Blacksburg Jobs - Global Handshake Guide

Newly unemployed? A trailing spouse? Recent college graduate in need of a job? Thinking about what to do next? 

Think Blacksburg. Consistently ranked in numerous top lists for best places to work, start a business, live, and raise a family, Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A. is home to Virginia Tech (the state's largest university) and home of the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center (with a base operation of more than 140 technology-focused businesses).

Here's our Global Handshake Guide to finding a job in Blacksburg, Virginia and the surrounding region with links to each site's employment page.  (Links open a new window.)

City/Town Government/Region

• Blacksburg (Town)
• Christiansburg (Town)
• Radford  (City)
• Montgomery County, Virginia Chamber of Commerce

Education

• Hollins University (Roanoke, VA)
• New River Community College (Christiansburg and Dublin, VA)
• Radford University (Radford, VA)
• Roanoke College (Salem, VA)
• Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM)
• Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA)
• Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute  (Roanoke, VA)

Technology/Industry

• Roanoke - Blacksburg Technology Council 
• Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center (new site's Jobs page link coming soon)

Other

• Blacksburg Craigslist
• Manpower
• Roanoke Times 

More Blacksburg, Virginia guides:
Blacksburg, Virginia Rental Property - Global Handshake Guide
Angel Investor Guide to Blacksburg, Virginia

Sponsored by Blacksburg Lodging - where to stay and what to do in Blacksburg, Virginia and surrounding areas.  Blacksburg Lodging is a division of Smart College Visit, Inc. 

Elevator Pitches: A Teachable Moment

As founder of a startup, one of the biggest challenges I've faced is deciding what to say when asked "What is Smart College Visit?" I have found it difficult to be succinct and to use language that pretty much everyone could understand.

For example, if I said, "We're a content marketing company serving higher-ed," most people would likely smile politely and move on. If I said, "We build mobile apps," they'd nod, smile, and say, "Who doesn't?"

Fortunately, I came across this video by Adeo Ressi, founder of TheFunded, and the startup incubator Founder Institute. Here, he lays out a perfect "how to" for crafting the one-sentence pitch for startups.

Lesson

Practice

My company, Smart College Visit, 

is developing a travel planning site

to make it easy for college-bound teens and their parents

to get directions, find hotels near campus, and search for 

information about each school they want visit.

 

Revision <formal>

Smart College Visit is a travel planning site that makes it easy for college-bound teens and their parents to search for information about each school they want to visit, get directions, and find hotels near campus. 

 

Conversational  <informal>

We make it easy for college-bound teens & parents to get info about colleges, get directions, & find hotels near each campus they want to visit.

Z. Kelly Queijo is the founder of Smart College Visit, Inc., a Blacksburg, Virginia-based higher-ed marketing company focused on mobile app and mobile web development with a special interest in creating travel and location-based tools and services. SmartCollegeVisit.com, a college search and college visit planning portal, has been listed in the Top 100 education advice blogs and as one of the top 5 college visit sites. You are invited to follow her on Twitter @collegevisit and to read more about Smart College Visit on Handshake 2.0.

Smart College Visit, Inc. is a client of Handshake Media, Incorporated, the parent company of Handshake 2.0.

Luck Is for the Lottery: You Need 3Ps to Win a Business Competition

Three folks got lucky when the winning MegaMillions lottery ticket number turned out be theirs. Skill, knowledge, preparation, and presentation had nothing to with winning. Winning the lottery was purely a matter of luck. 

That won't be the case on April 11, 2012, when the finalists in the VT KnowledgeWorks Entrepreneurship Challenge compete to take home a trophy and thousands of dollars in start-up services for the best business concept. They'll need to do something a bit more decisive than rely on luck. 

The entrepreneurs need to commit to winning. 

When I entered the VT KnowledgeWorks Open Business Concept Competition in 2010 and made the final cut, I realized that if my business idea had enough merit to get that far, then it was good enough to win the competition. So, I decided to develop what I thought would be a winning strategy built on these 3 Ps: Preparation, Presentation, and Passion. 

Preparation

I followed Guy Kawasaki's presentation guidelines in his book, The Art of the Start. I kept my presentation to 10 slides that primarily focused on the size and scope of my target market, the need I planned to meet/problem to solve, financials for the business, and my expertise. I kept the amount of text on the screen to a minimum with a font large enough for everyone in the room to read comfortably no matter where they were seated. I researched my facts and knew them by heart.

Presentation

I already knew that reading text from the slide show is a standard "no-no" unless you are repeating something to make a point. I took the data from my slides and turned it into an engaging narrative about  the solution I was pitching. I made eye contact with members of the audience. I sought empathy, understanding and connections. 

Passion

Passion - loving what I do - came out in the way I spoke, the tone of my voice, as well as what I said about Smart College Visit and, also, in the way I responded to questions. I smiled - a lot. After all, it felt wonderful to have the opportunity to tell a couple of hundred people about my company. I embraced the moment and tried to make the experience as exciting for them as it was for me. 

Was I surprised when I won? Yes and no. There were many good ideas presented by others who were also passionate about what they wanted to create. But market and concept are also critical components and Smart College Visit definitely had both. Still, the odds of winning a business competition are much better than the odds of winning the lottery, especially when you're prepared, present well, and are passionate about your business, service, or product.

Z. Kelly Queijo, founder of Smart College Visit, Inc., won the Open Business Concept Competition at the 2010 VT KnowledgeWorks Entrepreneurship Summit.

Smart College Visit, Inc. is a Blacksburg, Virginia-based higher-ed marketing company focused on mobile app and mobile web development with a special interest in creating travel and location-based tools and services. SmartCollegeVisit.com, a college search and college visit planning portal, has been listed in the Top 100 education advice blogs and as one of the top 5 college visit sites. You are invited to follow her on Twitter @collegevisit and to read more about Smart College Visit on Handshake 2.0.

VT KnowledgeWorks and Smart College Visit, Inc. are clients of Handshake Media, Incorporated, the parent company of Handshake 2.0.

10,000 Tweets and Counting

On Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 5:08 p.m., I logged my 10,000th Tweet. I'm not a compulsive-tell-you-my-every-move kind of Twitterer. I'm an entrepreneur who tweets to promote my company, services, and my clients. I also tweet to share information I feel is relevant, important, and sometimes amusing, but mostly, I'm all about "the biz." Fortunately, Smart College Visit is about connecting people and resources and Twitter is one of the ways I make this happen. 

My intense period of high activity comes on Wednesdays when I host #CampusChat, a weekly Twitter chat on topics related to college-bound teens, college admissions and college life. During this week's chat, in just one hour, 36 active participants contributed 448 tweets to our conversation on first generation college students. 

The day before my 10,000th tweet, Twitter, with its 140 million users, turned 6 and, according to an article on Forbes, Twitter users post more than 250 million tweets a day. 

With the 140-character limit, 10,000 tweets equates to a maximum of 1,400,000 characters.  A 40,000 word novel would have 180,000 characters with an average of 4.5 characters per word. 10,000 tweets, then, would equate to about 8 novels. I could have written 8 novels in the 2.5 years I've been tweeting as @collegevisit? Kind of mind-blowing - for now, I'll stick with tweeting, connecting, and growing my business. 

Images credit:  Special thanks to Jane Kudlow (@CvlKulow ), author of the Dr. StrangeCollege blog, for capturing my milestone tweet and sending it to me. Care to guess where I met Jane? :)

***

Z. Kelly Queijo is founder of Smart College Visit, Inc., a Blacksburg, Virginia-based higher-ed marketing company focused on mobile app and mobile web development with a special interest in creating travel and location-based tools and services. SmartCollegeVisit.com, a college search and college visit planning portal, has been listed in the Top 100 education advice blogs and as one of the top 5 college visit sites. You are invited to follow her on Twitter @collegevisit and to read more about Smart College Visit on Handshake 2.0.

Smart College Visit, Inc. is a client of Handshake Media, Incorporated, the parent company of Handshake 2.0.

Entrepreneurs & Inventors: Get on the Shelf Video Competition

Think you have an idea for the NEXT GREAT PRODUCT? Want to sell your product in Walmart stores? 

I wanted to.  See below.  Now there's a contest for that.

On January 18, 2012, Walmart announced the launch of Get on the Shelf, an online video competition whereby product developers have a shot at getting their product sold on Walmart.com and in Walmart stores.

According to a Walmart press release, anyone with a great product in any of the Walmart product categories is invited to participate. 

Here's what you do:

• Create your prototype.
• Make a video demonstrating your product.
• Submit your video to Walmart's new product competition: Get on the Shelf

Who decides who wins? We do. The public. Inventors will create videos of their products and the public gets to decide who wins. The grand prize winner gets their product on Walmart's shelves.

Contestants have until February 22, 2012 to submit an entry. First-round voting will take place March 7th - April 4th. Ten finalists will move to round two which takes place on April 11 – April 24, culminating in the announcement of the top three contestants and the grand prize winner. 

If you think you have the next great product idea, go to GetOnTheShelf.com and enter the competition. All you need is a good idea and a YouTube account to enter.

Having attempted to get a product in front of Walmart buyers the "old" way (Apply. Wait. Hope for a 10-minute pitch session with a buyer if lucky enough. Wait. "Thank you,  not at this time."), this video competition seems like a terrific alternative. 

*** 

Z. Kelly Queijo is founder of Smart College Visit, Inc., a Blacksburg, Virginia-based higher-ed marketing company focused on mobile app and mobile web development with a special interest in creating travel and location-based tools and services. SmartCollegeVisit.com, a college search and college visit planning portal, has been listed in the Top 100 education advice blogs and as one of the top 5 college visit sites. You are invited to follow her on Twitter @collegevisit.

Z. Kelly Queijo is a client columnist for Handshake 2.0.  Smart College Visit, Inc. is a client of Handshake Media, Incorporated, the parent company of Handshake 2.0.

Smart College Visit Debuts Travel Widget

When I founded Smart College Visit, Inc. the goal was simple: to make planning travel to college campuses easier for college-bound teens and their families. SmartCollegeVisit.com was designed to do just that by providing the travel booking tools necessary for college visit travel.

Once we had these tools in place and began to demo them to colleges and other businesses, people would ask, "Can I get that for my web site?" Immediately, we realized we had created a solution to a problem that was portable to other sites. We named this solution The Smart Visit Widget and we're happy to announce that the widget debuted on eduLaunchPad.com.

The widget is a location-based-service (LBS) that matches colleges with destination details all under one "roof" so to speak. To accommodate as many web design styles as possible, the widget is available in four sizes, three of which should fit most sidebar widths, and a larger one to fit other web page designs. 

The Smart Visit Widget is free and anyone interested in adding a location-based travel widget to their sites, even companies not associated with higher-ed, are invited to contact me for more information. 

We're excited to work with eduLaunchPad and are looking forward to seeing the widget at work during the fall college visit season. Please read the complete press release Smart Visit Widget Debut for more information.

From Anne Clelland:  When I learned The Smart Visit Widget offers 5 travel planning tools in one - book flight, rent hotel room, rent car, get directions, and calculate fuel - I said, "I want a widget!" We're delighted to feature the Smart Visit Widget linked to our client, VT KnowledgeWorks, on Handshake 2.0's sidebar!  Congratulations to Smart College Visit!

And we're delighted and honored to support Z. Kelly Queijo's participation in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure.

Z. Kelly Queijo is a client columnist for Handshake 2.0. and founder of Smart College Visit, Inc., a Blacksburg, Virginia-based higher-ed marketing company focused on mobile app and mobile web development with a special interest in creating travel and location-based tools and services. SmartCollegeVisit.com, a college search and college visit planning portal, has been listed in the Top 100 education advice blogs and as one of the top 5 college visit sites. Smart College Visit, Inc. is a client of Handshake Media, Incorporated.

A Marketing Mashup on Twitter via #CampusChat

What do you get when you take 10 or more people passionate about their work with college-bound and college-going students and ask them all to show up for one hour on Twitter to tweet their best back-to-school advice? You get Back-to-School SUPER #CampusChat! 

I've been hosting a weekly chat on Twitter (#CampusChat) every Wednesday night at 9:00 PM for the past 15 months. Topics have included planning campus visits, college test prep, admissions, college life, academic planning, internships, careers...you name it and we've likely covered it.

Tonight, instead of one expert guest, I've invited ALL of my 2011 previous co-hosts and other long-time supporters of #CampusChat to come prepared to share their "back-to-school" tips, promos, and guides. The response from past guests has been fantastic and many of them have offered give-aways as prize drawings for participants. There are at least 10 prizes to give away - that's a lot for a chat that only lasts an hour! Talk about crowdsourcing an event - what was I thinking?! 

And, we're not talking about pencils and erasers as prizes. The list of give-aways includes resources and services to help throughout the life of a college student. Here are just a few of the prizes we'll give away:

• Get into college: 10 copies of Getting In: The Zinch Guide to College Admissions and Financial Aid in the Digital Age
• Stay fit while in college: a FitKitDORM and a free one year membership to the FitKitCLUB - $50 value from www.FitKit.com.
• Plan your career while in college: A one-hour mentor call for students interested in finding the right internship with Mark Babbitt, founder of YouTern, a college internship matching and counseling service. The call can be used to discuss career goals, mentorship, entrepreneurial aspirations – whatever the student would like to focus on. 

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

Prizes are cool, but it's really the opportunity to meet and chat with industry experts, experienced parents and college students that makes #CampusChat an awesome hour. Multiply that "awesomeness" by 10 or 15 and you can see why I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by how much information there will be to manage, push out and later curate. Is this mashup on Twitter a really great marketing innovation in the making or is it more like trying to squeeze 60 college kids into a VW-Bug?

To register for tonight's #Campuschat - Wednesday, August 3, 2011, 9:00 PM ET - and to be entered into the prize drawing, please RSVP by posting your Twitter ID in the Comment section of this post on SmartCollegeVisit: There Will Be Prizes: Back to School Super #CampusChat. 

Top 3 Facebook Tips from The Social BUZZ Lab

Do you want to build more "buzz" on Facebook?

With two web sites and a weekly Twitter chat to promote, I know I do. That's why I signed up for Patsy Stewart's HandZon Social Media Facebook Workshop.

In one afternoon, I greatly expanded my knowledge of how to gain more user interaction, increase the number of fans for my business pages, and create a strategy to continue to build buzz for my brand. 

Here are 3 Facebook tips I took away from the workshop:

1. Your Facebook Page can be viewed by anyone even if they are not on Facebook.
2. The content posted on your Facebook page is indexed by Google. 
3. "WHEN" you post something to Facebook can be as important as "WHAT" you post. Look at "View Insights" as an admin on your business fan page. "Interactions" will show you time-of-day activity.

Having arrived at the workshop without my laptop, I pulled out my iPod Touch and created a Facebook page for Blacksburg Lodging. Using the strategies Patsy outlined in the workshop, I had enough "fans" within 24 hours to enable me to claim my page name and establish ownership of the Blacksburg Lodging fan page: http://www.facebook.com/BlacksburgLodging. The buzz is just beginning.

You're invited to read more from Z. Kelly Queijo on Handshake 2.0.

Z. Kelly Queijo is a client columnist for Handshake 2.0.  Blacksburg Lodging is a division of Smart College Visit, Inc., a client of Handshake Media, Incorporated, the parent company of Handshake 2.0.

Commencement Speeches Aren't Just for Graduates

On June 10, 2011, I sat in the sweltering hot Burruss Hall auditorium at Virginia Tech, fanning myself with the Blacksburg High School graduation program, waiting for the ceremony to begin. My interest in being there was singular: I was there to watch my daughter walk across that stage and accept her diploma. Five minutes before the graduation ceremony was to begin, I stopped fanning and thought to open the program to find out who was scheduled be the commencement speaker. I smiled as I read the name “John Boyer.” 

John is a professor of geography at Virginia Tech and creator of the freedom fighting web comic persona, The Plaid Avenger. I knew, at the very least, his speech would be entertaining. What I did not know was that John's message was not “just for the kids.”

As John began to talk about the future, the next steps these teens would take on their journey into adulthood, he said there were three things they needed to do:

• Execute ideas – it's not just enough to have great ideas, you have to execute them, to put them into action in order for ideas to matter.
• Find out what you are passionate about and pursue it.
• Be near the game. If you want to be in the game, get near the game. 

I listened as John made these statements, adding anecdotes and examples to help the kids visualize what they needed to do in order to get where they wanted to be in life. But, all the while I thought he was speaking to me about what entrepreneurs need to do to be successful, especially the part about executing ideas. It was a great takeaway and I've started each day since then asking myself “Which idea can I put into action today?” 

Blacksburg High School's commencement address was not the only one I took lessons away from this month. Jonathan Hoster, assistant director of undergraduate admissions at Syracuse University, sent me the link to the speech given by Dennis Crowley, Foursquare co-founder and Syracuse alumnus, who spoke at the graduation ceremony for the university's School of Information Studies (iSchool). 

Here, Dennis told the story of his own pursuit of passion and ideas and how in a relatively short time, following graduation from college, he went from a six-figure income to making $6 per hour before creating the success Foursquare has achieved. One thing both commencement speeches had in common was this: whether you're just getting started in life or business, you have to execute ideas in order to have any chance at success. Now that's a lesson worth taking away.

You're invited to read more from Z. Kelly Queijo on Handshake 2.0.

Z. Kelly Queijo is founder of Smart College Visit, Inc., a Blacksburg, Virginia-based higher-ed marketing company focused on mobile app and mobile web development with a special interest in creating travel and location-based tools and services. SmartCollegeVisit.com, a college search and college visit planning portal, has been listed in the Top 100 education advice blogs and as one of the top 5 college visit sites. You are invited to follow her on Twitter @collegevisit.

Z. Kelly Queijo is a client columnist for Handshake 2.0.  Smart College Visit, Inc. is a client of Handshake Media, Incorporated, the parent company of Handshake 2.0.

Gary Vaynerchuk Wows Virginia Tech

You know that feeling you get when the air is charged with excitement - the hair on your arms sticks straight up, you scream and cheer along with everyone else in the crowd, and you can't wait to see what happens next? If this sounds like a Virginia Tech football game, you'd be only half right. The location would be correct, but would you believe it was not a not a winning touchdown that drove the crowd crazy on the campus of Virginia Tech on Wednesday, April 27, 2011? It was seed money to fund a start-up business.

After giving away thousands of dollars in drawings for prizes that ranged from $500 gift cards to internships at a choice of Facebook or Apple, wine-expert-turned-entrepreneur-turned-author Gary Vaynerchuk ended his talk to a gathering of over 1800 students and guests with an offer of $10,000 to help get a business off the ground.

The deal: $10,000 in seed-money with Gary retaining 5% interest in the company and an invitation to come to New York.  The winner: Becca Favret.

Becca received her bachelor's degree in English from Virginia Tech in December 2010. With her sights set on attending law school at the University of Richmond in the fall, starting a business was the furthest thing from her mind. "To come up with an idea for a business because I have the opportunity did not seem to be the reason to start a business."

The fact that Becca was more focused on a career in law rather than becoming an entrepreneur did not faze Gary. "He told me to follow my passion and that we can talk now or talk later - even three years later." Becca definitely felt the impact of Gary's passion and generosity. "I was blown away by his presence. You could tell he was excited about what he was talking about. There's no doubt he grew a loyal following of college students that night. He left a lasting mark on everyone who was there."

Gary Vaynerchuk is currently on tour promoting his new book The Thank You Economy. His visit to Virginia Tech was the brainchild of Professor John Boyer and his Geography of Wine class who used video and social media to invite Gary V to come to Tech and to waive his usual speaking fee. 

To see Gary in action at Virginia Tech, check out this cell-phone video taken by an audience member: Gary Vaynerchuk Epic Prizes Giveaway at Virginia Tech!

Z. Kelly Queijo is founder of Smart College Visit, Inc., a Blacksburg, Virginia-based higher-ed marketing company focused on mobile app and mobile web development with a special interest in creating travel and location-based tools and services. SmartCollegeVisit.com, a college search and college visit planning portal, has been listed in the Top 100 education advice blogs and as one of the top 5 college visit sites. You are invited to follow her on Twitter @collegevisit.

Smart College Visit, Inc. is a client of Handshake Media, Incorporated.