Biz Talk - Business Blog Roanoke and Beyond

Join the Talent Revolution 

Jobzcafe.com turns the recruitment process upside down as it revolutionizes the career search.  This new recruitment model doesn’t start with posting a job; it focuses on showcasing a company and the region as an attractive work environment to attract career minded job seekers. The local region includes Roanoke, Salem, New River Valley, Lynchburg, Martinsville, Danville and Smith Mountain Lake businesses.

Ira Kaufman, Developer and Marketing Strategist says,

“We designed jobzcafe to revolutionize the recruitment process and dispel the myth that there are no inspiring jobs in the region.  Jobzcafe attracts a richer talent pool of job seekers and fosters regional economic growth.”

Online it offers companies the ability to showcase their work environment as a career destination using videos, employee testimonials and social media.  Job seekers can showcase their talent by posting resumes and applying online.  Offline, jobzcafe provides regional events for job seekers to interact with seeker resources to improve their skills as well as networking events with area employers. Companies benefit from various recruitment marketing strategies utilizing Jobzcafe and their partners.

David Ferraro, Senior Recruiter, Virginia Tech University comments,

“Jobzcafe is a talented group of thoughtful, knowledgeable professionals who are truly dedicated to improving your overall recruiting function through innovative and masterful strategy. They excel at expertly demonstrating their knowledge of social media and advanced recruiting techniques, utilizing a customer service and dedicated-partner approach which exceeded our expectations.”

Virginia Tech, City of Roanoke, HSMM, Express Employment Professionals, Delta Dental and CCS-Inc are among companies being showcased on the site.  The talent pool contains over 2600 resumes, including many young professionals wanting to stay or re-locate to the Roanoke and New River Valleys.

Kathy Tisinger, Career Center Manager, Roanoke Higher Education Center says,

“I think jobzcafe.com is an innovative, progressive concept for the Roanoke Valley.  To my knowledge, nothing like this has been tried before.  It gives job seekers a comprehensive platform to search for careers, while at the same time obtaining information on job searching skills and education available that can help them meet their career goals.”

Jobzcafe builds awareness of career opportunities and assists job seekers to improve their skill sets. The result - jobzcafe generates a consistent pool of qualified active and passive candidates. 

Stuart Mease has been working as Special Projects Coordinator for the City of Roanoke.  His main goal is to attract and retain young professionals to the region.  He comments,

“The jobzcafe model will completely alter how local companies position themselves to attract talent, and how resources are made available to job seekers.  Jobzcafe has the potential to be very successful and integral to the economic growth in the region.”

Jobzcafe uses an Integrated Marketing Strategy combining advertising on television, radio, and billboards with social media including their blog, Jobz Talk and a presence on Facebook and MySpace.  Check out our Facebook page.

For more information and to find out how your company can be showcased as a career destination contact Adrienne Barnett, HR Strategist, at 540-563-2249 or visit them on the web at www.jobzcafe.com.

Come celebrate with Cameron Johnson, Roanoke native entrepreneur and self made millionaire, as he competes in the final three for "Oprah's Big Give".  The celebration will be held on Sunday evening, April 13, at the Roanoke Civic Center's Exhibit Hall.  It's free and open to the public.  Doors will open at 7pm and the shows "Going Home" episode begins at 8pm.

The City of Roanoke released a press release in which Roanoke City Manager Darlene Burcham says, "We are pleased with Cameron's success on the 'Big Give' and celebrate that he is now one of the final three contestants".

The show is about Giving and the contestants are challenged to give away thousands of dollars to complete strangers and dramatically change their lives.  They apply creative strategies to give away the weeks loot and then are judged on how well they did.  At the end of each week someone is eliminated.  Our man Cameron is still in the hunt to be winner of the first "Oprah's Big Give".

For more information contact Stuart Mease at 853-2384.  Good Luck Cameron!!

Has the current job market and slumping economy caused you to think about starting your own business?  Fortune Small Business on CNNMoney.com canvassed the country to find towns with the best mix of business advantages and lifestyle appeal. They put together a list of their 100 top picks for the perfect place to launch a new business and build your dream.

The list included 4 Virginia area's that are great locations to for a startup company.  Southwest Virginia was included on the list as Blacksburg was noted as the # 43 best city.  Blacksburg, home of Virginia Tech and the Corporate Research Center and was listed as one of the 6 Technology Launching Pads.   CRC is a 120-acre research park and incubator, with 130 private companies in occupancy, ranging from corporations to tiny startups and covers technologies from computer hardware to pharmaceuticals.

Southwest Virginia can now boast about adding to their list of BEST's. Not only are we among the best areas to launch your business but we are also one of the Best Places to Retire.

January 19 - February 28, 2008

 

Pamela Jean Gallery is located in Downtown Roanoke at 115 Salem Ave., across from the new Art Museum of Western Virginia.   For more information contact Pamela Jean or Susan at 540-904-7797 or email pamelajgallery@aol.com.

December brings many Roanoke families together for the holidays.  Native young people return home to visit family and friends.  Stuart Mease and the City of Roanoke, along with MyHometownJobs, will capitalize on the young professionals returning to the area by hosting the second annual Roanoke Holiday Career and Lifestyle Fair on December 28 at the Roanoke Civic Center Exhibit Hall.

Last years event was a huge success with over 800 people attending the event, most of whom were young professionals. It was promoted with 15 unique media exposures including traditional marketing as well as social media. 

What a great opportunity for businesses in southwest Virginia to exhibit!   The companies participating this year should see results exceeding last years.  In addition to the job fair there is also a special video gaming event being planned to attract more attendees. 

For more information about the event and to become an exhibitor, contact Stuart Mease at stuart.mease@roanokeva.gov.

ROANOKE COUNTY & HOLLINS UNIVERSITY
RECEIVE PRESTIGIOUS VML PRESIDENT’S AWARD

Roanoke County and Hollins University took home the Virginia Municipal League (VML)  President’s Award this year for their work with an annual summer camp for youth offered in cooperation with area businesses. 

The program known as Technology Education for Kids or TEK Camp is focused on workforce development which is a significant concern for businesses in the Roanoke Valley and beyond.  Members of Roanoke County’s Economic Development Department, Director of Social Services and a representative from Hollins University traveled to Williamsburg last month to accept the award at VML’s Annual Conference.  And on Tuesday of this week, the program was highlighted during the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors meeting.

TEK Camp is a project that identifies students with technical potential at an early age for the purpose of enhancing their skills training in the secondary school system. The camp spans five days and is free of charge for the children, who are provided meals, transportation, and supplies.  Camp is held on the campus of Hollins University with fieldtrips to the business community throughout the week to meet local executives, human resource managers and employees.  The classes and interactive programs challenge young people to discover how technology impacts their lives and the many career and educational opportunities that are available to them.  Hollins University and Roanoke County could not make the camp the success it is without the help of the local business community and Roanoke County schools.  Some of the businesses that have opened their doors to the children include First Team Auto Mall, WDBJ Television, Q-99 and the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center.

One judge described the program as, “…a successful, innovative and collaborative effort of local government, educators and business leaders, resulting in the continuous development of a well-trained technical workforce for the Roanoke Valley Region.”

TEK Camp began in 2004, with 12 students enrolled in a pilot program. In 2006, Roanoke County received 57 applications and enrolled 38 participants.  Corporate sponsors and partners fund the program.

The President’s Award is the most prestigious award granted by the VML Achievement Awards program.  The award was established in 1996 for Virginia governments to submit projects which exemplify the jurisdiction’s efforts to improve the delivery of services to its citizens in an innovative and entrepreneurial manner.

Today, October 15, is Blog Action Day, where bloggers around the web have united to put a single important issue on everyone's mind.  That issue is the environment.  

To help increase awareness through the Roanoke business community I have chosen to write about how businesses can help the environment in three easy steps.  If every local company would commit to these three simple steps we can conserve energy, preserve our natural resources and help fight the issues of global warming.

1. Replace 2 regular light bulbs with an energy saving model. If every business in Roanoke replaced one regular light bulb with an energy-saving model, we could reduce global warming pollution by more than 90 billion pounds over the life of the bulbs; the same as taking 6.3 million cars off the road. So, replace your incandescent bulbs with more efficient compact fluorescents, which now come in all shapes and sizes.
2. Pull the plug on electronic devices when not in use. To make sure you aren’t wasting energy put all of your electronics and chargers on a power strip (or a smart power strip). This way you can simply flip the power strip off when your electronics are not in use.
3. Set computers to energy-saving settings.  For most businesses our computers are the central tool for work. Optimizing the energy settings for computers and other devices can be more than a modest energy saver.  Printers and scanners that are only used occasionally can be unplugged until they’re needed.
4. Charge your mobile devices through your computer's USB port.  Cell phones and PDA's can charge using your computer’s USB port.  You never have to worry about leaving your AC adapter plugged in.
5. Buy recycled paper for copiers and fax machines.  The benefits of recycled paper include fewer trees cut down, less water and energy consumption and less pollution generated. Using recycled paper reduces waste and preserves natural resources.
6. Encourage employees to recycle by adding recycle bins.  Add bins near copier machines for paper and in lunch rooms for cans and bottles.
7. Have lunch delivered to your office once a week.  Plan a day in advance so employees can order lunch together and dine together.  It saves gas and cuts down on pollution. It also makes a great way to reward your team. Also remember to ask for paper instead of styrofoam containers.
8. Turn climate control systems off when they aren't needed.  Adjusting the thermostat a few degrees warmer or cooler can also benefit. You may be surprised by how much energy and dollars this saves.

Check out TreeHugger.com for more information on ways to green your workplace

The Roanoke Regional Small Business Development Center and the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce announced ten small business category winners along with an overall small business of the year.

Congratulations to Luna Innovations for winning the Small Business of the Year! Winner in the Technology category, Luna Innovations was chosen for it's phenomenal growth and national reputation.  Luna Innovations was founded in 1990 as a developer and manufacturer of new-generation products for the healthcare, telecommunications, energy and defense markets. Its products are used to measure, monitor, protect and improve critical processes. Luna Innovations has evolved into a recognized leader in transitioning science to solutions.

Category winners include:

• Small Business Advocate: Roger P. Scott, volunteer business counselor with the Roanoke SCORE Chapter 26.
• Construction/Real Estate: Thor, Inc., General Contractors and Engineers, a commercial, industrial, institutional, medical, and residential contractor and engineering firm.
• Manufacturing: Timber Truss Housing Systems, a manufacturer of building products and components.
• Micro-Business: SmithLewis Architecture, offers cost-effective sustainable design solutions to a diverse group of clients.
• Technology:  Luna Innovations.
• Business-to-Business Services:  Leisure Publishing, a leading city and regional publisher specializing in publications for the travel and real estate markets.
• Business-to-Consumer Services: Virginia Prosthetics, provides prosthetics and orthotics that help enable amputees to return to the life they once knew.
• Wholesale/Retail: Heavenly Ham & The Seafood Company, this company turned a franchise into a trendsetter while continually growing their business and services.
• Legacy Award: Davidsons, for almost 100 years three generations of one family have provided personal service to every customer.
• Not-For-Profit Arts & Culture: Roanoke Catholic School, for over a century this nationally-ranked school has shared in the rich history of the Roanoke Valley.
• Not-For-Profit Health & Human Services: Southwestern Virginia Second Harvest Food Bank, distributes food to 350 agencies that directly feed the region’s hungry.

Congratulations to all of the winners!

This is a followup to my post on the Downtown Roanoke Wi-Fi project.   I was recently invited to attend a meeting with Roanoke City regarding the Downtown WIFI Hotzone.  Clearly Roanoke has been identified nationally as a technology leader and as a model for cities considering a downtown Wi-Fi hotspot.  Seattle, WA modeled their system after Roanoke. 

It was clearly recognized by those attending the meeting that the level and consistency of the service has deteriorated over the years and more attention needs to be placed on making the Wi-Fi service readily available in the designated areas.  It was also agreed that there was very little marketing done to promote the downtown Wi-Fi service.

Suggestions included:

1. Help Downtown Roanoke to understand the importance of Wi-Fi as a marketing tool.
2. Getting local downtown businesses involved in promoting the free Wi-Fi hotzone.
3. Work with the technical service provider (Cox) to offer local downtown businesses a hotspot using less expensive hardware to amplify the signal to their business.

These points were aimed to locally heighten the interest in the Downtown Wi-Fi project.  There have also been two recent articles in the Roanoke Times by Duncan Adams.  Roanoke Wi-Fi lingers on fritz and Downtown wireless may finally be fixed.

Based on this second article that the service MAY be fixed, I was delighted and scheduled a business meeting at the Roanoke City Market Building's International Food Court.  I started using the Wi-Fi connection but within 10 minutes it had slowed to a crawl and then it quit.  I was totally embarrassed without my technical tool.

If I were a business person or impressionable young professional visiting the area this would have definitely tarnished my image of Roanoke as a digital or technology leader.

What's the City of Roanoke's next step to monitor and maintain the Wi-Fi consistency?  Brian Brown, from Roanoke City's Office of Economic Development, told me that the City does have a plan.  He said within the next 3-6 months they will be doing a series of improvements, including upgrading the Wi-Fi technology at the City Market Building.  They intend to improve the consistency of the W-Fi connection.  Local users and vistors will greet this improvement with welcome arms! 

Let us know if you have any additions we can add to our Wi-Fi list at www.RoanokeBiz2Biz.com.