jump over to the Brazen Life blog
Where ambitious young professionals connect and grow

Welcome to Brazen Careerist!

Brazen Careerist is a career management tool for next-generation professionals. To become a member and start networking with professionals just like you, fill out the information to the right. Or create a free account today. Learn more.



  
 
TOP IDEA: Andrea V. Lewis Instead of focusing on what I had done professionally in the past, I focused on what I wanted to do in the future.

99 weeks ago

Andrea V. Lewis: Thanks Ryan. I owe this idea to Brazen Careerist for showing me the light, so to speak! =]
99 weeks ago
Ryan Healy: Glad to hear we could help show you the light, Andrea!
99 weeks ago
Ty Unglebower: I wish hiring managers had the same attitude. =)
99 weeks ago
Anita Mathis: I love the future.
99 weeks ago
: What about the present? That's pretty good as well!
99 weeks ago
JRandom42: You can focus on the future all you want, but if you don't have a track record of delivering results on what you did before, there aren't too many ...MoreYou can focus on the future all you want, but if you don't have a track record of delivering results on what you did before, there aren't too many managers who are going to care about what you want to do in the future.
99 weeks ago
Anita Mathis: JRandom42, I see where you're coming from. Having a clear vision with the ability to communicate it becomes important here. But, some folks plan ...MoreJRandom42, I see where you're coming from. Having a clear vision with the ability to communicate it becomes important here. But, some folks plan on doing the same type of work throughout their working life anyway so to them it doesn't matter. I like flexibility and the ability to broaden and build on what I'm doing. I don't do dead end...at least not for long.
99 weeks ago
Andrea V. Lewis: @JRandom42 - I think your past will get your foot in the door, but your ideas will make you soar.

I'm transitioning from traditional (digital) ...More@JRandom42 - I think your past will get your foot in the door, but your ideas will make you soar.

I'm transitioning from traditional (digital) media planning/buying/trafficking at full-service advertising agencies into social media. Even though, my focus is on this new medium, I'm leveraging my expertise from the past.

99 weeks ago
JRandom42: Again, flexibility, broadening your outlook and brilliant ideas aren't going to make a difference, if you haven't been able to implement them to ...MoreAgain, flexibility, broadening your outlook and brilliant ideas aren't going to make a difference, if you haven't been able to implement them to the benefit of the business. You gotta have some kind of record of accomplishment, of being able to execute the strategy you envision, and use that to bring benefits to the business, or you don't stand a chance when you focus on the future.

Visionaries always need to see their ideas come to fruition in order to be taken seriously. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are visionaries who are taken seriously, because their companies can deliver on tangible articulations of their future visions. If you can't deliver, you'll just be written off as an impractical dreamer and dismissed as all fluff and no follow through.
99 weeks ago
Anita Mathis: Get the results along the way. It took Gates and Jobs time to get going; they didn't start out like that. They had no track record when they started.
99 weeks ago
Andrea V. Lewis: @JRandom42 Great points. Do you have a blog? I'd love to hear more of your ideas and concepts! I went to your profile, but didn't see any ...More@JRandom42 Great points. Do you have a blog? I'd love to hear more of your ideas and concepts! I went to your profile, but didn't see any additional information (i.e. resume, social sites, blog). You should definitely start one if you don't. =)
99 weeks ago
JRandom42: Anita, but they did deliver, even in the beginning, they set a standard of delivering tangible results. Bill and Paul did Basic developement, to ...MoreAnita, but they did deliver, even in the beginning, they set a standard of delivering tangible results. Bill and Paul did Basic developement, to the point where they were approached by IBM for their Basic implementation on the new Personal Computer. Jobs and Wozniak also had delivered on previous projects before staking their reputation and money on building Apple.
99 weeks ago
JRandom42: Andrea, no I don't. Normally I don't do social media more than offering my comments on posts I find interesting or need a different perspective. ...MoreAndrea, no I don't. Normally I don't do social media more than offering my comments on posts I find interesting or need a different perspective. I've seen far too many websites and blogs that started off with all the fire and passion in the world, and watch them peter out and die a lonely death, that I wouldn't want to subject anyone to that. All I'm offering is the perspective of an old broken down infantryman and engineer who has been through the wars and collected the campaign ribbons and scars along the way.
99 weeks ago
Andrea V. Lewis: We can all learn from experience such as yours and fresh perspectives. =)
99 weeks ago
Ty Unglebower: It's nothing personal, but I think Random is being too cynical in more than one way.

The fact of the matter is, anything great at all started off ...MoreIt's nothing personal, but I think Random is being too cynical in more than one way.

The fact of the matter is, anything great at all started off without any previous results. I am not a biographer of Bill gates, nor am I an encyclopedia of business, but it is very clear that a visionary MUST look more toward the future, because they want to break away from the established. They seek to change the status quo in some regard, either in their life, their world, or both. In so doing, you have to turn your back on the passed somewhat.

It may not be the only way of doing it. That is certain. But a great deal has been accomplished this way. Not everybody is going to have the luxury of knowing from the minute they start school what they want to do with the rest of their life. Because this is so, people are going to be changing their goals and careers. When that happens, it requires people to start from scratch, with only the present, and the future to look to, because their past doesn't have as much to offer toward a paradigm shift.

You can't let the fact that you have no track record at any given period of time hold you back, even from starting a new job or career. If every dreamer and visionary threw up their hands, as Random suggests, because they just didn't have the track record to back up everything they wanted right away, they never would have become visionaries.

I would also add that it is quite easy to give up on the blogosphere because a few samplings of blogs "peter out", and keep one's self in the business of dropping comments here and there on other's people's work. It's everyone's right to do so, of course, but unless someone is out there, looking for material, writing, editing, publishing, sharing links, and doing the sometimes tedious work of truly good blogging, I just don't think they have enough room cast a judgment over most social media users. "Far too many" as compared to what? I've been on Twitter for 20 days, and have already found dozens of dedicated bloggers who are better than I am at certain facets of it. Perhaps he is just not looking in the right media outlets.

Obviously, there are different views on that, but I thought it only fair to point out that being a spectator and back seat driver is not exactly anymore productive than being a forward thinking dreamer. I personally would take the latter, given the chance.
99 weeks ago
JRandom42: The reason I sound so cynical is that I've seen far too many impractical and idle dreamers who come up with utopian ideas and have absolutely no ...MoreThe reason I sound so cynical is that I've seen far too many impractical and idle dreamers who come up with utopian ideas and have absolutely no follow through in bringing them to fruition. As for track record, I'm not talking in the future field you want to enter, but as an overall whole. Did you stick with the paper route through rain, snow and aggressive dogs? Were you able to complete your degree? What projecte did you envision, construct, complete and what were the benefits thet flowed from it?

Bill Gates and Paul Allen started with a program that tabulated and stored grades for his school. He worked at it, refined it, troubleshot it and updated it. It was a finished product that made the work of the teachers at his school easier.In other words, he envisioned something, and brought it to fruition and made a positive impact.

So when someone comes to me with an idea, I ask several questions:
What problem are you solving? How much distruption is it going to create? What's it going to take in time and resources? Give me a timeline on which parts get done when. How are you addressing unexpected occurandes? How long are you going to be involved with this project? If they can't answer those questions, I send them back to rethink their great idea.

I've beem around the Internet since the mid-70s, and one of the things I've observed, is that there's a great die-off after the initial surge of enthusiam and passion passes, and people are increasingly absorbed by other areas of their lives. We're starting to see the beginnings in social media as memberships in things like Facebook and Twitter are starting to level off.

You can deride looking back as much as you want, but time and again, history has often gotten its revenge. Just look at the financial crisis.
99 weeks ago
Ty Unglebower: I don't recall saying people shouldn't work for things. I do however challenge you insistence that a forward looking future approach, as discussed ...MoreI don't recall saying people shouldn't work for things. I do however challenge you insistence that a forward looking future approach, as discussed here, is intrinsically foolish.

"Just look at the financial crisis" is hardly a developed argument for anything. Such a complex issue in no way points to any one side of this issue or the other. I could easily say, "Look at Abe Lincoln" in support of my view on things, but it isn't helpful, because it's a selective application of history.

And the subjectivity is the gist of all of this. The meta-point here is that you have not presented any kind of cogent argument to support the universality of your cynical position. I won't hold the cynicism itself against you, but you are using it as a blanket dismissal of an entire approach to success. (It smacks of the "Appeal to Authority" fallacy wherein you are the authority because you have "seen things."

Things have certainly unfolded in the way you describe, but they have unfolded in enough alternative ways, (such as future oriented approaches) to suggest that your personal eyewitness accounts do not equate with an undeniable trend throughout internet or business history.
99 weeks ago
Anita Mathis: In essence, everyone is self-employed. Some receive payment for their services long term from the same client, their employer. Others are business ...MoreIn essence, everyone is self-employed. Some receive payment for their services long term from the same client, their employer. Others are business owner. That being said, our careers and business lives benefit from a forward thinking strategy....Here's a perspective I find helpful:http://www.e-myth.com/cs/user/print/post/exit-your-company-the-right-way
99 weeks ago
Christopher How: Some of my friends have not really thought of what they want to do in the future. Hence they job-hop just for the sake of monetary increments.
99 weeks ago
paulmacp: I have been out of school now for more than Twenty years ago. I have a personal rule when it comes to career development and income security (no ...MoreI have been out of school now for more than Twenty years ago. I have a personal rule when it comes to career development and income security (no one I think has job security anymore, it is more of a question of how fast or easily you can change income streams and sustain an acceptable income level).

I call it the three legged stool approach:

- one leg in the past (a legacy skill), a skill set that is not current demand or fashion, but with a fair bit of experience associated with it.
- one leg that is current, and makes up the bulk of your current experience or revenue.
- one leg in the future, a skill that you are developing with not much relevant work experience to date, but represents a skill you could exploit in the future.

If you don’t have at least three legs on your stool it is difficult to keep your life sitting upright.

When I was first out of school, all those years ago, my legacy skill was bartending… if push came to shove I could always supplement my day job with that, my current skill was Apple Macintosh support (in 1990 that was a good skill to have), and my upcoming skill was Oracle Databases.

Twenty years later, my legacy skill is Oracle, my current skill is the architecture and implementation of web technologies on a Linux environment and my up and coming skill is marketing (personal branding) within a social media context.

So I guess what I am really saying, really advocating is a healthy balance of past/present and future. No skill set lasts forever, or should I say may have a sustainable income forever.


99 weeks ago
Mike Dammann: add me on skype andrea iamfiretown
98 weeks ago
Andrea V. Lewis: I have a skype account, but I don't have a webcam. =( I'll add you though!
98 weeks ago
Mike Dammann: yeah we can always type on it :)
98 weeks ago
Mike Dammann: funny how people always say that they don't have a camera. Normally I say "I'm not fluent in sign language anyways"
98 weeks ago

Network Roulette

Schedule an Event
Executive Social Media Bootcamp
RSVP
February 20th at 9:00 AM EST
Virtual Military Job Fair Feb. 29
RSVP
February 29th at 12:00 PM EST
The Big Idea: Discover Your Passion and Make it Your Business
RSVP
March 5th at 9:00 AM EST
Networking for Entrepreneurs and Start-ups
March 8th at 4:00 PM EST
Networking for Entrepreneurs and Start-ups
RSVP
March 30th at 4:00 PM EST
View all 10 events…
logo.gif
index.JPG
goalie.gif
 

Join Brazen Careerist Today

or

By clicking "Sign Up", you are indicating that you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy
 

Ask A Citi Recruiter Zone

Ask a corporate recruiter your job hunting questions. Go Now >>
Q: I'm trying to change careers by leveraging my skills ... (More...)
A: Hi Dean: Tramyra just posted a similar question, and you ... (More...)

Jobs

  • Page 1 of 3
Commercial Banking Relationship Manager NYC
New York - Citi
IT Business Analyst
Melville - Citi
OneMain Financial (FSN) Consumer Finance Sales Representative
Saratoga Springs - Citi
FILE CLERK - 306834900
Holtsville - IRS
Merchandise Planner - 162895
New York - Amazon

Employer? Post a job