Ann Arbor USA Blog » Careers & Talent http://blog.annarborusa.org Recent News & Information from Ann Arbor SPARK Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:23:14 +0000 en hourly 1 Another Job Landed! http://blog.annarborusa.org/another-job-landed/ http://blog.annarborusa.org/another-job-landed/#comments Thu, 15 Dec 2011 18:50:19 +0000 asignore http://blog.annarborusa.org/?p=2006 We all know how difficult job-searching can be these days. Spending hours combing through jobs posting, meticulously editing your resume, attending seemingly endless rounds of interviews, and dealing with rejections–sound familiar? The good news is that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, because when you find that perfect job all your searching will seem validated.

Below is a story submitted to us from Jimmy Hurley, a recent graduate who endured the job search and emerged with a cool new position at a local Ann Arbor company: CreateMyTee.com. Jimmy used SPARK’s job portal to find his new job, so if you are looking for an exciting new opportunity be sure to check it out!

Jimmy’s job search success story:

I graduated from Western Michigan University in December ’10 with a bachelor’s in Business Marketing. I had worked part-time at a home care nursing agency upon moving back home to Ann Arbor for about the first 7 months. Throughout this entire span of time, I was aggressively applying to jobs and creating an online presence in every online job portal under the sun- trying to gain an entry level position in anything related to Marketing.

A couple months after settling back into my parents house, my father encouraged me to create a profile on Ann Arbor SPARK’s website and join the ‘jobs posting’ mailing list, as he had been on the list himself for about a year at the time. Long story short, I quickly realized that after I had received my first few ”weekly talent search’ emails from SPARK that I need look no further to find a job- and I did.

The thing I love about SPARK’s ‘talent search’ job postings is that all of the posts are for REAL jobs, posted by REAL people… I can’t tell you how frustrated I became with the generic, automated, scammish, and illegitimate SPAM that so many of the online job portals refute as ‘job postings’- most of them are a waste of everybody’s time.

Some time around mid July, I had responded to a new posting that I saw on the SPARK ‘weekly talent search’ email for an opening position with a new startup company called CreateMyTee.com. The position was titled ‘Shirt Specialist’, and I thought it sounded like an exciting and fun opportunity to begin my professional career. I emailed Josh Fales (president, founder, and CEO of CreateMyTee.com) in regard to the posting, and didn’t hear back for a few weeks. To be honest, I almost forgot I even applied to that position after a few weeks had passed- but sure enough, I got a call from Josh in late July. After many hours of questions, answers, restless nights, and uncertainty, I finally got a call in early August from Josh and Steve saying that I had been selected to fulfill the role of Shirt Specialist at CreateMyTee.com!

I can’t thank Ann Arbor SPARK enough for helping me get to where I am today, and starting me off on this new and exciting path at a rapidly expanding startup company. The positive energy and optimism for the future is impossible to ignore from inside our tiny little office across the street from the Ann Arbor Airport, and I believe it’s not too much of a stretch to say that just a couple years from now, it’ll be hard to find somebody who hasn’t heard of us. 

Thank you Ann Arbor SPARK!

– Jimmy Hurley
 Shirt Specialist CreateMyTee.com

Got your own SPARK Job Portal success story? Please share it with us! Contact  Andria@AnnArborUSA.org

]]> http://blog.annarborusa.org/another-job-landed/feed/ 0 HookLogic Awarded $9.5M in Funding http://blog.annarborusa.org/hooklogic-awarded-9-5m-in-funding/ http://blog.annarborusa.org/hooklogic-awarded-9-5m-in-funding/#comments Fri, 09 Sep 2011 15:36:55 +0000 Jenn Cornell http://blog.annarborusa.org/?p=1802 HookLogic, the leader in e-commerce media, announced this week that it has been awarded a $9.5 million round of financing from Bain Capital Ventures. HookLogic will use the funding to further develop its unique Software-as-a-Service (Saas) platform and expand its business across the retail, travel and automotive sectors in North America and Europe.

HookLogic is headquartered in New York. Its office in Ann Arbor is focused on developing software for the company’s SaaS platform. Ann Arbor SPARK assisted HookLogic in finding its Ann Arbor office space. Additionally, HookLogic has taken advantage of Ann Arbor SPARK’s talent services, including the job portal, Hot Shots and networking.

“HookLogic has worked with SPARK since we opened our Ann Arbor office in 2008,” said Gary Evans, HookLogic general manager. “We have attended several networking/recruiting events, and have leveraged their knowledge of the local market in other ways as well, including identifying options for where to locate our new office when we outgrew our existing space.” For more on this exciting news, read HookLogic’s press release.

For more on this exciting news, read HookLogic’s press release.

]]> http://blog.annarborusa.org/hooklogic-awarded-9-5m-in-funding/feed/ 0 Finding a Good Crop of Employees: NPR Offers Up Close Look at Michigan’s Agriculture Economy http://blog.annarborusa.org/finding-a-good-crop-of-employees-npr-offers-up-close-look-at-michigans-agriculture-economy/ http://blog.annarborusa.org/finding-a-good-crop-of-employees-npr-offers-up-close-look-at-michigans-agriculture-economy/#comments Sat, 20 Aug 2011 22:21:04 +0000 Jenn Cornell http://blog.annarborusa.org/?p=1792 A recent “Changing Gears” series on Michigan Radio explored Michigan’s agriculture economy.  In part five of the five part series, SPARK president and CEO Paul Krutko offers that “prospective workers want to take jobs in places where they know there are more jobs.”

With his insight, Krutko explains that agriculture talent — and the needs of this population — are no different that the needs of high tech workers or any other type of talent that a business would want to attract.  SPARK’s position is that talent is critical to a healthy economy and has dedicated programs to attract and retain workers in our community.

Listen to the entire story on Michigan’s Radio’s website.

]]> http://blog.annarborusa.org/finding-a-good-crop-of-employees-npr-offers-up-close-look-at-michigans-agriculture-economy/feed/ 0 Michigan’s Getting It Right http://blog.annarborusa.org/michigans-getting-it-right/ http://blog.annarborusa.org/michigans-getting-it-right/#comments Thu, 20 Jan 2011 03:24:43 +0000 admin http://blog.annarborusa.org/?p=1557 “Simply put, Job One is jobs,” said Governor Rick Snyder tonight at his State of the State address. What a refreshing voice for the people of Michigan!

  • Open Source Economic Development ®
  • Michigan Dashboard
  • Metrics-real results for real people
  • Economic growth
  • Health & Education
  • Value for Government
  • Quality of Life
  • Public Safety
  • Pure Michigan

Talent, entrepreneurs, employers, universities, funding, incubators = JOBS.

]]> http://blog.annarborusa.org/michigans-getting-it-right/feed/ 0 Thomson Reuters Named Coolest Place to Work in Tough Times http://blog.annarborusa.org/thomson-reuters-named-coolest-place-to-work-in-tough-times/ http://blog.annarborusa.org/thomson-reuters-named-coolest-place-to-work-in-tough-times/#comments Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:26:53 +0000 admin http://blog.annarborusa.org/?p=879 Crain’s Detroit Business recently named Thomson Reuters as one of the Coolest Place to Work in Tough Times. The publication runs Cool Places to Work lists bi-annually; and this year added the ‘tough times’ component given the downturn in the economy over the past year, particularly in Michigan. Continue reading…

]]> http://blog.annarborusa.org/thomson-reuters-named-coolest-place-to-work-in-tough-times/feed/ 0 SPARK featured in Crain’s article on future of entrepreneurship and innovation to drive Michigan’s future http://blog.annarborusa.org/spark-featured-in-crains-article-on-future-of-entrepreneurship-and-innovation-to-drive-michigans-future/ http://blog.annarborusa.org/spark-featured-in-crains-article-on-future-of-entrepreneurship-and-innovation-to-drive-michigans-future/#comments Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:43:28 +0000 admin http://blog.annarborusa.org/?p=875 November 12, 2009 -  Crain’s Detroit Business article on the future of Michigan is entrepreneurship and innovation. “One example is the West Michigan Science & Technology Initiative  in Grand Rapids. There is also Ann Arbor Spark, Next Energy and quite a few others, and they’re all doing great work but are limited in the scale they can achieve.  We need to expand their capacity — almost putting them on steroids — so they can reach out and help even more companies.”  Opinion: Entrepreneurship and innovation will drive our future.

]]> http://blog.annarborusa.org/spark-featured-in-crains-article-on-future-of-entrepreneurship-and-innovation-to-drive-michigans-future/feed/ 0 Register for Hot Shots: Career Connections, Wednesday at 5 p.m. http://blog.annarborusa.org/register-for-hot-shots-career-connections-wednesday-at-5-p-m/ http://blog.annarborusa.org/register-for-hot-shots-career-connections-wednesday-at-5-p-m/#comments Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:40:30 +0000 admin http://blog.annarborusa.org/?p=794 Ann Arbor SPARK is holding Hot Shots: Career Connections at Melange (314 S. Main Street) from 5 – 7 p.m. Wednesday, August 26. Hot Shots is an event for talent seeking opportunities for themselves. Attendees should bring their resume, and come and mingle with growing, innovative companies in a fun and relaxed environment.

Register for Hot Shots.

]]> http://blog.annarborusa.org/register-for-hot-shots-career-connections-wednesday-at-5-p-m/feed/ 1 Ann Arbor Region Job Growth in Innovation-Based Companies http://blog.annarborusa.org/521/ http://blog.annarborusa.org/521/#comments Wed, 06 May 2009 18:19:58 +0000 admin http://blog.annarborusa.org/?p=521 Recent job loss rankings by Forbes may have included Ann Arbor in their listing, but we’re continuing to see job growth in innovation-based companies in our region. In April we had over 50 job postings added to the Ann Arbor SPARK  Talent Portal and in the first 5 days of May we’ve already posted 23. Although the manufacturing job base may continue to decline in SE Michigan, the new economy jobs continue to post gains and contribute to offsetting the job loss that is happening throughout the U.S.

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