By Chris Lee

Zuckerberg, Lane-Fox, Stone, Brin and Page: all names which conjure up visions of youthful Internet entrepreneurship. One young innovator that we may well hear more about in the years to come is Lucian Tarnowski, founder of BraveNewTalent, a website which connects people to employers via a social network. At the age of 26, Tarnowski is the youngest of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders in Europe.

The honour, bestowed each year by the Forum, recognises and acknowledges up to 200 outstanding young leaders from around the world for their professional accomplishments, commitment to society and potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world.

NMK caught up with Lucian to learn more about his site and his vision for the future of recruitment.

Tell us about BraveNewTalent.com – how does it work?

BraveNewTalent.com is an online service that connects potential recruits - or ‘talent’ - with employers via a social network in a simple and safe way. The site allows employers to attract a community of talented young people; they can then use these communities to engage with, recruit and train the right people.

How this works is simple. Talent sign up, create a professional profile (similar to a LinkedIn profile) and begin following employers that interest them. They can then see all the important information on that employer – their Twitter feeds, YouTube videos, news stories, jobs, blogs etc. We are like Google for jobseekers. We try to bring together all the relevant information to equip the jobseeker with the best information possible.

Employers can use the site to bring together their social media presence – their ‘digital footprint’. We aggregate all their online activities into one place and attach a community. This way the employer is able to see and engage with people that want to work for them before they apply. This provides a far more cost effective way to build an employer brand as well as engage and recruit the next generation of talent.

BraveNewTalent is completely different to other recruitment media providers – we don’t sell banners, buttons or job postings. We sell engagement with a community of brand advocates. We charge companies for social media campaigns where we drive targeted candidates into their communities on BraveNewTalent.

What was the inspiration behind the site?

Most people are in agreement that the current recruitment model is somewhat archaic and does not use social media tools to their full advantage. Currently it is a challenging and painful experience for both the jobseeker and the employer. Indeed, there is a disconnection between the two. However, at its most basic level, recruitment is about relationships. Likewise, social media is about engagement and relationships. It is clear to me that social media will change the way employers recruit candidates.

The inspiration here was to try to make a really disruptive business in a global market that is crying out for ideas. As well as this, I could see the growth and impact social media was having on consumer branding. I knew the same would happen to employer branding. I wanted BraveNewTalent to try to be both the platform and the brand behind this change.

You’ve always been an entrepreneur, what attracts you about social media?

I am a big believer that entrepreneurs should leverage their strengths. What makes my generation, Gen Y, different and really unique is our understanding of technology, social media and the Internet. I realised that never before in history had the youngest generation entering the workforce understand something that is business critical better than the people at the top of the company. This means they have a real advantage.

My parents’ generation was not an authority on anything really important when they entered the workplace. My peers are an authority on something that is fundamentally changing the way we live, work, communicate and find employers – social media.

Does your age help or hinder you when it comes to business?

Yes and no. Generally speaking I think my age works for me. It helps you get noticed when you are young. It also helps that I am talking about the best ways to engage with young people to find and recruit talent. I am at a good starting point seeing as I am also young and work hard to understand the way my generation and peers use the Internet.

What are the next steps for BraveNewTalent.com?

We have just closed an investment round and now have a world class board. Right now we are hiring a larger sales and marketing team and looking to grow the business as fast as possible. We are also looking to enter the US, Indian and Australian markets.

Our big goal is to be the best at connecting talented young people to their employers of choice. Put simply our aim is to be the world’s best social recruiting platform where any global employer and see and engage with a community of talent before receiving job applications.

What is your advice to would-be social media entrepreneurs, regardless of age?

Get out there and do it! If you don’t want to make the jump yet take an internship with an entrepreneurial company to see what it is like.

Entrepreneurship is great fun but not for the faint-hearted. The best place to start is the really strong community of Web, tech and social media entrepreneurs that is growing in the UK and around the world.