I counsel a lot of people who are interested in leaving fairly staid corporate jobs for greener pastures—namely start-ups or small agencies. They fantasize that these new environments will provide all kinds of fresh thinking and ways of doing business and that they themselves will be respected and appreciated as elder statesmen with the gravitas and savoir-faire that are just the thing that was missing.

I’ve been interviewing college grads in their 20’s for my upcoming book and career curriculum In the Driver’s Seat: Work-Life Navigation Skills for Young Adults. And one of the things I’m finding is that not everyone who’s “successful” at 28 attended a top college. This is not surprising but definitely merits conversation.

I am a tail-end Baby Boomer, but think more like a Gen X’er. But I’m still a far cry from Gen Y, a generation I’ve grown to enjoy and admire immensely. Gen Y has a suppleness of thinking combined with an inherent need to share—everything is documented and discussed. Which means we can all benefit from Gen Y wisdom, if we so choose, by simply going on Facebook, Brazen, or Twitter.

I read a good post yesterday called “The Shocking Reason Social Networking Isn’t Getting You a Job”. The post brings up a great point: many people out there networking will disappoint you at best and burn you, at worst. There are many ways to protect yourself from rude people, both on and off the internet. But my question to you today is: Are you one of them?