Penelope Trunk The Brazen Careerist

This is my last column for Yahoo! Finance. I'll still write career advice on my Brazen Careerist blog, and I hope you'll follow me there. But today I wanted to say thank you to everyone who's been reading this column, and to Yahoo! for allowing me to write here.

I've learned a lot over the course of the year here, but the three biggest things are:

1. The Internet is about sharing.

When I took a job with Yahoo!, I had no idea that one of my favorite parts of writing would be linking -- which is, essentially, sharing traffic.

Web 2.0 is one big conversation, fueled by a lot of niche conversations. I realized that by linking to other blogs and sites from Yahoo!, I could connect communities, introduce people who would like each other, and give a little limelight to writers with fresh ideas.

Everyone's doing this in some way on the Internet -- through email or Twitter or video blogs. Yahoo! is sharing on a grand scale, and that's fun, but it's also a weekly reminder to me that sharing on any scale is meaningful.

So I've thought all week about my two last links from this column, and decided to share these two people with you: Brandon at Newly Corporate and Kate at Get Fresh Minds. Both offer good career advice, so maybe you can read them on Thursdays when I'm no longer on Yahoo! Finance.

2. The best interviews feel like a conversation.

Before I started writing for Yahoo!, I hadn't done a lot of radio and television. At this point, I can say I've done a bunch of both. The publicity team for Yahoo! Finance is smart and fun, and they took a lot of time to show me the ropes in the world of offline media.

The most important lesson they taught me is to create a conversation. In order to do this, I have to know my material well enough to not need a script. That way, I can listen to what an interviewer says and respond in a real way, not just with a canned speech.

It's a great lesson, because it's actually what we need to do in real life. I was always someone who thought about what I was going to say in response to someone before they were even done talking, but I discovered that the less I do that the more genuine my conversations are.

3. A blog creates career stability.

I've been a columnist for a long time, and like most columnists I've had my column cancelled before. The first time it happened I was in shock. My whole readership and my only public forum were tied to the magazine that cancelled me.

Today, that's not true. I've been blogging for almost two years, and while each week there are about 400 commenters on Yahoo! who say how stupid I am, there are also a bunch of people who make their way to my blog and become regular participants in the conversation there.

The blog is my own, and so is the community -- which is now about 150,000 people strong. The blog stays with me wherever I go, and that's important in a job market where people switch jobs every two or three years. A blog creates a network, and the network is yours. The conversation you create about your professional life is one that continues no matter what happens with your employer.

The workforce is extremely unstable today. There are layoffs, downsizings, de-equitizations, and bankruptcies. No one is guaranteed to have a job a month from now. Generations X and Y watched their parents' lives come undone when they depended on the workplace to provide stability in their lives. Today, people do that less and less.

We create our own stability in our lives by taking responsibility for ourselves. A blog is a great way to do this -- it's a professional platform that you have total control over, and you can use it to provide a home base when your work life feels like a game of dodge ball.

So even though I'm saying goodbye to Yahoo!, I hope a lot of you will continue to read my blog. It's a great community where the discussion about the intersection of work and life continues to be thoughtful and lively. You can subscribe to the Brazen Careerist by emailing me with "subscribe" in the subject line, or you can get the blog feed here.