Minnesota Headhunter

Want To Blog For A Living, Check Out NPR

I think it is awesome that NPR is catching up to everyone else, NPR Is Hiring a Blogger. This might be a really cool gig to get.

   

My issue is waiting on the new budget year. Wait for the cash to be approved but play catch up to everyone else on the scene. How about opportunity cost, I wonder what that has been.

TCF Bank Stadium Ground Breaking

Beginning at 12:30 pm a handoff of a football will start at the Metrodome (the current home of Gopher football) and head down Washington Ave towards campus. The ball will take a left on Oak Street and end up at 4^th Street and the Gopher Lot.

   

This area will be the future home of TCF Bank Stadium, the new home of Gopher football.

   

From 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm a program consisting of speakers from the university, performances by the band, dance and cheer teams, and an appearance by Goldy Gopher will be part of the ceremonies. Personally, I just want to see the shovels hit the ground. That will be the highlight of the event.

   

As part of the football relay I get to participate representing the Minnesota Greek Alumni Partnership (MGAP).. I am in the area in front of Kolthoff Hall, which is adjacent to the mall.

   

This is going to be a fun day…

University of Minnesota Goal Line Club Luncheon

Jason and I attended the event this afternoon and had a good time as usual. We heard from Offensive Coordinator Mitch Browning, and players Matt Spaeth and Joe Ainslie.

   

Coach Browning gave some historical statistics around 1,000 yard rushers, multiple 1,000 yard rushers, and how no one in the country has done what the Minnesota Golden Gophers have done in the past three consecutive years with two 1,000 yard rushers.

   

Hopefully our success on the ground continues this week with the #6 ranked Michigan Wolverines. In their first four games they have yielded 70 some yards in total by the run. That averages to something like .8 yards per carry.

   

I am optimistic every year that the Gophers are going to the Rose Bowl and that each week we will win that game.

   

But I am not delusional. The other goal of the day besides attending the event was getting pictures with the Little Brown Jug. You know, just in case it is another 10+ years until we see it in person again.

   

Yes, we only show the maroon side of the jug. The other side is painted blue with their M in maize (is that really a color?) but who wearing the maroon wants to see the blue?

   

Many thanks to Doug and Teresa of the Goal Line Club for dealing with my email(s) this week inquiring about the appearance of the Little Brown Jug today. The next lunch event is Friday, November 3^rd, the day before the homecoming game against Indiana.

New Recruiting Gigs Added

The following new Recruiting Gigs have been added:

   

Technical Recruiter, Ambient Consulting

   

Technical Recruiter, LogiSolve

   

   

Click weekly newsletter to receive the Wednesday message of nonprofit needs, IT jobs I am recruiting for, recruiting gigs, and most popular blog posts of the week.

   

If you are using a RSS Feed click Recruiting Gigs.

Volunteer Opportunities And IT Jobs With NonProfits

The following new volunteer opportunities and technology jobs have been added on the Volunteer Page:

   

Business Analyst , Full Time Job

   

Senior Information Technology Application Specialist, Full Time Job

   

IT Application Release Specialist , FULL TIME JOB

   

Basic Skills Tutor and Computer Lab Attendant, Volunteer

   

Computer Lab Volunteer , Volunteer

   

E-Commerce Photographer, Volunteer

   

Computer Instructor, Volunteer

   

IT Coordinator , Full Time

   

Communications Assistant And Webmaster , Part Time Job

   

   

Click weekly newsletter to receive the Wednesday message of nonprofit needs, IT jobs I am recruiting for, recruiting gigs, and most popular blog posts of the week.

      

If you are using a RSS Feed click Volunteer.

August 2006 Federal Reserve Beige Book

This report was issued on September 6, 2006 and is part of the information that the Federal Reserve used to continue the paus ein raising interest rates.

   

National Report

While no districts saw negative economic growth five did see a slowdown and seven saw moderate growth. Basically, the country stabilized. That’s not a bad thing if you ask me.

   

As for the labor markets:

Labor markets around the nation have generally been steady since the last report.

And wages:

Overall increases in wage pressures were mentioned in the Philadelphia, Chicago, Minneapolis, Kansas City, and Dallas Districts.

Minneapolis Report

Not much “new” in this report as the economy continued its moderate growth.

   

As for jobs:

A survey of online recruiting sites showed that Minneapolis-St. Paul area job postings in July remained unchanged from June, but at relatively strong levels; postings for science and education were up, while those for health care were down.

And wages barely moved.

   

Last I month I mentioned (joked) how I was concerned with the increase in brass prices. Now there is even more to be worried about:

Price increases were noted for some building and energy products. Prices for asphalt, concrete, copper, steel mill, and plastic construction products posted notable increases.

First brass now copper, what’s a guy to do…

August '06 Minnesota Job Scene

The roller coaster that is the State of Minnesota job creation was down for August. We lost 2,500 jobs yet the unemployment rate went down. A likely sign that some have left the workforce pool.

   

While some jobs have been lost 71,653 jobs in the past year have been created, a 2.6% increase compared to the 1.3% national rate. On average the state creates between 30,000 and 45,000 jobs.

   

Unemployment rate:

August ’06, 3.7%

July ’06, 3.8%

June ’06, 3.6%

   

Jobs Created/Lost:

August ’06, -2,500

July ’06, +11,600

August ’06 National Job Scene

I am almost four weeks late with this post but hey, at least I got this in before the next months numbers.

    

The August employment numbers were released showing a slightly higher than expected increase of 128,000 jobs. The unemployment rate declined .1% to 4.7%. June and July numbers were revised a combined +18,000.

    

Winners:

Health care +35,000

Professional and business +26,000

Leisure and hospitality +16,000

Mining +5,000

   

Losers:

Retail -14,000

Manufacturing -11,000

   

Average hourly earnings were up .1% matching the estimate. Wages are up 3.9% over the previous 12 months.

    

National job gains:

December '05, 145,000

January '06, 154,000 (revised) 170,000 (first reported)

February '06, 200,000 (revised again) 225,000 (revised) 243,000 (first reported) 210,000 (consensus number)

March '06, 175,000 (revised again) 200,000 (revised) 211,000 (first reported) 190,000 (consensus number)

April '06, 126,000 (revised) 138,000 (first reported) 200,000 (consensus number)

May '06, 100,000 (revised again) 92,000 (revised) 75,000 (first reported) 175,000 (consensus number)

June '06, 134,000 (revised again) 124,000 (revised) 121,000 (first reported) 185,000 (consensus number)

July '06, 121,000 (revised again) 113,00 (first reported) 142,000 (consensus number)

August ’06, 128,000 (first reported) 125,000 (consensus number)

   

National unemployment rates:

December '05, 4.9%

January  '06, 4.7%

February '06, 4.8%

March '06, 4.7%

April '06, 4.7%

May '06, 4.6%

June '06, 4.6%

July '06, 4.8%

August ’06, 4.7%

San Francisco Trip Day 3, More Sight Seeing

We woke up and the sun was out:

   

   

   

   

   

I know that sounds a bit odd but we had not seen it since we landed there so this was a big deal.

   

Jason and I needed to be at the airport by 9:30 pm so we had a full day to do as we wished. We went to a local place for breakfast and then caught parts of a few NFL games. The time change (2 hours behind Minneapolis) had me a little off. When I went to turn on ESPN at 9 am to check out the pre-game news, games had just started and I had not thought about it.

   

We left Dan’s in the afternoon and took the Bay Bridge back in to San Francisco. Off in the distance we could see the fog line and it was right over the Golden Gate Bridge. The bad news was it was coming back in. In these pictures the white clouds are the fog and you can see that above the layer is a blue sky:

   

   

And this my first clear picture of San Francisco:

   

   

   

   

   

We took an exit and thought about getting tickets to the baseball game. The San Francisco Giants were playing the San Diego Padres but we decided against it. We did drive by AT&T Park and saw the statue of Willie Mays:

   

   

   

   

   

We than stayed in the area and I took a few photos of the Bay Bridge:

   

   

   

When we saw the sea lions on Friday Jason had called and left a message at home for the kids to hear the sounds. Unfortunately it got erased so we decided to head back over and take some more pictures. Maybe because it was later in the day or not after they had been feeding but they were much more active. So I have this one picture and also have two QuickTime movies that I have posted on You Tube. It was fun to watch them defend their space:

San Francisco Pier 39 Sea Lions, Part 1

San Francisco Pier 39 Sea Lions, Part 2

   

   

   

   

   

One last picture of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge. What’s that you say? Can’t see the bridge? Yeah, I know. Can you tell I was annoyed?

   

   

   

   

   

With the fog coming in fast we decided to head over to Coit Tower while we could still see some of the area. The drive there was spectacular:

   

   

   

   

   

And we had a good chuckle with seeing these signs:

   

   

   

   

   

The view from the tower was awesome:

   

   

   

   

   

We stayed up there for about 30 some minutes and literally watched the fog roll in. Here are a few pictures and you can see how fast this happened:

   

   

   

   

   

Same with these “movies” I put on You Tube:

Coit Tower Fog Part 1

Coit Tower Fog Part 2

Coit Tower Fog Part 3

Coit Tower Fog Part 4

   

Then there is this set of three pictures of an eagle that was at first sailing and soaring with the wind, never flapping its winds. It did get to the point where it was having a hard time staying in the air and it flew off. In the next couple of days I will post a link “here” to a story that will explain why I found this to be prophetic:

   

   

   

   

   

After the tower we went to McCormick and Kuleto’s for dinner. The food and service was great, just as I have experienced here in Minneapolis at McCormick and Schmick’s on the Nicollet Mall.

   

I know I had a lot to say about the fog in these three posts. The first day it was kind of “cool” to see and experience but after three days of fog, damp and cool temperatures I was getting a little (a lot) irritable. I found myself looking forward to getting back to a cooler but much sunnier Minneapolis

   

Would I make the same trip again knowing what I know now? Absolutely.

   

I look forward to getting out there again soon.

San Francisco Trip Day 2, Minnesota vs Cal

After sleeping in a little bit Jason, Dan and I headed out for brunch. I took this picture from Peidmont, as we were hopeful the fog was going to break and it did look a little brighter:

   

   

   

   

   

   

Besides, Dan told me not to worry. The weather is always better in Berkeley.

   

We then headed over to the Cal campus. Jason, Dan and I were pledge brothers of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity at the University of Minnesota. When Jason and I make these trips we try to pick a game where the school has a Deke chapter.

   

We found the Cal Deke’s. They have a great location on the opposite corner to the stadium so we pulled in and asked if we could park there. After explaining who we were their response was, “Absolutely, and the beer is inside.” Ahh, just like home.

   

There were not many guys around as it was still early so we took a quick tour of the chapter house:

   

   

   

   

   

   

Outside they had their drinking table ready for the pre-game festivities:

   

   

   

   

   

   

We then headed to a reception held by the University of Minnesota Alumni Association and Goal Line Club. I was not yet ready for the game but seeing the maroon and gold fans got me going:

   

   

   

   

   

   

Goldy helped:

   

   

   

   

   

   

The best motivator was this one. It is a picture of student’s window across from the reception:

   

   

   

   

   

   

After eating, meeting some friends, having a beer or two (I swear that’s all I had), and hearing from among others President Bruininks:

   

   

   

   

   

   

We headed back to the Deke house to meet the guys. Their “preparations” for the game were in full swing:

   

   

   

   

   

   

There was the friendly shake, offering of the beer (I said no, really I did), Deke talk, and then once the formalities were over with the friendly trash talk between the Golden Bears and Golden Gophers began. Cal was just coming off their loss to Tennessee the week before and the fall from the Top 10.

   

We took amore extensive tour of the chapter house and found that they have an amazing view and a really cool mural:

   

   

   

   

   

   

After meeting some of their alumni we decided to head to the stadium. Not a far walk by any means but, umm, it was steep:

   

   

   

   

   

   

I took some pre-game pictures:

   

   

   

   

   

   

Cal started with the ball and was held to a three and out. Minnesota started on their own 29 yard line and marched down the field, scoring in our end of the field:

   

   

   

   

   

   

But no, wait. They ruled Alex Daniels knee was down at the one-foot mark. I included that picture because on the TBS telecast they had a three second clip of the Minnesota fans cheering. It shows about 10 rows of happy maroon and gold clad people including in the second row of the picture Jason yelling and clapping and me taking that picture.

   

Minnesota does score on the next play so all went well:

   

   

   

   

   

   

Because Minnesota dominated Cal on that drive many of the Gopher fans started chanting, “You can’t stop us. You can’t stop us.” That seemed a little premature although it was nice to hear the optimism. The Cal student sections certainly looked a little concerned:

   

   

   

   

   

   

Cal went on to tie the game and then take a 14-7 lead. On the kickoff following the second Cal touchdown Dominic Jones returned it for a 99-yard touchdown. It happened quickly and with the camera in my pocket I missed it. Here’s a pic from the replay in the stadium:

   

   

   

   

   

   

After a few punts by each team Cal took a 21-14 lead and then a 28-14 lead. A late second quarter drive by the Gophers stalled and Jason Giannini kicks this field goal (off the upright but through) to make it 28-17 at the half:

   

   

   

   

   

   

And that’s as good as it would get. The scoreboard continued to move for Cal:

   

   

   

   

    

   

The fog started coming back fast and thick (compare these two picks with the one before the game started):

   

   

   

   

   

   

Final score Cal 42 and Minnesota 17.

   

We went back to Deke to catch the end of the Ohio State vs. Texas game and other scores from the day.

   

We had a good day except for the game and the weather. Jason had to remind that we were in the Bay Area, at Berkeley watching a game outdoors and that was good enough for him. Apparently his glass was half full and mine was half empty.

San Francisco Trip Day 1

It’s kind of weird to be writing this blog post(s) two weeks after getting home but stuff happens.

   

We started early the first morning by driving our friend Dan to work in San Francisco. Jason drove as he always does. He wishes I would be a little more obsessive compulsive like he is and I wish he would pull that rod out of his back side and relax a little bit.

    

But we are the best of friends although he learned a new reason to be annoyed with me. I am the navigator when he needs it. Usually he has it already figured out, where to go and what order but occasionally he needs some assistance. The thing is, I turn the map every time a turn is made. That way I can visualize where we are going.

   

Jason however does things by a compass and he wants the map held in place. He knows he needs to head, say, NE and that’s what he does. Mean while I am turning the map on him.

   

Each to his own.

   

We had a map and some sights marked to see and started driving. We also had the camera with. This being my first trip to the Bay Area I was in full tourist mode.

   

We went to Fisherman’s Wharf. It was a dreary morning. Damp, cold, and foggy but it would burn off by the afternoon right? Right… Not

   

After getting some breakfast at Johnny Rockets (I swear that was the best breakfast of my life. Maybe not eating much if at all the previous day played a part in it) We walked to Pier 39 and got the following pictures of Alcatraz and the Sea Lions:

   

   

   

   

   

   

Oh, and I should not forget about this street performer who paints himself a metallic silver. He does some routines to R&B music and then some “frozen” or statue like poses:

   

   

   

   

   

   

We checked out the shops and stopped in at Ghirardelli Square. We found Chocolate Heaven. As we stepped towards the entrance there was a certain spot when the aroma of the store took over. Oh my, there was a lot to choose from. I was able to resist the temptation, not sure why. Jason bought a square of raspberry chocolate fudge. Heaven indeed.

   

Took a quick stroll over to Pier 45 and saw two World War II era ships. The submarine U.S.S. Pampanito and the liberty ship SS Jeremiah O’Brien, the last ship floating from the D-Day invasion of Normandy:

   

   

   

   

   

 

One of my must sees was Lombard Street (also known as the Crooked Street). We first drove down it and then looped around a few blocks to get back to the top.

   

It was during this time that my senses were on over load. The views, ocean, and vertical features were amazing. Like I said, this was my first trip to San Francisco. Minneapolis and the Upper Midwest are fairly flat so this was all brand new to me. I was wondering how much speed could a person get on roller blades or what if a moving truck let loose:

 

   

   

   

   

   

Jason was wondering how often a brake job is needed or a parking brake would need adjustment. I was wondering about driving a stick. Or what if the streets were iced over. Always thinking like a Minnesotan.

   

So we parked and started walking. We found this driveway, which was common in the area. Nice pics of Jason thinking about it and then laughing out loud:

     

   

   

   

   

   

The view down from Lombard Street was very cool:

   

   

   

   

   

   

We then walked down and saw this plaque and tree that has been carved on a few hundred times:

   

   

   

   

   

   

The view from the bottom looking up was very cool too as I am a big fan of gardens:

   

   

   

   

   

   

We then headed to the Golden Gate Bridge, another must see on my list. Even with the foggy day it was very cool to see. We did start walking out on it but because of perspective we did not realize how far we had walked out (more like how far we had to walk back and in time to get back to the parking meter) and how much further we had to go:

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

From there along the 49 Mile Scenic Drive:

   

   

   

   

   

   

To Baker Beach where for the first time I touched the Pacific Ocean. I also like the warning sign (in 4 languages), the dude fishing, and my future home:

   

   

   

   

   

   

To Ocean Beach:

   

   

   

   

   

   

And the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park. This area reminded me a lot like our areas along the Mississippi River and Minnehaha Falls area. It was very quiet and peaceful. Although I am not sure how the others visiting the garden felt about Jason and I. We were walking around fast and talking kind of loud. Not exactly Zen like but hey, we had a schedule to keep:

   

   

   

   

   

   

While Jason was taking his time in the gift shop (his excuse was he is married with three kids to shop for, whatever) I sat down on this bench and this bird hopped up there with me. I sat and watched him for a while. It sat there looking up at me. I slowly walked from the bench and it hopped off still looking at me.

   

I took a picture of my new friend:

   

   

   

   

   

   

We started heading back to pick up Dan from work and stopped at Twin Peaks. We did not exactly find the street we were looking for (Jason said it was not his fault) but were high enough for a couple of pictures:

   

   

   

   

   

   

After getting Dan from work we headed back to his home and for me a much needed nap. We were able to do most of the sights we wanted to see in one day over six hours.

   

That night we headed back in to the city to meet some of Dan’s friends and a couple of drinks. Here is myself, Jason, and Dan:

   

   

   

   

   

   

And so ended the first day…

MN Headhunter Where Have You Been

Whoa, I had no idea I would be missed. I have had a lot of information to post the past two weeks but have not been able to get to it.

   

I was working a lot before the trip to the Bay Area for the Minnesota vs. Cal game. While there my grandma passed away so last week was spent making arrangements and spending time with my mom.

   

Now I am trying to catch up on work and will then get back to the blog so for those reading the RSS feed do not be surprised if one of the next three mornings you wake up a bunch of material from me.

   

More in the next days…

Good Morning San Francisco

That's what I get for forgetting to spell check before posting...

   

We had a good flight from Minneapolis last night and made our way to our friend's house. This being my first trip to the Bay Area it feels a little foreign to me but I look forward to getting out this morning and doing what a tourist does.

    

How does one dress for sightseeing? Staring with 50 degrees and fog knowing it will lift sooner or later. Bring a change of clothes with I guess.

   

I have a great quote from buddy Jason as we were driving in last night from the airport. Being new to town and driving by map we were following very close to the speed limit which at that time was 65.

   

People are whizzing by us (like as in a blur) and Jason says, “F*** that’s just crazy”.

   

For those looking for the employment statistics from the last week I will be behind on them until later tonight or tomorrow morning.

   

Go Gophers…

Minneapolis Venture Capital Firm Raises $375 Million

I cleaned out the change in my desk drawer and the ash tray and drink holders in my car, combined that with a cup of change and even though most of the quarters were gone (parking meters and the soda machine) I still crossed over the $100 amount.

   

The $375 million second round announcement by Thomas, McNerney & Partners is a whole lot of coins for investments in life sciences and med-tech companies. The firm has offices in Minneapolis, San Francisco and Stamford.

   

This is great news for the local market and follows last year’s announcement by Split Rock Partners of their $275 million fund.

Minnesota Cup Announces Finalists

Minnesota Cup has announced five finalists for this year: IDInsight, IntelAccount, Interrad Medical, Vast Enterprises, and Zero Turn Radius Push Mower. Information on the companies can be found here, Minnesota Cup Finalists.

   

Co-founded by entrepreneurs Scott Litman and Dan Mallin of SDWA Ventures, Minnesota Cup is an entreprenurial competition for residents of Minnesota. There is also student competition open to college students attending a Minnesota higher education institution.

Promising Days Ahead For Minnesota College Grads

The St. Cloud State University Career Services Center has issued a report MN College Job Outlook 2007 showing a good outlook on the local job and salary prospects for the Class of 2007.

   

The report is good news and I believe the market is definitely going in the right direction but I am a little cautious on the sample of companies. I would expect companies that were hiring at a job fair in 2006 and likely attending in 2007 to be hiring. So maybe the results are a little skewed but I think overall they are close to.

   

Besides the positive  job market outlook the results show that salaries may be increasing. The flip side is that the respondents suggested that grads may want to tone down their expectations.

   

Let me give the message they want to say, Do Not Be Greedy!!!

To My Republican And Democrat Friends

Oh boy, the State Fair is over and the politicians are done shaking hands and kissing babies. Now they are hitting the airwaves. My political friends are trying to get in my ear. Say something nice about this person, topic, or party.

   

BUZZ OFF

   

Instead you get this, as forwarded to me by my cousin Jennifer…

A woman in a hot air balloon realizes she is lost.  She lowers her altitude and spots a man fishing from a boat below.
   
She shouts to him, "Excuse me, can you help me?  I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."
   
The man consults his portable GPS and replies, "You're in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above a ground elevation of 2346 feet above sea level.  You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude.
   
She rolls her eyes and says, "You must be a Republican!"
   
"I am," replies the man. "How did you know?"
   
"Well," answers the balloonist, ".everything you tell me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to do with your information, and I'm still lost.  Frankly, you're not much help to me."
   
The man smiles and responds, "You must be a Democrat."
   
"I am," replies the balloonist. "How did you know?"
   
"Well," says the man, "You don't know where you are or where you're going.  You've risen to where you are, due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise that you have no idea how to keep, and now you expect me to solve your problem.  You're in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but, somehow, now it's my fault."

What Is My, Your, Any Blog Worth

The debate continues on BlogHerald.com with How does one value a blog? (Hint: It’s really about Revenue), Bloggasm with How much money is your blog really worth? A Bloggasm case study, and problogger with How much money is a blog Worth?.

   

I understand that my situation is different on why I write this and what it is used for. Blog worth and metrics are important to many because they blog for a living, are trying to create a site they can sell, or in some cases it is about ego and who has the most visitors.

   

Yeah I guess it is also about how much one can charge for ads on their space.

   

My criteria for this particular blog is a little different. I judge by the amount of visitors within a certain amount of miles of Minneapolis, the number of employment inquiries, requests of information, etc. I get 10 email messages for every comment that is left so comments, as used by some on how much community is built, are not a good measuring stick either. Things that show people are reacting to the information they see are my measuring tools.

   

Maybe that’s too simple and maybe I am wrong but as long as this kind of growth continues I am happy with my progress. Having all of the traffic (17,000+ visitors) from the Northwest Airlines story was great but I was more curious how many were from this area and how many come back again. So far so good.

   

Using the Bloggasm formula my blog worth is $3,775. They are using the number of blogs linking to me times a valuation of $51.70 per link as I qualify as a location oriented blog.

   

Sootle Web Directory says $8,007.

   

Business Opportunities says $41,211.

   

These sites are using links from other blogs as a basis for their estimation. My question is this, the only value a blog has is by how many blogs link to it? So in the next weeks as my link appears on various State of Minnesota career sites, various college and university sites, local career sites, and technology user groups the value will not increase? No value in those links, huh.

   

That’s absurd.

   

I like what problogger had to say:

Ultimately a blog is worth what a buyer is willing to pay for it - a figure that is based upon many things including it’s income (current and projected), it’s influence, it’s dependancy upon the blogger (and whether they’ll continue once it’s sold), it’s incoming links and SE ranking, it’s longevity, type of readership (ie search engine, loyal readers, RSS) the blog’s growth curve, domain name value, traffic, the topic etc.

Maybe some of these bloggers should create sites that are of interest to people other than their fellow bloggers. Seems to me they are missing a huge market.

   

I do appreciate the effort made to quantify their estimations but it seems that they are simplistic.

   

FYI, today I made another placement from a candidate that relates back to the blog. This year that makes 3.5 placements that I can directly trace back to wirting this blog.

   

So while they try to justify their worth I will just keep doing what I am doing…

Mother Nature 3, MN Headhunter 1

I spent the Labor Day weekend in the Alexandria area. I went up on Wednesday and came back Sunday. Thursday was a beautiful day and a lot of lard work was done.

   

And then the rain came. And fell some more. I swear I saw the proverbial cats and dogs falling from the sky. I received email from a couple of friends in the cities wondering how the fishing was. See it was nice here and they assumed it was there as well.

   

Not so much. I did get in the boat for about two hours on Saturday with my uncle and cousin. My uncle asked what the prize was for first and biggest fish. I said “trash talk”. Guess who caught the first and biggest? Not me. My uncle caught a small bass and a nice northern. My cousin caught a small bass.

   

I kept dragging the same big minnow around for two hours. I had named him Groucho.

   

Oh yeah, after we got out there it started to rain. And it got windy too. As we were getting ready to go back in I had a bite. My uncle said it was a weed. That the city kid was desperate and had no idea what he was doing.

   

I reeled in Groucho. Lets just say not much of Groucho was left. Out of minnows and feeling damp and cold we went back to the dock.

   

So much for the fishing weekend I had hoped for. Mother Nature took 3 days for rain and I got 1 to do yard work. They did need the rain and the lake levels were getting very low so I do understand it was needed. Although it could have waited a few days.

   

I did get caught up on email, did a lot of reading, and slept a lot.

   

After catching up on work Monday and Tuesday I have a bunch of blog posts to put up starting this afternoon.

IT Professionals Looking For New Jobs

I have not written about this in quite a few months but I used to be shocked when talking with a hiring manager or human resources professional about them adding employees.

   

I always ask something along the lines of, “While recruiting new professionals to your staff what are you doing to keep the ones you have and what are you doing to keep your competitors from hiring your staff”.

   

Nine times out of ten the look is met with a confused look. I used to be shocked by it, now I expect it.

   

Here is more evidence of why what I am asking is even more important.

   

CompTIA (Computer Technology Industry Association) released a study of 1,000+ information technology professionals that shows 58% are “looking” for a new job and of those 80% are somewhat or very active.

   

Did you hear that collective shiver from the management crowd? Wait it gets worse, or better depending on your perspective.

   

Of those looking for new gigs 60% have been with their current employer for at least three years and 52% in their roles for at least three years.

   

Remember all of those seasoned high tech workers who had elected job security and loyalty? Yep, they are the ones looking to move on.

   

Pay, little or no advancement opportunities, and new challenges are the stated reasons.

   

Let me bust this down to the simplest of levels: If you are bringing employees in the front door make sure you have the back door blocked with proper pay, work conditions, and job satisfaction. Retain your current talent and recruit your hard drive off and you can have one of the best staffs around.

   

Fail to do so and you will be lucky to maintain staffing levels and at best average talent.