View Larger ImageMentor Graphics Displaced Worker Community 
Mentor Graphics is headquartered in Wilsonville, Oregon. In recent months, Oregon's unemployment rate has been headline news as the country's second highest at over 12%. Not only has our company and state suffered from the poor economy, but our customer base has seen dramatic job losses as engineering unemployment sets new records.
In order to reach out to our unemployed customer community locally, nationally, and even internationally, we launched the online version of our Displaced Worker Community in February 2009.
Although resources were limited, we wanted to expand the program originally started when the economy slowed down in 2002. Social media tools provided the most powerful accelerators of community reach, so we used a combination of social media building blocks including an online community for networking & communication, plus eLearning infrastructure for online training delivery, and a seminar series to teach displaced workers how to set up a searchable online profile.
1. Online Community: The central portal for the initiative is an Employment & Training Community where participants can network with peers, post resumes, and ask questions of the Displaced Worker Community.
2. Complimentary training: Training on Mentor Graphics software is offered to displaced electronics engineers and designers where we have capacity in our Live Online Classes and Mentor Graphics Public Training Centers.
With Live Online Training, launched in March 2009, Mentor remotely downloads a virtual environment to the customer's computer that includes training software, license files, and Web 2.0 online course delivery tools. This format enables us to deliver more classes to displaced workers because travel isn't required for either the instructor or the students. The instructor is remote from the class participants, but the software runs locally, and the teaching and lab interaction between instructor and students is real-time.
3. Job Search Support: The Mentor Graphics recruiting team, with 50+ years of combined hiring experience, delivered job search guidance to unemployed engineers through a series of evening seminars presented online and in 5 locations across the United States. Since many customers in our community have enjoyed steady employment for most of their careers, social networking wasn't a job search tool when most of our attendees had last searched for work. Therefore, the recruiting team focused on how to effectively create a visible online presence using our Jobs Wanted community and tools like Linked-In.
We also collaborated with Volt Workforce Solutions to have technical recruiters available at each of the in-person events to talk with the attendees.
To get the word out about the seminar series within the local markets, we leveraged networking sites like door64 in Austin, where many of our attendees learned about the event. Also each of the physical locations coincided with cities where we have offices. Another effective tool for promotion was communication to the local employees. They enthusiastically posted and forwarded information through their personal networks. To further increase awareness, our PR team tweeted and alerted the local press.
The recorded presentation is now available in our Employment & Training Community for those who were not able to attend.
Community Objectives:
One of Mentor Graphics cultural values is to win ethically and be a positive force in the engineering community. Especially during these challenging times, "winning ethically" means:
Giving back to our community by helping out of work engineers tune their skills
Building stronger customer and industry relationships
Helping out of work engineers - The feedback on the Displaced Worker Community has been enthusiastic, both from the community participants and the industry.
By the Numbers:
535 People attended the job search seminars in person or online (see additional details on our application site)
64 Displaced Worker Community participants have taken complimentary classes from Mentor Graphics
Sample Feedback:
"The CES and Expedition [classes] did help in my job search...everyone seems to want you to have DX and CES today." (participant in complimentary training, now working on contract)
"I wish to express my sincere thanks for your help in getting the opportunity to participate Mentor's DWP and the DFT classes. You can have no idea how much it means to me. You felt that in this economy down turn I am having a difficult time in the job market, you give me a window where I can see the light. The DFT classes I have taken are so great and the knowledge I gained not only benefit my job searching, I believe will also benefit my future career." (participant in complimentary training)
"Thanks again for the presentation last night. I came in feeling like it might be "interesting", and came away thinking it had been fascinating! Having the opportunity to get "into the heads' of you and your staff was invaluable...." (attendee at our job search event)
Building stronger relationships with customers and industry - Through this initiative not only have we reinforced partnerships with third parties like Volt Workforce recruiters, but we have sharpened the skills of, and strengthened relationships with, the design engineer community. For Mentor, the intangible benefits of stronger, deeper customer relationships were more important than quantitative metrics.
Sample Feedback:
"It is heartwarming to find in what is sometimes perceived as the 'cold corporate world' a company that makes the decision and commitment to the community to give back and reach out in such a way as Mentor Graphics has done with these "Reinvent Your Job Search" events." (from our event series partner, Volt Workforce)
"This is a fantastic idea. I had challenged the EDA companies to do this back at the end of last year (see http://theasicguy.com/2008/12/23/are-my-kids-are-going-to-jail/) but I had not seen anything until now. I doubt that my challenge had anything to do with this, but if it did, great. Kudos to MGC for stepping out." (harry the ASIC guy, blogger)
February, 2009-preseng
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Innovative way of rewarding and...
Reviewed September 7, 2009 by Deepak Nagar
Innovative way of rewarding and enhancing customer loyalty
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In tough economic times, this could...
Reviewed August 24, 2009 by JacobM
In tough economic times, this could mean allot to people that need to connect with one another in new and innovative ways to find the next opportunity. The training program is a good way to keep people trained on Mentor tools and also help keep displaced
Report Inappropriate Review What an innovative approach to...
Reviewed August 12, 2009 by Alexandra Tirado
What an innovative approach to assisting loyal customers in need, especially during such difficult times when budgets are being cut and programs put on hold. Congrats to the Mentor Graphics and to the entire team who put this all together.
Report Inappropriate Review In a world where web technologies...
Reviewed August 10, 2009 by J Lowry
In a world where web technologies are frequently used for generating new revenue & reducing costs, instead the Displaced Worker Community generates hope & enables workers with a creative way of getting back on their feet. Well done Mentor Graphics! 5 St
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This is one of the top companies...
Reviewed August 8, 2009 by International Family of Barrango
This is one of the top companies in the world. You all should be proud to work there Mentor Graphics Visionarys
Report Inappropriate Review Fantastic way to help out!
Reviewed August 8, 2009 by Sierra Lawrence
Fantastic way to help out!
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What a great concept! This is...
Reviewed August 5, 2009 by 512MaryN
What a great concept! This is a wonderful example of a win-win situation in a time when eveyone needs a boost. Congratulations to the whole team and thanks for the great inspirational idea.
Report Inappropriate Review In a time when corporations are...
Reviewed August 5, 2009 by John Peck
In a time when corporations are scaling back projects, reducing headcount and asking the remaining employees to complete more work with fewer resources, Mentor Graphics took the initiative to take on this project to help their loyal customer base. What a
Report Inappropriate Review Sounds like a wonderful program...
Reviewed August 5, 2009 by Jared
Sounds like a wonderful program to help those that need it most.
Report Inappropriate Review Congrats to Mentor Graphics for...
Reviewed August 4, 2009 by Katja Asaro
Congrats to Mentor Graphics for innovation and comitment to corporate consciousness.
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Although EDA is not the largerst...
Reviewed August 4, 2009 by Phil Lundberg
Although EDA is not the largerst industry segment, for those in it, this is a great contribution. Congratulations to Mentor for this effort. I participated in a "Reinvent Your Job Search" webinar - excellent.
Report Inappropriate Review Mentor Graphics is raising the...
Reviewed August 4, 2009 by Melinda Wilson
Mentor Graphics is raising the bar for corporate consciousness. Congratulations to all involved.
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