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I was recently called out by @Handshake20 regarding my whereabouts – online and offline. Offline, you do not see me attending as many events. Online, as you can read from my blog, there have not been as many posts. Partially because of a self-imposed fast on all media on the Sabbath, which has been sporadic and hard to do, but very helpful.

My role with the City of Roanoke was very public and I interacted with a lot of people – all of whom I am grateful to have served. After a stint with Rackspace and now the Director of Undergraduate Career Services for the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech, I have tried to be more laser focused and am trying to learn the word “No”.

I read a great post by Seth Godin and he asked where do great ideas come from. One of his answers was “not from watching TV” and from “reading books”. Here are some books/ideas that have influenced me and may be helpful to others:

• 80/20 Principle – Focus on the 20% that yield 80% of your results. It applies to many aspects of your life.
• 7 Habits – Focus on Quadrant 2 activities like relationship building. Slow is fast and fast is slow.
• Strength Finders – Focus on developing strengths (mine are Activator, Responsibility, Connectedness, Belief and Command). Yours?
• Purple Cow – Focus on the remarkable. It is your most effective marketing strategy.
• Purpose Driven Life – Focus on personal faith and serving others. It’s not about you!
• Next Generation Leader - Focus on leading others and not on the 2% you will unintentionally intimidate and threaten.

Therefore, I am behind on new technologies and the details of social media and out of the loop on local issues. What have I missed? It is more about what I have gained. Thanks for asking @Handshake20.

This further illustrates the importance of attracting and retaining the skilled and college-educated workforce of younger professionals as has been chronicled on this blog for several years.

The talent of these individuals drive regional economies and create opportunities for individuals with lesser educational attainment. Unfortunately, strategies and public sector funding continues to focus more on helping create and generate hourly jobs for people who are less likely to grow a regional economy.

That is why the strategy of job seekers acquiring new skills through continuing education continues to be the best alternative at addressing complex regional economic issues.

Genworth Financial hosted a group of students recently to showcase their company and career opportunities. Chelsea Sopko did a great job outlining the company and also introducing the students to other interns and full-time employees. They have at least 26 Pamplin alums working for them now (91 total Hokies) and have hired at least 9 Pamplin students in the past 5 years. Make certain you check out Genworth Financial at the September 16 Business Horizons job fair.