We start this podcast light on news so it allow us to dig into a few topics deeper than we might usually do.

Casey starts by talking about Atland Ventures… an investment group made up of students at the University if Minnesota. Casey walks us through how it started and how it works. They have already made investments in Structural and Dispatch. 100 students applied to the program and only 8 were accepted

I ask for a definition of “seed round” because I think numbers varying from $500,000 to a few million.

I briefly suggest a future podcast should be Kathy, Casey and I starting a company.

We move on to me and a bit of a rant… OK, it is a rant. I am frustrated with how the tech industry says it needs workers and young people should focus on STEM classes yet, companies do not seem very eager to hire them out of college or a coding bootcamp. So, how does that work then if we don’t hire them now how will they ever become the 3-5 year developer that is in such huge demand?

I go off on a number of tangents… I’m telling you, I am frustrated with companies (not just here in Minneapolis, St Paul and the Midwest) and the tech industry as a whole.

I also invite companies who are recruiting, hiring, onboarding and mentoring well to give up some of their “secret sauce”. Let’s a get a few groups to share their ideas and have an event in 2019.

And… I’d like to know what you think about this topic. You may be a recent college or bootcamp grad, an online learner, hiring manager, recruiter or CTO. What do you think are the issues? Send me a note paul@mnheadhunter.com

We do something new… we each talk about a recent conversation we had that listeners may find interesting.

Casey starts with a conversation he had a with a founder who is not taking outside money. I was super interested to hear Casey’s take on the topic because so often conversations in the startup space are about raising money. This really got me thinking and I loved when Casey said that most entrepreneurs should not raise money.

I talk about how I think most people are trying to recruit without actually engaging people. It’s bonkers to me. It’s like we don’t want to talk to people. We don’t want to learn about them, what their dreams and fears are or what they really want to do. We just want to check off a list and if they have enough check marks we’ll get back to them. That’s a horrible way to build teams. It’s a terrible way to do business in this (your) town.

Kathy talks about a conversation she had with Parker Schlank, CEO of Travel Labs. They are a startup and raised $500,000. They are recommending flights and travel arrangements for travelers based on previous trips and behavior. It’s a cool concept and has companies already testing it out.

We get into dares and Kathy starts with inflatable colons (as in the organ). Serious.

To connect with Kathy, Casey and MSP On Deck:

Kathy Grayson

• Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal
• LinkedIn
• @mspbjGrayson

Casey Allen:

• EnterpriseRising
• LinkedIn
• @casey__allen

MSP On Deck

• We have a Twitter account: @mspondeck
• And a web site too where you can listen to our sessions: MSP on Deck Podcast
• You can find the podcast and subscribe by clicking MSP on Deck  on iTunes and MSP on Deck on Stitcher

And click MSP On Deck Podcast Is Live And Focusing On The Minnesota Tech And Startup Scene if you are new to this and wondering how it came to be.

Here we go…

Click Minnesota Headhunter for current blog posts and IT Jobs In Minnesota for Minnesota IT searches I am working on.

Stay in touch with me by clicking:

The following have been added to the Minnesota Recruiter Jobs page by Minnesota employers:

• Lawyer Recruiting Assistant - Full Time Job - Dorsey & Whitney

• Recruiter - Full Time Job - Cargill

• Talent Acquisition Coordinator - Full Time Job - SUPERVALU

• Temporary Talent Sourcing Specialist - Contract Job - Baker Tilly

• Contract Talent Acquisition Coordinator - Contract Job - Ecolab

• Senior Executive Recruiter - Full Time Job - Wells Fargo

• Senior Contract Recruiter - Contract Job - UnitedHealth Group

• Recruiter - Full Time Job - Wells Fargo

• Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist - Full Time Job - Logic Information Systems

• Talent Acquisition Specialist II - Full Time Job - Ecolab

How to post a job (it’s free)?

Send the content (preferably in Word) along with a link or email for folks to apply to paul@mnheadhunter.com

And check out Midwest Recruiting Bootcamp for recruiting and hiring manager conferences and conversations about recruiting in and to Minneapolis/St Paul, Minnesota and the Midwest:

If you are using a RSS Feed click Minnesota Recruiter Jobs.

Click Minnesota Headhunter for current blog posts and Minneapolis Tech Jobs for Minnesota IT searches I am working on.

Stay in touch with me by clicking:

The following have been added to the Minnesota IT Jobs page…

Who I am working with:

Dispatch

• Senior Software Engineer

Friends who are hiring:

• Full Stack Developer - Full Time Job - Foundry

• Cloud Database Engineer - Full Time Job - SPS Commerce

• Lead Systems Engineer - Full Time Job - Lab 651

• iOS Engineer - Full Time Job - Lab 651

• Senior Software Engineer - Full Time Job - Kipsu

• Entrepreneurial Leadership Rotation Program - Full Time Job - Kipsu

Click Minnesota Headhunter for current blog posts and Minneapolis Tech Jobs for Minnesota IT jobs I am working on.

Stay in touch with me by clicking:

A big thank you to Foundry for hosting us again in their podcast studio and for the invitation to continue through the end of the year. Hopefully we have been, will be the best guests and they like having us around because they make doing this soooo much easier than when we were doing it on our own.

We start this episode with funding news…

Total Expert raised $20M. I am a HUGE fan of their team and Casey walks us through who they are, what they do and why most people have not heard much about them. As I mention… yes, they are hiring.

We move to how funding announcements, SEC Form D, are found by reporters, bloggers and those creeping for competitive intelligence. And sometimes how, why they get it wrong… what the filing really is. Casey explains what a convertible note is and gets in the weeds. I learned a lot during this part. I tell a brief story about how a company filed their Form D, it was reported on and the staff of the company was not yet aware. I quickly run through some steps a company may want to do ahead of filing the form.

I do a recap of Twin Cities Startup Week mentioning events I attended, conversations I had and trends that seemed to appear. Also, talk a bit about the future of Twin Cities Startup Week. And my excitement over the energy in the Minneapolis and St Paul startup and tech scene.

Kathy talks about her conversation with Ascentis CEO, Brian Provost and their path to an IPO. Casey gives us some historical perspective on how this team has been built.

Casey talks about how and why private equity groups have focused on Minneapolis and St Paul.

We talk about HR Tech in Minnesota including Structural, Click Boarding, CATS, When I Work, Branch Messenger, and Ceridian. I add CollegeRecruiter and ZAPinfo.

Casey adds some health and wellness groups: RedBrick Health, Gravie, Further.

He then talks about tech in Eagan. Yes… Eagan.

We get a quick history of ThomsonReuters names.

Kathy and Casey talk about how Caribou Coffee has a number of stores inside Minnesota corporate headquarters.

We finish with our dares and while I was originally weirded out by Casey and his dare to listen to podcasts in the shower… we received an email from a friend of ours who was listening to this episode… while in the shower

I learned so much nerdy, weird things during this podcast…

To connect with Kathy, Casey and MSP On Deck:

Kathy Grayson

• Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal
• LinkedIn
• @mspbjGrayson

Casey Allen:

• EnterpriseRising
• LinkedIn
• @casey__allen

MSP On Deck

• We have a Twitter account: @mspondeck
• And a web site too where you can listen to our sessions: MSP on Deck Podcast
• You can find the podcast and subscribe by clicking MSP on Deck  on iTunes and MSP on Deck on Stitcher

And click MSP On Deck Podcast Is Live And Focusing On The Minnesota Tech And Startup Scene if you are new to this and wondering how it came to be.

Here we go…

Click Minnesota Headhunter for current blog posts and IT Jobs In Minnesota for Minnesota IT searches I am working on.

Stay in touch with me by clicking:

The following have been added to the Minnesota Recruiter Jobs page by Minnesota employers:

• Senior Recruiter - Full Time Job - Daugherty Business Solutions

• Recruiter - Full Time Job - Wells Fargo

• Talent Acquisition Partner - Full Time Job - AmeriPride Services

• Campus Recruiting Inclusion & Diversity Manager - Full Time Job - KPMG

• Talent Acquisition Director - Full Time Job - Jack Link’s

• Director Talent Acquisition - Full Time Job - Ceridian

• Corporate Recruiting Coordinator - Full Time Job - Cemstone

• Recruiting Coordinator - Full Time Job - U.S. Bank

• Talent Acquisition Coordinator - Full Time Job - Milk Specialties Global

• Talent Acquisition Manager - Full Time Job - Apex International

• Recruiter - Full Time Job - Starkey Hearing Technologies

How to post a job (it’s free)?

Send the content (preferably in Word) along with a link or email for folks to apply to paul@mnheadhunter.com

And check out Midwest Recruiting Bootcamp for recruiting and hiring manager conferences and conversations about recruiting in and to Minneapolis/St Paul, Minnesota and the Midwest:

If you are using a RSS Feed click Minnesota Recruiter Jobs.

Click Minnesota Headhunter for current blog posts and Minneapolis Tech Jobs for Minnesota IT searches I am working on.

Stay in touch with me by clicking:

The following have been added to the Minnesota Recruiter Jobs page by Minnesota employers:

• Talent Acquisition Specialist - Full Time Job - PowerObjects

• Director of Recruiting - Full Time Job - Drip

• Sourcer - Full Time Job - Starkey Hearing Technologies

• Recruiting Coordinator - Contract Job - Anaplan

• Diversity Consultant - Talent Acquisition - Full Time Job - RBC

• Senior Tech Recruiter - Full Time Job - SPS Commerce

• Recruiter - Full Time Job - Compass Airlines

• Sr Recruiter - Full Time Job - Target

• Sr Recruiter - Full Time Job - Prime Therapeutics

• Talent Acquisition Manager - Full Time Job - Donaldson Company

• Senior Talent Acquisition Consultant - Full Time Job - Entrust Datacard

• Talent Acquisition Coordinator - Full Time Job - Allina Health

How to post a job (it’s free)?

Send the content (preferably in Word) along with a link or email for folks to apply to paul@mnheadhunter.com

And check out Midwest Recruiting Bootcamp for recruiting and hiring manager conferences and conversations about recruiting in and to Minneapolis/St Paul, Minnesota and the Midwest:

If you are using a RSS Feed click Minnesota Recruiter Jobs.

Click Minnesota Headhunter for current blog posts and Minneapolis Tech Jobs for Minnesota IT searches I am working on.

Stay in touch with me by clicking:

It’s a BIG episode for the MSP On Deck podcast. We successfully upgraded our sound. We can’t credit for it and will give it where it belongs… our friends at Foundry. Last week they moved into their new office space and are in the process of creating a podcast studio. They invited us over to see the space and record there. We spend the first couple of minutes on Foundry and to be clear, Kurt and the team did not ask us to nor did we plan to gush over them. They are good people doing good work. Click the following to learn more about them:

• Foundry web site

• Foundry Twitter

• Foundry Instagram

• Foundry is hiring

• Schmidt List Podcast

Here’s a photo collage from the day:

We shift to recent funding announcements starting with Sentera. They raised a $14M round of funding. Casey walks us through how they use drones and software to help farmers manage their land. They are hiring… click Sentera Jobs. We also show our lack of knowledge of drones and airports

I give a nod to CollegeRecruiter.com

Evolve Additive Solutions is in the manufacturing and 3D printing space. They raised $19M from groups including LEGO and Black & Decker.

We create a new term, “urn tech”.

Omnia Fishing raised $1M and rather just be a “bait shop” they will be using technology to help anglers find the right lures for specific lakes.

TroutSpotr is the app we mentioned that debuted at MinneDemo a couple of years ago.

To make it easier to find Minnesota Recruiter Jobs I have added this post to stay at the top of this page to create short cuts to jobs posted below. (No need to scroll through filled positions)

Here are the current Minnesota Recruiter Jobs:

• Talent Acquisition Partner - Full Time Job - Marvin Windows And Doors

• Strategic Talent Sourcer - Full Time Job - Stratasys

• Talent Sourcing Specialist–Contract - Contract Job - Thomson Reuters

• Senior Sales Recruiter - Full Time Job - Anaplan

• Manager Of Recruiting - Full Time Job - Drip

• Talent Acquisition Partner - Full Time Job - Renewal by Andersen

• Talent Acquisition Specialist - Full Time Job - University of Minnesota

• Talent Acquisition Talent Intelligence Manager–Telecommute - Full Time Job - UnitedHealth Group

• Project Coordinator IV - Talent Management - Full Time Job - Medtronic

• Talent Acquisition Specialist - Full Time Job - Twin Cities Orthopedics

• Sr Corporate Recruiter - Full Time Job - Schwan’s

• Sr. Technical Recruiter - Full Time Job - UnitedHealth Group / Rally Health

• Campus Recruiter Senior Associate - Full Time Job - Ernst & Young

How to post a job (it’s free)?

Send the content (preferably in Word) along with a link or email for folks to apply to paul@mnheadhunter.com

And check out Midwest Recruiting Bootcamp for recruiting and hiring manager conferences and conversations about recruiting in and to Minneapolis/St Paul, Minnesota and the Midwest:

If you are using a RSS Feed click Minnesota Recruiter Jobs.

Click Minnesota Headhunter for current blog posts and Minneapolis Tech Jobs for Minnesota IT searches I am working on.

Stay in touch with me by clicking:

Since my post a few weeks ago, Twin Cities Startup Week 2018 Calendar And 10 Tips To Doing Startup Week, I’ve had a number of follow up questions about how to network and make new friends during Twin Cities Startup Week. I have two opposing hats I wear when talking about this… I am an introvert (stand on the sideline, observe and find quiet space) and a recruiter (be in the middle of the action and talk to people).

Events, networking and making conversation is not just an issue for us Introverts. For those new to the tech community or Minneapolis/St Paul, new to their career or don’t know anyone attending… events and/or weeks like this can be intimidating.

What follows is a “guide” of how to do an event and/or the week:

• Start following the Twitter hashtags #TCSW and #TCSW18. A LOT of information sharing is going on. Follow those who you are not already following. Next step, engage with a comment or tip of your own.

• When at an event, take a photo of something: the panel, crowd, view out the window, architecture of the building, you and your friends, heck… a selfie works too. Now Tweet it out and if an appropriate picture post it on LinkedIn too. And add the hashtags.

• Post something on Twitter and LinkedIn about how you are looking forward to being at MinneDemo (any event) and seeing a particular person, topic, etc.

• Follow every speaker on Twitter.

• Send a note to those who are speaking/presenting (before or after) introducing yourself, who you are, what you do and thanking them for putting themselves out there.

• If you’re going to an event find a group of people (small or large) and merge your way in. Be quiet and listen. Say hello. Jump in if you can contribute. Don’t stand by yourself.

• If you’re going to an event and the previous seems too forward, find someone who is standing by themselves, walk up and say hello. Awkward? Hell yes. You already were feeling that way not knowing someone and so were they. Be awkward together. Yes I am being serious.

• If you’re one of the hubs of the tech community, you know a lot of people, bring others into your conversations.

• Always sit next to someone. Don’t do the “every other seat” thing.

• Business cards… pass them out. All of them.

• If you feel lost, ask for directions.

• If you see someone looking lost, ask if you can help.

For one hour, one day or one week say to yourself, “F*** It, I am going to live outside my comfort zone.”

Please…  don’t let this week go by without making new friends.

Click Minnesota Headhunter for current blog posts and Minneapolis Tech Jobs for Minnesota IT jobs I am working on.

Stay in touch with me by clicking:

Oh, how I like lists… particularly when something I am fond of is on one. This one is from Forbes and Revolution. They list the Top 10 Rising Cities for Startups and Minneapolis – St. Paul is on it. Being a “homer” I think we are better than #9 but I’ll get over it. I have been saying for a long time that I do not think this region needs to be compared to Seattle, Bay Area, Boston or New York City. We do want and need to be at the top of the next list… the Tier II cities. And we need to stay at #1 or #2 in the Midwest with Chicago.

To get to the “rising cities” Forbes took out the top 10 cities that brought in the most VC funding the past three years: San Francisco, New York, Boston, San Jose, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Austin. They then took the next 30 largest cities and used 13 metrics: costs (business and living), education levels, college presence, entrepreneurship rates, working-age population growth and venture capital investments (density, total number, dollar value and growth).

That data gives the following ranking:

• Columbus, Ohio

• St. Louis

• Atlanta

• Denver

• Baltimore

• Cincinnati

• Portland, Oregon

• Philadelphia

• Minneapolis-St. Paul

• Charlotte, North Carolina

The data specific to Minneapolis-St. Paul

• Major VC Deals: Bright Health, CVRx, Relievant Medsystems
• 3-year Deal Count: 284 
• Cost of Doing Business: 2% above the national average

The annual Twin Cities Startup Week allows entrepreneurs to reach investors, customers and future employees. Innovation is strong on food and agriculture with food giants Cargill, General Mills, Hormel and Land O’Lakes all based in the area.

Our 3-year deal count is 4th highest on the list and of course I am happy to see a nod to Twin Cities Startup Week. I would like to see the cities ranked by each of the metrics… I’m nerdy when it comes to these things.

Click Minnesota Headhunter for current blog posts and Minneapolis Tech Jobs for Minnesota IT jobs I am working on.

Stay in touch with me by clicking:

I had what started as an intense conversation with a Software Manager this morning and I am writing this quick so I don’t forget some of the things we spoke about.

Short version is that “Software Manager” is disappointed that the average length of time on their team right now is 3 years 7 months. And I was thinking… that sounds OK to me.

So we dug into a few of the scenarios they have experienced and I gave my thoughts about them. Note… I know a lot of managers who would like these problems.

Scenario #1

“Senior Developer” had been with the company for 7 years. They started as a mid level developer and moved quickly into a senior role. They also started doing some speaking at local and regional events doing tech talks and as an unofficial evangelist for the company. They left because their career path was not going to change much and they were motivated to one day get into senior leadership. They did an active job search, a brilliant one at that, and landed a remote job with a huge group in the Bay Area.

• A bummer sure but this is also a success story. That someone did a lot of growing and loved talking about the company is a cool thing. My response… who’s next?

Scenario #2

“Junior Developer” who was frustrated a bit lot by not having a mentor took a new job. Before leaving they wrote up some ideas on how the company could better onboard and train up junior developers. Before leaving they gave 2 referrals for open roles in the company.

• Another bummer but a learned lesson on building a team. And that “Junior Developer” still liked the company enough to suggest team members, that’s a win.

Scenario #3

“Senior Developer” had been with the company for 3 years and left to become an entrepreneur. “Senior Developer” had been working on something, not competitive to the company, and found a couple of people to work on it with them. The company has a generous PTO policy and there is work/life balance so the work was done on nights and weekends. They had a few beta clients and received a small amount of funding. They gave an 8 week notice. 8 weeks!!! And they sat in on the interview process and had a successful replacement with time to transition over.

• I think this a win. You can talk about that in future interviews that work/life balance and PTO allowed someone to go out on their own.

The following have been added to the Minnesota IT Jobs page:

• Solution Architect - Full Time Job - Taylor Corporation

• Chief Information Officer - Full Time Job - Taylor Corporation

• Full Stack Software Engineer - Java - Full Time Job - Conservis

• Software Engineer - ReactJS - Full Time Job - Structural

• Android Engineer - Full Time Job - Foodsby

• Full Stack Software Engineer - Full Time Job - Foodsby

• Business Intelligence and Data Insights Developer - Full Time Job - Evereve

• e-Commerce Developer - Full Time Job - Evereve

Click Minnesota Headhunter for current blog posts and Minneapolis Tech Jobs for Minnesota IT jobs I am working on.

Stay in touch with me by clicking:

Some bummer news last week as Wells Fargo and Regis Corp announced layoffs on the same day.

First the small one… the Regis Corp situation was reported by the Minneapolis StarTribune saying that 75 corporate workers have been impacted including 15 in IT. Regis has been restructuring a bit including a sale of some mall based salons. Click Regis cuts several dozen headquarters staff.

The big one… Wells Fargo (who used to be headquartered in Minneapolis with an ongoing significant presence of around 20,000 workers in Minnesota in banking, mortgage services and investing) announced a 10% reduction over the next three years. Wells Fargo has around 265,000 employees in total so 10% being 26,500… that’s A LOT of people. CNBC has Wells Fargo is going backward with thousands of job cuts as JP Morgan and other banks boom showing how what is going on at Wells Fargo, and why, is not going on at other banks.

The Portland Business Journal did a Q&A with Tim Sloan, CEO, EXCLUSIVE: Wells Fargo CEO talks cuts, calls reports of his pending departure 'just not true' on the day of the announcement and here is one item regarding the layoff:

“The bank this morning announced it would reduce headcount by 5-10 percent. Why?”

Given the transformation going on in the economy and going on in financial services — somewhat driven by technology — as we provide more technology to our consumers to help them self-service, we're going to need a few less people. Likewise as we've transformed the company we've centralized a fair number of activities. Whenever you do that you tend to have a bit of an overlap from a team member standpoint.

What I commented to the team is that, over the next three years, it's likely we'll have 5-10 percent less team members. It's not layoffs of 5-10 percent. It could be through attrition. Some of it will be displacement. I just wanted to make sure folks appreciated the likely scenario is we're going to have fewer people working at Wells Fargo even though we're going to continue to grow.

A couple of months ago the MSP Business Journal had Wells Fargo lays off 130 Twin Cities employees.

While the economy in general is doing well enough this is (and I say this all the time) another reminder that everyone needs to be managing their career, ongoing education and networking.

Click Minnesota Headhunter for current blog posts and Minneapolis Tech Jobs for Minnesota IT jobs I am working on.

Stay in touch with me by clicking:

The following have been added to the Minnesota Recruiter Jobs page by Minnesota employers:

• Financial Advisor Recruiter - Full Time Job - RBC

• Recruiter - Full Time Job - Mayo Clinic

• Recruitment Specialist - Full Time Job - Field Nation

• Recruiter - Full Time Job - MOBE

• Talent Acquisition Business Partner - Full Time Job - Radisson Hotel Group

• Lead Executive Recruiter–Campus - Full Time Job - Target

• Seasonal Campus Recruiting Coordinator - Full Time Job - KPMG

• Recruiting Coordinator - Full Time Job - Walker Methodist

• Recruiter - Full Time Job - 3M

• Talent Acquisition Specialist - Full Time Job - Tactile Medical

• Sr Recruiter - Full Time Job - Target

• Talent Acquisition Specialist - Full Time Job - Walker Methodist

• Recruitment Coordinator - Full Time Job - Lyman Lumber

How to post a job (it’s free)?

Send the content (preferably in Word) along with a link or email for folks to apply to paul@mnheadhunter.com

And check out Midwest Recruiting Bootcamp for recruiting and hiring manager conferences and conversations about recruiting in and to Minneapolis/St Paul, Minnesota and the Midwest:

If you are using a RSS Feed click Minnesota Recruiter Jobs.

Click Minnesota Headhunter for current blog posts and Minneapolis Tech Jobs for Minnesota IT searches I am working on.

Stay in touch with me by clicking:

The following have been added to the Minnesota Recruiter Jobs page by Minnesota employers:

• Talent Acquisition Manager - Full Time Job - CHS

• Sr. Talent Management Specialist - Full Time Job - Polaris Industries

• Senior IT Recruiter - Full Time Job - C.H. Robinson

• Senior Technical Talent Acquisition Partner - Full Time Job - Code42

• Talent Acquisition Partner - Full Time Job - UnitedHealth Group

• Recruitment Coordinator - Full Time Job - Prime Therapeutics

• Sales Talent Acquisition Specialist - Full Time Job - Boston Scientific

• Recruiter - Full Time Job - Starkey Hearing Technologies

• Talent Acquisition Specialist - Full Time Job - Alarm.com

• Recruiter - Full Time Job - Ameriprise Financial

• Talent Acquisition Coordinator - Full Time Job - Smiths Medical

How to post a job (it’s free)?

Send the content (preferably in Word) along with a link or email for folks to apply to paul@mnheadhunter.com

And check out Midwest Recruiting Bootcamp for recruiting and hiring manager conferences and conversations about recruiting in and to Minneapolis/St Paul, Minnesota and the Midwest:

If you are using a RSS Feed click Minnesota Recruiter Jobs.

Click Minnesota Headhunter for current blog posts and Minneapolis Tech Jobs for Minnesota IT searches I am working on.

Stay in touch with me by clicking:

It’s Sunday morning and after catching up on college football and the political shows and before putting the Vikings on mute and starting outdoor activities… I turn my attention to 2 weekly newsletters that pop into my inbox on the weekend.

Donnie Berkholz bio includes VP, IT Service Delivery at Carlson Wagonlit Travel and Program Chair, Open Source Summit (Linux Foundation). He is a previous Analyst at RedMonk. He’s well known in the DevOps space and for those of us in Minneapolis and St Paul… we get to see him a lot in the tech scene.

Donnie sends out his newsletter Friday afternoon. It’s a mix of tech news and trends. To subscribe and see previous issues click Donnie Birkholz Newsletter.

You can find more about Donnie by clicking:

• dberkholz.com

• @dberkholz

• LinkedIn

Jamie Thingelstad bio includes CTO at SPS Commerce and Board Member of Minnestar. He’s been a solid supporter of the Minneapolis and St Paul tech scene and someone I always seek out at events.

Jamie sends out his newsletter on Saturday morning. It’s a bunch of tech news, links and photos. To subscribe and see previous issues click Weekly Thing.

You can find more about Jamie by clicking:

• thingelstad.com

• @thingles

• LinkedIn

Click Minnesota Headhunter for current blog posts and Minneapolis Tech Jobs for Minnesota IT jobs I am working on.

Stay in touch with me by clicking:

Target put out a press release yesterday that grabbed A LOT of attention… here are the highlights and then the full press release below:

• Starting with the big number adding 120,000 seasonal workers. That’s a 20% increase over last year.

• Beyond that they are offering additional hours to current team members.

• All team members will begin at a minimum of $12 an hour.

• All stores will have a job fair Oct 12-14… click TargetSeasonalJobs.com

• There a bunch of additional discounts and benefits included

Press Release:

Target to Hire 120,000 Seasonal Team Members and Offer Extra Hours to Existing Teams This Holiday

MINNEAPOLIS - September 13, 2018

Hires to begin at $12 per hour minimum wage; retailer introduces holiday team member appreciation program

Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) announced today plans to hire approximately 120,000 seasonal team members across the country for the upcoming holiday season, a 20 percent increase over last year’s hiring commitment. In addition, the company will continue to offer extra hours to current team members to accommodate their interest and availability. The announcement is a continuation of the company’s investment in team members that includes increased hourly wages, benefits and discounts, and meaningful opportunities to build experience and skills. Seasonal team members are an integral part of Target’s efforts to ensure its 1,839 stores provide guests with a fun and easy holiday shopping experience.

Episode #22 starts with Kathy and Casey jump in on recent funding announcements starting with Foodsby. Casey talks about why this investment is significant.

We move on to Zipnosis (former client) and their funding and the odds of something larger on the horizon.

Sansoro Health round of funding gets us into the weeds talking about how many, many groups gave tried to figure out how to get all the different health systems and their technologies to talk to each other. And I ask if anyone will fix this in my lifetime.

Casey and I spend a lot of time on a conversation he had with a founder of a Minneapolis startup about how long it would take them hire a CTO. We go on a tangent into what is the hardest tech skill to find in town right now and I went with Big Data. The most out of whack in terms of demand and supply of skilled professionals. We come back to the question Casey was asked and I walk through how long it might take and came up with a minimum of six weeks. And that’s if everything goes easy and fast.

We go on a bit more talking about creating short lists of candidates for senior roles that are created over time and through casual conversations. I then rant a bit about using search firms. Yes… there is some irony in this. I think using a search firm for a CTO, VP Marketing or Director of Product can make sense. I don’t think it does for hiring Developers. You’ll burn through too much cash on fees.

GO TO EVENTS AND CHAT WITH PEOPLE!!!

Casey mentions SDR’s and BDR’s (Business Development Rep’s) as being out of whack for B2B startups. And finding a Growth Hacker or Head of Growth is difficult to do.

Kathy brings up her conversation with Dean Hager from Jamf on why they did not go the IPO route. She also mentions Ability Network.

We talk about other groups on the potential IPO list.

We quickly mention FlipGrid and ilos Videos is now VidGrid. Yes… similar company names and not the same company.

Last week after posting Twin Cities Startup Week 2018 Calendar And 10 Tips To Doing Startup Week I was asked what else is going on this fall. I had posted the Minnesota Recruiter and HR events here => Minnesota Recruiter And HR Events–Fall 2018. So this a list of Minneapolis and St Paul tech (and related) events. NOTE: this is likely not a complete list so leave a comment on what I am missing so I can update this:

• Sep 17: Great North Labs Startup Ecosystem Kickoff

• Sep 22-23: Code Switch

• Oct 7-13 Twin Cities Startup Week

• Oct 8: Minnesota Cup

• Oct 8: Techstars Farm to Fork Demo Day

• Oct 9: Beta.MN Showcase

• Oct 10: Techstars Retail Demo Day

• Oct 11: Minnedemo

• Oct 8-11: MANOVA Summit

• Oct 8-12: Food | Ag | Ideas Week

• Oct 11-13: Blacks in Technology National Conference

• Oct 12: MinneFAIR: Careers in Data Day

• Oct 18-20: WE18

• Oct 27: IoT Hackday 2018

• Oct 29: MIMA Summit 2018

• Oct 29: Minnedemo: Back To Campus

• Nov 7: Minnesota Venture Conference

• Nov 29: Tekne Awards

Think that’s a lot? Those are just the “big” ones. Two places to get more events are

• Tech.MN – a collection of most of the Minneapolis and St Paul user groups, meetups, etc.
• MinneInno – a collection of tech and business events

Yes… it is going to be a busy Fall 2018.

Click Minnesota Headhunter for current blog posts and Minneapolis Tech Jobs for Minnesota IT jobs I am working on.

Stay in touch with me by clicking:

The following have been added to the Minnesota Recruiter Jobs page by Minnesota employers:

• HR Coordinator - Full Time Job - Restaurant Technologies

• Temporary Sourcing Specialist - Contract Job - Andersen Corporation

• Seasonal Staffing Coordinator - Full Time Job - Amazon

• Senior Recruiter - Full Time Job - Merrill Corporation

• Senior Recruiter - Full Time Job - Donaldson Company

• Event Recruitment - Full Time Job - HealthFitness

• Talent Acquisition Partner - Full Time Job - Stratasys

• Talent Acquisition Specialist - Full Time Job - Foresters Financial

• Technical Sourcer - Full Time Job - Drip

• Recruiter - Full Time Job - Walser Automotive Group

• Corporate Recruiter - Full Time Job - Ziegler CAT

• Technical Recruiter - Full Time Job - SmartThings

• Talent Acquisition Specialist - Full Time Job - Bright Health

• Corporate Recruiter - Contract To Hire Job - Trimble

How to post a job (it’s free)?

Send the content (preferably in Word) along with a link or email for folks to apply to paul@mnheadhunter.com

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