StlRecruiting

LinkedIn Training for Recruiters October 23

Thursday, October 23rd 7:30 AM

LinkedIn: The World’s Database

MAPSS is thrilled to be able to present a LinkedIn training presentation by leading Social Media Recruiter and Speaker, Jim Durbin.

Jim Durbin is a veteran recruiter specializing in Social Media.  He is an experienced expert in using social media to hire premier candidates. In this 90 minute presentation, Jim demonstrates a step by step walk-through of how to use LinkedIn to source, connect and hire candidates.  If you want to see how effective Jim is at social marketing and SEO, Google “Jim Durbin Recruiter”!

LinkedIn is increasingly becoming the social network of choice for businesses and passive job-hunters.  In an age where e-mail and voicemail can easily be avoided, LinkedIn represents a new and exciting channel that many candidates prefer to use as an initial contact with recruiters. 

The Social Media Headhunter Series is a DVD training regimen based on live walkthroughs of social media tools.  Training is broken into easily understood chapters. 

Video playback by chapter allows for quick review of key points, giving the recruiter access to the information they most need.

Chapters for LinkedIn: The World's Database include:

1) Introduction to LinkedIn
2) Sourcing For Candidates
3) Connecting With Prospects: Messages That Work
4) Checking References Inside LinkedIn
5) LinkedIn Tools and Packages
6) The Salesman's Guide To LinkedIn
7) Do's And Don’ts Review
8) LinkedIn Marketing

LinkedIn has the potential to be a game changer in the recruiting field.  While most recruiters have signed up for LinkedIn, very few are using the site to hire more people.  Learn from one of the few trainers that runs a desk every day. 

The meeting will be at Doubletree Hotel and Conference Center (click for map).  There is ample free parking. Networking starts at 7:30 AM including a Continental breakfast and the program starts at 8:00 AM.  The program will last 60-90 minutes, followed by a question and answer session, ending at 10:00 AM.

The cost including the LinkedIn DVD is $125.00 for MAPSS members and $150.00 for non-members.  M Firms must buy a minimum of one DVD ticket.  Additional attendees from a MAPSS member firm will be $50.00/person and $75.00/person for non members, without the DVD. Individual attendees must pay at the level including the LinkedIn DVD. Additional copies of the DVD will also be available.

We suggest you take a moment to register now.  This program will sell out and seating is limited!  www.MAPSS.net

St Louis Gas Shortages

I spoke with a gas station owner this morning who told me to fill up, as we should see some gas outages over the next 5 days in St Louis.  We've already experienced this at the QuikTrips (the cheapest gas), as people hurry to fill up their tanks.

Some things to keep in mind.

1) This is temporary.  5 days without gas is not an emergency.
2) Reduce demand by not driving or putting off errands a few days.  If everyone fills up, we'll run out of gas, and then what do you do when an ambulance or fire truck needs gas?
3) Don't complain about high prices.  This is how a shortage works.  If you want lower prices, vote for politicians who actually are willing to do something about gas prices, instead of promising you sunshine and rainbows to fill your tanks.

Dont' write nasty things about gas companies or politicians in my comments unless they're intelligent comments.  I'll mock anyone who rants and doesn't understand basic economics.

Interplay St Louis

The St Louis Blogger's Guild has been hard at work, putting together panels on web technology and social media for their event September 19th and 20th.  Interplay is a mix of music and interactive, and is going to be held in the loop.

Here's a list of some of the panels - which include St Louis Notables like Bill Streeter, Todd Jordan, Matt Homann, and Dana Loesch. 

The conference is here at http://www.playstlfest.com/, but be warned, as every page opens with music.  To cut the music, click on the pause button on the player.

If you are a local blogger, I'd strongly suggest showing up and meeting friends.  One of the best ways to improve your blogging is to take it offline.  And we expect to see a lot of pictures.

Karen Goodman: RealEstateInfoStl and St Louis Realty Blogging

The following is an interview with Karen Goodman, a real estate agent in St Louis whose taken to blogging.  Her site is RealEstateInfoStl.com

1) How long have you been blogging?  What got you started?

Last July I switched real estate brokers from one that provided me with all of my clients to a traditional real estate brokerage. With the change, I knew it would be necessary for me to start marketing my services to build my business. I wanted to do more than simply send out announcements to my sphere of influence, and I had no desire to knock on doors of FSBO sellers trying to convince them to work with me. From the start, I knew I would need to set up a website. I honestly had no idea what a blog was and how it could be used to market my services. I had heard the term thrown around on TV newscasts, but had never read one.

My website provider, Point 2, includes a blog that is integrated into the website. As I learned more about blogs, I knew that it was a perfect fit for me. I’ve always enjoyed writing, and helping people learn about their options is important to me.  I knew that writing a blog would be a perfect opportunity to provide information to my clients and potential clients, and to show them how I do business. I launched my website in November, and wrote my first blog post a couple of weeks later.

2) Do you get many leads from what you write? 

I don’t have any hard numbers on how many of my clients have come from the blog yet. I do know that several clients have commented that they spent some time on my website and blog before they decided to use me, and that they were impressed with what they found there. Three of my recent home buyers found me after seeing an online ad for one of my listings, then clicking through to my website and spending some time there. All of them were relocating to St. Louis, and relied on the internet to help them choose an agent.

3) What do you try to focus on?  Do you write for business, or do you write because it's enjoyable?

My blog is definitely a business blog, and I’m writing it to build my real estate business. My goal is to provide a resource for my clients and for potential clients. I’m trying to reach the people I meet through my other marketing efforts and those referred to me from friends and former clients. I want to have a place that these people can read up on real estate issues and learn about how I do business. I hope that if they are on the fence about making a decision on who to use for a buyer’s agent, they’ll read my posts and decide to give me a shot.

For now, I’m not really trying to capture all the search engine traffic. As much as I’d love to have tons of people reading my blog, I know that my focus on real estate issues and St. Louis market conditions will have limited appeal. But I will admit that it is fun to check out the search terms that people are using to find my site, and to discover that I’m number one on Yahoo’s search for ‘st louis homes for sale’.

Oh, and I do love writing. I’ve never really had an outlet before for my writing so it’s been a lot of fun.

Mark Berger Profiled At Extreme Recruiting

I'm constantly amazed at just how much staffing talent is in St. Louis.  We're a hub of recruiting gurus, from Paul Hawkinson to, uh, Jim Durbin (heh) to Mark Berger.

No seriously, St Louis has a lot of recognized specialists in this industry, and one, the above referenced Mark Berger, is profiled at Bill Vick's Extreme Recruiting TV today.

Look for me on Extreme Recruiting TV in June.

Using Blogs To Promote Your Book

The St Louis Publishers' Association is bringing in David Strom from the Strominator to talk about how author can use blogs to promote their books.

It's at the lodge in Des Peres at 6:30 on May 14th.  An excerpt from their site:

A blog is the fastest way to set up your Web site and the easiest method to get the word out about your book and yourself as an author. In this hands-on session, Internet author and professional speaker David Strom will show you how to set up, maintain, and flog your blog for little or no cost. He'll discuss the things that you can do to make your blog more popular in Google searches, without having to hire a "search optimization expert".

We've had a few clients in this arena, but the cost of hiring a professional usually far outweighs what an individual author is willing to do, or what a publisher is willing to pay.  That said, it's crazy for an author not to be online in some capacity, and a blog is the easiest to manage, and most SEO effective way of getting your name out in front of the masses.

It's an excellent chance to learn, but remember this - it's easy to get started, but blogs don't magically bring results.  You have to put yourself out there, and that means more than just writing.  Blogging is about interacting with your community, so if all you want to do is flog your book, chances are you're not going to get far.  If you want to build and communicate with a fan base, blogs are the best, and the cheapest way to do so.

St Louis Small Business Seminar

I was checking Twitter a few weeks ago, and came upon a curious message.  A fellow social media consultant was heading home on a commute, and gave out his cell phone number if someone wanted to call him. I thought so much of the approach that I picked up the phone and rang Shashi Bellamkonda, a consultant with Network Solutions.

Talk about a small world. Shashi had just finished working with Rob Neelbauer, the owner of JobMatchbox, and knew fellow St Louisans Todd Jordan and Susan Isk.

My conversation with Shashi lasted about thirty minutes, and we talked about setting up a small business seminar in St Louis this June or July.

The idea is to have a evening networking event for St Louis Small Business and blogger/twitter community. We have an hour of networking and an hour of a keynote speech. The best way to this would be to bring in the local business journal, the local paper, the regional chamber, and maybe even several large companies from St. Louis.

Shashi's company has a local presence (they purchased Monster Commerce in Belleville a few years ago), and their latest push is turnkey websites for small business.  If you're interested in helping set this up, or have ideas for spaces to meet (especially if you already have a place to meet), drop me a line in the comments or on e-mail.   Our goal is to get small business owners and vendors together in downtown St. Louis this summer. 

St Louis Product Management Group Wiki

Jeff Lash and I were talking the other day about software / tech / web companies in St. Louis and realized that there isn't a great list of these type of companies. Jeff is helping coordinate the St. Louis Product Management Group of like-minded folks and trying to find local companies which might have product managers.

We're not interested big companies (e.g. Microsoft) who have offices in St. Louis, nor companies who have big IT shops doing internal application development (e.g. Edward Jones), nor companies who do software / tech / web consulting (e.g. Perficient).  There's nothing wrong with those companies, but we're looking for something different.

Really, it's about companies based in St. Louis -- or which have a significant amount of product development staff here -- which are building software and products which are their business. We've got a few already, though if you work for one or know of any, please post in the comments below. Or, if you know of a place where such a list exists, post that too.

Sales Trainer In St Louis

A few jobs back, I sat down with my boss for an evaluation, and he told me that he thought I could use some sales training and that he would pay for it.

It infuriated me.  It wasn't the idea of training - it was the idea that he thought I had no formal process, and was just winging it.  Needless to say, our ability to work together was a key reason I'm no longer with the company, but I found it out that I bristled at the mere suggestion that I needed sales training.

It's not that I hadn't gone through it before. I've take over a dozen courses and seminars on sales process, and to be honest, most of the time I felt like I could have accomplished more back at the office on the phone.  Of course, I was young and invulnerable back then - and brute force worked a lot better than it does today when cold-calling.  Not to mention that when you're a commodity (as most salespeople are), you don't care as much about your reputation as you do when you run your own business.

So I'm curious.  In St Louis, what's the best sales training one can take?  Is there an individual who can help you benchmark your processes,  create a plan for your industry, and most important, convince your staff that this is an important part of their employment, and not just a notch in the HR file for the day you don't make quota?

Who offers the best sales training in Saint Louis?  Have you taken the courses?  In what industry?  I'd like to hear from you at jdurbin@durbinmedia.com or in the comments (although comment spam will be deleted).

Referring A Website To Someone With SQL Database Experience

I just spoke with a possible client that needs a website.  The website is primarily used by clients to update information, and the forms are all attached to a big SQL database.  We can handle the design and the copywriting, but we're not as comfortable working with the database.

They're going to need someone who can get in there and determine if they can the site running, or if they need to rebuild everything.  There's going to be ongoing maintenance, as they often have changes.

If you are or your company are experts in this field, and you're the kind of people I would like, please contact me and we'll put you in touch with the client.  jdurbin@durbinmedia.com

Working To Improve The St Louis MarketPlace

I had an interesting conversation with some people from the RCGA today. There is a project they are working on called GreaterStLouisWorks.org, which is designed to bring together companies, government, colleges, and high schools to work on promoting and recognizing the St Louis region for its success in attracting and retaining IT talent.

We may not be as flashy as Austin, Seattle, or Silicon Valley, but St Louis has been a growth city for IT for some time, largely the result of our educated workforce and our reasonable standard of living.$120K salaries sound great until you have to buy a house that starts at $1,000,000. Thus, St Louis looks very good for those looking to raise a family or just have a home with a yard.

Citigroup, Mastercard, Enterprise, Anheuser-Busch, Monsanto, AGEdwards (now Wachovia), Edward Jones, Express-Scripts, Maritz, and AT&T all have large IT support staffs that fit much better in a Midwest mentality than a coastal one.  The challenge, is the same as it is everywhere in the US.  We just aren't good at hiring.

So while speaking to the RCGA, my mind started going in several directions on local efforts to improve employee-candidate communication.  The success of StlRecruiting has largely been the success of Jim Durbin and Durbin Media Group.   What happens if we can take this site, and turn it into more of a social networking site for the region?  I mapped in my head a strategy to build clusters of candidates around certain industries.  Imagine being a recruiter able to fish in a talent pool of all of the local talent in a particular discipline (Java programmers, business analysts, product managers, etc.).   I know how to make this happen - I've done it on a national level before, and have been working on local versions for the last two years.

The question comes down to, as it always does, Time and Money.  Given six months, I could change the face of Information Technology hiring in St Louis.  But who would put food on the table for my family while I did that?  Companies might be interested in sponsoring something like this, but the return on investment would be region-wide, and thus any company contributing dollars and or publicity is giving a free ride to companies who aren't involved.

Building social networks around local areas is my version of local recruiting blogging on steroids.  The only question is whether another city (or someone else locally), beats me to it.  Maybe I'll go check those Powerball numbers.

Poll On Webinars

I'm thinking about doing some more paid webinars, local to St Louis.  I built a quiz for you, so if you have a few moments, I'd like to know what you think.  If you are a St Louis recruiter (or a recruiter interested in hearing about my webinars), please start the quiz. 

Hanging Out At The Social Media Club St Louis

The Social Media Club is meeting here at Kaldi's in Kirkwood.  So far we've covered Utterz, Jot, Seismic (sp), Twitter, and of course the different blogs. Below is a list of the people who were there.

Jim Durbin:  Brandstorming.com (me)
Franki Durbin:  Life In A Venti Cup
Tanner Hobin: TannerHobin
Andrew Nagy:  Andrewofnagy.net
Kurt Greenbaum - stltoday.com/vstl
Kristen Munson - socialmediamom.com
Justin Schmidt - justinspeak.com
Lisa Young - jedimom.net
Melody Cissell - news-bitch.com
Todd Jordan - toddjordan.wordpress.com
Reem Abeidoh - www.reemabeidoh.com
Don Krutewicz - donkrutewicz
Angeline Soon - twitter.com/s00nami
Ryan Suther
Howard McAuliffe- StlDevelops.com

Also check out the new site, MidwestBlogs.

Will A Recession Impact The Talent War?

As salaries rise and the difficulty of finding new employees increases, I have a feeling some managers are actually looking forward to a recession.  Maybe not consciously, but the last recession gave companies reasons to rein back on information technology salaries, and brought some sanity back to the hiring process.

Of course, many companies took their cuts and pay cuts too far, but that's a management issue, not a structural one.  When your employees are able to demand $10,000 and $20,000 raises, or when you see people leave taking jobs for twice what you pay them, it's only natural to hope for some wage relief.

Like a thunderstorm that cools off a hot summer afternoon, a brief deluge can give you some breathing room in your budget.  There's just one problem.

There's no rain in sight.

According to the Hodes QTrac blog, demographics and the skills needed aren't going to be favorable for companies if there is indeed a recession.

It’s also important to remember that as unemployment data hits the market, it doesn’t represent the “educated” workforce (Bachelor’s degree and above) but overall unemployment. So BLS reports overall unemployment is at 4.7%, but “educated” workforce unemployment is less than 3%.

While most HR/staffing professionals may hope a mild recession will help with labor shortages, they need to realize that the labor deficit is a demographic structural problem, not an economic cyclical problem.

The truth is there are more jobs available then there are candidates, and even the rise unemployment affects mainly low-skilled workers.  College-educated unemployment is at 3%, easily below the structural unemployment rate known as full employment, and that means that even massive layoffs at your competitor aren't going to help you that much.

The good news is that jobs are out there.  If you're a job-seeker that is struggling, that means the key to employment is doing a better job search.  The bad news is that companies that try to profit from an economic slowdown are going to find there's very little reward in squeezing wages or recruiting. 

St Louis Product Manager Site

A group of local product managers, headed by the estimable Jeff Lash of Good Product Manager, have formed a group to help network product managers in St Louis.

It's a good place to learn more from other experts, and can be found at STLPM.org.  From their website:

The St. Louis Product Management Group exists to promote the practice of product management within the St. Louis community; to help product managers and others involved in product development to grow their knowledge and skills; to share experiences and best practices; to help those interested in product management to improve their effectiveness, and to assist those interested in becoming a product manager.

And yes, the site is powered by a blog.  The first meeting is February 13th at the Savvis Center.

Interactive Marketing Employeer Marketplace

I've been in social media marketing for over two years now (which again makes me a relative grandpa), and after a lively conversation with a candidate yesterday, I often wonder if I should be working to place these people.

From Web Analytics Managers, to SEO specialists, to Database Marketers, E-mail List Consultants, Community Managers, and even humble (and not so humble) bloggers, corporate America, and the agencies that serve them, are struggling for talent.

Wired and Hired, a Talent Zoo blog that cover marketing jobs for the candidates, is saying it's s candidate's market right now in advertising.  In this post, Amanda begs her clients to do a better job selling themselves to her clients.

This means there are lots of unavailable creatives and very available job opportunities.

After searching, asking, analyzing and searching more, I find a great candidate for one of my available art director positions. They see value in my client’s job opportunity, we get through the initial stages of recruiting… and then there’s the interview.

Please, please learn to sell your agency to candidates.

This is a common problem for staffing firms, who go to the effort of finding passive or semi-passive candidates, and then have the deal fall apart when the company wants to assert its authority early in the hiring process.  From 2002-2004, this was more acceptable, as companies had the upper hand for most disciplines.  In the last three years, managers who don't show an interest in hiring bright people waste a lot of time interviewing candidates but failing to get them to accept the job offer.

It's not an easy answer.  If companies fall over themselves to recruit candidates, they look desperate, which leads to a weakened position in salary negotiations, and disgruntlement among current employees who wonder why the manager is so fawning to the new guy.  Managers went through that in the late 90's, and they aren't about to cede total control again.

So what can a company do?

Wachovia Securities In St Louis

Most of you know that Wachovia Securities purchased A.G. Edwards last year. The final branding has gone through, and the new company is officially Wachovia Securities.

What does that mean for the St Louis market?  First, Wachovia is adding 4500 jobs to their payrolls.  Now before you get too excited, most of those jobs will be filled by former AG Edwards employees internally, but there will be plenty of new positions and needs that have to be filled by people in St Louis.

There's also been a significant influx of employees from Virginia and Charlotte to St Louis, so if you meet people new to St Louis, be sure to greet them.

The news ties into a larger trend that should bode well for St Louis and the Midwest in general, even if are headed into a national recession (which I'm not sure I believe).  The large numbers of technology centers by major companies in St Louis requires a large workforce of highly skilled and highly payed Information Technology folks. The RCGA has been working on this for some time, and have a 50 page study on the matter. I'll be going through it in the month of February, but for those interested in peeking now, it's available for download at greaterstlouisworks.org.

The merger between AG Edwards and Wachovia Securities is underway, and with that comes the introduction of 4,500 jobs to the St. Louis market.  Most of these employees will be internal AG employees, but we do have quite a need for external candidates.  I am currently working on the HR positions we have available here at our St. Louis downtown location, and would be grateful for them to be posted on your blog, or sent to any candidates you know of that are looking for a new opportunity in the St. Louis area.

Body Worlds Review At The St Louis Science Center

Body Worlds, the anatomical exhibition of real human bodies, is winding up its display at the St Louis Science Center.  Franki and I got a pair of comp tickets for the review, and so we headed over to the Science Center last Friday.

We originally looked at going back in December, but the crowds on the weekends had been so heavy, we waited until we could take some time during the week.  The crowds were still there, but we were able to get in inside 30 minutes.

The first thing you should know is that these are real human bodies.  Donors agreed to have their bodies plastinized so that people like you and I could look at him, and understand more about how the human body works.  Plastination is a process  invented by Dr. Gunther von Hagens to preserve human bones and tissues, which then can be arranged to create aesthetically pleasing views of our insides.

The Science Center is of course a treat to take kids too in general, but the Body Worlds exhibit is a bit more than your typical scientific field trip.  You're looking at hearts, livers, muscles, bone fragments, and when you get past the visual display, there's the recognition that this sculpture in front of you was actually a person at some point.  That's a pretty trippy experience.

Delivering Pizza In Less Than 30 Minutes Is Dangerous

Trying something new here, this is video content from a site called VoxAnt.  It covers a story on the local pizza deliveryman who carried a gun and shot a would be robber.  In this case, the company, Domino's, says they would have fired their driver if he hadn't quit.

While the idea of anyone blazing away is certainly scary, it seems a mistake for Domino's to tell its drivers not to defend themselves.  By doing so, they are encouraging thieves to attack their drivers.  And the question, is will prospective employees work for Domino's knowing the company is more worried about being sued than letting you defend yourself.

Employment branding, of the negative kind.

Account Manager Opening

A local staffing recruiter (to St Louis) has an account manager position to fill.  His description:

Selling staffing services can be very lucrative if you have the good fortune to be in a true performance based compensation plan. Many Account Managers work 55-60 hours a week and barely earn 60k-70k per year. This is the equivalent of earning 40k per year with overtime. Aren't you worth more than that?

In my years of staffing recruiting, I have seen the very best to the very worst of compensation plans. Working for a company with a true performance based compensation plan can be the difference between earning 70k per year or 130k per year without increasing your sales effort. If you are interested in hearing about opportunities to earn substantially more by working smarter and not harder, contact me. I would love to discuss in detail.

If interested - shoot me an e-mail or resume or LinkedIn profile, and I'll pass you along to the recruiter.

Gateway Interactive Marketing Association Event

I'm on a panel in just about hour discussing the state of interactive employment in St Louis for the GIMA (Gateway Interactive Marketing Assocation) at Maggiano's at 7.  If you're returning from the event, and want to know about StlRecruiting.com, then you've come to the right place.

StlRecruiting.com is a local recruiting blog started in 2004 by Jim Durbin, who was then an account manager for a national technical staffing firm.  The blog has grown to over 4500 monthly unique visitors and 150 subscribers, and has been featured at staffing conferences across the country discussing the unique role of blogging and social media in online employment.

StlRecruiting exists to help local recruiters navigate the online world.  If you are a local recruiter, we'd love to interview you, talk about your company, and if we like you, even post a few jobs.  If we like you.

Jim Durbin and his wife, Franki, own Durbin Media Group, a social media marketing firm that specializes in blog consulting.  With clients on both coasts that represent Household names and exciting startups, Durbin Media Group is one of a handful of social media firms with real world experience and results-oriented marketing.

In addition to StlRecruiting.com, Jim and Franki blog at Brandstorming.com (the marketing blog), LifeInAVentiCup (Franki's Lifestyle blog), and a series of local blogs like KCRecruiting.com and SeattleRecruiting.com.

For more information, or to hire us, contact us here.

Current State of Interactive Employment Market

I'll be on a panel with several interactive marketing experts next Wednesday.  I qualify by dint of the fact that I'm on the panel. Actually, it's because I write this here website, which brought in over 53,000 uniques last year, and I write brandstorming, an interactive marketing blog that brings in over 25,000 uniques a year, and when you combine those two audiences, I fit the topic real well.

The flier, courtesy of Blast Companies, which oh by the way is writing it's own marketing blog, situationalmarketing.com

To succeed in today's competitive business environment, companies must recruit and hold onto quality professionals. For the employee, it is important that you stay on top of this ever-changing market place and focus on the increasing demands to stay competitive.
We'll discuss industry trends with recruiters and company/agency HR representatives, in addition to current salary averages and how St. Louis compares to national averages. You'll also learn how companies can find top-notch talent both in and out of the St. Louis market, and how employees can stay competitive and informed about the best opportunities.

Our panel of experts:

       • Melanie Kachevas, Human Resources Direct, Adamson Advertising
       • Chris X. Moloney, Chief Marketing Officer, Scottrade
       • Ryan McMullen, Account Manager,  Creative Group
       • James Durbin, Owner, stlrecruiting.com

Join us and interact with the fast-growing St. Louis interactive community!

When: Wednesday, Oct. 17, 6-9 p.m.

       • 6-7 Networking (drinks and heavy hor d’oeuvres)
       • 7-8 Presentation
       • 8-9 More networking

Where: Maggiano’s St. Louis,  #2 The Boulevard, Across from the Galleria, (314) 824-2410
RSVP today! Registration deadline is Monday, Oct. 15

       • If you have already registered on the GIMA web site, just click on Login in the upper right
         corner and then click on Events to RSVP.
       • If you have not registered, click on Register in the upper right corner.

No cost to you thanks to just one of our sponsors:  Wall Street Journal Digital.

Calling All St Louis Recruiters

I have a list of 700 names. It's a list of 700 or so contacts of recruiting type people here in St Louis. 

It's not complete.  Currently, about 100 a day are reading StlRecruiting.com, and another 150 are on the Feedburner subscription.  If I have not met you, I'd like to hear from you.  Either in an e-mail (over there on the right) or in a comment, please send me your name and blog, and I'll be sure to get back in touch with you.

Blogging without contact is just writing.  Here's a chance for the lurkers to say hello, and maybe get a little press for their blogs.  If you want to be confidential, I promise not to tell anyone if you contact me.

St Louis: More Than You Expect

St Louis has long had the reputation of being an insular town.  When I moved back in 2001 when my company closed down after the 9/11 attacks, it was difficult for me to adjust to the pace of business.

Some things I noticed about staffing, in particular, and business in general, in St Louis.

1) We're family friendly:  lots of people work 7:00, or 7:30 to 4:00 or 4:30 in St Louis.  Part of this might be working with the East Coast, but it's probably because this is when people drop their kids off and pick them up from daycare and school.  Consequently, you have to relearn your cold-calling schedules, and find people when they are in the office and ready to take calls.  No more 4:30 calls (a staple of my time in Los Angeles)

2) Contracts last longer:  It's an anomaly, but in St Louis, contract workers are on assignment, on average, for at least a year.  That's unheard of in most other cities.  My average in LA was 4 months, and so the pace of hiring is much slower here, as hiring a contractor means holding on to them for long periods of time.

3) Getting people to networking events is difficult to do:  This was a major frustration when I first got here, but it's really started to improve in the last two years.  Part of the reason is the influx of people from other cities who move here and crave networking, but couldn't find it among the natives.  Most business networking events I attend have significant percentages of non-native St Louisans, and as that number grows, so does the quality of the event.

This last piece is really the most important.  Our business, Durbin Media, focuses on social media marketing, a discipline that is just a few years old.  Consequently - most of our business has been outside of St Louis, both because the types of companies using social media are on the coasts, and the rates we charge are usually considered too high for the region.

Or at least that's what we've been telling ourselves.  I've had the privilege of meeting some very smart and successful people in St Louis.  Without fail, these people work on contracts outside the region, namely for reasons of price.  They don't believe St Louis pays well enough.  This is a problem with developers, marketers, and executives, and it's a primary reason so many people leave St Louis when they are young.

It's much easier to become a VP and make six figures outside of St Louis, and then move back (and lots of us move back in our 30's).

This was a convenient excuse for many years, but I've reached a point where I'm beginning to believe it's self-limiting to assume that St Louis really is several years behind the coasts.  I'm beginning to believe, that this is a myth, and one that has finally run its course.

So in my private conversations, I've started correcting friends of mine who complain about St Louis business.  The truth is that if our services can be sold outside St Louis, they can be sold inside St Louis, and for the same rate.  Any strategy or technology that works outside the region is going to work inside it.  And if there are truly less people who can do the work here, then we should be able to command the same kind of rates we get on the coast.

The problem, in St Louis, is not one of technology or money.  The problem, is one of networking.  Our talented knowledge workers spend so much time outside the city, we don't get a chance to network inside the city, and to a large extent, this prevents us from finding the business that keeps us off the road and home with our families.

I've gone on to long, so let me finish with this.  If you're interested in building a network of business contacts in St Louis - the best way to do so is to stay in St Louis.  It may take some work, but I promise you - there's more going on here than you realize.

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St Louis Job Posting

COBOL is back!  12-18 month contract position for a Senior COBOL developer in St Louis. Contact COMSYS today for more information

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St Louis Blog: The Patient Advocate

George Van Antwerp is a local St Louis blogger and technology executive who writes about healthcare.  His blog, the Patient Advocate, is a reasoned and well thought approach to information about the healthcare system.

One of his recent posts should fill you with dread.   George has extensive experience with how insurance works with drug prescriptions.  So when an error was made in eligibility for his son, he called the insurance company to correct it.

When I explained what happened, they informed me that prescriptions were a different eligibility file that they weren’t looking at.  (Like I should know to ask this.)

They then explained that my employer must have submitted the wrong paperwork.  I said that was impossible since I did the paperwork myself.  I also explained to the agent that since the managed care eligibility was right then it was a data entry issue on the pharmacy side for them.  She tried three times to tell me to talk with my employer.  (Only because I understand the process did I refuse.)

She finally went away for 20 minutes.  (I was sure she was just sitting there laughing at me.)  When she came back, she admitted that they had made an error and needed to fix the eligibility data.  Of course, it couldn’t be done tonight, but it could be done in the morning.

If I didn’t know how data was sent and the processes, I would have been chasing my tale with my employer and TPA for days.  I feel for all of you that don’t know these things.

Make sure you check George out and add him to your blogroll, if you're in St Louis, or into healthcare.

Where Did You Go To School?

It's a common joke/point of contention/useful social lubricant in St Louis to greet strangers with the question of where they went to school.  For those not native to the River City, this question is often perplexing, due mainly because the answer to the question is supposed to be what high school you went to.

That may seem quaint (and often annoying) to people from outside of St Louis, but it's a local question with a purpose. With one question, the questioner can determine your religion, socio-economic status and political beliefs.

How you answer the question matters as much as the question itself.  Your tone, your reaction, and your promptness in answering what high school you went to says volumes about who you are, even when the answer, is "out of state."

This piece should explain some of it.  St Louis is a town of neighborhoods.  It's always been that way. But for those nose in the air types from around the country, perhaps you ought to take a look at your own ways of branding strangers.

Los Angeles:  What's your area code? (and what kind of car do you drive).  Having a 626 phone number is like having a cold - no one wants to shake your hand until you've improved your situation.  310?  Nice.  818?  Ewww.

If you live further South, say in Orange County - you can tell where you live by how you answer.  Newport, Costa Mesa and you say Newport or Costa Mesa.  If it's Anaheim or Santa Ana, the correct answer is Orange County.

New York:  Are you a bridge and tunnel guy, or one of those yuppies in Greenwich?  When you say you live in NYC, do you mean Manhattan?  What number?  The 60's?  The 80's?   Are you in the Bronx or Brooklyn?

Tampa, Florida:  Tampa, or Clearwater?  Pinellas or St Pete, or Indian Rocks?  Brandon, or Hyde Park?

D.C.:  Republican or Democrat.  What kind of Republican?  Fiscal or Social?  Hawk or Religious?  Blue Dog or Union? 

The truth is that human beings label each other. In St Louis, for many years, they high school you went to was a convenient way of ascertaining what someone was like without coming out and saying, "How rich were your parents and do you like a Pope or a preacher?

Same questions as anywhere else, just a little less direct. 

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EmployeescreenIQ provides background checks to employers globally.

Telecommuting When Highway 40 Is Closed

SSE is sponsoring a seminar for small business on the challenges and logistics of telecommuting next Thursday, September 23.

Small Business Briefing: Telecommuting 101
 
Join us next Thursday and in 45 minutes you will learn what every small business owner needs to know to make informed decisions about telecommuting.
 
Hear first hand from St. Louis’ local computer and networking services expert, Vince Sechrest of SSE.  Sechrest was recently featured in the July 20 St. Louis Post-Dispatch article “Companies turn to telecommuting for Highway 40 blues.”
  
 Walk away with hands-on information to:
 
 · Determine if telecommuting is right for your organization
 · Assess the technical options available
 · Understand the security risks and how to protect your data
 · Create a plan of action
  
Date: August 23, 2007
Time: 8:30 – 9:30 AM
Location: Microsoft, 3 City Place, Ste 1100, St. Louis, MO  63141
 
We look forward to you joining us at this briefing.  Every participant will be provided a step by step planning document, worksheets to help determine what kind of access to provide to whom in your organization, and an I-64 Employers Information Kit developed by the Regional Business Council. 
 
Please RSVP by August 22 to Rick Demko via email rick.demko@pretecht.com, or phone (314)439-4725.

For the complete Post-Dispatch article click here: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/workplace/story/F59DF3B98C3A15018625731E0007063F?OpenDocument

And to learn more about the upcoming Highway 40 lane closures visit www.thenewi64.org.

You're In Good Company

My computer may be shot, but Durbin Media keeps plugging along.

My address book is gone, but my list of St Louis Recruiters is growing.  We're at 296 right now, in the raw list, most with names and numbers. 

My intention, is to forward a personal - one-to-one email introduction to each of these recruiters and suggest they drop by and visit StlRecruiting once in a while.

The other cities on the list, are next, with over 123 names for Seattle already.  Let's see if we can't create communities of interest around local blogs.

St Louis Chapter Of The IIBA: Business Analysts

Jasen Morisaki of iBridge Solutions e-mailed me to let me know that a St Louis Chapter of IIBA, the International Institute of Business Analysts, is starting, and their first meeting is September4, 2007, from 5:30-7:30 at the Microsoft Offices at Cityplace.

IIBA Information:
Objective/Goals:
The St. Louis chapter of the IIBA hopes to provide local members and those who are interested in becoming members, the following:
-    Opportunity to learn more about the IIBA
-    Ability to network with your peers
-    Information on how you can influence and contribute to the Business Analysis profession
-    Opportunity to learn and share best practices

Getting Started:
The kick-off meeting provides an opportunity to ask questions about the IIBA and chapter formation and determine if we have at least 15 IIBA members or potential members who are interested in forming a new chapter. 

If you are interested:

RSVP:  Kurt Rolland at info@stlouis.theiiba.org by August 30, 2007.  Please include your Name, Title, Company, and E-mail.

My LinkedIn Database Is Huge

My LinkedIn contacts number over 1400. Most of those are recruiters, with a few business friends tossed in from when I was actively courting them.  The number is too large to effectively manage, but I've been planning on putting some time into making better use of it.

That time is now.  StlRecruiting.com has had over 47,000 unique visitors in the last year.  That's about 130 visitors a day, with another 130 feedburner subscribers.  It's a nice number, but I want it bigger.

Using the People Search at LinkedIn, I've identified over 500 recruiters in and around the St Louis Area, that I'm connected to by at least two degrees.  I'm going to make sure that every one of those people know about StlRecruiting, and over time, what I'll have assembled is the area's largest database of recruiters, all who have heard of StlRecruiting at least once, and hopefully are checking the site every week.

When I first started this site, I was just trying to connect with other recruiters to improve my craft, but I think I've reached a point where my goals are bigger.  My wife and I starting a blog staffing agency for our interactive marketing firm, but I believe there's a big role for StlRecruiting to play as well.

If you are a recruiter, staffing expert, HR manager, or are involved in employment in any way, and would like to know more about how blogging can improve your passive candidate flow, consider connecting with me on LinkedIN.  I'm easy to find - just check the e-mail up there on the right.

Betsy Beard Has Her Own Blog

I didn't realize this, but Fleishman Hillard recruiter Betsy Beard is a blogger.  Granted, it's on Wordpress, but some of my best friends are on Wordpress.

What's more exciting is this is another St Louis recruiter who gets that the way to source is put your name in front of the audience you wish to recruit for.

My prediction:  In the next three years, most PR, Marketing and Advertising firms will have either full-time bloggers on staff, or blogging (and social media) will be a skill requirement like having Excel or experience posting to job boards.  Which means Betsy is positioning herself for success. 

And those recruiters who were smart enough to start now, will not only be in demand, they'll be better recruiters with better networks.

If you are a recruiter blogger - please let me know about it - especially if you're in one of my cities (St Louis, Charlotte, Seattle, Kansas City)

Ways To Get Noticed In St Louis As A Recruiter

If you are a recruiter in St Louis, and are looking for work - don't be afraid to shoot me an e-mail.  I don't actively recruit, but I may be able to hook you up with some of the people you want to be speaking with.

And if you're a company in St Louis looking to hire recruiters - if you're willing to try something different, you should shoot me an e-mail as well.  I'm not going to blithely post boring positions, but I'm willing to interview you on why a recruiter would want to work with your company.

And if you want to get in front of candidates, or show up on search engines, a recruiter interview with me still the best way to go.  The contact e-mail is up there on the right.

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PC Recruiter provides applicant tracking software to global organizations.

AquaVin 3.0 Not So Great

Franki and I were engaged about 2 1/2 years ago at Aqua Vin, a Chesterfield restaurant just up the street from our condo.    The original Aqua Vin was actually Crazy Fish, and then it was purchased and had its name changd to Aqua Vin (roughly translated, Water/Wine).  The food was good, including the seafood mixed grill and the meat mixed grill, and though the cocktail crowd was a bit too populated with unsavory types, the dining area was good.  We were engaged at the AquaVin 2.0 (our name).  Well, our restaurant has undergone a lot of changes, and we haven't been back for some time after a series of unfortunate meals and a real change in the atmosphere (lots of men with unbuttoned shirts and hairy chests, and the Poser Mobile crowd - no joke).

We were craving some fish on Saturday, and decided to head up there for a meal.

What a mistake.  The menu is now that of an upgraded Applebee's.  The decor makes me think of a high school cafeteria, and the waitstaff now looks like an average age of about 12 - a rumpled, unwashed, 12.

Casting around for something to eat - Franki got a MahiMahi special, and I got a pan-seared Salmon. 

My food tasted like it really was from Applebee's, complete with a breaded fish, cheddar potatoes, and a squishy crab cake (Bristol's is much better), but it was the mahi mahi that was so disappointing.  Franki took a bite, and blanched.  No really, she physically recoiled at its fishy taste.  She tried to force another bite down, but just couldn't.  We called over to the waitress, who offered to "recook" the fish - but we just wanted out of there.

While we shrugged off needing a manager to solve the problem, I was shocked at how long it took to get our check, and get out of there.  No manager ever came over (it doesn't matter if we said we didn't need a manager - you send one over anyway) - and though they took off the fish (Franki had 2 bites of it), we wanted to sprint out of there.

For the record, I tipped the waitress 20% of what the full bill would have been (it wasn't her fault, though she should have done more). 

We won't be eating there again, and don't recommend it for you either.  The AquaVin restaurant website.  It's a real shame.  Normally, you have to wait 20 years for a restaurant you were engaged in to go downhill or be demolished.  You can imagine how sad it is that we feel compelled to write this, but some things just have to be said.

World's Greatest Accountant/Bookkeeper On Open Market

A good friend of mine has suddenly found himself on the open market due to surprise layoffs at his work.

He is a bookkeeper/accountant for small to medium sized businesses, with lots of experience in Great Plains, Excel, and of course, Microsoft Office.

His true experience lies in finding ways for you as a business to save money.  In previous positions, he was a management process consultant, working to show companies how to decrease expenses and improve productivity.  He holds a BA in International Business from KU.

He's honest, loyal, hardworking, and has deep roots in the St Louis community, including an impressive network of social contacts.  He's a family man, with a wife and a daughter, and I will personally vouch for him.

So if you're looking, contact me at jdurbin[at]durbinmedia.com and I'll send you his resume and contact info for you to contact on your own.

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Find information on Diversity recruiting at DiversityJobs.com.

There's A Small Problem With Infidelity

If you happen to live in Chesterfield, and drive up and down Baxter in the morning, you might have come across the interesting bit of graffiti in the last two days.

It seems someone, we don't know who, decided to spraypaint the back fence of one person's house out there on Baxter.  The text says "I'm embarrassed that I have a very small ....."  I've cropped the photo and cut the line, but the spraypainter did not.

Franki thinks its a jilted lover, striking back at a man who lives in this house.  I find it hard to disagree, and wonder if the guy is married, and got caught cheating, but the bigger question, since this has been up for two days.

Does the guy even know it's there?  This is his back fence.  It's conceivable that when he drives out of his neighborhood, he goes the opposite direction, which would mean this could stay up until someone tells him, or until the Chesterfield police notice and go to knock on his door.

And of course, the question is who you feel sympathy for - are there kids in the house, was the woman (and we're assuming it was a woman) justified.  Hard to say.  Good luck, whoever you are.  You're going to need it.

Novadigm's Radia Package In St Louis

I was going back through my old e-mails, and ran across this - thought it might be of some interest.

Novadigm's Radia  Software Manager package was a big hit in St Louis in 2003-2004.  Anheuser-Busch, AG Edwards, Edward Jones, and Reuter's all used the application, and the need for Radia contractors was high.

I imagine it still is.  If you're looking for someone with this set of skills, or if you are someone with these skills - feel free to send me an e-mail and I'll connect you with any manager or recruiter who e-mails from the client side.

In fact - I'll probably make it a regular feature of StlRecruiting to  showcase those hard to find technologies like Lawson, Radia, Hyperion, SAP, DotNetNuke and anything else you can think of. If you are one of those contractors with a sought after skill - shoot me a note and I'll send out a request to find the people who might hire you.