ECONOMY

HOME BREW

GIGS

Organizing the World, One Room at a Time

Huntington Woods mom turns passion into profit.

By Stefani E. Barner

ndrea Wolf knew her career in the
mortgage industry wasn't working.
Struggling to meet the needs of her em-
ployer intersected sharply with her struggle
to meet the needs of her family and, in the
end, she felt she was not adequately meet-
ing anyone's needs — including her own.
She knew she needed a change, but
wasn't sure what, when friends asked this
married, Huntington Woods mother of three
if she could help orga-
nize their home after
some renovations.
Shortly thereafter, her
inner-meticulousness
combined with
entrepreneurial gusto
to ask: how could
she make money by
through clearing clut-
ter and sorting trash
from treasure?
Before
"I started to realize
what I was really good
at. Something that I
found fun was very
debilitating to others
and they needed
help." Thus, "Needs
Everything Away and
Tidy, or NEAT, her
home-based personal
organization service,
was born.
"Sometimes the cli-
After
ent is heavily involved,
and at others I'm comfortable handling
things on my own,"she says. "I have three
kids and If I'm working on a child's space, I
know what I can keep and what can go; 99
percent of the time, when kids come back
into their room ... they are sure that there's
more stuff there and not less."
With projects ranging from packing up
a household, organizing storage rooms,
mudrooms, basements and closets to offer-
ing team coaching for managers seeking to
improve their staff member's organization
skills, every day brings something new.
As Wolf explained, one of her company's
operating principles is making life easier for
her clients — including taking great care to
assure confidentiality.
"Many of the people I work with are afraid
that I'm going to judge them. But one of the
great things about bringing me in to help is
that I don't have the emotional investment

that they do;' she explained."That means I
can ask honest, non-judgmental questions,
and help them really sort out what they
want to keep and what they feel okay about
letting go!'
Larry Frommer, Vice President of Frommer
and Associates in Farmington Hills says that
he called Wolf after he saw the difference
she made in the office of a business associ-
ate.
"My office had been out
of control for years, and I
realized that I would never
do something about it my-
self;' Frommer says." I can
find things much easier
now; I was one of those
people who would search
through mountains of files
and piles of papers ... now
everything has its place."
In addition to these
paid projects, Wolf fre-
quently donates her skills
to area nonprofits.
"I love to donate my
services for a good cause;'
she says, "It's a good way
to get my name out while
also helping. I am espe-
cially interested in sharing
my services with Jewish
organizations:'
Wolf isn't just passion-
ate about sharing her
expertise as an organizer;
she's also a veryenthusiastic advocate for
others interested in working from home. Her
best advice is to figure out what makes you
happiest, research the hell out of it, and find
the best way to execute it.
"You've gotta do something you love. Your
best marketing [tool] is yourself and your
passion needs to come through."she says,
citing an example from her childhood days
of missing school to reconfigure her parents'
cabinets.
This ad hoc approach to entrepreneurship
seems to have worked well for Wolf, who
relies solely on word-of-mouth and social
media advertising to drive business.
"I am very thankful that people allow me
to come into their homes and help them,
because often people are embarrassed and
there's no reason to be7she says. "The pro-
cess is fun and the end result is so great that
the embarrassment doesn't last." RT

MORE THAN MY CV

Tweet Yourself into a Job

Micro-babble soapbox Twitter is but one more tool
in your personal branding arsenal.

By Jackie Headapohl

Twitter, the micro blogging platform that exploded onto the social networking scene
in 2007, currently has 175 million users — many of whom are using this social network-
ing platform to land new jobs, 140 characters at a time.
It's a must-have to establish a personal brand, according to personal branding guru
Dan Schwabel, managing partner of Millennial Branding LLC and author of the bestsell-
ing career book, Me 2.0:4 Steps to Building Your Future (Kaplan Publishing). He defines
"personal branding" as establishing yourself as an expert in your field and demonstrating
your relevance to potential employers.
"Stay relevant or stay unemployed;' is Schwabel's advice. "You need to be an expert at
something, and Twitter can help you do that. It helps you connect to the right people
and build a positive reputation!'
But, Schwabel cautions, Twitter is only one prong in an online strategy to build your
personal brand. You need a personal website too.
"If you're just on Twitter and you don't have a website, you're in trouble," says Schwa-
bel."You need to bring the people you engage with Twitter back to a place online that
you fully control, where you can post a video resume or showcase your projects:'
After you've set up your Twitter account, go to www.twellow.com , where you can
search for people to "follow." Look for specific job titles that reflect your career aspirations
— such as financial analyst or marketing manager — or the names of companies where
you want to work. Create a list of these people on your Twitter account, called "People I
need to network with."
"Then begin reaching out to these people," Schwabel says. How? Ask them questions.
Retweet their posts. "You'll come across as passionate about your field and competent at
what you do;' he adds. riT

14 December 2010 I

RED TIIREAD

ur barometer of employer demand, the GIGS department is a regional composite of
companies and industries that are in hiring mode. While December is traditionally a
slow hiring month, it seems things are more upbeat than at the same time last year.
No marathon of employment recruiting events through — everyone must be busy at-
tending Christmas parties. Happy hunting!

0

AUTOMOTIVE

Automotive supplier EDAG in Auburn
Hills recently landed two new programs,
one for a military vehicle and one for a
sports car from an American Original
Equipment Manufacturer."We're just
ramping up on those programs, and we
need people;' said Tim
Meyer, director of staff-
ing solutions. Meyer
said the company has
about 150 openings.
"We're going to be
hiring about 15 people
a week for the next sev-
eral months;' he said.
EDAG is looking
for body, chassis and
interior engineers with
military experience
as well as unigraphic
designers. On the
manufacturing side,
the company is hiring
industrial and manu-
facturing process engineers. Designer ap-
plicants should have at least seven years of
experience. Engineering applicants should
have five to 15 years of experience. Candi-
dates can send their resumes to Meyer at
Tim.Meyer@edag-us.com .
Gary Kopp, engineering manager at
Magna Powertrain in Troy, is looking for
experienced powertrain engineers familiar
with testing, validation and design of
powertrain components, including NVH
and durability testing.
"The company recently relocated its
engineering center from Syracuse, N.Y., to
Troy. We've got new business, and we're
growing;' Kopp said. Magna Powertrain
also is looking for project leads and pur-
chasing and commodity managers with
engineering backgrounds.
The company is requesting applicants
have eight to 10 years of experience in
powertrain engineering. All open positions

pay $60,000 and up. You can apply online
at Magna's career page at magna.com

FINANCE

Quicken Loans has many jobs avail-
able, many of which don't require lending
experience, according to senior recruiter
Amanda Huizenga."We have non-sales
jobs available in everything from HR and
IT to customer service and marketing;' she
said."We're also looking to hire mortgage
bankers."
The company prefers that candidates
for mortgage banker positions have sales
experience, but no lending experience is
required. "We have a very intense train-
ing program," Huizenga said."We've had
people who used to be pilots that are now
successful mortgage bankers:' Candidates
should be performance-based and highly
motivated, she added. You can upload
your resume to the company's career site
at quickenloans.com .
Met Life is looking for people with out-
side sales experience to work as financial
advisors selling Met Life products such as
insurance and investment opportunities.
"If you know what it's like to prospect, we
would like to meet you," said
Dennis Koczara, recruiting man-
ager for the company.
He added they also are
interested in people with
financial services experience.
The company has openings in Ann Arbor,
Grand Rapids and Troy. The performance-
based positions feature unlimited income
potential as well as a training subsidy for
the first five months of employment. You
can email your resume to Koczara at dkoc-
zara@metlife.com .

GOVERNMENT

could mean the state is on the verge of a
hiring surge, according to Angela Shelby,
recruitment coordinator for the state.
Specifically, the state needs assistance
payment workers and master-level social
workers. Shelby advises job seekers to
submit their resumes to mdcs-eicps@
michigan.gov to see what state
government positions they
qualify for. You can also check
the state's job site, michigan.gov,
for positions as they become
available.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

IT consulting company Pillar
Technology in Brighton has 30
open positions. It is looking for
.Net architects and developers
as well as business analysts and
project managers. Open positions
can be found online at www.
pillartechnology.com .
Plex Systems Inc., provider of
manufacturing ERP software in
Auburn Hills, announced record financial
results for its third quarter last month.
Increased demand for its manufacturing
software as well as new clients has spurred
hiring. The company plans to hire 10 to 15
people by the end of the year, according
to a company spokesman. Open positions
can be found online at plex.com .

STAFFING COMPANIES

Crossfire Group, a professional staffing
firm in Auburn Hills, has its help wanted
sign out.The company, which provides
support for OEMs and Tier One suppliers,
has about 300 positions it is looking to fill.
"Right now we have 200 open positions
just for engineers;' said account executive
Bryan St. Onge."We also need IT people,
HR, purchasing and auto technicians!'
The company has a searchable database
on its website where job seekers can up-
load their resumes to xfiregroup.com .
Matthew Karrandja, sales manager for
staffing firm Trialon Corporation in Troy,
says the company is recruiting for 400
open positions for designers, engineers
and technicians.
"Good news for the unemployed is that
Michigan is hiring again," Karrandja said,
citing his own company as an example.
The headcount atTrialon is up 180 percent
in 2010. To apply for one of their open
positions, head to the company's career
page at trialon.com .
"New jobs come in to us daily;' said J.D.
Droska from Delta Staffing in Clarkston,
a technical staffing company that works
with clients in the automotive, aerospace
and defense industries.
Most of the 40 positions the company
is recruiting for are in Metro Detroit. The
company is looking for quality and process
engineers, powertrain designers and
engineers, chassis design engineers and
JAVA developers. Candidates can log on to
the Delta Staffing website at delta-staffing.
corn to view open positions, set up a pro-
file and connect with a recruiter. EST

— By Jackie Headapohl

Events

Dec. 15: Jewish B2B Network-
ing Group Meeting; 5:30-7 p.m.;
Embassy Suites, Southfield;
www.jewishb2bnetworking.com .

Dec. 29: JobsFairGiant.com New
Year! New Job! Career Expo;
9 a.m.-noon and 1-3 p.m.;
Embassy Suites, Southfield;
(734) 956-4550.

Up to 25 percent of the state of Michi-
gan's government work force is eligible for
retirement by the end of the year, and that

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