Minnesota Headhunter

Daily Twitter Notes

Sometimes the things I would like to write about like economic, Wall Street, and political news (sports too) I never have time to get to. With Twitter, you at least get some of the flavor of what I am thinking about.

I will not include all of the ones where I am responding to someone else, might get confusing...

MN Headhunter on Twitter | April 25, 2008 (last one first, URL's added):

• Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina Center and ACC Player of the Year, coming back for his senior season.
• Jim Cramer, CNBC: Twice this week called MN the Badger state. Someone from MN wrote in. He now has pictures to remind himself.
• @txaggie94 Yes, Mother Nature has a sense of humor. The problem is you, me, and the rest of the crowd do not share it.
• Minnesota Recruiters with Jason Alba at JobDig April 28th is "sold out". Can an event be "sold out" when it is free?
• American and Continental in partnership talks. Not a merger.
• Consumer Confidence Index: Third straight down month. Lower than expected. Lowest since 1982 with "Stagflation".
• A ship contracted by the U.S Military Sealift Command fires on Iranian boat. Of course price of oil goes up $3, now past $119.

Technorati Tags: Twitter

Daily Twitter Notes

Sometimes the things I would like to write about like economic, Wall Street, and political news (sports too) I never have time to get to. With Twitter, you at least get some of the flavor of what I am thinking about.

I will not include all of the ones where I am responding to someone else, might get confusing...

MN Headhunter on Twitter | April 24, 2008 (last one first, URL's added):

• N.Y. Orders Large Web Retailers To Charge Tax
• Paul Douglas is fine. Don Shelby will be fine. WeatherNation is in business. I hope the local news folks are moving on now. I know I have.
• Arby's eats Wendy's in all stock deal. Enter funny joke here (here)...
• MN friends: Any of you attending the Gopher football spring game Friday evening? If you are thinking of a sarcastic reply. Trust me, resist.
• MSFT:Q3 EPS slightly better. Q3 revenue .5B short. FY08 EPS raised. International sales up with the weaker Dollar. Stock, down a pinch.
• Rasmussen Reports MN poll: Sen Norm Coleman lead over Al Franken now 6+, was 2+. McCain losing to Obama -14 and Clinton -5. Was even.
• MN Friends: Sirens are going off for "Tornado Drill". Will again go off at 6:55 pm. Part of "severe weather week".
• MN Legislature passes "Hannah Montana Bill", outlaws ticket-buying software http://tinyurl.com/5b8qhd Company says software does not exist.
• New Gallup Poll: Obama 49%, Clinton 44%. Obama lead shrinks likely from Clinton victory in PA
• CIO.com: CIO's New Partnership with LinkedIn and they are on Twitter @CIOMagazine
• New home sales: Lowest level in 16.5 years
• Warehouse District: In the past 48 hours some buds on bushes and trees have popped open. YEAH spring.
• SUPERVALU: MN based company (acquired Albertson's some time ago) offering $30 for every $300 rebate check exchanged for gift card.

Technorati Tags: Twitter

Daily Twitter Notes

Why am I doing this? Sometimes the things I would like to write about like economic, Wall Street, and political news (sports too) I never have time to get to. With Twitter, you at least get some of the flavor of what I am thinking about.

I will not include all of the ones where I am responding to someone else, might get confusing...

MN Headhunter on Twitter | April 23, 2008 (last one first, URL's added):

• @jasonalba Two seats left. If you have any MN contacts who want to attend, if the registration is full, have them email me. Will make room.
• @jasonalba That's right buddy, Minnesota Recruiters PR machine is at full throttle.
• Apple: Whoa, nice report. Clearly the economy is not impacting Apple. Stock price was up $8 right after release now up $2.5
• Apple: drum roll...
• Starbucks: Oops, not so good. Blaming economy for the most part.
• Amazon: Little better than expected earnings, revenue. Raise FY08 revenue a little. Q2 revenue a bit lighter than estimated. Stock down. ???
• @lisarokusek He interviewed me a few months ago, a good time. I want to interview him in the hot seat. Mostly for folks to get to know him.
• Late arrival to the Recruiting Animal show. Calling out Recruiting Animal. Let me interview you on your show. Why not accept are you scared?
• @researchgoddess I have two friends from Minneapolis at Web 2.0 @GraemeThickins and @timelliott Good people like you.
• @GraemeThickins I have a good recruiting friend attending, she is from Cleveland. @researchgoddess Amybeth Hale. You would like her.
• MN friends: Start faking an illness now so by the noon hour you can go home and enjoy the beautiful day. Make it up next when we see 40's.
• RNC asks North Carolina Rep's to pull Obama ad that would have started today. From the sounds of it, sounds a little/a lot racist.
• NWA net loss, $4.1B with a $3.9B "non-cash goodwill impairment charge". Whatever that is. Delta with a $6.39B loss. Looks like a good match

Technorati Tags: Twitter

Daily Twitter Notes

A friend of mine said she enjoyed reading the blog post of my 140 character posts on Twitter and asked if I could bring it back.

I know there is a widget that I can insert over there on the far right column at some point that does continuous updates.

For now I will simply do a cut and paste of my “tweets” as they are called. I will not include the ones where I am responding to someone else, might get confusing...

MN Headhunter on Twitter | April 22, 2008 (last one first):

• Chris Matthews on MSNBC: paraphrasing...Another victory for cable television.
• Politics as theater, out. Politics as NHL playoffs, in. Two more weeks? I said that two weeks ago. Drop the gloves, may the best brawler win
• Politics: Enjoy listening to Hillary supporters rattle off states she won. Umm, knock knock, remember the last candidate to do that? Dean?
• PA conspiracy: The cable news folks did something to make these numbers come in slow forcing us to watch longer. They can't help themselves.
• YHOO: 1.73B – 1.93B estimate for Q2 revenue. $.4B higher than previous expectation.
• YHOO: EPS $.11 vs $.09 estimate. Beat expectations. Revenue $1.35 B vs $1.32B estimate. Beat expectations.
• YHOO: cue drum roll......
• Wanted: MN web firm to partner on creating a niche job board/portal to serve the local tech community. Would like to start work on it June 1
• Many thanks to @garrickvanburen for meeting with me today. And for pointing out MIMA is tomorrow night.
• Dear Pennsylvania please find a way, one or the other, to end the madness today. Every day, same coverage, feels like Groundhog Day
• Clooney took his football movie about Duluth to South Carolina. Clint Eastwood taking his MN theme movie to Michigan. MN politicians, helloo
• CNN: Tony Snow now a contributor. From "Fair and Balanced" to the White House to CNN. What's next, Oprah?

Technorati Tags: Twitter

MN Headhunter Blog Has 100,000th Visitor

To be honest, I have not much to say about this milestone. Not much because it feels sort of “enormous” that so may people have found their way here and have continued to come back.

The term “visitor” is each time someone comes to the site. So if you have come here two times a week for the almost three years since the blog started you would be .3% of my traffic.

I am pleased to say that every month I have more visitors than the last and I continue to receive a lot of email.

One thing I do think about is what it was like the first day I had 10 visitors. Then 50 visitors for the first time. 100 visitors for the first time.

Then averaging 100 visitors a day.

Now I am averaging 134 a day.

I know for some bloggers 100,000 visitors happens every week so my milestone may seem small to them but hey, I am happy with what is going on here.

Finally it’s about time that I say this, thank you for stopping by whether this is the first time or you are a frequent lurker. Very much appreciated.

(looks like I had more to say than I thought)

Technorati Tags: Blog

Minnesota Recruiters (un)Conference | Spring 2008 | Event Announcement

The next quarterly event for Minnesota Recruiters is set for May 9^th, 2008 at Best Buy Corporate Headquarters. Format is the same as previous events with three presentations and networking from 8 am – Noon and lunch and networking from Noon – 2 pm.

Presenters, topics and sponsors will be announced later this week with previous event attendees and those who have created a profile at Minnesota Recruiters getting the informal invitation this Friday. Next Monday, April 28^th, the formal invitation will be sent to all 635+ Recruiters and HR professionals on the email list.

The only change is rather than seat 125 attendees in the conference room we are using the theater that seats around 220. This will help us accommodate more of our colleagues and also take off some of the time I spend dealing with the waiting list.

This looks to be another good event and I am looking forward to it.

Technorati Tags: Minnesota Recruiters

Minnesota Headhunter To Present At Star Tribune Career Expo May 20, 2008

Well it looks like I did a great job at their event back in January as I have been invited back.

I am used to speaking to a specific audience like web developers, college students, folks 50 years of age and older, etc. The Star Tribune Career Expo is a mix of everyone so it was a little challenging to provide material that could transfer to each person situation.

But they liked me and especially with my liberal use of “suck”. As in “doing a job search sucks” or going through company career site profiles sucks”. First, it does. Second, most people will not say it.

Anyway, the presentation time has not yet been assigned and the information page not yet up but here is the information as I have it:

The Star Tribune Career Expo

Tuesday, May 20, 2008
11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Saint Paul RiverCentre
(Grand Ballroom CDGH – Level 4)

3 Events, 1 Location!

Engineering & Technology Pavilion
(candidates must have 2+ years of industry related experience on top of degree and be eligible to work in the US without sponsorship)

Professional/General Pavilion
(opportunities available for all levels of experience, including management)

Medical Pavilion
(candidates must have medical experience and/or education)

Technorati Tags: Minnesota Job Fair, Minnesota Career Fair

Importance of Mentor Programs for Entry Level IT Grads

Author Byline:  Tahjia Chapman
Author Website: http://www.collegerecruiter.com

Professional development is a life-long experience for IT professionals and their careers are the source of future opportunities. While involved with an organization, some entry level IT grads are in need of mentors whom can teach them the ropes, prepare them for a career in IT, and become allies within your organization. Mentor programs benefit new IT grads and current professionals with extensive leadership experience. With a mentor program, you can dig into the talent available in your organization rather than outsourcing training to consulting firms. In today’s market, businesses that implement mentor programs are saving a lot of money to reinvest into their organizations.

Help Grads Break Into The IT Industry

Recent IT grads benefit from the guidance of experienced professionals through mentor programs. If you design your mentor program the right way, recent IT grads will develop career skills that enrich your organization. Companies with modeled mentor programs experience more productivity than those without. Your organization’s credibility could instill a sense of confidence in the mentees and the mentors’ leadership roles will overflow into the company. With mentor programs, your company can control the transition of the new hire. 

Control the Transition 

Hires with exceptional potential will take advantage of your mentor program to become professionals.  The mentor program could give your candidates opportunities to network and join organizations as stated in 5 Ways to Break Into Your Industry  by Kristie Lorette. Your company’s involvement with entry level hires controls their growth within the company and industry due to the influence your leaders instill in them. The transition from student to IT professional involves a variety experiences your leaders can introduce without ‘shocking’ the hire. 

Instill Loyalty Within Recent Grads

What is better than a loyal professional? Your mentor program could create a community of leaders who find professional development necessary. Your organization’s culture can and will change due to the new ideals instilled in your students. Recent grads in search of new opportunities can discuss their capabilities with their mentors. Mentors must listen and help with the growth of potential leaders by providing insightful experiences. The loyalty between the mentee and company will exceed your expectations. 

Are you interested in implementing a mentor program for your company? Take stock of potential leaders, objectives to accomplish, and when to begin a flight group. The examination of success can be measured by objective and subjective data collected from participants. The development of the mentor program is based solely on your company’s objectives. All mentor programs do not operate with the same model so dig into your creative juices to explore your company’s potential in incorporating leadership roles into entry level hire positions.

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

Minnesota Recruiters with Jason Alba, hosted by JobDig

As posted April 14, 2008 on the Minnesota Recruiters web site

During our quarterly (un)Conference events a frequent request has been to have specific topic sessions during the off months. This is our first topic session.

Minnesota Recruiters and JobDig are pleased to host an event with Jason Alba of JibberJobber.com on April 28, 2008 from 5 pm to 6:30 pm at the JobDig Corporate Office in Eden Prairie.

Social Tools and Technologies for Recruiters

LinkedIn is obviously a powerful tool for recruiters.  What about other social tools, such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs?  How can recruiters develop and execute a social networking strategy that will help them find new (and passive) candidates, engage with them and develop a relationship, enriching their candidate pool? Join Jason Alba as he shares what he’s learned as a job seeker and career management advocate, taking you on a tour of successful recruiter strategies with these four technologies.

Jason Alba is the CEO and creator of JibberJobber.com, and author of “I’m on LinkedIn - Now What???” After a corporate downsizing impacted Jason in 2006, he experienced firsthand the difficulties of conducting a job search. Drawing on his extensive computer software and IT experience, Jason analyzed the job search process and developed JibberJobber.com, the gold standard in career management technology. Jason specializes in social media, with an emphasis on getting professional or business value out of various social tools. Jason maintains four blogs, including JibberJobber.com/blog, and is co-author of “I’m on Facebook - Now What???”

To register for this free event click: Minnesota Recruiters with Jason Alba, hosted by JobDig.

We have space for 50 attendees.

Refreshments will be served.

If you have comments, questions and ideas please send them to me.

Paul DeBettignies
Minnesota Recruiters
Co-Founder and Coordinator
paul@mnheadhunter.com

Technorati Tags: Minnesota Recruiters, Jason Alba, JibberJobber, JobDig

VISI Moving Headquarters To Eden Prairie And Build World Class Data Center In Duluth

There is a third piece of news too, VISI Purchases Internet Service Provider Infinity AccessNET. With that acquisition I become a VISI customer. One of the main areas of business for Infinity AccessNET besides small businesses is high density housing (condos, apartments, associations) so when I moved to the new condo I picked them up rather than Comcast.

I have written a few times here that I am a big fan of Mike Sowada, VISI CEO. A few years ago while working on a project I was able to get to know Mike really well and he is a good guy. I have high regards of him and the way he handles his personal and professional activities.Earlier this week VISI announced: VISI to Build $18 Million World-Class Data Center in Duluth. A big “win” for the City of Duluth, a good number of new jobs and will likely add more.

About six weeks ago while visiting a client I was walking out of the elevator where both the client and VISI have offices and Mike missed running over me (literally) by 1.5 feet. If had connected I would have been down for the count. He mentioned they were moving the headquarters office to Eden Prairie as announced in February, VISI Purchases 50,000 Square Foot Facility for New Headquarters and Data Center

While all of that is really good news for the area the one I appreciate the most is the support VISI gave to the Sierra Bravo’s F1 Overnight Website Challenge. 11 non profits received new web sites and other valuable donations to help them in their missions to help our community.

No this is not a paid endorsement, I really do like the guy this much.

For more information you can visit the VISI | Blog.

Technorati Tags: VISI, Data Center, Duluth, Eden Prairie

Career Coaching Needs to Stop.....When!

Author Byline:  Marilyn J. Tellez, M.A.

Career Coaching Needs to Stop…….When…..

Here are my ideas from my side of the desk as a career coach:

1. The person the coach is working with doesn’t do the necessary work on him/herself to find a reasonable job goal.

2. The coachee lies.

3. The coach also lies.

4. The person being coached, changes goals many times.

5. Payment for services is haphazard.

6. Mutual trust in each other fails.

7. Appointments for services are missed without explanation.

8. The coachee looks for other advice, frequently, without informing the coach.

9. Personalities begin to clash.

10. Any other conflict, which makes a positive outcome for the coaching process debatable.

11. All work in the process of being and receiving coaching services are built on positive feelings and mutual, friendly regard.  The real work is understood to be in finding a good job, no excuses allowed on either side.

 

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

Technorati Tags: Career Coach

MN Headhunter Blog And Twitter Experiment

Updated April 18, 2008: My 9 day experiment was a positive one. While I am moving this off the top post slot I am continuing my Twitter activity.

 

When family start asking where I have been and if everything is OK because I have not done a blog post in a while I know it is time to do one.

Yes I am OK, everything is fine.

If you had a Twitter account, clicked MN Headhunter on Twitter and clicked “follow” you would have known what I was up to. I have been doing micro posts there for the past 2.5 weeks. Some of the information I did not have time to write a post about and others frankly did not deserve a post of any kind.

So I am furthering my experiment with Twitter and bring it here to the MN Headhunter blog.

Twitter and TypePad have a widget or badge that pulls “tweets” from Twitter. I am going to put the widget/badge here on the blog for a week or so and would like any feedback you might have.

This post will remain as the top post during this time. If this works I will likely permanently put it in of the the columns on the right.

I will be blogging again today and those posts will be below as usual.

Here goes...

Twitter Updates | Blog Posts Below

• With Twitter I have my recruiter friends, my tech friends and now I have the Minneapolis based @fanchatter, www.fanchatter.com 40 minutes ago
• @researchgoddess slacker, where is the committment? 57 minutes ago
• I am a big fan of Mike Sowada. News from VISI: VISI to Build $18 Million World-Class Data Center in Duluth http://tinyurl.com/3g4ogy about an hour ago
• Wild: My mistype does not make me the next Bartman of the Cubs. about 2 hours ago
• Robert Half survey: Online Networking Sites Capture Interest of Hiring Managers, http://tinyurl.com/62elyk about 2 hours ago

follow me on Twitter

How I learned to say no

Article Title:  How I learned to say no
Author Byline:  Lindsey Pollak is a college campus speaker and author of "Getting from College to Career: 90 Things to Do Before You Join the Real World" (HarperCollins, 2007)

Why is it that saying yes—even when it means changing our entire schedule, canceling other plans or doing something totally unpleasant—feels so much easier than just saying no? For me, saying yes was also a lifelong habit. I often said yes because I didn’t know how to say no. But over the past year I learned how, and the benefits have been amazing. Saying no to things you don’t want to do creates more room in your life for the things you do want. Plus, it is a major stress reducer.

Here are three lessons that have helped me learn to say no:

Lesson #1: Get lots of practice. The first thing I learned is that it is much easier to say no to a machine or a stranger than a friend or colleague. Luckily, in modern life we have endless opportunities, such as evites, invitations to connect to strangers on LinkedIn and retail clerks asking if we want to sign up for a store credit card. In these cases, I practiced the principle that “no” is a complete sentence. Zero explanation required. And I found that the more I said no in these casual encounters, the less fearful I became about using the word for more important personal and professional decisions.

Lesson #2: Give yourself time. My career coach taught me a sentence I now use constantly: “I’ll have to get back to you.” If you suffer from people-pleasing, then this sentence is a must. Whenever you are invited to an event, asked for a favor or receive any other request, don’t feel compelled to answer in the moment. This past month I saved myself from countless events simply by delaying my response for 24 hours and then replying with a simple, “I’m sorry but I just can’t make it.”

Lesson #3: Understand that people would rather hear an honest “no” than a dishonest “yes.” In the past, when I really wanted to say no, I would say yes first, in hopes that this would soften the later blow of canceling at the last minute. Wrong! I’ve learned that an honest, upfront answer is the best way to go. Another gem from my coach: “It’s like ripping off a Band-Aid. It’s better to do it quickly and definitively.” I finally began to understand that it is kinder to other people when you say no honestly. It helps them move on and find someone who will give a genuine yes.

These are just three tips in a sea of helpful advice on the art of saying no. I’d love to hear any lessons that have helped you—please share in the comments section. For two little letters, “no” has made an amazing impact on my life and career—I highly recommend it!

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

Technorati Tags: Time Management

Introducing “Short Timer” A Minnesota April Snowman

Mother Nature gives and Mother Nature takes.

With our 5-8 inch late March snow storm that many are calling today a cruel April Fool’s Day joke I have decided to embrace the event.

I had planned on building a snow man and document it’s creation and demise. Fortunately a neighbor and his family built one last night.

What follows is a timeline and pictures of Mother Nature giving us the ingredients to make a snow man. And yes while difficult to show the ingredients that go into taking “Short Timer” away (sun and warmth) I will document his slow death, err, melt.

Short Timer was created March 31, 2008 – and melted away April ???

With temperatures in the forecast for the 50’s and over night lows in the upper 20’s I expect this to be a short lived life.

These are pictures from March 31, 3008 at 9 am, Noon, 3 pm and 5 pm, the making of “Short Timer”:

At 7 pm Short Timer was created and had a nice snow man outfit. The bright white dots are huge snow flakes illuminating with the flash of the camera:

April 1, 9 am:

Pictures of the morning after and of Short Timer from a distance. Not sure why the second picture is “dark”. You will see Short Timer is now naked but I plan on getting him things a snow man needs later today. You will also see Short Timer is casting a long shadow, a sign of things to come:

April 1, 2 pm:

Noooooooo!!!

Sometime in the past two hours Short Timer took a tumble. It looks like his time with us will be much shorter than I had hoped. The sun beating on his back and a slight lean in that direction caused the fall.

I went out and patched him up, reinforced his back a little. His head is a little deformed too as it is almost impossible to roll the snow into a ball.

As you can see he is about to get help from the shade but he has lost 6-18 inches in height:

   

   

 

   

April 1, 4 pm
Short Timer was doing a lot better in the shade but getting shorter and feeling a bit plain. I need to do some art work:

   

   

   

April 2, 11 am
Short Timer had a good night last night with the below freezing temperatures. Today may be another story with highs in the 40’s. I did finally get a little creative by adding branches for arms and some plastic for eyes and a nose. Had to add the Minnesota Gopher hat too:

   

   

   

Technorati Tags: Minnesota, Snow, Snow Man