urbanMSP

http://www.startribune.com/business/296003431.html

And the race to hire ex-Target employees is on.

It's interesting to see the reaction the Target layoffs are getting compared to all the ones that have taken place with other local employers. These companies are smart to take advantage of the opportunity to recruit new employees, but I didn't hear about companies doing things like this when General Mills, Best Buy, Cargill, Thomson Reuters, etc. were having all of their layoffs. Or maybe they did, and it just wasn't publicized as much?

The more I think about this, particularly when I think about what the employees still at Target HQ will have to deal with in the coming weeks and months, the more I think the people that got let go from Target got a pretty good deal, all things considered.

Some of it was just how Target laid people off: entire departments axed without regard to performance...and it was a lot of departments and people cut. That means recruiters are getting a lot of top-notch candidates flooding the market, so they get to pick and choose the best of the best.

I also imagine it comes down to press coverage. Target isn't just a regional darling...it's a media darling.They move newspaper numbers and click-through rates like crazy. That means everyone is out there reporting about it, which probably helps with recruitment, but it also means that reporters are looking for a new angle, including, "Where are these people going?"

http://www.startribune.com/business/296003431.html

And the race to hire ex-Target employees is on.

It's interesting to see the reaction the Target layoffs are getting compared to all the ones that have taken place with other local employers. These companies are smart to take advantage of the opportunity to recruit new employees, but I didn't hear about companies doing things like this when General Mills, Best Buy, Cargill, Thomson Reuters, etc. were having all of their layoffs. Or maybe they did, and it just wasn't publicized as much?

The more I think about this, particularly when I think about what the employees still at Target HQ will have to deal with in the coming weeks and months, the more I think the people that got let go from Target got a pretty good deal, all things considered.

I'm not sure when those layoffs took place, but I do know that economic conditions are better now than they have been in nearly a decade, and MSP currently has the lowest unemployment rate among the 50 largest metro areas, so it is easier to absorb the sudden influx of labor(though this might cause Austin, TX to pass us, we'll see in a couple months).

I'm honestly getting a bit sick of hearing about target employees. I was laid off by a different local company back in 2009 and no one gave a shit. If even 1/10th of the things I've heard about target's recruiting and hiring policies is true then many of these people probably didn't even deserve the jobs they lost. /unpopularopinion

"About a third" of the laid off Target employees are Minneapolis residents: http://www.startribune.com/local/blogs/296774431.html

That should certainly quell any fear that the Target situation has any impact whatsoever on the apartment construction boom. We're talking about roughly 600 people, some of whom already own their homes, others who probably cannot afford top-end rental housing (too young, college debt, etc.). Perhaps just a couple hundred of them were even prospective members of the luxury rental market, or in other words, not quite enough to fill one Nic on 5th.

My point is that the journos/Twatterers who were all too eager to jump on that angle of the story were basically dead wrong.

I'm honestly getting a bit sick of hearing about target employees. I was laid off by a different local company back in 2009 and no one gave a shit. If even 1/10th of the things I've heard about target's recruiting and hiring policies is true then many of these people probably didn't even deserve the jobs they lost. /unpopularopinion

People are obsessed with Target as it's the largest private employer in the region. And it's such a part of our identity.

But the press keeps running with it because people are reading it.

"About a third" of the laid off Target employees are Minneapolis residents: http://www.startribune.com/local/blogs/296774431.html

That should certainly quell any fear that the Target situation has any impact whatsoever on the apartment construction boom. We're talking about roughly 600 people, some of whom already own their homes, others who probably cannot afford top-end rental housing (too young, college debt, etc.). Perhaps just a couple hundred of them were even prospective members of the luxury rental market, or in other words, not quite enough to fill one Nic on 5th.

My point is that the journos/Twatterers who were all too eager to jump on that angle of the story were basically dead wrong.

It has always been an overblown point, though if demand was already weakening (of which I haven't been paying enough attention to know), it could be a death knell.

That said, corporate-style jobs like that largely start in the high-$40K range, from what I understand, with plenty of people starting in the $50Ks if they're in the right department. Pretty much everyone I know with these types of jobs have landed themselves in some swanky pads (North Loop, SE Mpls riverfront, St. Paul by the river, etc.), so I wouldn't be surprised if this makes a dent in the luxury market, even if it doesn't kill it.

One big concern is if renters who worked at Target decide to just uproot themselves. They're obviously not all like that, but MPR just had their Friday Roundtable with Kerri Miller where one of the guys was a former Targetron who already had a job locked down in Seattle. He's fresh out of college, highly-skilled, and now stolen out of our market.

http://www.twincities.com/business/ci_2 ... other-jobs

Another round, this one much smaller (140 people).

Today in sentences that explain many things:

Most of the jobs being eliminated are part of the company's Business Performance Optimization Center of Excellence

Sounds like they cut themselves.

Some interesting numbers on the current vacancy rates for retail, office and more. http://www.rejournals.com/2015/08/26/cu ... in-cities/

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/n ... ml?ana=twt

Target Corp. announced another round of job cuts on Tuesday, this one affecting technology workers in the Twin Cities and India.

The Minneapolis-based retailer said in a statement that it is laying off 275 workers and eliminating another 35 open positions. Most of the affected workers are on Target's information technology staff working at its Brooklyn Park campus.

This would appear to be the worst kept secret in town. It's got to be pretty demoralizing to somebody working in this department knowing for the last couple of months that the ax was going to fall.

Well, if they're in IT, then I'm assuming they have skills that are in demand and will probably be fine, especially if the severance packages are still decent.

http://finance-commerce.com/2015/09/apa ... amid-boom/

Vacancy rates in apartments stayed steady 2nd Quarter of 2015 amid boom.

Is it just me or does this sound exactly like...a department store!lol

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/m ... r-l-a.html

If Target wanted to be a department store, they could have just kept the ones they already had...

If Target wanted to be a department store, they could have just kept the ones they already had...

I see this happening in a limited scope in cities and places where they could justify the extra cost. I don't see it paying off company wide.

Biz is reporting Ucare will layoff 200.

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/m ... -deal.html

Another fortune 500 lost...down to 16 from 19 in 2006. I know it is just business...but at the risk of sounding conservative, I wouldn't mind the state stepping up to retain more of these HQ statuses. They are crucial to our diversified economy...we have always had more than our share and we need to keep it that way!

I don't think anybody, left or right, likes seeing thousands of good paying jobs leave the state every time this happens. And unfortunately, it has been happening a lot over the past 15 years.