ResearchGoddess

Last Friday, I gave a presentation to the Technology Alliance Group for Northwest Washington, otherwise known as TAGNW, on how to attract technical talent to Bellingham. Bellingham, for those of you who don’t know, is a small-ish city halfway between Seattle and Vancouver BC with about 70,000 residents. Our claim to fame is ski-to-sea – we’ve got skiing at Mt. Baker within an hour’s drive of Bellingham Bay, where one can go ocean kayaking, waterskiing, or charter a whale-watching boat in the summertime. In addition to that, we’ve got a series of interurban hiking and biking trails and boast one of the best mountain biking spots in the nation. Not to mention all the waterfalls, county and state parks, camping, dining, concerts, scenic drives, wineries, and wonderful local companies that make this city such an awesome place.

So, why the need for a presentation to attract people to this oasis? What I just described sounds like heaven on earth, doesn’t it? Well – we’re also right in between two huge technology cities, so sometimes attracting talent here is tough because of the competition. So, my hope with the presentation was to share some tools for our local technology professionals to use to draw people to Bellingham – things that are uniquely ours that we have to offer and our neighbors can’t provide.

People make decisions based on emotion, and then use facts to logically back up their decisions. My presentation was geared toward helping our local businesses hone in on the emotional intangibles that Bellingham has to offer. Sure, we have some wonderful companies based here who have some very exciting job opportunities for which they’re currently hiring, but the jobs themselves only occupy 40-50 hours a week. What I wanted to help people focus on were things that could grab people’s attention, and emotions, for the remaining 118-128 hours each week.

My presentation was well-received – the group there was engaged and readily raised their hands to offer their own tips or to ask questions. Additionally, there were several people in attendance who were looking for work, as well as those who were hiring. It was like watching two people fall in love There’s nothing better than watching people who need each other find one another – in this case, jobseekers finding those who have jobs to offer. One of the most rewarding intangibles of working in recruiting, if you ask me!

Below is my presentation if you’re interested in checking it out.

Tags: Bellingham, career, minneapolis, recruiting, Research, students, university

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