Portland’s companies have been hit hard by the recession and the tech crowd has seen the impact first-hand. However, there remains massive energy around Portland’s tech scene that doesn’t always find its way to the companies and individuals who can most benefit from its vitality. We believe strongly that Portland possesses the resources and the will to take care of its own.

In this dynamic and challenging economic climate finding a new job can be frustrating – companies are tending to extend fewer courtesies to job seekers and opportunities are harder to locate. The tools, methods, and resources for finding work have changed dramatically as a result of technology and the current recession. Identifying those organizations with the ability to guide and assist is tricky at best. Boly:Welch and YPOP are bringing together resources to help you through the process. The Pink Slip Party is a chance to begin the discussion and make new connections between innovative technical professionals and resourceful business leaders. Together we can make a difference.

Every creative professional is looking for great work. Every creative organization is looking for great people.

This event matches these two groups for an intense 3 hour networking and recruiting event focused on making productive connections, and hiring and retaining outstanding creative workers.

The afternoon centers on a moderated panel discussion focusing on strategies for hiring top creative talent, and for getting yourself hired into these roles.

PANELISTS

Kirk James Creative Director, Cinco Design

Nick Oakley Head of Industrial Design, Mobility Group, Intel

Beth Sasseen Senior Design Recruiter, Nike

Chelsea Vandiver Head of Communications Design Group, Ziba Design

A cocktail reception will immediately follow the presentation and the remainder of the afternoon will be an open format. Mid- and senior-level designers, creative directors, recruiters, and other professionals in the product design, apparel, branding, and interaction design fields are encouraged to attend. Scheduling, registration and ticketing details can be found at the Creative Confab page at Coroflot.com.

As the economy begins to recover, new opportunities are encouraging both those who are currently employed and those who aren't to take a fresh look around. However, in the last 2 years, many changes have affected how companies search for top employees and how applicants should pursue desired positions. It's not enough to simply put your resume on monster.com or careerbuilder.com, job hunters must know how to use all the existing social media tools to optimize their job search reach and develop their professional network.

Attend a useful, no-nonsense SAO workshop on finding and winning jobs in the new economy job market.

You will learn: * Top 10 tips for developing and using your network on LinkedIn and beyond * Mixing old and new strategies in the new employment economy * Is traditional full time employment or freelancing the best option for you? * Target Audience: Job seekers, professionals looking to make a move in their careers, hiring managers

Panelists Sara Davey-Schmidt, Senior Account Manager, 52 Limited Jeff Miller, CEO, EdgeLink Tore Steen, VP Marketing and Business Development, JanRain

Moderated by Alex Kroman, Director of Operations, OpenSourcery

Free for members & people in transition / $10 non members Includes networking, program, light appetizers

The National Launch of VetsInTech!!! OCTOBER 16, 2013 Join us in SF for the National Launch of VetsinTech!! In honor of Veteran’s Day 2013 in addition to SF we will be introducing new ViT chapters and their leaders in DC, NYC, Austin, TX, Los Angeles, Portland/Seattle and San Diego!! Each one of these veteran leaders has already held their first meetup and are helping build the ViT community locally to support our current and returning veterans.

Please join us with other VIP guests to support our veterans and welcome our new ViT leaders! Several sponsors will be in attendance including Intuit, Visa, Twilio, McAfee, Workday and more!!

http://www.meetup.com/VetsinTech-Portland-Seattle/events/149133812/

https://www.facebook.com/veteransintech

The Urban League of Portland’s 22nd Annual Career Connections Job Fair will be held Wednesday, April 22, 2015, from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM at the Doubletree Hotel (by Hilton), near the Lloyd Center (1000 NE Multnomah St, Portland, 97232).

This annual event gives job seekers the chance to meet face to face with recruiters from some of the area’s most desirable employers. These recruiters come to the Career Fair to seek qualified diverse candidates for positions from entry-level to professional, from management to executive, ranging from construction and retail to government and corporate opportunities.

• Portland and surrounding area employers are hiring now! • Employers are looking to the Urban League of Portland to help them recruit diverse job candidates! • Employers are hiring for positions from “entry level” to professional, ranging from construction & retail to government and corporate opportunities! • Now is the time to connect with Portland area employers! Bring your resumes and dress to impress! • Be prepared to interview on site.

Over 60 employers are participating in the Career Fair this year. Attendees can be interviewed on site or make arrangements to be interviewed at a later date.

A special thanks to the events sponsors:: IHeartMedia, JAM’N 107.5, Comcast, Bank of America, the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters, the Pacific Northwest Carpenters Institute, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, the Oregon Department of Transportation, Port of Portland, the Oregon Health Authority, the Portland Development Commission, and the Oregon Lottery.

http://ulpdx.org/news/the-urban-league-of-portlands-2015-career-fair/

Human Centered Design seems to be all the buzz lately - but what is it, really, and how can we use it the benefit Human Resources? Come learn what HCD is all about and how it can make the HR practitioner's life (gasp) better! In this interactive workshop - complete with snacks, post-it notes galore, and plenty of time out of chairs - we'll discover the steps of the HCD process. We'll have ample time to work in small groups, where you can practice applying the framework to issues that group members bring forward - everything from team performance, productivity, retention, and more. Our goal is to help you gain a level of comfort and competency with HCD so that you can leverage it for small or big change in your organization, no matter where you are.

You can expect to leave the workshop knowing:

• What the HCD framework offers and how it works
• How to apply HCD to your work in a lean, daily manner
• How to use HCD to improve your workflow and solve specific workplace issues

Once registered, you'll receive a pre-workshop packet. We invite you to review the material in preparation for the workshop (we promise it's worth it!). At the workshop, you'll receive a handful of useful, editable materials that you can use again and again. We look forward to meeting you and sharing the HCD framework with you - to revolutionize HR!

This workshop is co-taught by Kristen Gallagher of Edify and Nitya Wahklu of Drawing Bridges:

Nitya Wakhlu is the founder at Drawbridge Innovations LLC, where she specializes in using Visual Thinking and Experiential Learning to create whole-brained experiences that support learning and change.

Nitya has a bachelor's degree in Electrical and Telecommunications engineering and an MBA focused on human resources and organization development. She brings over eight years of facilitation experience working with corporate, government and non-profit groups across North America, India, Africa, and Europe.

Nitya is best known for her work in learning design and visual facilitation. As a visual facilitator, Nitya brings a ninja-like listening ability to the table. She distills what she hears and creates a large-scale visual mural of key insights and emerging conversation patterns. This live visual capture prevents precious insight from being lost, stimulates higher levels of group creativity and helps the group truly “see the big picture”.

Things that make her eyes shine include: working with smart and diverse groups, learning about the brain, and studying behavior change. Find her at http://www.nityawakhlu.com/

Kristen Gallagher is the founder of Edify, a learning design consultancy that helps technology and creative companies grow their employees, customers, and businesses. She brings over eight years of instructional design, alternative learning environment experience, event management, business development, and nonprofit education experience to Edify. Recently, her focus has been on building educational experiences that empower people, especially new employees, women and small business owners.

Gallagher has presented research, workshops, and facilitated experiences at conferences and events of all sizes for over six years, focusing primarily on art history, museum, and education topics. She has experience presenting for a variety of audiences, though she prefers to focus on adult learning and treats "presentations" as learning experiences rather than show-and-tell sessions. Effective, efficient programs, events, and strategies are what motivate her, and in every project, she strives to engage teams and stakeholders to uncover the solutions for their needs (and often solve problems they didn't know they had!) Find her at www.edifyedu.com