Welcome to the third edition of 2 Dudes I Met This week. It took 3 tries but this week I prove, dudes can be female.
At this weeks PONG meeting I met Paula Lukach. She was doing a presentation called where is the talent. The most memorable piece of the presentation for me was that all of us who use job boards and LinkedIn to try to find work have to remember that the way those sites make money is not by placing people in jobs. They make money by getting more postings. Now some may argue that the more they place the more they post, but we must also remember that postings are king. Coming out of that presentation it made me realize all the more that job boards are only one tool but the main thing that will get you hired is hitting your network and working with them to find your opportunity. It was a great presentation but Paula’s work also fascinated me. She works for Extension, Inc. One of the things they are doing is trying to focus more on small to mid-sized SE Wisconsin businesses. Since that is my market as well it made sense for me to connect with her afterwards. It is refreshing and nice to see others with a passion to work local.
The next dude I met also wants to work local. Sarah Koenig has a fascinating background and wants to start out in an area that is new to the fractional employment market. She is looking to do fractional operations. Her story on retention programs she has built really resonated with me. I think just about every small business person I have met struggles with retention. Especially those in manufacturing, and machine operations. Who knows maybe this article can help her to create a “work local” retention plan.
Many of us are proud of where we live and work. I am originally from small town western Wisconsin. A stop sign in the road called Ettrick. South East Wisconsin gives me that combination of a larger city but I still have that Wisconsin feel I grew up with. It was refreshing to see that in this weeks dudes.
As always if you don’t have time to meet either of them feel free to sign up for a coffee or lunch with me here. I would be happy to talk more with you about why you should talk with them.