The North Dallas / Plano Career Focus Group met on Friday, 11 May 2012 at Christ United Methodist Church, 3101 Coit Road Plano, Texas 75075. The agenda included:

• Landings – there was one
• Good News – one member had four interviews this week
• Job Fairs this coming week (Refer to CareerDFW.org)
• Workshops this coming week (Refer to CareerDFW.org)
• Interview practice scheduled with a group member
• Plans for picnic
• Career Tip of the Week
• New Member Orientation (across the hall) & 30-Second Commercials (in main room)
• Guest Speaker: John Jacobs, M.C.R., Senior Vice President, Richardson, Texas – Chamber of Commerce

Mr. Jacobs reviewed changes that have occurred in Richardson, Texas since 2000. In 2000, Telecom Corridor was the main feature of Richardson. Between 2000 and 2002, Richardson lost 20,000 jobs causing it to have a double-digit unemployment rate. Today, the big three companies in Richardson are: AT&T, Bank of America, and Blue Cross Blue Shield.

There are ten data centers in Richardson with four more in the planning stages. Over half of all Internet traffic passes through Richardson each day.

Empty office space in Richardson is the result of Blue Cross Blue Shield building a new campus in Richardson and moving out of former office space.

Richardson is the second largest day-time employer in the area; Dallas is the largest. The variety of transportation options in Richardson makes this possible.

Networking is the most effective was to find employment – 80 percent of people who land find that job through people they know.

Mr. Jacobs described some of the newest employers in Richardson.

Today’s economy has an extremely mobile workforce. Many people are making places such as Starbucks their office. These people can use https://liquidspace.com/ to locate and rent office space. This functionality is also available with Apps for iPhone and Android.

Next Meeting: Friday, 18 May 2012 Dennis J. O'Hagan, GRI, IRES, CDPE, AHS, SFR will talk about the Information Interview

The North Dallas / Plano Career Focus Group met on Friday, 04 May 2012. Attendees, who arrived on time, paired up, told each other their 30 second commercials, next each participant introduced the person they were paired with to the entire group. This caused the 30 second commercial to be less technical; therefore, they were better understood by persons in different professions. Plans for a group picnic on the Friday before Memorial Day were discussed. The last hour of the meeting was Open Forum. Some of the topics discussed were:

• Job Fairs – apply on-line to companies represented at job fairs prior to attending the job fair, then you can tell them that you have already applied on-line and ask for the name of the hiring manager; you might not be told the name, but there is no harm in asking
• Telling another person how to give a 30 second introduction for you forces you to put it in plain language
• Look at alumni list of networking group roosters for people working in target companies
• After landing, do not unsubscribe from Yahoo and Google groups; rather, modify profiles for web access only to avoid receiving all the e-mails

Next Meeting: John Jacobs, Executive Vice President, Economic Development for Richardson, Texas Chamber of Commerce is schedule to speak to the North Dallas / Plano Career Focus Group on Friday, 11 May 2012.

The North Dallas / Plano Career Focus Group meetings are on most Friday mornings at Christ United Methodist Church in Plano, Texas. Official information about this group is available at http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/CC_NorthDallas/.