The Higginbotham Plan To Make West Virginia Irresistible To Outside Investment And The Jobs That Come With It

West Virginia's intractable barrier to prosperity is our low inventory of STEM-educated college grads. Our governor and our legislators say so on radio and TV talk shows but they have not presented a plan to grow West Virginia's supply of STEM grads. 

Here's mine:

The Higginbotham Plan To Make West Virginia Irresistible To Outside Investment and The Jobs That Come With It

1.    Make the Promise Scholarship a STEM scholarship. Companies won’t come here for our English majors, political science majors and communications majors, but they will come here to gain access to our mathematicians, software engineers, chemists and other STEM grads if we produce them in large numbers.

2. Require Promise Scholarship recipients to sign a contract with West Virginia obligating them to stay in West Virginia for, say, 5 years after graduation. Too many of West Virginia’s college grads are leaving with their degrees and making some other state’s workforce magnetic to outside investment. If they give us five years, they’ll marry, have children, build houses, make friends and most will never leave. Maybe along the way they’ll invent things and, who knows, maybe some of them will start the next Apple or the next Google.

3.    Greatly expand the Promise Scholarship to fund tens of thousands of students’ college careers instead of the current 3,000 to 3,500.

4.    Double the per-student annual scholarship award from its current $4,750 to around $9,000 or $10,000.

5.    Buy the college debt of STEM grads who want to come to West Virginia and are willing to sign a contract requiring them to become part of West Virginia’s workforce for at least five years.

6.    Pay for the above with a severance tax, an excise tax or the proceeds from the state lottery or some combination of the aforementioned.

Tom Roten, Hoppy Kercheval, Danny Jones, Mitch Carmichael, Jim Justice, Tim Armstead, 

Join Dave Allen and I Live This Friday 11 November On WSCW Radio

You're invited to participate in the  "Dave Allen Live!" show this Friday, 11 November, at 10AM when I am Dave's guest on WSCW radio, 1410 AM and WSCWAM.com.

Dave says he wants to discuss election results and social issues. 

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Joseph Higginbotham has written hundreds of articles and columns for dozens of magazines, journals and newspapers and has appeared as a guest on such talk radio shows as Tri-State Talk with Mayor Bobby Nelson, The Mike Queen Show, The Jack Pattie Show, The Sue Wiley Show, The Eddie Cooper Show, The Tom Roten Morning Show and others.

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Higginbotham At Large does not read or publish pseudonymous or anonymous comments. When you click the "submit" button your comment is not yet published it is merely sent to me for my approval or deletion. Commenters who hide behind "handles", nicknames or other pseudonyms will not see their comments published here. If readers won't know who you are, I will delete your comment. No Ring of Gyges for you. I like email addresses that include the submitter's actual name like mine does: JosephHigginbotham@gmail.com.



























































West Virginia, Saint Albans, St. Albans, Dunbar, Charleston, Kanawha, Speaker bureau, speakers bureau, speaker's bureau, speakers' bureau, guest speaker, 25177, 25143, 25303, 25309, 25301, 25302, 25305, 25311, 25314, 25304, neighborhood watch, animal rights, animal welfare, no-kill, shelters, crime watch, neighborhood crime watch, ward 4,vegan, vegetarian, liberal, liberalism, progressive, branding, naming, home rule, dog tethering,  Peoples Party, portmanteaus, ghost writer, ghostwriter, ghostwriting, ghost writing, neologisms, neologism, brand names, brand name, dog racing, Grey2K, Carey Thiel, Phil Kabler, Rob Casto, Holly Fisher, Joel Frewa, kelly stadleman, erin beck, Putnam standard, chris dickerson, west virginia record, rob byers, charleston gazette, Kate White, Pat Ward, Rob Byers, Ann Ali, Jim Workman, Erin Timony, The State Journal, Mandi Cardosi, Laura Bevan, Andi  Bernat, Heather Severt, Heather Perkins, Senge, Deming, Oshry, Seddon,  systems thinking, Rebecca Kimmons, Sarah Halstead, Church growth, game theory, systems thinking, 

Why A New Salary Overtime Threshold Law May Entitle You To A Pay Raise December 1, 2016

Effective December 1 of this year, the overtime salary threshold doubles from $23,660 to $47,476.

What does this mean to you? If you are an employer, it means that you may have to start tracking the time of salaried workers whose time you don’t currently track and it means that you will now have to decide whether to increase some employees’ salaries or pay them overtime when they work more than 40 hours per week. Effective December 1, employers will no longer be able to avoid paying overtime by simply giving employees “titles” like “assistant manager” then putting them on salary at around $24,000 and requiring them to work 60 or 70 hours per week. Starting December 1, American workers who work more than 40 hours per week will be entitled to get a salary increase to $47,476 or get overtime pay for any hours they work beyond 40 hours per week. 

If you are one of those salaried workers who works more than 40 hours per week but doesn’t make at least $47,476 your employer will now have to track your hours. 

For more information on the new overtime salary threshold, visit the Department of Labor website at DOL.gov.

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Joseph Higginbotham has written hundreds of articles and columns for dozens of magazines, journals and newspapers and has appeared as a guest on such talk radio shows as Tri-State Talk with Mayor Bobby Nelson, The Mike Queen Show, The Jack Pattie Show, The Sue Wiley Show, The Eddie Cooper Show, The Tom Roten Morning Show and others.

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Higginbotham At Large does not read or publish pseudonymous or anonymous comments. When you click the "submit" button your comment is not yet published it is merely sent to me for my approval or deletion. Commenters who hide behind "handles", nicknames or other pseudonyms will not see their comments published here. If readers won't know who you are, I will delete your comment. No Ring of Gyges for you. I like email addresses that include the submitter's actual name like mine does: JosephHigginbotham@gmail.com.



























































West Virginia, Saint Albans, St. Albans, Dunbar, Charleston, Kanawha, Speaker bureau, speakers bureau, speaker's bureau, speakers' bureau, guest speaker, 25177, 25143, 25303, 25309, 25301, 25302, 25305, 25311, 25314, 25304, neighborhood watch, animal rights, animal welfare, no-kill, shelters, crime watch, neighborhood crime watch, ward 4,vegan, vegetarian, liberal, liberalism, progressive, branding, naming, home rule, dog tethering,  Peoples Party, portmanteaus, ghost writer, ghostwriter, ghostwriting, ghost writing, neologisms, neologism, brand names, brand name, dog racing, Grey2K, Carey Thiel, Phil Kabler, Rob Casto, Holly Fisher, Joel Frewa, kelly stadleman, erin beck, Putnam standard, chris dickerson, west virginia record, rob byers, charleston gazette, Kate White, Pat Ward, Rob Byers, Ann Ali, Jim Workman, Erin Timony, The State Journal, Mandi Cardosi, Laura Bevan, Andi  Bernat, Heather Severt, Heather Perkins, Senge, Deming, Oshry, Seddon,  systems thinking, Rebecca Kimmons, Sarah Halstead, Church growth, game theory, systems thinking, 

I'll Be Tom Roten's Radio Guest Tomorrow (Tuesday Nov 1)

I’ll be @TomRoten ’s radio guest tomorrow (Tuesday Nov 1) at 7:40AM on 800 WVHU Huntington.

Outside the Huntington area you can listen live at 800wvhu.iheart.com.

Joseph Higginbotham On Mike Queen's Radio Show Friday 28 October

I will be Mike Queen's radio guest this Friday 28 October on his WAJR radio show in Clarksburg. 

Time: 9AM. 

Topic - and these are Mike Queen's words - "The Intrigue Surrounding Charlotte Pritt's Candidacy." 

My Charleston area friends can stream the show live at WAJR.com. I'll  only be on for 15 minutes so don't tune in late. 

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Joseph Higginbotham has written hundreds of articles and columns for dozens of magazines, journals and newspapers. 

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Higginbotham At Large does not read or publish pseudonymous or anonymous comments. When you click the "submit" button your comment is not yet published it is merely sent to me for my approval or deletion. Commenters who hide behind "handles", nicknames or other pseudonyms will not see their comments published here. If readers won't know who you are, I will delete your comment. No Ring of Gyges for you. I like email addresses that include the submitter's actual name like mine does: JosephHigginbotham@gmail.com.



























































West Virginia, Saint Albans, St. Albans, Dunbar, Charleston, Kanawha, Speaker bureau, speakers bureau, speaker's bureau, speakers' bureau, guest speaker, 25177, 25143, 25303, 25309, 25301, 25302, 25305, 25311, 25314, 25304, neighborhood watch, animal rights, animal welfare, no-kill, shelters, crime watch, neighborhood crime watch, ward 4,vegan, vegetarian, liberal, liberalism, progressive, branding, naming, home rule, dog tethering,  Peoples Party, portmanteaus, ghost writer, ghostwriter, ghostwriting, ghost writing, neologisms, neologism, brand names, brand name, dog racing, Grey2K, Carey Thiel, Phil Kabler, Rob Casto, Holly Fisher, Joel Frewa, kelly stadleman, erin beck, Putnam standard, chris dickerson, west virginia record, rob byers, charleston gazette, Kate White, Pat Ward, Rob Byers, Ann Ali, Jim Workman, Erin Timony, The State Journal, Mandi Cardosi, Laura Bevan, Andi  Bernat, Heather Severt, Heather Perkins, Senge, Deming, Oshry, Seddon,  systems thinking, Rebecca Kimmons, Sarah Halstead, 

Headhunter Myths - Part 2

Myth:  “Clients hire headhunters to find and deliver candidates they don’t already know.”

Truth: No, that’s why clients think they hire headhunters. The truth is that clients rarely hire strangers even if those strangers are found and delivered by a headhunter. In fact, after looking through my files and notes, I can’t find a single case where my client hired my best candidate if that candidate was a stranger and there was an acceptable non-stranger who would accept the offer. When I first started headhunting I was reluctant to present candidates who had some sort of a connection to my client. I thought my job was to find candidates with absolutely no ties to my client, candidates who were not in my client’s network at all. Now I have a name for candidates who aren’t already networked to my client: I call them candidates who can’t get the offer.

I’ve collected many a 5-figure fee for finding and delivering candidates my clients already had in their networks. The truth is, employers don’t simply hire people with the right skills. Employers hire people who know the same people they know. People don’t hire a stranger to fix their plumbing, their roof, their wiring unless an acceptable non-stranger is available. Similarly, employers will take a pass on the A+ stranger if there’s a B non-stranger available.

Incidentally, systems thinkers who are seeking a new job can backward-engineer this fact to network their way to a new job.  Maybe I’ll explain this in a future post.

Myths About Headhunters and Recruiters - Part 1

Myth 1: “’Headhunter’ and ‘Recruiter’ are just different names for the same thing.”

Truth: A recruiter runs ads, holds job fairs and does other things to attract “active candidates”, i.e., people who are actively job hunting, while a headhunter doesn’t run ads. Why would he? The clients who hire headhunters have probably already run employment ads and have received resumes from hundreds or thousands of active jobseekers . The candidates headhunters are paid to find aren’t looking for a job so they aren’t seeing employment ads. Why would they?

Myth 2: “I should send my resume to headhunters, right?”

Truth: No, if you send your resume to a headhunter you are, by definition, an active jobseeker, not the passive candidate headhunters seek. Headhunters know that if you have an up-to-date resume and you are offering to send it, you’ve probably already sent it to everybody you can think of. Why do headhunters seek passive candidates? Because that’s what clients want. By the time a client hires a headhunter, the client has tried to fill the job opening by word-of-mouth and by advertising. They didn’t find what they are looking for so now they want to talk to “passive” candidates, the kind of people who aren’t reading employment ads and probably don’t even have an up-to-date resume.

Once when I was a Career Night “expert panelist” at a university, a graduating senior asked me how to find headhunters. Can you guess what I told him? I told him that if he finds a headhunter he has just disqualified himself from working with the headhunter. You don’t find headhunters, headhunters find you.

Stay tuned for Part Two.