9Health Fair is tomorrow at Pinnacol

The calm before the storm...

Just a quick reminder that tomorrow Pinnacol will again be hosting the 9Health Fair. Hours for our location are from 7 a.m. until noon. This year's event is led by two of our employees, Sheri and Amanda, and they are helping a lot of our employee volunteers this afternoon set up for tomorrow's event. Our employees always get very excited about this annual event as its a chance for us to interact with a lot of the local community members that we don't see on a daily basis. I understand that 9News will be broadcasting from our location and as always we anticipate a busy day. So do something good for yourself and if you can't visit our location please visit one of the other sites around town!

HR Generalist opportunity now open!

We have a new opportunity for someone to join our Human Resources team in the role of HR Generalist. This position will provide support for recruiting, performance management, compensation and other HR generalist responsibilities. 

On the recruiting front the HR Generalist provides support including scheduling of interviews, maintenance of applicant flow logs and rating sheets, telephone screening, testing and conducting reference checks. This position may also interview candidates for non-exempt positions and will facilitate strategy meetings with our managers as necessary. Our HR Generalist also assists with new employee onboarding, processes new employee paperwork, inputs data into the E-Verify system,  and schedules 45 day follow-up meetings. This position serves as our primary contact with staffing agencies and with former employees (alumni). Responsible for the administration of the employee referral program, the HR Generalist coordinates employee referral checks and appreciation items. This position will also occasionally post to this Careers Blog site as well as to our alumni blog.  

In terms of performance management the HR Generalist assists Pinnacol employees and Managers by responding to general HR related questions and supports the HR staff to resolve performance management issues and update policies, guidelines and procedures. 

In the compensation arena the HR Generalist participates in salary surveys to price jobs in local and national labor markets and assists with administration of annual merit increases. This position assists on an annual basis with the preparation of merit budget and salary structure proposals for Executive Team and Board of Directors for approval.  

Candidates for this position must have excellent verbal, written, and interpersonal communications and customer service skills and be proficient with office technology including Microsoft Office, Applicant Tracking and HRIS systems.  College degree in Business or related field and/or equivalent work experience on a year for year basis along with at least two years experience in Human Resources; preferably in recruiting, performance management and compensation. If you are interested in this opportunity please apply on-line!

I'd almost forgotten...

What a wonderful town Grand Junction is. I'm in town for two days interviewing for our Business Services Representative based in our new Grand Junction offices. The new offices are not far from our old offices on the northeast side of town. I stopped by on my way into town to make sure I could find them in the morning and it looks like a beautiful building. The drive from Denver is always longer than I recall but tonight I lucked out with not much traffic, the predicted mountain snow held off, the twin tunnels were done with construction for the evening, and I arrived in Grand Junction just as the sun was setting. If you have never been to the western slope you drive by the Grand Mesa to the south, and then through the town of Palisade where there are vineyards producing some great Colorado wines, before arriving in Grand Junction which is nestled up against the Colorado National Monument.

There was still snow on the top 500 feet in elevation on Grand Mesa but Grand Junction climatically appears to be a solid month ahead of Denver. The flowering trees are in full bloom, the grass is green, and there is a smell of fresh vegetation in the air that reminds me that summer is just around the corner. I even saw a gentleman mowing his yard. My lawn in Denver still has snow on it and even the spring crocus are only making a desultory effort to poke their heads out of the still chilly soil.

I'm staying at a hotel on historic Main Street and after checking in went for a walk to stretch my legs. At this time of night most of the shops were already closed and the restaurants and bars were hosting only light mid-week traffic. Main Street has a lot of boutique style shopping, a couple of great bike shops, some interesting restaurants serving up a wide variety of cuisines, and some really great art work. Walking the couple of blocks that make up downtown Grand Junction harkens back to small town America when vibrant downtowns were still important in the daily life of most Americans.

Though I refer to Grand Junction as a town, it really is a city and I know that just a couple of miles from where the historic downtown area is located there are the typical suburbs, malls, and big box stores and chain restaurants you can find in Anywhere, America but it was really nice to stroll along Main Street, soak up the ambiance of a quiet evening and just relax.

Tomorrow we'll be interviewing a group of local folks and after the two days we'll hopefully have found Pinnacol's newest employee.  We had a lot of interest in our position here and while we couldn't interview everyone who applied we are sincerely greatful for the interest shown in becoming a part of our company. I look forward to meeting all of the candidates and am secretly jealous of whoever ultimately is selected. Denver may be my home, but if I ever had the chance to relocate Grand Junction would be high on my wish list, especially on a warm spring night like this one.

Tips for interviewing... Do You Have the Body Language of a Champion?

I get many calls from candidates who have received the dreaded decline letter who ask me for feedback about what they could have done better in the interview. Entrepreneur  has an excellent article that came my way via LinkedIn that covers a lot of the feedback I might share with candidates. Entitled "Do You Have the Body Language of a Champion", its a great take on how to make a great physical impression when interacting with others and some things we should all try to avoid doing.

If you check out the article make sure to click on the two links 10 Body Language Tips Every Speaker Must Know and 4 Body Language Cues You Need to Know When Networking. If more candidates exhibited some of these behaviors in their interviews they would help their chances of success immensely!

Our new CEO keeping up the volunteer tradition...

Pinnacol employees, through Pinnacol In Action, have volunteered with the Food Bank of the Rockies since 2011. March 28th saw our new CEO, Phil Kalin, along with thirty other Pinnacol employees pack a staggering 5,891 pounds of food into boxes during a three-hour period. To put that into perspective, it normally takes the Food Bank two days and four full shifts to pack that much food. The group also had an opportunity to tour the Food Bank facility with its CEO Kevin Seggelke.

"When I first arrived at Pinnacol, I heard about Pinnacol in Action and the amazing generosity our employees demonstrate by giving their time and talent to the many nonprofits in our community," said Kalin. "Last Friday I witnessed that generosity first hand at the Food Bank of the Rockies event." 

The Food Bank distributes food to 1,000 agencies that serve more than 1,300 hunger relief programs. Its biggest need for volunteers is in the preparation for shipping food to these programs.

"PLAY (snow) BALL!"

Well, it's almost here. Opening day of baseball season in Colorado. Mother nature is all dressed up for the occasion in her best white coat. First pitch is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon at 2:10 p.m. and appropriately for the welcoming weather we will be hosting our sun-drenched neighbors the Arizona Diamondbacks. Any self-respecting Colorado rattlers won't be poking their flicking tongues out today. The calendar may say Spring but we do appreciate the Diamondbacks making the effort to visit us in the midst of this beautiful winter wonderland that we have arranged just for them.

Of course if you read this blog tomorrow you may wonder what I'm talking about. The notoriously fickle Colorado weather may throw a curve ball of its own and we could see all this snow melt under rain and even see some sun peeking through the dark clouds of this morning. The weather for opening day is always a little problematic in Colorado. Organized baseball in our state harkens all the way back to 1862 and a gentleman by the name of George Tebeau who organized a team called the Denvers. George went on in 1900 to help found the American League so he must have been quite the fan. He would have probably chuckled to see today's weather. Colorado is one of only a few states that can not only boast of rain delays but true snow delays.

Whether that first pitch gets hurled at 2:10 p.m. tomorrow or not, today is still a uniquely beautiful morning. Despite the hassle of yet another slushy, snowy commute take the time to admire the trees all covered in white and the big fat flakes typical of spring snow drifting slowly across your windshield. You'll likely have plenty of time to soak up the winter ambiance as you crawl through some of the major intersections where the lights aren't working.

We have a very nice office building in a very pretty part of the city. I've often thought our building is especially pretty when covered in a fresh mantle of snow. By this time of the year I  admit I would prefer a little more sunshine and warmer temperatures, but when  Mother Nature throws a surprise party all you can do is put on your best party (winter) hat and try to enjoy!