Minnesota Headhunter

Employers Allowing Employees To Do Good Deeds On Company Time

Of course this article from the St. Paul Pioneer Press was going to hit home with me, Good deeds on company time.

   

It is not a surprise to read that Minnesota ranks third in a volunteerism survey or that Minnesota companies are “doing good” in the community. Large and small companies have been doing this for decades.

   

What I was happy to see is the mentioning of recruitment and retention as part of the benefit to the company. It’s easy for a company to sign a check or have an event once a year on a weekend. But to let your employees out during the workweek, that’s a different thing.

   

The article also mentions younger workers many of who as college students were involved in community service. I am frequently asked by soon to be Minnesota grads which companies are known for being involved in the community.

   

I look forward to the day when this is not news. Until then, if you have not yet instituted a policy for paid time off consider doing so. It’s a win for you, the employee, and the community you do business in.

Minnesota Morning

   

   

   

Click Here To Vote For The 2006 Recruiting.com Blog Awards

   

Dreaming of a white Christmas? How about skiing and snowmobiling? Depending on where you are Thursday and Friday you may just get your wish. The weather people are saying a cold front is going to come through and drop the temperatures and bring in some moisture.

   

Snow? Maybe. Just maybe.

   

Last night, as every year, I take time to enjoy “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. I like that little tree.

   

Minnesota Business Scene:

-With other airlines talking about a merger it should be no surprise that there are new rumors about Northwest Airlines, Talk of Northwest-American merger resurfaces.

   

-Andersen blames housing slowdown for layoffs, for those looking for information on the Andersen Corporation 440 layoffs.

   

-3M plans to cut 400 more Twin Cities jobs, for those looking for information on the 3M 400 layoffs.

   

   

Recruiting and Careers:

-Amybeth asks a great question, Candidate vs. Lead. For me the search firm guy a candidate is someone who has given me enough information and I have had a conversation with. That means I have qualified them. They can now be presented to a client. A lead is anything before that crucial step of presenting them to a client. A resume is not a candidate.

   

-There is a myth that this is a bad time of year to find a job. I 100% disagree. While I would not suggest dressing up as a waiter the premise holds, Party Crashing Job Hunters.

   

-Maybe this should be under the sports section but Joel Cheesman, SEO guru to the recruiting community, is showing his Buckeye spirit and frustration with the Cleveland Browns. He started DraftTroy.com in an attempt to keep Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith home. Smith was a great college QB, I hate to see it but I am a big fan of his, but as a NFL QB, I am not so sure. It would keep the Cleveland fans engaged.

   

   

Local Blogs:

-Forcasting the 2008 Presidential Race: Cloudy with a 30% Chance of Obama, a funny look into the 2008 race. I really wish we could have had a 90-day rest after the last election.

   

-Get to know Lee Odden, Blog Tag and Five Things You Don’t Know About Me.

   

-A tip of the hat to Aaron Gleeman for his latest report on NBCSports.com and dropping 90 pounds in 2006. He gets paid to blog about baseball, how cool. Link-O-Rama.

   

-I have never worried about the lack of comments left on my blog. I get more than enough email and occasional phone calls to make up for it. Most bloggers make it so the only way you can reach them is to comment, not me. But I guess I should look into this, 6 Ways to Grow a Blog's Comments Feed.

   

   

Sports:

-Marion Barber III

13 touchdowns, that’s all I have to say.

   

-Minnesota Vikings

I have always been a fan of Brad Johnson but I was happy to see Tarvaris Jackson get some time. The Jets were playing the soft zone late in the game, which allowed for some passing yards and a touchdown. In the 2-minute drill Jackson ran the ball a few times and had a few short passes. None of which did a whole lot with no time outs and the clock running. He is 4 inches shorter than Johnson and had some passes blocked at the line of scrimmage. But with all due respect to Johnson, it’s time for the Tarvaris Jackson show. For better and worse.

    

-New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets Brawl.

I get the heat of the moment thing. Defend your teammate. Carmelo Anthony sucker punched Mardy Collins. Completely unnecessary. Give him a 10 game vacation without pay. I wrote the previous yesterday before hearing last night and this morning that Knicks coach Isiah Thomas gave instructions for a hard foul. Heat of the moment, I get what Thomas was thinking. It did look like the Nuggets were “pouring it on”. He sent the message now I hope Knicks management send one to him by firing him.

   

-Brad Radke

Minnesota Twins have been very fortunate to watch Radke pitch and to have him as a member of this community. Pitching with a stress fracture, unbelievable.

   

-Terrell Owens

Spit in the face of an opponent because he was frustrated. Terrell, you are a loser.

Ten Minutes With Julia Strom

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

As a student at the University of Minnesota to today as a recruiter and entrepreneur I have been very fortunate to meet some very smart people. They may be in academia, public service, business, or politics. Some of them have been street smart. Some have just figured it out by themselves, trial and error.

   

But there is one person that has made a huge impact on who I am as a person and she had never been in the headlines, never went to college, did not go to high school, or rarely ventured from her small town in west central Minnesota.

   

Julia Strom is my Grandma. By far one of if not the coolest, smartest, warmest, and funny, caring person I have ever known. A star to a lot of people.

   

All I want for Christmas this year is ten more minutes with her.

   

Grandma would have turned 87 last week. She passed away September 10^th with my mom, brother, and many of my cousins at her side. She passed peacefully that evening. In the days prior to her passing she was speaking of her brothers and sister, her mom and dad. How she wanted to go home.

   

I had seen her the weekend before. She knew I was there. I told her I loved her. But I wanted one more chance.

   

Unfortunately I was on my way back to Minneapolis from the weekend in San Francisco and the Gopher game. That whole weekend I kept asking that she hold on just a little longer. I wanted to see her one last time. 10 more minutes, that’s all I wanted.

   

What kind of impact did Grandma have? Well for starters she had 3 children, 10 grandchildren, 13 great grandchildren, and 2 great great grandchildren. Two of who carry her name, Julia.

   

She had a thing, a gift, for being one of those people you wanted to be around. Everyone she came in contact with was fond of her. After being around her you felt better.

   

She loved to laugh and tell stories. She spent many hours with her gardens and flowers. She made the best apple pie. She tried a few times to teach me. It did not go well. Fortunately for me my mom has the knack for it too so maybe one day I can learn the fine art.

   

A few years ago I said, “Grandma, you sure have seen a lot”. This started a long conversation about how for better and worse the world has changed, about technology changing how we do things, how we do our daily lives.

   

“Except”, she said, “at the end of the day it’s all about people. That never changes. Taking care of those important to you.”

   

Best bit of advice I have ever heard.

   

I look forward to using this “Ten Minutes With” and interviewing leaders in our community about the things they are working on and topics of the day.

   

But I dearly miss the smartest person I have ever known.

MinneDemo 2

Last week 170+ folks from the tech community got together for information sessions, product demonstrations and from the sound of it good beer. I was not able to make it there, shame on me.

   

Here is an article from the St. Paul Pioneer Press, MinneDemo: 'Woodstock for geeks'.

   

Tim Elliott has started a new blog this weekend called third life. He did some live blogging from the event Live From MinneDemo 2 and his final MinneDemo 2 Wrap-up.

   

From some other attendees:

   

'MinneDemo 2' Was One Hot Ticket!, from Tech~Surf~Blog

   

MinneDemo 2 Recap, from Just Looking 

   

MinneDemo 2 - The Write-Up, from MNteractive

   

I received a message from Luke Francl, one of the organizers, that the next MinneDemo will take place in the 1^st quarter of 2007.

Matt Spaeth Wins John Mackey Award, Named AP All America

On January 7, 2007 I created a blog specifically for Minnesota Golden Gopher football called Gopher The Roses, www.gopherfootballblog.com. There you will find all of the posts from this site and more in depth coverage on all things Gopher football than I was able to do here on the business blog.

   

Congratulations to Matt Spaeth for getting the recognition he deserves. Yes he owes a little of this to his team, the quarterback and the system he plays in but he is an outstanding player, teammate, and member of the university community.

   

Whoever drafts him is going to get a top-notch person and athlete.

   

The John Mackey Award is given to the tight end that best exemplifies the play, sportsmanship, academics, and community values of NFL Hall of Fame Tight End John Mackey.

   

Spaeth is the second Gopher in two years to be named Associated Press All-America Team, Center Greg Eslinger was on the list in 2005.

   

Matt Spaeth was also 1^st team All Big Ten Team by both the coaches and media for the second year in a row.

   

Spaeth finishes his career as the all time tight end leader with 109 receptions and 1,293 receiving yards.

Ten Minutes With

With 2007 right around the corner it is time for me to start this initiative. I am going to be asking questions of entrepreneurs, politicians, nonprofit leaders, and those in the business community about things that impact employment, educating the labor force, new initiatives, and growing the regional economy.

   

Spotlights on entrepreneurs will be a big part of this too. The new things they are working. Small companies that are growing too.

   

Bloggers in our area that are writing interesting content as well as the recruiting bloggers from around the country.

   

For the most part asking questions that I wish someone else would have and to introduce those who have not yet been written about in more mainstream media.

   

If you have a person, company, topic, or blogger you find interesting or would like to know more about please send me an email, paul@mnheadhunter.com.

Minnesota Morning

   

   

   

   

Click Here To Vote For The 2006 Recruiting.com Blog Awards

   

Twice in a week, I am on a roll now. This weather pattern we are having is leaving me dazed and confused. 50 degrees in December? I doubt there will be enough ice to do any ice fishing over the Christmas weekend. At least not enough to be safe. We could use some rain, or snow. At this point it is very dry and the lake levels are getting low.

   

Next week I am finally kicking off my “Ten Minutes With” topic. I will be, for lack of a better word, interviewing local entrepreneurs, politicians, and academic leaders on things relating to employment, technology, and the regions economic activity. I will also be spotlighting bloggers regardless of what they are writing about.

   

As a prelude today I will be writing a sentimental “Ten Minutes With” focusing on a person who has been one of two of the most influential people in my life.

   

   

Minnesota Business Scene:

-Colonoscopies may not be sexy but Softscope Medical Technologies raised $4 million in Series A financing.

   

-Scott Bourne, a former Twin Cities entrepreneur, is in Seattle working on podcasts among other things, Online-media pioneer back on the Web. I remember how at the time NetRadio was very cool. That seems like a lifetime ago. More information on Scott Bourne can be found here, PodcastingTricks.com, iLifeZone, and BourneMediaGroup.

   

-The 2007 Midwest Association of Angel & Venture Capital Conference will be held January 16^th in Fargo. (People in Fargo do not sound like they do in the movie) For more information, www.maavc.com.

   

   

Recruiting And Careers:

-The Future of Linked-In good timing with my post yesterday, Using LinkedIn, Shally Steckerl Style.

    

-right and wrong ways to send mass email, while the subject matter is regarding the blog awards this is a great reminder about the legal use of email and using common sense.

   

-Since the event at the U of M when Professor Riedl spoke about many things including “Second Life” it seems that I see something about this all the time. The thing is, I have an already full First Life, how could I manage a Second one? But if we can recruit there, then maybe I need to take a look, Second Life Recruiting? and Have you recruited your Second Life yet?

   

-Are Recruiters the Enemy? with the daily battle between search firms and internal HR teams.

   

-What Do Employers Want? a great question.

   

   

Minneapolis And St. Paul Blogs:

-Does JOBZ create jobs? is the question better phrased, do the communities have a net economic gain?

   

-Getting Your Web Site Noticed use the link in the post to get to the article.

   

-How to [not] speak geek and influence people great advice.

   

-How to Build a Catapult this is awesome. I hope my fraternity boys are not reading this.

   

   

Twin Cities Living:

-Central Corridor gets a nod of approval to work on a predesign from the Federal Transit Administration, Central Corridor rail line proposal gets federal boost and Light rail gets OK to take next step. Now all they need to do is trim $930 million from the budget.

   

   

What?:

- Wisconsin man bags deer with 7 legs, not sure there is much more to say.

   

-Why not a second story dealing with antlers, Man uses antlers in road rage incident. This one from Florida. Oh, I guess I did not need to say that.

   

    

Sports:

-Timberwolves

Kevin Garnett and Allen Iverson, the dream continues with Iverson, Garnett would be perfect together. The Wolves did have the San Antonio Spurs down 12+ on Wednesday night but the Spurs came back to win. The Wolves are looking good, at least better than they were. I wonder how the KG rumors of trying to lure AI are working with his teammates. Essentially we would be trading 2-4 players in the process.

   

-Gopher women’s hockey

The ladies are on a break in the season. They are second in the WCHA and ranked #4 in the country. 9 former, current and future Gophers are among 42 at the 2006 USA Hockey Holiday Camp.

   

-Gopher wrestling

The #3 ranked team came up big last week defeating #1 Oklahoma State and #7 Iowa State. They are off now until the Southern Scuffle. (What a great name for a tournament)

Recruiting.com Blog Award Nominations Finalized, Get Your Vote On

   

   

   

   

   

   

Click Here To Vote For The 2006 Recruiting.com Blog Awards

   

Caution: This post is much longer than I originally had planned. Apparently I am feeling long winded this evening. (What a shock, right?)

   

If you are ever looking for information on implementing a job search, wondering what my recruiting colleagues are thinking at any given time, or a recruiter, sourcer, researcher looking for some ideas take a stop by Recruiting.com. It’s all right there for the taking.

   

Jim Durbin has been “The Man” and has always given me support and I want to thank him once again for his guidance. The good news for him is we talk less now than we used to. I am finally getting the hang of this.

   

Around this time last year Jim left a comment on my blog or sent me an email (my memory fails me) that if I just kept doing what I was doing that MN Headhunter will get a strong following and from there will help find the talented IT professionals I (and my clients) are looking for.

   

He was right. Like he always is.

   

It seems a long time since May of 2005 when I started writing. I have had some great spurts and then some silence. That comes from running a recruiting desk and for the most part being a one-man gang of a firm. The buck starts and ends here. For better or worse. And I want it no other way.

   

The past year has been exhilarating and completely draining at the same time. I have the new search firm (and some big plans I am not yet able to announce) up and running, Nerd Search, LLC. I have this new blog design, this hybrid of a blog and corporate website. Jim’s wife Franki was true to me when she said, “trust me”. Those Durbins, damn fine people they are. And to think after all this time, I still have not met them in person.

   

And now to the 2006 Recruiting.com Blog Awards.

   

This year rather than have categories, some of us cross over, and a winner for each there will be a final “Top Ten”. You get to vote for up to five blogs. Voting ends December 22. Winners will be announced around the first of the year.

   

There will be one final “winner” picked by the following trustworthy and ethical folks: Michael Keleman, Jim Durbin, Heather Hamilton, Joel Cheesman, David Manaster, Harry Joiner, and Jason Davis. No, I am not kissing babies to gain their favor. I can think of at least a dozen blogs that are better than mine. (For now says the competitor in me)

   

And I am not endorsing anyone in this process. For myself all I am going to say is if you like what I have been doing, or you think I am generally a swell enough guy, I appreciate your support. And if you have an idea on how I can make this site better, please send it on to me.

   

To vote you can click this link 2006 Recruiting.com Blog Awards, it will take you to Survey Monkey. It takes less than a minute to do. The blogs get listed in random order so you may not see the list there as you will here.

   

One last thing, do me favor and only vote once. This is not a third world country election and this is not Chicago decades ago when you were asked to “vote early and vote often”.

   

Here is the list of nominated recruiting blogs:

   

StlRecruiting.com

One Louder

Marketing Headunter

Amitai Givertz's Recruitomatic Blog
Jobsyntax

Guerilla Jobhunting

Brazen Careerest

CareerHub

Secrets Of The Job Hunt

CareerCowboy.com

DigitalRecruiter.com

Talentism

Cheezhead

Advanced Online Recruiting Techniques

Amybeth Hale’s Blog

Cybersleuthing

RecruitingBloggers.com

Recruiting Animal

DavidMonreal.com

SittingXlegged

CollegeRecruiter.com Insights by Candidates Blog

CollegeRecruiter.com Insights by Employers Blog

CollegeRecruiter.com Blog

CareerMetaSearch Blog

Jim Stroud

JibberJobber Blog

George’s Employment Blawg

Magic Pot Of Jobs

Six Degrees From Dave

Confessions of an Executive Restaurant Recruiter

Gautam Ghosh’s Blog

JobOption Blog

Hiring Revolution

Intel Recruiting Blog

Boston Works

Bob Parson

Wirelessjobs.com

Job Search Engine Guide

Jason Goldberg’s Jobster Blog

Minnesota Headhunter

The Desk

UKRecruiter Blog

The Recruiting Edge

But Less About Me...

Simply Hired Blog

Ogilvy Blog

Breakout Performance

Systematic HR

Your Hr Guy

EXCELER8ion

HRMDirect Blog

Direcciony gestion de personas

CareerMetaSearch Blog

ERE Group Blogs

CareerXroads Annex

Hire Calling

Taleo Blog

Talent Software

Human Capitalist

Microsoft's Jobsblog

SytematicHR

Using LinkedIn, Shally Steckerl Style

Many times I am asked by IT professionals, “What can LinkedIn do for me”? Which is usually followed with I am not looking for a job, I am looking for a job but I hate recruiters (in house and search firm), or I don’t get how it works.

   

I am a bit of a recreational user. At least when compared to my recruiting colleagues.

   

Shally Steckerl is a power user and has been running sort of an experiment and sort of a mission on LinkedIn to see how large his network can be.

   

So Mr./Ms. IT Professional, why does this matter to you? For those using LinkedIn he has detailed some of the techniques for growing his network with this post on ERE, Becoming a Promiscuous Linker on LinkedIn.

   

For those not sure why they should be on LinkedIn:

-If you are not looking for a job or your next consulting gig now you will be at some point. Maybe by your choice or maybe by a pink slip this Friday. Building a network is easier when you do not need it.

   

-Your friends’ friends may be into an activity or group that you have interest in. Maybe a tech user group, fantasy football, Halo. Whatever, more cool people to hang out with.

   

-Does your employer give hiring bonuses? Looking for some extra holiday cash? Get to work.

   

-Help others when they need it will almost always come back to you. Maybe a friend of yours needs to be introduced to someone in his/her job search. Be the person that helps them out. Not only is it the right thing to do, they are your friends after all, but they will remember when it is your turn.

   

-If you are a sales guy or business executive, this is a database of names and titles. Why buy a list when you can use LinkedIn.

   

-Not everyone uses LinkedIn for jobs or sales leads. Community organizations look for volunteers, college and university groups reconnect, and people just meet new and interesting people.

   

Certainly LinkedIn is not the end all of networking but it is a great tool that can help you build a network for when you need it most.

   

Back to Shally, he has a web site, Job Machine. Specifically for using LinkedIn he has a cheat sheet. I purchased the LinkedIn CheatSheet some time ago. I was happy to learn that I had already picked up about half the tips offered. That made me feel good. It was the other half that was new to me or I had thought about trying but could not get the results I was hoping for.

   

It definitely is worth the few dollars he is asking for it. And I was happy to read in his post that a new edition is coming.

   

No, he did not pay me to write this. I could share what I know which might be about 70% of what is needed or I can send you his way to get 90+% of the information and save you a lot of time.

Minneapolis Federal Reserve, Moderate Regional Growth In 2007

Today the Minneapolis Fed released its annual outlook, Minneapolis Fed Forecasts Moderate Growth in The Ninth District Economy for 2007.

   

Essentially slow but steady. I am cool with that.

   

The Minnesota prediction is a slight increase in unemployment, modest wage increases and moderate reductions in personal income over 2006. Not great news but we have had a great run this past year.

   

Regarding employment in the whole district:

Employment—The outlook for labor markets in 2007 is positive, reflecting expectations for increased economic growth. The strongest employment growth is expected in Montana, while decreases are expected in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. District business leaders indicate that labor markets are tightening. While many of the respondents to the poll expect to increase employment at their companies, they report difficulty finding qualified workers. Hiring in the services, retail, manufacturing and finance sectors will expand. In contrast, the construction sector anticipates decreases in employment levels. Overall, unemployment rates will stay about the same in 2007 as in 2006. Unemployment rates are anticipated to decrease slightly in Montana and North Dakota from 2006 levels, and increase slightly in the other district states.

Using Your Network To Find A Boxer Or Professional Dancer

Could you do it? If someone gave you the name, picture, location, and profession of someone could you through only direct referrals from your network and extended network find the person? OK, my recruiting friends do not count because we do this in our sleep for a living.

   

This evening on ABC Primetime there was a show based on six degrees of separation. It is here online, Can a Brooklyn Boxer Make It to Broadway?. I will not blow the story for you but it was fascinating to see personal networks in practice.

   

It truly shows that it’s not so much who you, it’s who they know and so on. It also shows that, well at least when the cameras are rolling, that your friends will help you out when you need it.

   

They also have a link to the Small World Project at Columbia University.

   

So for those who say while doing their job search that they do not know anyone or do not have a network, I saw BS. You know people. You need the courage to ask for their help. You need to be nurturing those relationships. You need to be helping others when they need it.

Pictures From Inspiration Peak

I was going through some notes and realized I never posted my pictures from my two trips to Inspiration Peak in West Central Minnesota. Inspiration Peak is the third (I think) highest point in the state. It’s odd that in what is generally flat farm and plains a peak like this would be formed. I guess glaciers will do what they do.

   

For many years I have been telling my mom that I had wanted to make the drive. I figured if Sinclair Lewis thought it was cool then it was good enough for me.

   

Problem is the fall is a busy time for me because of Gopher football.

   

But this year we went twice. Twice in a week even. See the first time the leaves had not turned. September was warmer than average so the changing of leaves was a little behind.

   

You can tell by these pictures that the change had not yet happened, September 26:

   

   

   

   

   

Six days later and some chilly fall nights made a huge difference. The pictures are some distance from the area and they do not do it justices but here was the drive in:

   

   

   

   

   

The view from the top October 2, same as view September 26:

   

   

   

   

   

#1 Mom:

   

   

   

   

   

Walking back down:

   

   

   

   

   

Peak color this year was around October 6. On October 7 the cold front that stuck around for much of the month came through and the winds were so strong that most of the leaves were blown off the trees.

   

Now that I know how to get there I look forward to returning at different times of the year. Especially the fall color season.

Job Boards, Most Recruiters Are Lazy

To most of my recruiter, researcher, resourcer friends get to work. My pot has finally boiled over on the use of job boards. They are one of many, many tools to use. You are just hoping and waiting for one new uber tool to have that you can use without having to use the phone, email, or (stop the presses) meeting people face to face.

   

Get over it.

   

The latest post on the subject comes from Tech Crunch, Online Job Hunt 10 Years Later - Still Sucks.

   

Do job boards suck? I think most would say yes. For me, they are a great tool to use. Could they better? Absolutely. Should the recruiting industry stop whining about it? Yes. Let the visionaries and entrepreneurs work on the problem. In the mean time my recruiting friends learn to use them better.

   

How? Here are five things you can be doing to make the ROI on your job board better.

   

-Remember the resume you saw 18 months ago and the person was not quite qualified for the position? I bet they are now. Did you reach out to them about future opportunities your company would have? Do you have a system in place for them?

   

-Do you search for your former employees? For the good ones you find maybe the boomerang will work for you. Do you have a system in place for them?

   

-When writing a job ad are you doing the usual blah, blah, blah or are you getting candidates excited to hear more about your opportunity?

   

-Are you responding promptly to online inquiries? I hope so because if your customer service sucks I am willing to bet that the candidate is telling their four friends.

   

-Are you saving or in anyway storing the profiles of talented people that you are not looking for today? Many top candidates only have their profiles online for a few days before they take it down. They get inundated with inquiries and they take it down. You may be looking for a Project Manager today and in the process come across a Business Analyst. Do you have a system to save those for future searches?

   

Are you living and dying on the job boards? Are they your only source for finding candidates? If so, do some research into what others are doing. Things like e-newsletters, blogs, RSS feeds of job openings, and supporting/advertising/sponsoring networking groups, user groups, associations/professional groups, or related events where your future employees hang out.

   

The moral to the post is this, if you are not using the job board to its full potential shame on you for complaining. Worse, if you are one of the many that are waiting for that uber tool to make your job so simple that you can be paid and not have to work hard, quit now.

   

Recruiting is a contact sport not a paper pushing administrative career.

Minnesota Morning

Welcome back to Minnesota Morning. This posting will become a regular event on M-W-F.

   

I have been hit with a case of bronchitis the past couple of weeks (I almost feel human again) and so having cancelled meetings allowed me to catch up here. I have almost all of the content updated to the site I had been hoping to make.

   

The only thing left is the calendar for tech events and meetings. In the mean time you can take a look at Central Standard Tech. He has a calendar of tech events and meeting. It also aggregating tech blogs. I still plan on doing the calendar on this blog as it will have events for recruiters and business folks too.

   

Minnesota Business Scene:

-Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty has been named Co-Chair of Innovation America, a new initiative of the National Governors Association. The idea is for business leaders and educators to work on ways to keep the United States competitive in the global economy.

   

-More directors of publicly traded companies are from the area, Minnesota boards relying more on local talent: Study.

   

-Across all local industries only 18% expect to be hiring in 2007. I question that. Area hiring prospects dim.

   

   

Minneapolis Living:

-Minneapolis is well known for parkways and biking paths but it could use some more pedestrian friendly areas. Help may be on the way, New group promotes recipe for foot friendly city.

   

   

Recruiting And Careers:

-Amybeth Hale is a Manager of Internet Research for a Cleveland firm and relatively new to the blogging scene. I like what she is sharing. She is writing a series of posts on Recruiting.com. Here is the second installment, I Source, Therefore I Am…… PART II.

   

-A friend of mine has decided that she would rather be a contract recruiter than part of a search firm. For her, I think this is a great move. I sent her links to think about as she makes the jump including this, Trusting "Contract" Recruiters?

   

-Good information for those using the Google search engine to find resumes, Finding Resumes on Google.

   

-Asked if there is a “war on talent” 22% HR Executives said no and 17% were unsure. I find that shocking. Toby Dayton, from the locally owned JobDig, with this one Many In HR Still Oblivious About ‘War For Talent’.

   

   

Sports:

-Minnesota Timberwolves

The Allen Iverson saga continues and it looks like the Wolves are not seen as serious contenders for the man known as “AI”. I find it intriguing. Sounds like Kevin Garnett made a phone call to AI over the weekend.

   

But the Wolves have won 7 of their last 10 with a 4 game winning streak against some good competition. Maybe the team chemistry is coming around and wins are soon to follow.

   

-Gopher women’s volleyball

Congratulations to the #9 ranked team on a great season. They started a little slow but they finished very strong. They made it to the Sweet 16. Faced #7 Florida in their home gym and won. The ladies had #1 Nebraska next and were up 2-0 but Nebraska came back to win.

   

-Gopher men’s hockey

The #1 ranked team is unbeaten in their last 18 games. After losing the first game of the season they have not lost again. They are 15-1-3 and 9-0-3 in the WCHA. They are off now until December 29-30.

   

-Gopher men’s basketball

The post Dan Monson era has begun. While football is my sport I remember fondly the two years as a student when I had seaon tickets. The Barn used to be one of the toughest gyms to play in. Not so much lately. Monson did what he was asked to do. He cleaned upn the program after Clem Haskins. The issue was that he was not able to to move the program forward.

   

How bad was it? Well here are two blog posts that well define what people had been thinking, Dan Monson Sucks and Thoughts on Monson Firing. Who should be the next coach? Bobby Knight? Flip Saunders? Rick Majerus?

   

If not one of those three I would like to see Jim Molinari be the man. He did a great job with Bradley.

   

Gophers beat Central Florida 74-63 and are 5-7.

   

-NFL

No comments on the Vikings. For the most aprt I am completely disinterested. One thing I saw this weekend I do want to comment on is Vince Young, QB of the Tennessee Titans. They played the Houston Texans who if you remember took a defensive end instead of Young or Reggie Bush. In overtime and on third and long, 30 some yards, Vince Young on a pass play pulls the ball down and runs for a touchdown, winning the game.

    

Imagine how good Vince Young is going to be with more experience…

Golden Gopher Football Seniors And Team Award Winners

On January 7, 2007 I created a blog specifically for Minnesota Golden Gopher football called Gopher The Roses, www.gopherfootballblog.com. There you will find more in depth coverage on all things Gopher football than I was able to do here on the business blog.

   

I was thinking the other day that I never recognized the senior class. These guys have been through a lot and I think when the bowl game later this month is over, they will be able to look at their career and say it was a success.

   

It is interesting to note there are only 9 guys, 10 if you include Brandon Owens and I do:

   

3      Bryan Cupito   QB  Cincinnati, OH
4      Trumaine Banks   DB  Columbus, OH
11    Mike Frankberg            QB  Detroit Lakes, MN

20    Brandon Owens            S    Delray Beach, FL

48    Mario Reese   LB  Mableton, GA

56    Tyson Swaggert            OG  Buffalo, MN

78    Joe Ainslie                        OT  Minnetonka, MN

84    Logan Payne            WR Lutz , FL                               
89    Matt Spaeth  TE  St. Michael, MN

90    Eric Clark              DT  Tampa Bay, FL

   

   

At the team banquet the following awards were given:

   

BRONKO NAGURSKI AWARD (presented to the team’s most valuable player):
Matt Spaeth (Sr., TE, St. Michael, Minn.)
   
BRUCE SMITH AWARD (presented to the team’s outstanding offensive player):
Logan Payne (Sr., WR, Lutz, Fla. )
   
CARL ELLER AWARD (presented to the team’s outstanding defensive player):
Mike Sherels (Jr., LB, Rochester, Minn.)
   
BOBBY BELL AWARD (presented to the outstanding special teams player):
Tom Hennessey (Fr., FB, Somerset, Wis.)
   
BUTCH NASH AWARD (for competitiveness on the field and in the classroom):
Dominic Jones (So., CB, Columbus, Ohio)
   
PAUL GIEL AWARD (for total unselfishness and most concern about the University of Minnesota):
Dom Barber (Jr., FS, Plymouth, Minn.)
   
NEIL FREDENBURG AWARD (courage and love for the game):
Mike Sherels (Jr., LB, Rochester, Minn.)
   
DEFENSIVE DEMO (for outstanding performance on the defensive demonstration team):
Mike Hart (Fr., LB, Pewaukee, Wis.)
   
OFFENSIVE DEMO (for outstanding performance on the offensive demonstration team):
Matt Krueger (Fr., OG, Maple Plain, Minn.)

   

There are two people who should have an award named after them.

   

Bryan Cupito was the leader of this team. Cupito is the one who ran the offense, who called plays at the line of scrimmage, who checked to plays that made stars out of Marion Barber, Laurence Maroney and Matt Spaeth.

   

Brandon Owens, who is no longer on the official roster, had a career ending shoulder and neck injury against Penn State in 2005. He had a growing reputation as being a team leader and physical player. He was on the sideline for every home game since the injury with his arm in a sling.

   

Mike Sherels, will be a senior LB, and Tony Brinkhaus, will be a senior center, were named 2007 captains.

Recruiting.com Blog Awards

   

   

   

   

   

   

     

   

It’s that time of year again, yep, the Recruiting.com Blog Awards. 2006 Style. They have been taking nominations (and will be extending until December 13^th) for the following categories:

   

-Best Third Party Recruiting blog

-Best Corporate Recruiting Blog

-Best Sourcing and Research Blog

-Best Job Seeker Blog

-Best Recruiting Law Blog

-Best Recruiting Group Blog

-Best CEO Blog

-Best Recruiting Technology Blog

-Best HR Blog

-Most Entertaining Recruiting Blog

   

MN Headhunter was nominated. Was I last to be nominated or did they “save the best for last”? The cool thing was that I did not do it myself. So to the person who thought enough about the work I have been trying to do, I thank you.

   

The following list of nominees will be updated later this week as well as a link for the voting:

StlRecruiting.com

One Louder

Marketing Headunter

Blogveristy

Jobsyntax

GuerillaJobhunting

Brazen Careerest

CareerHub

Secrets Of The Job Hunt

CareerCowboy.com

DigitalRecruiter.com

Talentism

Cheezhead

Advanced Online Recruiting Techniques

Amybeth Hale’s Blog

Cybersleuthing

RecruitingBloggers.com

Recruiting Animal

DavidMonreal.com

SittingXlegged

CollegeRecruiter.com Insights by Candidates Blog

CollegeRecruiter.com Insights by Employers Blog

CollegeRecruiter.com Blog

CareerMetaSearch Blog

Jim Stroud

JibberJobber Blog

George’s Employment Blawg

Magic Pot Of Jobs

Six Degrees From Dave

Confessions of an Executive Restaurant Recruiter

Gautam Ghosh’s Blog

JobOption Blog

Hiring Revolution

Intel Recruiting Blog

Boston Works

Bob Parson

Wirelessjobs.com

Job Search Engine Guide

Jason Goldberg’s Jobster Blog

Minnesota Headhunter 

Twin Cities And Minnesota Technology User Groups, Professional Associations And Networking Groups

Updated April 25, 2007

   

I have had many requests since I started the blog if I could help technology professionals find a user group, professional association, or networking group. Quiet a few of these requests have come from people relocating to the area and they are looking for opportunities to get involved and meet new people.

   

So here goes. If you know of a group that should be listed please send me an email or add a comment below.

   

User groups for technology professionals:

Mini’app’les

Minneapolis Perl Mongers

Minneapolis/St. Paul Storage Networking User Group

Minnesota Flash User Group

Minnesota Flash/Flex User Group

Minnesota MySQL User Group

Minnesota SharePoint User Group

Object Technology User Group, Minneapolis and St. Paul

QUSER, IBM Midrange Systems

Ruby Users of Minnesota

Twin Cities BizTalk User Group

Twin Cities BSD User Group

Twin Cities Cognos Users Group

Twin Cities Cold Fusion User Group

Twin Cities Java User Group

Twin Cities Linux Users Group

Twin Cities Mercury User Group

Twin Cities Oracle User Group

Twin Cities PC User Group

Twin Cities PHP User Group

Twin Cities Quality Assurance Association

Twin Cities Rational User Group

Twin Cities Systems Administrators

Twin Cities Web Development User Group

Twin City Area SAS Users Group

Twin-SPIN

Unix Users Of Minnesota

ADDED Twin Cities Zope/Python Users Group

   

Organizations and associations for technology professionals:

IEEE Twin Cities

Minnesota Chapter of The Data Management Association

Minnesota Chapter of the Information Systems Audit and Control Association

Minnesota Chapter of the Project management Institute

Minnesota Information Professional Society (MnIPS)

Minnesota Information Systems Security Association

Minnesota IT Service Management Forum

Minnesota Telecommunications Association

Northwest Association of Information Center Professionals

Professional Association of Computer Training

The Association for Women in Computing

   

Networking groups for technology professionals:

LifeScience Alley

MedSuds

Minnesota High tech Association

Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association

NetSuds

The Collaborative

ADDED GetGoMN

   

Recruiters:

MN Technology Recruiters Network

Twin Cities Human Resources Association (TCHRA)

Blog Links Updated

A few weeks ago I created new categories so I could have one post for each category of blog links. This had two purposes. One, more easily add and delete blogs I am reading. Also, I plan on adding descriptions of the blogs so that you have an idea why to go there. Two, to break up the long list of blogs in the right column.

   

On a personal level, I hate scrolling through a long blog list and only see titles.

   

So far so good. It looks like the number of out clicks to the blogs I have listed has gone up about 7%.

   

Business Blogs, 3 blogs added

Minneapolis And St. Paul Blogs, 24 blogs added

Recruiting And HR Related Blogs, 4 blogs added

Technology Blogs, 6 blogs added

   

The more I get into this I have been finding many new and interesting blogs. I plan on debuting a blog aggregator I have been working on in the next couple of weeks.

Minnesota Morning

The past couple of weeks I have been working on some new content for the blog and this has caused me to get behind on daily writing. I will be posting another round of updates today and that should be about it. I hope that part of that will be an event calendar for the Twin Cities tech community.

   

I also am working on a blog aggregator that I hope to debut here in the next couple of weeks and then with a press release after the first of the year. A nice way to start 2007.

   

Starting tomorrow I will be doing the regular posting of Minnesota Morning. Who knows, maybe part of the post will be Allen Iverson being traded from the Philadelphia 76ers to the Minnesota Timberwolves in some major three or four team trade.

November '06 National Job Scene

The November employment numbers were released last Friday with a stronger than expected increase of 132,000 jobs. The unemployment rate inched up .1% to 4.5%.

   

The consensus number prior to release was 110,000. Most analysts believe that this shows the economy is marching on at a decent pace, not too strong and not too weak. Most also believe that with these “normal” job numbers the Fed would keep interest rates as they are.

   

Previous months were revised again with a net gain in September of another 55,000 for a net gain of 203,000 while October was revised down 13,000 for a net gain of 79,000.

   

Winners:

Professional and business services +43,000

Education and health services +41,000

Leisure and hospitality +31,000

   

Losers:

Construction -29,000

Manufacturing -15,000

   

Average hourly earnings were slightly lower from the estimated .3% at .2% to 4.1% for 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, 123,000 (revised again) 121,000 (revised) 113,00 (first reported) 142,000 (consensus number)

August ’06, 230,000 (revised again) 188,000 (revised) 128,000 (first reported) 125,000 (consensus number)

September ’06, 203,000 (revised again) 148,000 (revised) 51,000 (first reported) 125,000 (consensus number)

October ’06, 79,000 (revised) 92,000 (first reported) 160,000 (consensus number)

November ’06, 132,000 (first reported) 110,000 (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%

September ’06, 4.6%

October ’06, 4.4%

November ’06, 4.5%