Napa Earthquake Report

Early Sunday Morning Napa was shaken by a 6.1 magnitude earthquake.  The event has drawn worldwide coverage.  There has always been tremendous interest in California’s wine industry and Napa Valley wineries in particular and the earthquake has only intensified this interest.  In an effort to address the concern and sympathy from all corners of the world, I wanted to give some first hand reports on how the quake has affected the wine business, how folks are coping and what impact it has had on business.  

The media has shown picture after picture of the crumbled building in downtown Napa, and several of my friends have tasting rooms, storage facilities and houses in that area.  Some people woke to a violent shake and the clamor of breaking glass from their cupboards.  Fireplace chimneys have come down, one of which caused the worst injury from the quake.  

Elan Fayard of Azur Wines was woken up to the shake in her home 10 minutes from downtown Napa.  Her home, which is under renovation didn't suffer much damage at all.  This was quite different from what she discovered when she visited downtown Napa and the site of her tasting room at Vintner's Collective.  This beautiful old building suffered extensive damage and it will take some time to figure out the extent of it.  Elan also visited the shared barrel storage site, which had a lot of damage from barrels falling off the racks.   Elan and her winemaking husband Julien have been working to assess the damage to their wines.  While the pictures show a lot of destruction, Azur has been fortunate to have had only minor losses.  

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Elan did mention that timing was a blessing in this situation.  The quake hit at 3:20 am on Sunday, a time when most people in the area were home in bed.  Workers were not crushing grapes for the harvest, not moving wine into tanks or barrels and luckily not working in storage areas.  News reports and social media posts show extensive damage at some winery facilities.  (Visit Napa Register's site for more quake news and photos)

My recruiting partner Nancy McIlvaine was jolted out of bed and was out of power for several hours.  Her youngsters were able to get back to bed, and luckily not much damage occurred at her house on the east side of town.  My friends on the other side were not as fortunate.  Brown's Valley saw a lot of damage, with pipes bursting and flooding occurring at many properties. 

Speaking to Martin Jones, President of Artisan Source, LLC, he didn't experience the shaking of the quake at his home in Sonoma County, but later in the day he did visit Napa and found it eerily quiet. Driving down Highway 29 many tasting rooms were closed and traffic was nonexistent on the road.   In the afternoon he visited downtown Napa and was surprised at how quiet the streets were.  Sunday is normally a busy day for the tourism industry, and the only people in downtown were either the media or locals who were handling quake clean-up.  

Martin did stop at the building on Brown Street that has been getting all of the media attention

and walked around downtown a bit.  Outside of a few other buildings with some damage and some bricks  strewn around, the amount of damage was surprisingly minimal.  Elan Fayard also went downtown later in the day on Sunday and it was quiet.  The shops were closed and people were somber.  The loudest sound was that of the media helicopters flying overhead.  

Martin did mention that while the epicenter was just south of Napa, some locations as far away as Sonoma experienced significant damage, including Sebastiani winery.  At this time of year a lot of wine is being moved around with crush getting underway, and tank space is at a premium,  This photo on Facebook from Christopher Johnson shows one winery tank room that suffered some quake damage:  

Getting back to business.  Napa would not be Napa if wine did not continue to be enjoyed.  Just today I got a notice that Villa Ragazzi suffered only minimal damage to some bottles and glassware, but that they are open and raising a glass to the wine industry.  The warehouse Azur uses has held off on placing any orders this week so they can assess the situation.  But don't let that worry you--Azur Wines were being showcased by Dean &DeLuca at a private tasting event just hours ago.  

Services and Resources:  The emergency responders did wonders during the hours immediately following the event.  Many people are displaced, some have been injured and numerous houses and businesses have been severely damaged.  The City of Napa has routine updates about the situation at http://www.cityofnapa.org   Several groups are getting information and services together for the local community.  Napa Valley Grapegrowers offices suffered some damages from the quake, but the association has gotten right to work to provide services and resources for the community.  

Lewis Purdue who publishes Wine Industry Insight and the Daily News Fetch has put together a news forum for those in need of help and for people who can help out.  For more information, please visit http://napaearthquake.com.  

My thoughts go out to those who have suffered injury or damage from this earthquake, and wish everyone a speedy return to normalcy.  While the clean-up will continue, Napa is definitely back to business as usual.  Visitors are enjoying all that wine country has to offer.  With the camaraderie the wine industry has I know we will all be working together to get through this as quickly as possible.  I hope to see you there soon!

Where do I Find Candidates

I have worked in recruiting for 15 years now, and have always told every candidate who submits their resume or contacts me that I will keep them in mind for current and future positions. I think this is easy to say, good to hear, but not always believable. Having amassed a lot of resumes, referrals and contacts over the last five years for WineTalent, I was recently thinking about how I have found my recent hires. Here's what I have found.

In the last two years, about half of the candidates that I present to my clients come from ads I run and the other half are from a variety of sources. These sources include my professional networks, referrals from colleagues, job fairs and my database.

The candidates who ended up being hired were sourced many different ways. Several were from contacts I made over the years and finally the right position came up for them. Others were people I had talked to over many months or years, and then they saw an ad for a position I was recruiting on that they wanted to be considered for. Some hires were people who have submitted their resume in the past from an ad I posted, continued to check in with me over the years and ended up getting a different job through WineTalent. Additionally I have hired people that were referred to me by other qualified applicants. I have also placed people who years ago I met at a job fair.

As a recruiter I know that everyday I need to talk to people and find out who is looking for what position. I also continuously talk to my clients to find out what openings are coming down the line. I am checking in with people at various levels and keeping my ear out for any changes that may affect my clients or job seekers. By doing this, my database of great candidates has become a great tool for placing employees. It also allows me to say with certainty that I do keep all resumes under consideration, and perhaps one day the resume that came in my inbox will end up being the resume of the candidate who gets the job.

As a job hunter I think this is great information for your job hunt. While people always think that it is who you know, it is also what you do with what you have. If you are looking for a job, keep the hunt alive. If you are working with a recruiter, let them know you are still interested in being considered for other openings. Check in with your contacts from time to time to let them know you want to hear about any openings that might be out there. And look at all opportunities to meet recruiters and hiring managers--whether it be by responding to an ad, meeting at a job fair or doing an informational interview with a company. These options could lead to the job you get.

Why Do Companies Use a Recruiter?

Often people ask why companies use a recruiter. Here are some of the reasons why.
1. The company does not have a Human Resources department. While most large companies do have an HR department, many wineries are small operations. After hiring a General Manager, a Winemaker, a Sales and Marketing person and someone who is in charge of the Tasting Room, most wineries have the main managment positions filled. Then the responsibility gets put onto one of those manager's shoulders--while they still have their day to day work to do. While most winery professionals have experience in hiring, many don't enjoy doing it. Taking the time to post a job, go through the resumes, interview the top candidates and then perform references is very time consuming, and not something that they have time for. A recruiter does those functions for them, and presents the best candidates to them for their review.
2. The company requires confidentiality about the opening. Executive searches are often conducted when a company is planning to change the direction of the company, when a current executive is underperforming, or when a key executive is planning a departure. With a high profile management position, the health of a company is brought into question when an opening goes unfilled. Proactive companies want positions filled to prevent any undue attention. This is frequently when I work with wineries to find a new employee. Through my search services I can network with executives, advertise about the opening, and address questions and concerns that job seekers may have about the management change of the company.
3. A company needs to look at a broad spectrum of candidates. Several of the larger wine and spirits companies work with recruiters to make sure they are talking to all of the available qualified employees. Sometimes companies get a reputation of not hiring people from certain competitors or without a certain degree. When companies change directions, they sometimes need the input from people throughout the industry. By using a recruiter they can talk to some people who previously may have avoided submitting a resume to the company.
4. A company wants someone with a particular talent, but doesn't have the resources to recruit. When a special skill is required, the talent pool is much smaller than for a general experience level. To find the best and the brightest, research is required to find out who the qualified people are, and then who might be interested in the new position. HR departments aren't always equipped to do this, and smaller operations don't have the resources to do it. That's when a recruiter is contacted. Having the recruitment experience and contacts within the industry, I'm able to quickly ascertain who the right candidates are, and work to find who might be interested in looking at a new job opportunity.

For Interviewers: Behavioral Questions to Ask

Whether you are a human resource manager or a hiring manager, asking open ended, "behavioral" questions helps gain insight into how a potential employee will handle various situations. Here is a great blog, www.emerse.com that has an exhaustive list of questions.

Job Seekers: Take a look at the list and see what types of questions you might encounter at your next interview.

Current Reading (or listening to books on tape)

I just found in my local library the book Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream by Barbara Ehrenreich. While it doesn't give the most flattering view of the white collar job world, it does give some interesting insight into the job search process, interviewing and the work world.

There are discussions about career coaches, counselors, networking and other related topics that you might find interesting, or even better, helpful.

Money, Money, Money

Proper etiquette both at work and at home is to not discuss salaries. While it is always nice to have good manners, not talking about salaries can leave you in the lurch when it comes time to address your own compensation. Here are some resources to use the next time money is brought up with your present or future employer.

Every year Wine Business Monthly publishes their salary survey which is the best one out there. Click here for the 2006 survey,.

Another tool to review your salary and calculate your possible compensation for different geographical areas is salary.com.

Monster.com and Careerbuilder.com also have salary information.