly qualified and other-wise even candidates. Many hiring managers operate on the assumption that passion for the product and the role trump all other attributes. You can’t go wrong by demonstrating a deep passion that’s confirmed by your ability to speak in an intelligent and articulate manner about the product.

Lastly, if at any point a high-five is warranted, it should be instigated by the interviewer, and not you (my second favorite failed candidate).

Matthew Carpenter-Arévalo works for an international organization in Geneva, Switzerland. He blogs at carpenterarevalo.com.

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Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, we offer edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work -- this isn't your parents' career-advice blog. Be Brazen.

But here’s a soft skill GenY has mastered far better than other generations: Millennials are generous. Particularly in professional situations, 20-somethings understand the value of helping others, that what goes around comes around, perhaps especially in an increasingly digital world.

Whenever I chat with new acquaintances who are interested in learning about me or my business, some look at the conversation as something that’s benefiting them. Regardless of whether I contacted them or they contacted me, they ask how-can-this-help-me questions.

But GenYers tend to approach these conversations differently. Yes, they’re eager to learn about how I’m selling digital guides online or helping small businesses with social media or whatever project they’re interested in. But they also ask how they can help me.

That question is essential. It establishes a mutually-beneficial relationship, giving me a reason to want to stay in touch. Even if there’s no immediate way for that person to help me succeed, knowing they’re open to the idea and will watch for opportunities to give me a boost turns a one-time conversation and one-sided relationship into a potentially long-term partnership, one I want to maintain.

Why do young, digitally-connected professionals get the concept of what goes around, comes around? Likely because it’s so closely tied to social media, another of GenY’s strong suits. Because social media isn’t just about using the tools. Sure, Millennials know how to schedule a tweet and create a flashy newsletter and grow a Facebook page. But social media revolves around connecting and cultivating communities, including your own one-on-one relationships — a skill that’s useful both in business and in life.

In other works, social media works best when you give rather than take, which means young professionals are getting an awful lot of practice at giving.

That’s the key here: giving, or helping others achieve their goals, is what will help you create powerful connections.

Millennials know that if they help someone make a new contact or reach a goal or build an audience, that person is likely to reciprocate in some way in the future. They understand that the best way to build a new relationship isn’t to take, but to give.

Of course, efforts at reciprocation have to be heart-felt; you have to express a genuine desire to help someone for them to want to help you back. But once you’ve done that — whether in person or online — you’ve made yourself far more appealing. Even if your reason for reaching out was selfish, tacking that all-important question, “How can I help you?” onto the conversation will take it to the next level.

So next time you want a favor from a contact, find a way to offer that magic line. Consider not only what they can do for you, but what you can do for them. Maybe that will help GenY shed the ugly entitled label and replace it with one that’s a little more shiny.

Alexis Grant is managing editor of Brazen Life. A solopreneur, she writes a weekly newsletter about how to transition from working for an employer to working for yourself.

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This week’s pick:

Executive Assistant at the Young Entrepreneur Council

Want to be part of a growing startup? Interested in entrepreneurship? If you’re highly organized, this job could be for you.

It’s a full-time position based in New York City. You’d be responsible for project management, scheduling and bookkeeping; that’s why administrative experience is a should-have (but not a must-have).

You should also be comfortable with all the tools Brazenites love: Google Docs, Facebook, Twitter, Keynote, Basecamp and WordPress. Be prepared to work with “strong personalities” — that’s YEC leadership.

Sound up your alley? Make us proud and apply!

Does your company or organization have an awesome job opening you want the Brazen community to know about? Email a link and description to alexis[at]brazencareerist.com.

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Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, we offer edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work -- this isn't your parents' career-advice blog. Be Brazen.

Year after year, one of the most popular new year’s resolutions is to get a better job. One that has you excited to wake up in the morning. One that doesn’t make you curl up in the fetal position in the shower. But just like that gym pledge, “getting a better job” can be elusive without a solid plan, and unfortunately, some will fail.

The good news is you can beat the old adage that new year’s resolutions never stick. 2012 can be the year you get a better job — as long as you avoid these six mistakes.

1. Your idea of “job searching” is applying online… and only that

Job searching is more than submitting application after application online. I’ve heard many a frustrated job seeker say, “But I’ve applied to over 45 jobs online!” For the most part, relying solely on online applications — and just that — won’t cut it. Sure, it might help, but it can’t be the crux of your strategy.

Instead, your job-search strategy should be a multi-pronged approach of applying online, reaching out to your network, making new connections, doing informational interviews, using social media in your job search, and more. There’s no silver bullet, and you never know which avenue will pay off. Pursue them all, including getting out from behind your computer.

2. No one knows you’re job searching

When you’re looking for a job, the majority of your close contacts in your network should know it. Sure, there are times when you might want to keep more of a lid on your hunt if you already have a job and don’t want your employer to find out. But even in that case, there are probably at least 3 to 5 people in your network — former colleagues (or even close current ones), friends, family, mentors, etc. — who should know you’re looking for new opportunities.

Even better, be specific about what you’re looking for. The more specific you can get, the better your contacts will be able to help you. Tell people the types of opportunities that would catch your eye, send them your resume, ask that they keep you in mind if they hear of anything, and keep them updated as your search progresses.

3. You’re looking for the wrong job

If you’re really struggling to land a job, you might want to question whether you’re looking for the right type of position. Maybe you graduated with a certain major and feel pressure to look for jobs in that field, but they sound, well, boring. It’s hard to be motivated when you’re bored. And while job searching is never easy, it can be even tougher if you’re not looking for a gig you’re really passionate about.

Before investing more time in your job hunt, take a step back and really think about whether  you’re looking for the right kinds of opportunities. Making a change here could be what you need to stay motivated.

4. Your resume is boring

Updating your resume means more than adding your most recent job or volunteer position. Shop it around to at least three people you trust and give them several days to get back to you with constructive feedback.

Even more importantly, make sure your resume is more than just a series of job descriptions. Give life to yourself! Quantify whenever and wherever you can, and use bullet points that show you’re creative, proactive, a team player, and can execute on your ideas.

Also, while words are important, so is design. The overall look of your resume speaks a lot to employers and can signal whether or not you’re detail-oriented. Does it look polished?Are your margins or spacings off? Is there something small you could do to stand out? If you’re not design-savvy, check out sites like Elance or Behance for a freelance designer to give you a resume makeover.

5. You have no social media presence or a horrible one

First of all, don’t let your social media presence work against you. Nearly 80 percent of all recruiters will scan your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn profiles to look for red flags before they hire you, so make sure no offensive pictures, language or comments are associated with your name.

But even more importantly, social media can actually help you find a job or get you recruited. Lots of recruiters scour websites to recruit based on the skills and interests in your profile. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are the big three. Make sure you have a complete LinkedIn profile with a clear, professional picture and good headline. Create an enticing Twitter bio and reach out to recruiters on Twitter who work for employers you like. Participate in recruiting and job hunt Twitter chats. And if you’re up for it, go above and beyond to use social media to get the attention from employers that you deserve.

6. You don’t know how to use an informational interview to your advantage

One of the best things you can do when you’re job searching is find and connect with people who have a similar job to the one you want, work at a company you want to work for, or simply have great connections in your industry. An effective way to do this is through the informational interview.

How do you find these people? Ask your network (and ask them to make an intro for you), search on LinkedIn (and look for shared connections for the intro) or Facebook or Twitter for a start. Introduce yourself over email and give a quick 4-5 sentence reason why you’re contacting them. Ask for a meeting (ideally, if in the same city) or a phone call. ALWAYS make it convenient for them and put a time limit on the call.

Try saying something like, “I’m sure you’re really busy, but if you have 30 minutes in the next two weeks, I’d be interested in buying you a cup of coffee at a location convenient for you or stop by your office for a quick chat. I’d love to hear how you got started in the field/company X!”

Most people know the purpose of these meetings and many will be open to meeting with you. After all, people usually like to talk about themselves and work they enjoy.

When you’re at the meeting, tell them about yourself and what you’re looking for and then focus mainly on them, asking questions about what they do. The key to these meetings is to follow up; never send your resume up front unless they ask for it, but attach it in your thank you email with a note like, “Great meeting with you and hearing about your experience in the field! I’ve attached my resume to this email in case you do hear of any opportunities.” This person is now part of your network and you should do upkeep with this relationship as you do with any other.

Looking for a job is always a challenge, but maybe you just need a jumpstart or regimen to get you started. 2012 can be the year you get a better job! Here’s to this resolution being one that comes true.

Ashley Hoffman is the director of marketing and communications at Brazen Careerist, and co-host of BrazenU’s online educational bootcamps.

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Don’t underestimate the role your attitude plays in landing a job. Even if you’re feeling challenged in your job search – or perhaps especially if you feel challenged in your search – take the time to evaluate your attitude. That alone could make or break your job hunt.

Have you heard of the Law of Attraction? We attract things in our life by the type of energy we give off.  What we talk about, think about and spend time doing all contribute to the vibes we give off, and consequently, what we get back in return.

For example, people with a positive attitude tend to focus on what’s working in their lives, feel less challenged and often have more opportunities come their way. People who spend a lot of time talking and thinking about what is going wrong in their lives tend to struggle more.

Of course, when you’re stressed out about paying your bills and finding a job, it can be difficult to focus on positivity. But at the very least, it is possible to shift your attitude out of being entirely negative by consciously shifting your words, thoughts and behaviors.

Here are some suggestions for how to coat your job search with an attitude that is more likely to support you in getting the results you want:

1. Talk about what’s positive in your life.

Make a commitment right now that you will no longer engage in conversations about the terrible state of the job market and economy. If you regularly talk about how hard it is to find a job, how much you hate being unemployed, how you feel cheated by the government or educational system, or whatever else has you fired up, that could actually be more of a hindrance than a help.

Instead, focus on talking about what kinds of jobs you find interesting, the action steps you’re taking, your unique skills, what you’re learning from the job search process, and so on.

As you talk more about what you like in your life and what is positive, you will notice your overall attitude begin to shift. And your attitude is an incredibly important factor when it comes to your job search.

In fact, a new Millennial Career study conducted online for American Express revealed that hiring pros say that overall attitude and personality counts almost twice as much as a candidate’s skill set and previous work experience. And it’s difficult to fake a great outlook in an interview, so practice hitting it off with your future boss and colleagues by shifting your attitude now.

2. Visualize a future of possibility.

If you find yourself consistently full of anxiety about the future of your career, your powerful thoughts are probably adding stress to your life. Worry uses your imagination poorly, so stop with the negative future fantasizing!

Unless you are 100 percent psychic, you’re making up everything that hasn’t yet happened. And if you’re going to predict the future of your career path, at least make it good! Really see the ideal job that you want and visualize yourself doing it. Write out your ideal job description and read it everyday.

This may not be a magic formula for getting the job, but it can’t hurt, especially as your thoughts begin to shift from panic to possibility.

3. Fill your time with actions that move you forward.

If you have been looking for a job for a while, it’s easy to simply go through the motions of searching, submitting and following up with little structure in place. But that only reinforces the feeling of being unemployed and stagnated.

When you’re in between jobs, engage in actions that make you feel like you’re working. Treat finding a job like a job. Set aside a designated period of time each day when you focus on certain activities that support your job search, such as making phone calls, networking online, writing customized cover letters and conducting informational interviews.

Make yourself accountable to show up for yourself, just like you would be accountable to show up for your boss. And consider working with an accountability partner who checks in with you each day, so you can report whether you completed the responsibilities you committed to.

How else can you keep yourself engaged? By doing activities that are aligned with learning. Fill your time by furthering your education, obtaining certifications or enrolling in specialized training programs, all of which will make you more attractive to potential employers.

Take advantage of free online tools such as the 10-day online financial and career bootcamp programs from American Express and LearnVest.com, which cover a range of topics from setting career and financial goals to learning communication, networking and salary negotiation skills. Consider getting a part-time job or spend some time volunteering or interning.

Filling your time with activities that move you forward is not only important because it fills gaps on your resume, it also keeps your actions aligned with the energy of work and contribution. And the more time you spend projecting that energy, the more likely you are to attract energizing opportunities.

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Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, we offer edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work -- this isn't your parents' career-advice blog. Be Brazen.