It’s Coming…

Next week is my birthday and there are a few things I want: Nats playoff tickets, iPhone 5, withstand time by being 29 forever, the works. However, I use this space to highlight the organizations I care about and you should donate. Here it is:

1. Washington Nationals Dream Foundation - I have been a supporter since 2008 and with several initiatives from education to health (and a winning team), this is one of many things going right for the Nats this year.
2. Friends of Fort DuPont Ice Arena - During the “Give To the Max” event, I was introduced to Fort DuPont Ice Arena. I had a Jizz Cares contest to whatever Alex Semin did that night. As a result, $200 went to Fort DuPont Ice Arena. This year, Semin went to Carolina and the NHL has locked out its players…again. This is my appreciation to the organization.
3. SHRM Foundation - I’ve been in HR for almost 8 years and with SHRM in 7 of those. A great foundation advancing and promoting HR to college students. Frankly, we need more of these so HR has moved to a strategic role in your business.
4. Goodwill of Greater Washington - Many things to love: their work on get people back into the workforce and their stores. Also, my birthday lands on the “Festival of Latest Novelties” Day. Perfect time to shop at Goodwill.
5. Thrive DC – Great organization helping the homeless getting back to their feet and have an opportunity. Also of note, I will be helping them filling their board of directors for next year. If you’re interested, contact me either by social media or at tracy@tranrecruiting.com
6. Volunteer Fairfax - I have helped volunteer with them the past couple years and they do so many great things in the Fairfax community and also a great staff to boot.
7. Help the Homeless DC – Finally, this is one of my favorite events to attend. However, this year has special meaning. I made this declaration almost this time last year:

I WILL wear a Smurfette costume if the #Nats win the World Series next year.

—
Tracy Tran (@tracytran) September 28, 2011

If the Nationals do win the World Series, I will wear the Smurfette outfit like this:

(courtesy MASN)

at this event in the name of charity. Of course, Strasburg is out, so there’s no shot of them winning (SMH). Still, it’s a great event to help the homeless in the DC area.

There you have it. As a bonus, I would also want companies to sponsor NatsJobs this upcoming postseason. Contact me for details. No pressure.

NatsJobs 2012

This has been a very busy few months for me as I have been focusing and promoting a lot lately: NatsJobs.

If you have been running away from me the past few months, NatsJobs is an interactive job board where any business can post jobs during Washington Nationals games. Last year, it was a social media experiment that I was playing with and ended up as a potential cash cow for my company, Tran Recruiting. I mentioned last year that NatsJobs will be bigger, bolder, and better (somewhat in that order). I didn’t lie.

For the upcoming 2012 season, we are covering the bases. NatsJobs now has:

- A Homepage: http://NatsJobs.net
- A Twitter Page: @_natsjobs_
- A Facebook Page: http://Facebook.com/NatsJobs
- SMS/Text Messaging by texting “_natsjobs_” to 40404
- An actual email address: info@natsjobs.net
- Coming soon, the NatsJobs mobile site
- A Hologram of me…I kid. (Also, a lot of people ask me if the job will be posted on the HD Jumbotron at Nationals Park. Let me answer in two parts: 1) we’re not affiliated with the Washington Nationals and 2) It’s damn expensive)

You would think that would be enough, but I wasn’t satisfied.

Also for the 2012 season, we are holding contests and big events each month:

April: Tickets to the home opener against the Cincinnati Reds if your business post a job during the opening series against the Cubs.

May: #NatsSeekers – where 80 job seekers and 20 recruiters/HR/hiring managers network and watch the game. It’s on May 15 against the San Diego Padres at 1PM…a perfect time to do your work. Details coming soon.

June: Another #NatsSeekers opportunity, but more at a bar/restaurant. Looking for sponsors and venue.

July: I’ll let everyone take their vacation.

August: Someone will win a trip to the Season Ticket Holder event on August 4. You have to post a job with us by July 31.

September: One lucky business will not only win tickets to a Nationals game, but will join me at the Stars & Stripes Club. More details to come.

Pricing is a little different than last year. Yes, I raised the prices because we want everyone to have access to our job board either on their home computer, laptop, smartphone, cell phone, tablet, and billboard (not really). However, I kept it reasonable so you don’t bust your recruiting budget. It is $28 for non-profits, associations, government, and for-profit companies with 50 or fewer employees; $37 for for-profit companies with 50+ employees; and $99 if you want to post your job for a week of Nationals games. As an added bonus, if applicants missed your job post during the game, they can go to our job archives section where it will be there for the next 7 Nats games. If you want a head start to reserve your half-inning, click here.

If you have any questions, you can contact me. You know where I am

Of note: if you feel this blog post feels promotional, well…yeah, it is my blog. Plus, I’m both the founder of Tran Recruiting and NatsJobs, so there’s a hint.

Strasmas

The event in the past 10 years I wanted to attend was Barack Obama’s inauguration in January 2009.  I wanted to be part of history, but it was too crowded for my taste but would love an opportunity to revisit.  I’m not saying The Strasburg’s MLB debut was like that, but this is easily the best sporting event I ever attended and it was in my backyard.

I have been to a Caps playoff game, the White Sox-Cubs game, , Gilbert Arenas MLK Buzzer Beater against the Jazz, but none of these had the magnitude in this game.  The reason could be this is what Washington baseball has been waiting for a very long time.  The other is DC really has been on futility for so long from the rest of the teams, except for the Caps the past few seasons.  Everyone wanted to be part of history and they did: it was a sellout, celebrities including Charlie Casserly, who I met before leaving the game, media was loaded, Baseball Tonight was on location, you name it.  What made the event special was not the media hype, but the performance was out of this world.

People are gong to say it’s the Pittsburgh Pirates, they’re MLB-lite and it was easy cooking for the Strasburg.  Fair, but the Strasburg had to deal with the media attention, a bigger crowd, and a hungry team trying to ruin his spotlight.  The result was the Strasburg gave up 2 runs, struck out 14, and allowed no walks in 94 pitches, which is a first in the majors. You can say the team is weak, but don’t look at the opponent, look at the Strasburg pitches.  They are so nasty, you even feel sorry for the opponents’ batter like Joe Theismann’s leg.  You can discredit Pittsburgh as a weak team, but at least they battle unlike the worst team in baseball a few miles up north from Washington (and they’re in the American League).  The fans sounded they wanted to erupt and wanted to let it out from the beginning and sustain it to the end.  Makes me so proud as a DC fan, I’m going to cry.

The only downsides of the event I encounter were:

1. Food is still subpar.  Had a soggy bun on my hotdog. Bleah!
2. Teddy still lost when the Strasburg made his debut.  Guess we have to wait when Bryce Harper makes his debut, then Teddy might win.

I will say in this one night, The Strasburg is the number two rank athlete in DC, behind Alex Ovechkin.  However, The Strasburg can be number one in less than two years if the Caps still become “choking dogs” and the Nats win the pennant or win the wild card, which can happen of how the team is built.  The Caps lead the renaissance of DC sports and they should get credit, but from tonight’s game with the sellout crowd, Strasburg merchandise, and a Nats fan throwing a Pirates home run ball back into the field, winning is not enough…DC wants a championship.  That is a sign DC has become a legit sports city.

I hope you had a Merry Strasmas and hope you have a safe The Strasburg Boxing day today.

Strasmas pictures

Twestival Local – DC

Last week, I went to the Twestival Local in Washington DC to support Miriam’s Kitchen.  I love Twestival back in February and met a lot of great people.  This Twestival doesn’t have the surprise factor.  It was a reunion of some sort since I have met most of the people from previous tweetups.  I would like to thank Peter LaMotte and his team and Miriam’s Kitchen for the whole Twestival Local event and the money they raise should help out the for meals for the homeless.  I felt Twestival should be held every month for a different charity so people can attend more of these events to kick back and give money to a great cause.

The only people I met for the first time were Aram from George Mason (and his 500 aliases on Twitter) and Michael Sola of the National Wildlife Federation.  I wish there were more Fairfax people came at the event as promised (it was on the Amiando roster), but did not see any additional Fairfaxians (except Sara and Aram).

There was one problem about Twestival Local at the Midtown Loft I had issue with: loud music.  The music was so loud, I literally had to scream and lost my voice that night.  Now, I wouldn’t blame that on the Twestival organizers, but this has been an occurring theme that when I go to a social event like a tweetup or a fantasy football draft, the music had to be loud.  I was talking to Danielle and Kristen of the NWF and we were talking that the Twestival event last February had music, but it wasn’t as loud and everyone had a great time and wonder why the Twestival Local, and other social events at bars, put loud music.

I did a search and found two articles for why bars play loud music: U.S. News and StlToday.  Both show when you pop the loud music, people drink faster and order more alcohol.  If this study is true, you understand why music is played that loud in bars and night clubs.  To me, does that defeat the purpose of interacting with other tweeters?  In top of that, the NFL Thursday Night Opener was playing during the Twestival, but there was no sound since the music was blasting through the room.  This was  a great way to bond with other tweeps, but a missed opportunity.

Overall, I did have fun at the Twestival Local and it was great meeting others I met the past year, but I think the organizers need to realize they need to set up different Twestival events: one for the social/networking scene and the other for people to have fun.  The Twestival will only get bigger and bigger, which is great, but it must be done right to handle different audiences.