Let me ask you a question.  Does the fact that Tiger was aiming for holes that weren’t on the course make him a less-proficient golfer?  If I’m hiring him to speak on marriage, maybe I pause.  If I’m hiring him to play golf (what he does), then that’s not a problem.

In today’s workplace, would you rather be an interchangeable cog, whose only real differentiation from someone else is how much you charge per year?  Or would you rather be the piece so unique and intricate that your misshapen ass barely fits into the machine?

Jessica will be the first to point out that you can be passionate and professional and unique while using social media.  Common sense dictates that unless you’re applying for a job as a dancer, stripper, or porn star, you don’t publish naked pictures online… and let’s assume for the most part that aside from the occasional stupid mistake, most people are “within reason”.

If you’re muting your personality to the point where 70% of your interactions are “strictly business related”, you’re not being the real you, now are you?

What happens if you only present 30% of yourself when you’re 100% douchebag? (bad for the company)  Or 100% pure awesome? (bad for your job search)

Either way you are a liar, you’re ruining the economy and you’re an idiot.  And you’re going to keep being a liar until you’re 100% you – the only you there is.

Tiger is a good example of personal branding gone wrong.  He does what he loves, no qualms about it.  Occasionally, he f*cks up.  Personal Branding made it worse – he couldn’t be professional “Tiger” and honest, truthful “Tiger” at the same time.  He’s still Gandhi on the golf course.  Some day, he’ll remember who he is and that you can’t be sane and two people at once.

Your professional self is your personal self, one in the same, one person, growing over time.

What kind of company would want to hire someone they knew only 30% about?  What kind of company would penalize you for having a complete, unabashed social media presence if you were a wizard at your profession?  Why do we reward people who want to work for a company that only wants 30% of us?

I’ve long said that collaboration will be the new competition once the Millennials take over.  There’s no better example of that than Brazen Careerist.  A blog aggregator and so much more – Brazen has grown to include more than 1,000 blogs from Gen-Y troublemakers all around the world – this blog included.  They’ve been featured on TechCrunch and many other blogs – anyone who is part of the Brazen community knows that their success is also our success.

Nowhere can you find a more diverse set of voices, each one trying to find their way in this crazy-ass world we’ve inherited.

I am very proud to be a part of that community – and encourage you to support them as they launch their new site by paying them a visit.

Thank you,

-Nick Armstrong

“Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of your enemies.” – Quark, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

I’m about the most rabid advocate for the millennial generation you will ever meet.  Usually this takes the form of me berating the “corporate bastards” on Twitter and writing angry blogs in response to ageist blog posts and magazine articles.  They, in turn, largely ignore these as they sit on gold thrones and count their rapidly shrinking piles of money.

What I’ve noticed is that for as rabidly and vehemently anti-young person these business “professionals” are, they quickly change their tone when you confront them in person with stats and figures.  In fact – most of this age-based tension is based on surface-level stereotypes ALONE.  It just doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.

Here’s my solution: practice tolerance and declare peace.  When an older generation does something you think is cool – promote the hell out of it.  When they screw up, be patient and explain why they offended you.  It’s very easy (and really fun) to write a snarky comment or e-mail in anger, but it’s just going to deepen the chasm between the generations.  Your call.

A BarCamp is based around the idea that the coffee breaks are much more valuable than the actual sessions… and so the “sessions” consist of self-organized coffee breaks to talk about specific subjects.  There are no highly-paid presenters, there are no hoity-toity sales pitches, and there isn’t a lot of free, but useless, swag.

I’m convinced that the idea of attending people-created BarCamps, TweetUps, going to MeetUp.com and finding local business events, and attending unemployed-centric events is the most effective way to network.  Not only do you get to showcase your skills or share ideas with a highly-energetic and tuned-in audience, but you get to rub elbows with people you never even knew existed!

How do you succeed at a BarCamp?  Well – you take business cards… or set up a free Contxts account so you can share them via SMS text message.  Then, you think about things you are knowledgeable about as they relate to the theme of the conference.  At a WineCamp and know something about vintage port?  Write your idea up on the whiteboard and if people like it, they’ll attend.  Having a creative or funny name for your “discussion” is a big help!

Attend other people’s discussions – listen and pitch in! Ask questions, participate!  Don’t go into a BarCamp with the expectation that it’s all about you – it’s about you SHARING your knowledge with other people. It’s true that what you put in will dictate what you get out of it – the more you share, the more people are going to want to talk to you (as long as you’re not a raving idiot).

Most of all, network! Introduce yourself to anyone and everyone who looks or sounds interesting – write down memorable questions and ask if you can e-mail people later.

You never know, you might just be hobnobbing your way to your next job!

Today’s job market blows balls. Only 20% of 2009’s grads applying for jobs are getting them, and a quarter of new hires have an “in”.  It pays to know someone who can open doors for you.

Millennials cringe when approached with the idea of finding a mentor.  In general, we equate mentors with “life coaches” – snake-oil selling hacks who like to show off just how stupid they are by imparting “wisdom” to others.  Or maybe even to good old mom and dad who always seemed to have a never-ending supply of “things we should do” to be better.

No thanks.

Mentors – real mentors – aren’t like that.  They can be your saving grace – if you find a good one.  A good mentor:

• Is willing to share their time with you on a regular basis (or as often as possible)
• Does not try to sell you anything or try to use you as an unpaid intern
• Solicits your opinion and actually listens when you voice one
• Asks questions that make you think about things you care about
• Will introduce you to their contacts if the link will be beneficial
• Has just as much respect for your time as you do for theirs

Assuming you have some idea of what you’d like to do with your life, you probably know who the “head hanchos” are in that field.  If you don’t know, do a little research with a Google Search or Twitter.  In fact – you should identify *anyone* you find interesting in your field.  Having friends who do the same thing you want to do always helps!

If you find someone local, ask them to meet you for coffee or for lunch.  Otherwise, a quick note to ask if you can pick their brain for 15 minutes on the phone will do.  Come prepared to these meetings with 1) your resume and business card, 2) a list of questions – not stuff you can find online or by digging for 5 minutes, but real in-depth questions that demonstrate your knowledge of the field you want to go into, and 3) a good sense of humor and willingness to learn.  When your 15 minutes is up, thank your new mentor and ask for another meeting at a specific date in the future, or at least to stay in contact.

A quick word of warning – you have to work to avoid hucksters on Twitter, so look for people who have @ replies in their stream rather than just endless posts of links, people who aren’t trying to sell you something, and people who answer you when you ask questions (really difficult if your heroes are as popular as Leo Laporte).  Also, avoid wasting people’s time.  Show up on time to meetings, don’t ask stupid (easy to look-up questions) and be willing to learn!

To be honest, I forgot what I had intended the second skill to be. It doesn’t really matter. With only 20% of 2009 college grads who’ve looked for jobs actually getting a job, I say screw it.

Screw that system. It doesn’t work. Why play that game?

Become an entrepreneur – team up with a group of people who know how to build a business plan. Start up an LLC. It only costs $50. Maybe get certified. Make a kick-ass website. Learn a marketable skill (or improve the one you’re good at already) from someone who’s amazing.

One thing’s for certain – you can’t beat the hours. Besides, mom and dad can’t complain that you’re not doing anything with your life. You’re living the American Dream – with a more than decent shot at paying them back for that room in the basement they’re renting to you. If they get really fussy, go mow the lawn or do the dishes and get back to starting your own business.

Good luck!

The first is Networking.

Networking is the act of building up relationships with the people you know.  Not the bow-chica-bow-wow kind of relationships, the more meaningful “You can do something for my business, I want to pay you a huge sum of money now” kind of relationships.

According to a February 2009 survey of employers (PDF), over a quarter of new hires are accomplished via networking.  You do this by introducing yourself (and your marketable skills) to people you know, and in turn, they introduce you (and your marketable skills) to the people they know.

Except you can’t just go up to someone and say, “I’m a marketer, will you introduce me to Joe the Plumber who needs some marketing done?”  You have to build relationships.  You have to cultivate trust.  Not just that, but you also have to use the right tools.  Once you build relationships, cultivate trust, and use the right tools -- your network will do 99% of the work for you, promoting you by word of mouth.  Sometimes you still have to ask for the proper introductions, but in my experience, this only happens 1% of the time.

Using Twitter and LinkedIn are good ways to start -- making sure you have a full profile on each.  You also have to respect the cultures of those networking tools -- on LinkedIn, you can’t really connect with someone you don’t know, unless you arrange an introduction through someone you do know.  On Twitter, it’s a common practice to connect with someone you have no ties to.  But god help you if you DM the same thing to everyone or auto-follow like a jerk.

Most of all, networking is a two-way street.  You have to be willing to set up connections for your network as well.  Being selfish is a great way to diminish and destroy your network.  Network the right way -- network like a Digital Gunslinger.  Use honesty, transparency, authenticity, credibility, accountability, integrity, and humility to build your networks piecemeal -- one person at a time.  Be a digital gunslinger in person as well as online and you’ll bring in all sorts of cool opportunities!

In fact, by building my own network using the same principles, I was eventually able to talk at Ignite Fort Collins #1!  How cool is that?

Rather than give you a boring text article on how to overcome it, I’ll share with you a 5-minute education via Ignite Fort Collins and a very talented woman who knows -a-friggin’-lot- about public speaking.  Tanis Roeder, a member of the Sage Marketing Group, presents “Public Speaking or Death” from Ignite Fort Collins #1:

With jobs harder to come by than a nudity-free Sasha Cohen appearance, many people have started to ask themselves if they shouldn’t consider a different career.  Maybe even one they don’t have formal training in.

I don’t advocate looking for a job you’re over-experienced for, but there’s no problem aiming for a different career than the one you were formally educated in.  In fact, it’s only natural that over the span of your career, your job interests will shift.  Rob’s question is more focused on what happens when you are trained for construction management, but the only jobs you are able to find are related to your hobbies – things like motorcycle repair.

If you’re trying to go from Civil Engineer to Doctor, I can’t help you.  Otherwise, read on…

The first step is to make sure that the switch will be right for you.  Is the new career something you can commit to doing long-term?  Is it something you have done before or have at least some volunteer experience doing?  Is the learning curve easy enough for you to catch up before your money runs out?

If you answered no to any of those questions, don’t make the switch.  If you can answer yes to all of those questions, it demonstrates that you are passionate about your new career.  Having passion means you’ll be willing to put in the time and the effort to make up for the lack of formal education.  If you’re passionate, you’ll take on internships, do your homework, spend time learning something new every night, and devote yourself to your new career.  Heck, you might even pursue some technical training, if you have the money for it!

The hard truth is, unless you have prior experience or an “in” – someone who can vouch for you and give you a chance, you will likely have to work for free until you prove you have the chops.

The second step is to figure out how you can sell yourself to your employer.  Most employers will look at the education section closely.  Did you go to a reputable university? Do you list your GPA? What was your major? How quickly did you graduate?  Of course, this is under normal circumstances.  In today’s economy, every job opening is met with wheelbarrows full of resumes.  You have to be prepared to be actively and continuously screened out on the basis of your resume alone.  List your qualifications and expertise – making sure to list whatever skills you have which apply to your new career.

Write a specific resume – one that applies to this new career (where perhaps your old resume might not be so effective).

Write a killer cover letter.  People – and this is just one of those human things – love a loser.  Not like, terminal losers, but… the underdog.  The one who’s down and out but fighting to the last to come back.  So, your first choice of career didn’t work out – but it gave you a passion to pursue what really makes you happy.

Dedicate yourself to learning. Find and read as many books as you can. Make yourself an expert in theory, even if you don’t have the practice down yet.

The final step is to find an in.  Network like crazy, find out who the key players are in your new career – people who are local to you, people who you can meet up with for coffee and advice.  Make sure to respect their time and efforts if they agree to meet with you.  Try to make the meeting beneficial for them as well.  A network is a powerful, but sharp, tool.  With just enough direction and pressure, it can carve a path for you.  With too much or too little direction or too much or to little pressure, the blade becomes dull and you go nowhere.

Above all else – never give up.  If you are truly passionate about something, someone will eventually give you the opportunity to prove yourself.

I hate white lies.

Dishonesty – especially dishonesty in business – is usually bad form.

But there are times when lies of omission can be helpful.  A lie of omission is one in which you leave out an important fact or detail.

Lies of omission can be helpful in business – for example, when you are looking for another distributor or another business partner.  Lies of omission keep information from people who don’t need to have it at the moment.

A lie of omission can also save you from awkward conversations with your boss or co-worker.  If a co-worker asks how much money you make, for example.  Or if your boss asks an overly-personal question that you’d rather avoid.

It’s always best to be honest in your dealings – if your current business partner is not meeting your needs, they might be able to turn it around if you give them the chance.

But, when you sense that the negatives of sharing the information outweigh the positives of sharing it, you might be better off omitting the truth.