Jan 30, 2009 1
The one about being a Brazen Careerist [Gen Y]
Months ago I found a great blog network for young professionals — Brazen Careerist. I put off joining up until I sorted out my new blog here, but hurrah, I’ve finally signed up.
Brazen’s motto is “Define your career. Control your life” and it really epitomises a lot of the “Gen Y” trend about young people who use all the opportunities they’ve gotten to make their mark on the world .
My faves from the community are:
The “Gen Y” (or “iGen”, if you read The Worst West Australian and caught their stupid survey earlier this month) label is kinda controversial — discussions about stereotypes and West-centricity being key issues — and there might even be a suggestion that joining a blog network which will categorise you as being a “careerist” (and a “brazen” one at that) is a sure fire way to shoot yourself in the foot in front of employers and more-senior colleagues who’ll just look at you as another spoilt brat with a too-big a sense of entitlement and too-small a work ethic.
But let’s cut the stereotype stuff, ok?
As much as I hate to say this, I know stereotypes kinda come from somewhere. And maybe little bits of the stereotypes are true of some people, and when they get bunched together, you get the general idea of a group. But not everyone in the group is all of the stereotype. Ever. Unless they’re in a movie, or something.
I know a bunch of people who are intelligent, driven, energetic and want to be Prime Minister one day. However, I also know people who are incredibly happy to be stay at home mums or tradies. The fact I know more of the former rather than the latter sorts of people probably has a lot to do with where I grew up and what school I went to, not the year in which I was born.
This applies just as much to a group of people who are 20-25 as it does to people 40-45. I think generational stereotyping is just silly.
But the label seems to have stuck, and if people are insisting on calling a trowel a spade, sometimes all you can do is be Roman.
So, let’s put on our togas and say that there are other traits of Gen Yers that are a lot more positive — like being passionate, socially & political engaged, educated and sensible, and having a strong desire to contribute back to society — and I think it’s really cool to be able to be part of a community that showcases these positive aspects and encourages others to take us seriously.
Brazen explains this philosophy really well:
The media often paints Generation Y in a negative light – citing high job turnover and impatience with paying dues as negative Gen Y traits. But we know better. We know that Generation Y does not want to job-hop every two years; we know that Generation Y will be the most productive generation in the history of the workforce, and we know that the single best way to connect with Generation Y is to meet them on their turf – online.
I reckon that by calling oneself a “brazen careerist” we’re actually taking the label into our own hands and moulding it into what we want it to be, rather than continuing to let others (particularly market researchers, who, honestly, have barely got a clue) control how everyone else sees us.
I’m really looking forward to contributing to the Brazen Careerist community and interacting with the great bunch of people who are part of it.
