Some weeks ago I was in Chicago for the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute (USHLI). Did some participants or presenters have accents? Of course. Truth be known, some of us who are bilingual or trilingual may speak with an accent. Some very thick. Some very obvious. Others not so much. Does it matter?

Accents have never got in the way of some of our most prominent government, business, community and non-profit leaders. Just look around Portland, Oregon or our state capital in Salem, or Chicago. Observe those leaders that are driving their businesses and organizations forward with innovative and forward-thinking approaches, be it in sales, procurements, grants, new products and services, or new stores.

Countless times, we’ve heard: while I may speak with an accent, I don’t think with an accent. It’s a kind reminder that all of us who are bilingual, or trilingual should not focus on this as a negative. Let’s just get it done, shall we?

David Molina is the Founder and CEO of BilingualHire, a consumer internet service focused on advancing the careers of bilingual [Spanish+ English] talent. You can also visit and connect with him at Twitter, Facebook, and/or Posterous.

There are three types of individuals. When I first attended U.S. Army Boot Camp at Fort Sill, Oklahoma as a Private in 2000, the drill sergeants drilled it in us that there are three types of individuals: 1. those that make things happen, 2. those that watch things happen, and 3. those that wondered what just happened. I’ll leave out the expletives, but you get the just. Seth Godin argues that there is the frightened, clueless or uniformed. I don’t buy that everyone is not cut out for leadership. Nor do I buy the argument that everyone can’t make things happen. The thing is I think it has more to do with observation, training and coaching than anything else. Try it sometime. Observe others and listen to what their challenges are. Listen intently to the roots of the problem. Jump into the conversation, make it kinetic, and act as if no one is watching or who gets the credit (this can be challenging). Bounce ideas, and if possible train and prepare them on their challenges. Don’t just tell them how to do it. Show them how to do it. Invest your time if you believe you can make a difference, if you believe your expertise will help solve the outlined problems. And, along the way coach your mentee as if your entire team depended on it.

David Molina is the Founder and CEO of BilingualHire, a consumer internet service focused on advancing the careers of bilingual [Spanish+ English] talent. You can also visit and connect with him at Twitter, Facebook, and/or Posterous.

By the time I post this, we’ll have safely landed back in Portland, Oregon from Chicago via Las Vegas. The Oregon USHLI delegation will have completed their visit to the Windy City and most importantly having attended the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute (USHLI), Annual National Convention. The 4-day conference has been an incredible, enlightning, inspiring and most rewarding time for our delegation. Click here to view the USHLI 2010 photo album I posted over on Flickr. As an old professor, J. Angelica Hernandez once told me, “spread your wings, but make sure you bring others with you.”

Adelante: The Time Is Now.
The overall conference theme embodied the true sense of urgency of our involvement in today’s political process. The time is now to run for office as New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson put it. As Ambassador Carmen Lomellin told the participants of the need for more Latinas and Latinos as Foreign Affairs Officers in the U.S. State Department. As Oregon Benton County District Attorney John Haroldson put it, the time is now to stand up and stop the violence and the urgent need for Latinos to select legal careers. As American Federation of Teachers Cesar Moreno stated, the time is now to close the achievement and reform our educational systems so that Latinos achieve the American dream. As Border Angels Enrique Morones, the time is now to stop being silent, and start acting on injustices.

Finding Your Passion.
The USHLI Annual National Convention is designed to bring Latino college and high school students from across the United States together with Latino elected/appointed, business and community leaders under one roof to help individuals find their passion. Through workshops, keynotes, career fairs and networking opportunities, attendees are introduced to awesome opportunities hard found. During the conference, the United States Council on Latino Affairs met continuously to discuss issues impacting Latinos across our country. I was proud to see Oregon’s very own, Commissioner Jose Ibarra elected to be Chair of the group, replacing Norman Colon of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Hallway Learning.
At USHLI I had the incredible opportunity to interview several individuals about their passion, thoughts & insights, and key advice for bilingual [Spanish+ English] talent. Individuals like David Cordova of Indiana on Public Relations & Marketing; Chuy Negrete of Chicago on careers in Musicology and Preserving History through Music; and, Mary Campos of Iowa on civil-service and public service opportunities. These interviews are intended for  you to learn through their insight to help you figure out and consider these industries as careers. Special thanks to all the interviewees for making this possible! I had the opportunity to spend time with Fabian Garcia of Southern Oregon University where he was able to listen in on the interviews I conducted with participants, and introduced him to many individuals I knew. While he attended workshops, he also took part in hallway learning. On the final night, I met two students from the mid-west, Denise and Areli. What turned out to be a small conversation quickly morphed into a strategy session on establishing a scholarship endowment for undocumented students. We hand wrote the fundraising letter and established the parameters. Hallway learning also included developing and outlining a mujeres conference designed to empower mid-west Latina students and community members. I was moved by the simple fact of the simplicity of it. No internet. No phones. No special accommodations. Just plain passion at work.

Dr. Andrade, his team and the entire experience taught me a valuable lesson: that leaders are never exempt from providing an excellent example for others and that we must pave the way for those coming right behind us. John Haroldson taught me the most important, that our work is far from done.

David Molina is the Founder and CEO of BilingualHire, a consumer internet service focused on advancing the careers of bilingual [Spanish+ English] talent. You can visit and connect with him at Twitter, Facebook, and/or Posterous.

“Hey David, need your help in identifying at least 10 Latino student-leaders to send to USHLI in Chicago next month…” What started as a small conversation between Benton County District Attorney John Haroldson (disclaimer: he and I serve on the OSU Board of Visitors) and I is now reality. We’re enroute to the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute (USHLI), Annual National Convention in Chicago. USHLI prides itself in developing, training, and educating America’s future Latino student-leaders in leadership, policy and career opportunities through its workshop seminars, keynote speakers, career and college fair. Over 2,000+ Latino student, community, governmental and business leaders from across the country are expected to converge at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers for a 4-day event this week.

The Oregonian students selected were nominated, and pre-screened by educators, counselors and their peers. After intensive deadlines, non-stop phone calls and fundraising, we’re fortunate to be sending 6 university students, 5 high school students, and 3 community college students to Chicago.

The delegation includes:

• Adriana Rosario Medina, Creswell High School
• Alejandra Gonzalez, Crescent Valley High School
• Blanca Estela Cabrera, Oregon State University
• Carlos Jeronimo, Mt. Hood Community College
• Fabian Garcia, Southern Oregon University
• Irene Guzman, Marist High School
• Isaac Camacho, Corvallis High School
• Itzel Mariel Magaña, Corvallis High School
• Monica Diaz, Western Oregon University
• Roberto Trinidad Guzman, Oregon State University
• Veronica Montoya Santana, Portland Community College at Rock Creek
• Victor Oscar Montemayor, Portland Community College at Cascade Campus
• Yaneira Yaneli Romero Torres, University of Portland
• Yesenia Belen Sanchez, University of Oregon

Special thanks to Kata Cervantes, Mario Magaña, Oscar Montemayor, Narce Rodriguez, Teresa Alonso, and Gerardo Ochoa for getting the ball rolling and their support in this delegation effort; to individuals, business owners and community leaders who have come through with financial backing. Indeed, building leaders, while a time and financially intensive process is the best investment we can make. Especially when it comes to Oregon’s largest and fastest-growing ethnic community, Latinos.

Greetings again from 39,000 feet courtesy of Southwest Airlines. See you on the ground!

Dear MEChA de Portland State University,

Thank you again for the invitation to keynote at your 2010 Edúcate Conference. It was an extreme pleasure, honor and privilege to speak before 350+ Chicana/o and Latina/o motivated high school students, from Hillsboro to Hood River and south to Woodburn. The well-organized conference and attendance was incredible and the workshop feedback I received was all positive. I commend your chapter and the presenters for your passionate efforts, self-less service to others, and desire to see all students pursue their dreams.

The conference in and of itself is symbolic in that it opens the doors to bilingual students whom many for the first time are setting foot on the grounds of a university, the sons and daughters of some of the hardest working Oregonians. Bilingual talent that must be educated, developed and trained in leadership to advance Oregon. This is the kind of hard grunt work that is required, but necessary, and your chapters’ leadership and membership set the example for all of us.

At your service,
–David

Tomorrow morning, I will be speaking before hundreds of students of color, primarily Chicana/o and Latina/o students at Portland State University for the MEChA chapters’ 2010 Edúcate Conference. The leadership invited me to keynote and will last 15 minutes. The intent of the day-long activities is to motivate, inspire and provide opportunities to the participating students. From the keynote to the workshop presenters and college/career fair, the conference is a reminder that MEChA stands for educational opportunities for all and strives to provide minority communities access to the university.

The audience will primarily be a mix of first-generation students with majority attending public schools in the greater Portland-metro area, but I understand some will be coming from a distance. I’m not going to talk numbers and how many Latina/o students in particular drop-out. These we know. But I will have an awesome responsibility, one that I take very seriously. I’ve been asked to discuss my upbringing as a migrant farm worker, and educational experience (as a former high school drop-out). To share with the students lessons learned and how I solved problems. And I will. But my overarching thesis is on creativity and education, and why their efforts today will shape their future.

I know many of you have great ideas. If you were given the opportunity to speak before this audience what would be your main driver? What would you want to instill? What message would most resonate? What challenge would you impart?

The floor is yours.

Face it. Recruiting anyone for a position is an intensive process. You must develop and tailor the job description. Form a search committee to interview the candidates. Advertise the posting. Boil 300 resumes down to a manageable 10 that you will phone interview. Down to the top 5 candidates to invite to interview. Only to find out you may be left with 3, because 2 candidates are no longer interested and have accepted job offers elsewhere. On top of that, those candidates went in and failed to prepare for the interview, or not. In the end, you may not have any candidates who are bilingual. Some organizations may try to deploy their 2-3 staff on hand that are bilingual to share the position with their colleagues and close friends. For some employers this might work.

Deploying your existing bilingual staff, depending on the size of their network and the time they have been allocated to the task, may be one of the smartest and most cost-effective choices available to some organizations. Some organizations provide incentives to their bilingual staff to help identify and recruit more bilingual staff. Folks that are not only fluent in Spanish, but have a keen understanding of their communities cultural nuances.

The more organizations can deploy their bilingual staff not just entry level but their top bilingual staffers to events, conferences and online communities, the better the possibilities of enticing high-caliber bilingual talent. Turns out this may be cheaper than advertising the position. Turns out there’s a better way than reading through 300 resumes and forming a costly and time consuming search committee.

When asked, you know what to do.

“Last year, over 100 million dollars for scholarship monies went unclaimed. The problem is students don’t apply. Let’s see if we can change that,” stated Ochoa.

This cloudy morning in a packed room at the Linfield College School of Nursing, over fifty bilingual students where over ninety-five percent were bilingual in Spanish, one spoke Mixteco and one spoke Portuguese, attended the Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber (HMCC) sponsored “Path to Scholarships” workshop. The hands on workshop was presented by co-author of Path to Scholarships College Edition, and scholarship consultant, Gerardo Ochoa. He is also the Associate Director of Financial Aid at the Linfield College Portland campus. The Latino students came from as far as Hood River and Independence, Oregon. Many are athletes, many leaders in their student government, one ASB President in attendance and many working part-time. At least seventy-five percent will be the first to go to college in their family. They all attest to their parents commitment to education, strong work ethics and their example as to why they are here.

“Your career is your vehicle to accomplish your purpose in life. Purpose and life is much bigger than you. You need to be addressing the needs of others,” asserted Ochoa.

The Scholarship Essay
It is the most important element of the scholarships application process, and you have 4-seconds to grab the attention of the reader. The essay must discuss your family, and obstacles. Specifically how we overcame those obstacles, how we moved on, our dreams and what pursuit we have in life. According to Ochoa, we must include at least two major contributions made in community service and what impact this had on the lives of others. “Scholarship committees want to know what you are doing with your time. Are you a single mom, working a full-time job, but if you did what would you be doing,” added Ochoa. “At the end of the day, scholarship committees are investing their dollars in your potential. Let’s get it done,” urged Ochoa.

If you missed today’s workshop, listen to a one-minute podcast interview we did with Ochoa on How to Win Scholarships over at Posterous.

David Molina is the Founder/CEO of BilingualHire. You can reach him at: +1-503-708-4614 or email him at: david@bilingualhireco.com.

Happy 2010 from Edith and I, and hoping you and your familias had a great Christmas and holiday. I wanted to take a few moments to thank a few individuals that kept us going in 2009, that as a result of their mentorship, professional friendship, encouragement (online and offline, some don’t know it or realize it), we inched closer towards this entrepreneurial venture, we call BilingualHire. We’re eternally grateful.

First. You. La Familia, friends, readers and subscribers to our blog, e-Newsletter, and fans in our Facebook community, who continuously provide feedback, and are our eyes and ears in communities throughout. To some of the subject matter experts on Twitter that are gracious upon imagination. A special, special gracias to Jason Hitzert, Chris Brogan, Gary Vaynerchuk, Chris Sacca, Dana Willhoit, and Robert Scoble for their business strategy, creative and social media & new media communication insight that, as a result, have improved our operation and interestingly, our writing skills. More often than not, we’ve just listened and soaked it up. While we only know Jason personally, the six through their blogs, interviews and tweets have helped us rethink our business model, reconsider value propositions, and relearn services in order to more effectively advance the careers of bilingual [Spanish+English] talent and develop the U.S. workforce of the 21st century.

Secondly. The guys over at Opus:Interactive and Emma. The Opus Guys, kept us on 100% of the time, thankfully without worry, helping us to deliver 24/7. Whether we needed online hosting and transfer support (more than several times), or a creative referral, they were there. Matter of fact, Opus helped us get connected to El Presidente. At Emma, they was instrumental in creating a conversation with each of you and helped us through the seasonal weather (as a startup, not uncommon).

Third. El Presidente. The guy in charge over at Beaverton-OR based, Darkwater Studios. A small creative agency with a porfolio and a half that is helping us to more effectively deliver content, services and some other things (blog and tweet forthcoming). After dozens of phone conversations, and meetings at Starbucks we knew Lindsay Bell could deliver, and be a partner in this adventure. El Presidente, as he is known inside Darkwater, is fitting, since he not only takes charge and delivers, is tech and business savvy, and has a cool demeanor (a good balance). We’re very much looking forward to this fruitful partnership in 2010. The other Presidentes that helped us inch closer towards realization of our vision include: David Stewart over at Skylark64; James Franco; Dean Dorazio at Wakefly, and Oktaviano Merecias, all around sharp, tech savvy and cool dudes. ¡Gracias!

Lastly, and void without, Edith (my wife and co-founder), for her consistent drive to see this venture through. When we launched this startup, we were all over the place, and we had no idea where we’d be, we just kept iterating, experimenting, and being as helpful as we humanly could to as many people as humanly possible, and kept rowing BilingualHire towards the lighthouse. Her strategic insight, business angle perspective and eye on the prize keeps the azimuth steady, and while not full-time, provides BilingualHire the impetus to keep going. Oh, and Andrés Calamaro’s music via Batanga who helped us burn the midnight oil.

To everyone past, and present, in the words of Gary, let’s crush it. Salud to 2010,

–David

David Molina is the Founder and CEO of BilingualHire. You can touch bases directly: +1-503-708-4614 or by email: david@bilingualhireco.com.

How do we build high-caliber bilingual [Spanish+ English] talent? What programs should be used? Should they be public, private, non-profit, or a combination of the three? Why does it matter?

Background
Bilingual talent, without a doubt, is the fastest-growing workforce pool in the nation. Whether it’s private, public or non-profit vacancies, speaking Spanish is a preferred skill and often a requirement. Talent is the life and blood of any organization. The leadership is the heart. The operations is the left arm. The staff is the right arm. I hope you pardon my anatomy analogy, but hope it makes sense. The talent is what keeps the organization going. So how do we build bilingual talent?

Build Wings
Leadership should provide avenues of opportunity to mentor and shape the organization’s bilingual talent through putting this talent through management simulations. If you have a committee or project, put young Maya in the hot seat and evaluate her performance. Test her ability to develop presentations, present/brief-back, and repeat over (until he/she builds muscle memory). Supervisors should provide exploratory opportunities for Maya, from providing access to management to IT, from human resources to finance, while holding Maya accountable to the organization’s standards. Organizations, large and small, should groom their high-caliber bilingual talent internally for higher levels of responsibility, and be evaluated by the senior leadership team. Building, and enabling wings requires a commitment, persistence and having a pulse of your current assets: talent. If done correctly, naturally talent will rise to the occasion and meet the challenge head-on. Your organization will meet it’s mission. Maya will thank you later.

Provide Guidance
Forget the crawl, walk and run nonsense. Provide guidance. Period. Brief Maya on your organization’s task, condition and standard of which you expect her to execute on. Guidance is creating an atmosphere where trust is the foundation, and where excelling standards is the norm. Guidance is a compass. It’s a set of points on the map that clearly outline the territory. Leadership should put their high-performing advisors with Maya, not the dull, bland or quiet. Maya should feel proud of the organization, the team, leadership and the vision. After it is all said and done, Maya should feel like she’s ready to become a pirate and run with the ship.

Get out of the Way
Too many leaders make the mistake of getting in the way after building their talents’ wings. Big mistake. Getting out of the way means removing the atmosphere of ceilings and brick walls that resemble fortresses and reengineer your organization and systems to get the most out of Maya that now has wings. Oh, and don’t suppress her creativity.

Partnerships between organizations and corporations to develop bilingual talent is smart business. Between, non-profit and corporations is also smart. What matters is that bilingual talent get exposure to as many facets of the organization as possible. To have access to leadership’s thoughts, insights and vision. To  be given an opportunity to learn, demonstrate their learned skill sets, and apply that expertise. It starts early in their careers. It should matter to leadership, but here’s betting human resources can play a bigger role.

David Molina is the Founder/CEO of BilingualHire. You can reach him at: +1-503-708-4614 or email him at: david@bilingualhireco.com.