Reported by Leslie Bagby
President Sara Pantin called the meeting to order right at noon. Past President/District Governor Bruce
Golden led the pledges and Sylvia Holmes gave the invocation. Melissa Muckenthaler led us in reciting the “FOUR WAY TEST”. Peter Pfeiffer was our greeter at the top of the stairs and Girish Altekar introduced our visitors and guests.
President Elect Julia Benkoski encouraged our members to come to the City Council Chambers at City Hall on Thursday from 11:45 am – 1:00 pm. We will join with other Austin Rotary clubs in a discussion with Mayor Steve Adler on how Rotary can better serve the Austin community.
Charles Doty reminded everyone of the upcoming wine tasting at his home. The theme is “The Great Northwest” and members can bring a bottle of wine from Washington or Oregon (or whatever they want to drink).
Bruce Golden announced that the Early Act First Knight Tournament of Champions has been rescheduled for all three schools. Rotarians are invited to come out on Wednesday, September 13 at 9am at Hart Elementary School and on Thursday, September 14 at 1:00 pm at Dawson Elementary. There will be a Tournament of Champions at Pecan Springs Elementary on Tuesday, September 26th at 9 am. These amazing events involve horses and knights jousting. They happen only once every other year, so you don’t want to miss seeing one this year!
Ann Graham announced that Camp Enterprise interviews are underway at 30 local high schools. Please contact the school counselors this week to set up interviews by October 13, 2017.
President Sara made the following announcements:
- The Membership Soiree last Thursday was a great success with seven prospective members already having applied.
- The semi annual Cluster meeting will be on October 24, 2017. We are looking for members to host 8-12 people in their place of business or other gathering spot. Contact Jennifer Olsen to let her know of your interest in hosting.
- The RCA Executive Committee meets next Tuesday at 1:30pm. Red Badge Members are invited to attend.
Adam Borger introduced Jennifer Oswald, founder of We.Moxie, a company that brings new and innovative ideas to recruitment and HR. She stated, “If hiring were easy, a resume would be all you need.” There is, however, a big difference between being paper qualified and being a good fit for your company. We.Moxie boasts a > 90% retention rate since 2014. This is important because turnover costs companies significant time (6-9 months) and money to hire and train employees.
Jennifer encouraged business owners to ask themselves the following three questions:
1) How much has turnover cost you?
2) How many people have you lost within 3 months of hire?
3) How many qualified people have you found?
If your retention rate is 80% or greater, than your program is doing well. If it’s 70% or less, than you probably need to look closer at how you are hiring employees.
Jennifer describes We.Moxie as “matchmakers for business”. We.Moxie is not a traditional company. They work with both clients and candidates and help both sides meet their needs and career goals. The traits of a “super recruiter” are:
1) Good listener – human interaction is necessary to make the match
2) Fast, flexible and fluent in business
3) Gets results
4) Understands your culture and candidates that would fit in
Jennifer encourages business owners to hire right the first time. It’s cheaper to hire an awesome recruiter than to have turnover.
President Sara adjourned the meeting at 1 pm and closed by highlighting Commerce Business Advisors (Don Busby) and Raymond James—Texas Capitol Group (Teresa Finney), two of our members with advertisements that support Club operations.