“First Thursdays?” (July only) Power Networking Event x3 at Babalu Restaurant, Thursday - July 3, 2008 6-9 p.m.
There’s a great way to celebrate the short work week and the wonderful 4th of July weekend. Join Connection Consulting and Twin City Business for Vive Now!, Thursday, July 3, 2008 at Babalu Restaurant located at 800 Washington Avenue North in the historic warehouse district. Don’t miss your chance to network with the Twin Cities top professionals. The only cover for this event is a business card or your information on as piece of paper!
Robert Half Financial Services Group at the UFSC Career Fair
Mr. Douglas Rickart, Division Director - Robert Half FSG
Robert Half Financial Services Group took part in the Urban Financial Services Coalition Conference Career Fair on Saturday, June 21st at the Hyatt in downtown Minneapolis.
This Career Fair was setup to assist local residents to obtain career options on a national platform. On hand for the fair was Robert Half FSG Division Director Mr. Douglas Rickart, located here in Minneapolis. Mr. Rickart said, “This career fair was an overall success and I had a great time at the UFSC conference.”
About Robert Half Financial Service Group
Founded in 1948, Robert Half International is the recognized leader in professional-level staffing and operates in more than 350 locations throughout North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Robert Half International is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: RHI) and is a member of the prestigious S&P 500 Index.
Robert Half Financial Services Group specializes in the placement of full-time and interim professionals in the banking, brokerage and investment sectors covering such areas as asset management, commercial lending, corporate finance, compliance, investment analysis and risk management.
RHI’s financial staffing divisions also include Robert Half® Finance & Accounting, Accountemps® and Robert Half® Management Resources, for full-time, temporary and senior-level project professionals, respectively.
Robert Half Finance & Accounting is the pioneer in specialized permanent financial recruitment. Clients rely on Robert Half Finance & Accounting for candidates who possess the skill sets needed for even the most hard-to-fill job vacancies.
Accountemps is the world’s first and largest specialized temporary staffing service for accounting, finance and bookkeeping professionals. Companies depend on Accountemps for their variable short-and long-term financial staffing needs.
Robert Half Management Resources is the world’s premier provider of senior-level accounting and finance professionals on a project basis. Our consultants have expertise in a variety of areas, including finance and accounting, treasury and cash management, information technology, taxation, internal audit and compliance, and administration and operations.
For more information about our services, please visit www.roberthalf.com, www.accountemps.com and www.roberthalfmr.com.
Robert Half International also is the parent company of Protiviti Inc., (www.protiviti.com), a leading provider of independent internal audit and risk consulting services. Protiviti helps clients identify, assess and manage operational and technology-related risks encountered in their industries and assists in the implementation of the processes and controls to enable their continued monitoring.
For more information about Robert Half Financial Services Group visit the website at www.roberthalffsg.com or call (612) 339-9001.
Career Fair in Minneapolis! Brought to you by the Urban Financial Services Coalition
Are you looking for the key to unlock your own career development? Come to the Hyatt Regency in downtown Minneapolis this Saturday, June 21st, from 10 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The Urban Financial Services Coalition is hosting a Diversity Careers Expo featuring recruiters from a host of major companies in a variety of industries.
Come and meet with representatives from these premiere companies and unlock the key to your future!
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) •
JPMorgan Chase
Robert Half International •
RBC Wealth Management
SunTrust
Wells Fargo
Wachovia Securities
Federal Reserve Banks (KC, Chicago, Minnesota)
Federal Reserve Board of Governors
UFSC Foundation
Target Corporation
M & I Bank
Go to http://www.ufscnet.org/Conference/ and then click on Career Fair to upload your own resume to share with human resources officers from a host of major companies.
Look Before You Leap! There’s Aways Help!
Sometimes you can’t do everything yourself. You don’t have the budget to launch a big marketing campaign. Or you don’t even know where to start. One of the best ways to promote your website, business or youth entrepreneurial program is to work together with others to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes.
The legal form of this is known as a joint venture, where two or more parties create a new entity by contributing equity and sharing revenue, expenses and control. Another form of collaboration is known as a strategic alliance, whereby the parties involved pursue common goals while remaining as independent organizations.
No matter what you call it, collaboration with others will benefit you in ways that go beyond what you can do on your own. Think about it. Each involved party comes with their own established audience, reputation, brand, networks and strengths. Some of them may overlap with your own but usually, they’ll reach people or own assets you don’t.
Some people may have more media contacts. Some may have a specific skill (e.g. design, programing) and others have an audience or customer base that you’re trying to reach. Partnering with them for short or long-term initiatives is a smart way to promote your business, on top of all the online marketing that you’re already doing.
How can you collaborate? The possibilities are endless. For example, you can run joint contests/competitions, set up incentivized referral networks, promote a co-op web product, create content together, exchange ad space or trade skills for exposure. There are many ways to collaborate for mutual benefits. It’s just about finding what works for you.
So how do you get started? Five simple steps:
*When partnering with a local existing program, see what they have done that has been successful. Example: (North Minneapolis) A local agency is given a grant from a local Foundation to create, idea and develop a youth entrepreneurial program, y-t-d this local agency does not have one successful outcome), the moral of this statement, “Fly with eagles!”
*Identify your goals. This is what you want to get out of the collaboration. Your goals will determine who you should work with and having a clear idea of what you want from the beginning will give you an immediate idea of what kind of marketing strategy you want to take, and hence who is most suitable for you.
*Determine what you can offer. Make a list of benefits you can offer to the opposite party. For example you might have specific personal skills or a website with a built-in audience. Perhaps you’re launching a new product and give away free samples of it away. In other words, this list consists of what you can do for the other parties.
*Create a List of Potential Collaborators. Start writing down a list of people you want to work with based on your goals, what you can offer and who you think will be potentially interested. Make the list broad: there’ll always be people who’ll turn you down so you want as many secondary options as possible.
*Pitch the people involved. Draft up an email template and send it off to the people on your list. Try to customize your pitch by using each recipient’s name and including unique information/comments. Keep the emails short and frame them in terms of benefits. Alternatively, try pitching over the phone or a face-to-face meeting. Remember to follow up before permanently striking a recipient off from your collaborators list.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. There’s no harm in reaching out to people, all you have to risk is your pride. When it comes to partnerships, you’ll be surprised with the people who will be interested in working together. Don’t automatically write yourself off, especially you have something valuable to offer to another party.
If you’ve never tried any strategic collaboration before, why not start today?
MUL ACADEMY STUDENT TO RECIEVE $500 SCHOLARSHIP
Robert G. Powell, a senior at the Minneapolis Urban League Academy High School in south Minneapolis, has been named the local winner of TV One’s “Live the Dream” essay contest, receiving a $500 scholarship from TV One and Comcast. Representatives from Comcast will present Powell with the scholarship award Friday, May 30, during graduation ceremonies, which begin at 6:30 pm at the Minneapolis Urban League, Glover-Sudduth Center, 2100 Plymouth Ave. N., Minneapolis.
TV One’s “Live the Dream” essay contest was implemented as part of the network’s “Our History Month” initiative in February 2008. The announcement was made jointly by TV One and Comcast.TV One joined with Comcast, Cable in the Classroom, and other local cable affiliates around the country to sponsor the national “Live the Dream” essay contest. Building on the theme of TV One’s documentary special MLK: A Dream Deferred, high school students were invited to write an essay commenting on the progress that has been made on Martin Luther King’s Dream – Are we living the Dream today? Essays from participating students were evaluated by an independent panel of judges based on the following criteria: relevance to the MLK: A Dream Deferred special, originality/creativity, clarity of expression and grammar. The top scoring entries were then reviewed by a TV One committee for final selection.
“I can’t believe I won,” said Powell, 18, who titled his essay Does the Dream Still Live On? and questioned if enough progress has been made in 40 years towards improving race relations nationally and globally. “On one hand, we’ve made great strides towards racial equality,” says Powell, “but on the other hand, we’ve been standing still for 40 years. Black communities still experience high rates of crime and violence, and our children still suffer from an inadequate education. Moreover, we’re at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, Israel and Palestine are at war, and nations are at war in Africa. If we looked beyond what makes us different, we’d see that the content our character is the same in every one of us.”
Forty years after the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., MLK: A Dream Deferred evaluates the current state of race relations in America through the words and dreams that the legendary civil rights leader. Noted celebrities, including Academy Award winning actress Halle Berry, Sanaa Lathan, Regina King and Hill Harper, speak excerpts from Dr. King’s most famous speeches throughout the special. “Live the Dream” is the latest in a series of partnerships between Comcast and the Minneapolis Urban League. Last September, The Comcast Foundation provided a $12,000 grant to the organization’s Community Empowerment Program, which offers services to help prepare low-income families, African Americans and other minority groups for the workplace through job readiness training. Most recently, dozens of Comcast employees volunteered at Minneapolis Urban League Academy High School and the After Today Group Home as a part of Comcast Cares Day 2008 on Saturday, May 3.
“We are delighted to join with TV One in presenting Robert Powell with this scholarship award,” said Bill Wright, Comcast Twin Cities Region vice president. “His thoughtful essay makes it clear there are many young people who, like Robert, are concerned about extending Dr. King’s dream to the least fortunate American citizens and to those who suffer injustice throughout the world.” “We thank Comcast’s Twin Cities Region operation for participating in this essay contest,”said TV One Vice President of Affiliate Marketing George Lima. “We were very impressed with the passion of Robert Powell and the other young people who clearly feel that the principles Dr. King stood for are as relevant today as they were 40 years ago.”
About TV One
Launched in January 2004, TV One (www.tvoneonline.com) serves 43.4 million households (Nielsen May 2008 estimate), offering a broad range of lifestyle and entertainment-oriented original programming, classic series, movies, fashion and music designed to entertain, inform and inspire a diverse audience of adult African American viewers. TV One’s investors include Radio One [NASDAQ: ROIA and ROIAK; www.radio-one.com], the largest radio company that primarily targets African American and urban listeners; Comcast Corporation [NASDAQ: CMCSA and CMCSK; www.comcast.com], the leading cable television company in the country; The DirecTV Group; Constellation Ventures; Syndicated Communications; and Opportunity Capital Partners.
About Comcast Corporation
Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) (http://www.comcast.com) is the nation’s leading provider of entertainment, information and communications products and services. With 24.7 million cable customers, 14.1 million high-speed Internet customers, and 5.2 million voice customers, Comcast is principally involved in the development, management and operation of broadband cable systems and in the delivery of programming content. Comcast’s content networks and investments include E! Entertainment Television, Style Network, The Golf Channel, VERSUS, G4, PBS KIDS Sprout, TV One, ten Comcast SportsNet networks and Comcast Interactive Media, which develops and operates Comcast’s
Internet business. Comcast also has a majority ownership in Comcast-Spectacor, whose major holdings include the Philadelphia Flyers NHL hockey team, the Philadelphia 76ers NBA basketball team and two large multipurpose arenas in Philadelphia. Comcast serves more than 557,000 customers in 111 communities throughout the Twin Cities, Greater Minnesota and Western Wisconsin. Comcast, whose local headquarters offices are located in St. Paul, employs more than 2,000 local residents. For more information about Comcast’s products and services in the Twin Cities, please call 651-222-3333, or visit the company’s Web site at www.comcast.com.
About the Minneapolis Urban League
The Minneapolis Urban League is a community-based, not-for-profit organization that provides human services and advocacy that will enable African Americans and other diverse group members residing in the Greater Minneapolis Metropolitan area to cultivate and develop their individual and group potential on a par with all other Minnesotans.
The organization provides a continuum of more than 20 programs and services, which operate from seven facilities throughout Minneapolis, and serves approximately 20,000 people each year so that individuals and families in need can have access to quality employment, housing, health care, education and social services. For more information about the Minneapolis Urban League, visit www.mul.org or call (612) 302-3100. The Minneapolis Urban League is headquartered at the Glover-Sudduth
Center, 2100 Plymouth Avenue North, Minneapolis, MN 55411.
