Devising a short list of innovate companies as employment targets is one thing. Discovering how innovate companies recruit talent is another. There are no guarantees any one strategy will work, that is, without insider knowledge for the particular company of interest. A few things that definitely speak volumes to how much a given company is innovate is how much of their recruiting efforts are geared towards job boards versus social networking. Companies that focus more on job boards tend to be more innovative than companies that focus more recruiting efforts on internal referrals [another form of social networking]. Why? Well, think about it for a moment...job boards open up the hiring process to general public which means companies have considerably more exposure to a diverse broad mix including gender, ethnicity, work background, cultures, personality types, perspectives and overall experience.

Companies that recruit and hire more, from such a broad mix tend to be more innovating since their workforce will align closer to their customer base and even more so to new customer markets. Conversely, companies that focus more on internal recruiting are much more prone to obtaining carbon copy referrals of the employees already on staff, since internal employees rarely refer someone different then themselves. Instead, it is safer for the on staff employee to refer someone like them so the current employee doesn't have to ever worry about "answering" for the new hire that doesn't work out as expected. So while finding a job online is evolving given social networking, job boards aren't going to go away...at least not for innovate companies.

Ever wonder why so many states are having serious cash flow problems and laying off state employees by the thousands? Well if you live in Utah you don't have that problem. Why? How about the fact that the state of Utah actually is fiscally responsible, is creating jobs and even has a surplus. Golly would you look at that. While more than 20 states are begging for bread including California, Georgia, and Wisconsin and so on and so on, Utah is going into overdrive with an economic job growth plan for the next decade. So again, it just begs the question, how in the world does Utah sit on piles of cash, while other states are more than eager to stand in the Fed sponsored free soup line? When you figure it out, let me know too.

As far as economics goes, Utah is moving in the direction of a service state. Moreover, Utah has a well education pool of employment candidates i.e. job candidate pool, to keep the local economy thriving while further focusing on growth. Now let's throw good housing prices in the mix...that's right $150,000 buys you a lot in Utah these days. Conversely, $150K gets you a shoe box in New York or California. All things considered it shouldn't be hard to see why Utah is ahead of the game economically speaking. Okay, but then if that's so, why anyone would go to North Carolina looking for a pot of gold. Last, I heard there isn't any pot of gold in NC. As a matter of fact, you might have to fight for a job a Walmart in the outskirts of Charlotte or Raleigh. So, who knows why folks are headed to NC. What is known is that Utah feasts while others, many others, wallow in famine.

Perhaps you haven't yet heard but it looks like the good folks down in the valley, i.e. Silicon Valley, are driving job growth with this recent tech charge. Oh really you think? Well 1,200 new jobs coming out of the San Jose area definitely qualifies as a charge albeit short of a tidal wave. At the same time, considering the rather stagnant hiring coming out of the Valley, until now, this recent tech charge provides a glimmer of hope.

So what's fueling the Silicon Valley tech charge? Well, Google certainly has their hands in pot but it looks like Facebook is leading the way. Facebook is hiring people like IHOP is cranking out pancakes. I mean, HR over at Facebook is a little overworked right now. Not so good for HR, good for you if you're a techie, live in the Valley and want to do some fun cool stuff with the Facebook UI (for the non-techies that's User Interface).

As you know, Facebook recently made a big change to their UI that didn't go over so well with a good percentage of the Facebook users. So to that end, Facebook has been listening to their users in terms of likes, dislikes and wish lists for current and future upgrades to Facebook. This sounds like none other than a win-win. Facebook gets happier users and techies get to lobby for new jobs. So let's guess how many resumes Facebook has in the queue - 150K, 200K? Maybe so but that's still a far cry of the 250k resumes Google has sitting in the queue from their recent Android hiring wave. In any event, don't let the large number of resumes scare you off; over half are generally unqualified to begin with. If you've got what it takes get your name in the hat. It's been a while since Silicon Valley has been on the forefront of job growth with a tech charge; don't sit on your hands waiting on the next run. Timing is everything.

If you know anything about today's job market, you know that its incredibly important to stay productive or better stated - stay on the job while you're out on the go. The bottom line is that finding a job is a job and you can't afford to be off the job while you're out and about taking care of the business of everyday life. So what's the answer...hummh let's move to a 25 hour day, 8 days a week? Ok maybe those suggestions aren't going to win the popular vote. Oh well, what does that matter, Al Gore won the popular vote but lost the election to George Bush. Lol. Okay back to business, the answer must just lye in your palm.

Right there in the palm of your hand is your trusty smartphone. Now you know why they call them smart phones huh - they're suppossed to make your life easier. In this case, easier mean more productive. Productivity, as far as job search is concerned, means staying connected while you're out and about. If you're an Android smartphone fan, then you need to look at the Job Search Tweets app in the Android Market. You can also find Job Search Tweets via AppBrain which is very similar to the Android Market but with extra features like alowing you to sync apps. This is a really good time to look into getting your hands on a smartphone too! The magic price for smartphones is $199 - this holds true for the top of the line devices too i.e. Droid X, Droid 2, Samsung Facinate, Samsung Vibrant, Iphone 4, BlackBerry Storm 2, Samsung Epic, and so on and so on. Undoubtedly there are some really good devices on the market. So no more excuses, you can get all the fun and hard work you need in one device that you can take with you. So staying on the job while on the go is no longer a pie in the sky dream - it's a reality. Make it work for you.