Minnesota Headhunter

Positive News On Tech Spending

More evidence of a moderate increase in tech spending. While consulting firms have been hiring here for about 18 months rumor has it that benches are being built up. Lets hope they realize the business they are hiring for.

Impact Of Retiring Baby Boomers on IT Staffing

I have not heard much chatter in the Twin Cities market regarding the retiring of the Baby Boomers. Many companies on the coasts have been talking and planning for some time. When I am making calls over the next couple of weeks I will start asking if companies here are doing anything about it.

This is a great story on how a few companies are strategizing for this. Mentoring, department rotation, and the transfer of information from those retiring are ways many companies are preparing.

Memorial Day Weekend

I took off Thursday afternoon for a weekend with my family in Alexandria. Sounds like the weather in Mpls was better than it was there. 150 miles makes a difference. I came back into town on Saturday night so I would not have to sit in traffic today.

I am rethinking that choice. Might have been willing to sit in the car a while longer for the perfect day they had there.

I spent two days with my Mom and Dad, brother, and their new puppy Shelby. We were able to dodge the rain to get the tractor out and mow the yard, dug a new fire pit, did a lot of burning, and other outside work.

Was able to make it to my Uncle’s house and see my Grandma. Also got new line on the fishing pole and made a few casts.

They are still getting a crappie bite on the lake and the weed growth is about three weeks behind.

So that was my Memorial Day weekend. Looking forward to the next couple of weeks as we will be busy with some new job orders…

IT Workers Stressed, But Happy

A recent CIO.com article states that a recent survey shows my tech friends are in a better mood than a year ago. One-third of the responders said their companies were hiring. While that brings relief to the overworked and stressed it also may bring on the temptation to leave for greener pastures.

Job Search Tip

There are a lot of resources for cover letter writing and just as many opinions on what looks best, how they should be formatted, what should be stated. This site has good examples of cover letters to use. Use them as a guide and change to fit your situation.

8 Minnesota Tech Companies Make Fast Growing List

Congratulations to the 8 Minnesota companies that have been named to the Business 2.0 fastest 100 growing tech companies.

With its 8 companies, Minnesota is ranked 3^rd behind California with 32 and Massachusetts with 11.

Last year Minnesota only had 1 company in the list.

This years companies are:

Navarre Corp (12)

American Medical Systems Holding Inc (49)

Hutchinson Technology Inc (51)

Fair Isaac Corp (62)

Communications Systems Inc (64)

Medtronic Inc (67)

Techne Corp (87)

Possis Medical Ins (91) 

New day, different look

Thanks for the feedback on the color schemes. I expect that for the next few days I will continue to change things up but that by next week will settle in on one.

Job Search Tip

If you send e-mail late at night, check your e-mail in the morning to see if it bounced back. Companies do most of their maintenance in the early hours.

Outsourcing to Duluth?

Not all companies are outsourcing their projects to foreign shores; some are just finding smaller markets to have them done. About 18 months ago after the negative side of outsourcing was becoming apparent, time difference, language and security, some companies began looking for US firms in non-traditional locations to do the work.

Many of these firms are in smaller markets. Think Milwaukee, Omaha, Denver and yes, even Duluth.

Star Tribune has an article today, Duluth firm: Why not outsource onshore?. With consulting firms charging $200 an hour on the coasts and $100 an hour in middle America the $50 an hour rates charged by these firms, while slightly more than India and elsewhere, allows for greater security and takes care of the language and time zone barriers.

Ready, Aim, Fire!

Here is an article from CIO Magazine titled “Ready, Aim, Fire!” on what to do with the Prima Donna programmer. As interesting as the article was I recently checked back to the comments page.

Looks like most of the posted comments fall in one of three categories: it’s the job of the manager to lead the group to an objective; fire the person as a bad apple makes other bad apples; put the programmer in the corner and cut off all association.

As a recruiter I have a different take. What role did a recruiter, hiring manager, human resources professional play in the hiring of the candidate?

All too often I find IT hires the right skill set and over looks the role of professionalism, working in a group, and communication skills.

Gopher Football, More Pre-Season Honors

Sporting News has named the following Gophers to their pre-season All America 2^nd Team: Laurence Maroney, Running Back; Greg Eslinger, Center; Mark Setterstrom, Guard.

Laurence Maroney is listed as the 4^th best running back and Mark Spaeth as the 16^th best tight end.

Go Gophers!!!

Job Search Tip

When sending your resume to a company you need to know that many companies, and this Headhunter, use some sort of an Applicant Tracking System or ATS. An ATS will likely have a parsing engine that will scan your resume and input data in to the proper fields like name, address, employment history, skill set etc.

In order to ensure proper scanning and parsing of your resume refrain from using bold, italics, or underlining. While it may look good on “paper” parsing engines do not like these tools.

Send your resume as a Word or similar easily read text format. PDF’s are not read by the ATS’s.

TwinWest Names Mike Sowada Emerging Entrepreneur

Congratulations to Mike Sowada, CEO of Digital North. Mike was the recipient of this years TwinWest Chamber of Commerce “Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year” I have been fortunate to know Mike for going on four years now and he is very deserving of this award. Congratulations Mike!!!

Heisman Trophy Candidate and Top 25 Ranking

Laurence Maroney, junior tailback of the University of Minnesota Golden Gopher football team, is listed in the #3 slot of Heisman Trophy hopefuls. The team is rated #19 by the College Football News.

Minneapolis Rated Top Tech City

Popular Science has ranked Minneapolis the top tech city in the nation edging out Atlanta and Washington, D.C., Boston and San Diego. While getting a low rank for traffic congestion Minneapolis ranks high for light rail and testing hybrid buses. Minneapolis ranked #1 in Transportation, #4 Energy, #20 Jobs, #21 Education, #25 Medical, #42 Connected Citizenry.

MN Unemployment drops to 4%

Star Tribune article on the 4% unemployment rate in the State of Minnesota. Looks like a mixed bag. Good news is the rate is the lowest since spring of 2001 and the white-collared folks saw a good up tick. Bad news for those in manufacturing (courtesy of Ford) and that our state is behind the curve in creating jobs. My techie friends also saw a loss of jobs.

High Praise for MHTA and Kate Rubin

John Katsantonis is writing an article every Tuesday called “Raising Minnesota” for ePrairie. This week’s article focuses on the Minnesota High Tech Association and it’s President, Kate Rubin. MHTA has been very busy working on regional collaboration.