Lots of Activity at UK's Coldstream Research Campus

UK’s Coldstream Research Campus has been in the news lately featuring many new business and career opportunities. Last week, our staff visited with George Ward, Executive Director of UK’s Coldstream Research Campus to learn more.


The mission of the Coldstream Research Campus is to cultivate an innovative community by combining UK’s research strengths with private enterprise to create high-tech startup companies, expand existing businesses and grow high-paying jobs. UK has a strong patent portfolio in drug development and drug design, plant biotech, equine health, and materials for medical implants, drug delivery systems, and medical devices. The University also has programs in emerging technologies such as renewable fuels and plant-based alternatives for industrial products.

UK quickly delivers applications to the marketplace which have resulted in long-standing partnerships with business and industry. According to Len Heller, UK's vice president for Commercialization & Economic Development, "Now more than ever it is important that we commercialize UK technology and create spin-off companies and new jobs."

Once a prominent Bluegrass horse farm, Coldstream is now home to 1,000 employees working in biotech, pharmaceutical and equine-related companies, and a wide range of businesses including HP, Coldstream Laboratories Inc. and Embassy Suites Hotel. Coldstream Park, a public, multi-use area maintained by the city of Lexington, is located within the research campus and has a network of biking and walking paths as well as two dog parks. Restaurants, shopping, the Blue Grass Airport, and residential communities are conveniently located nearby.

UK will use a new law that permits the establishment of a tax increment financing (TIF) district on the Coldstream Research Campus to help finance much needed laboratory and incubator space. UK will solicit a master developer to build a mixed-use "town center “and use the taxes generated to fund new research buildings and be a catalyst for retaining and recruiting biotech companies to Coldstream. According to George Ward, “The town center will be comprised of various uses such as offices, residential units, and ancillary services which may include food and beverage outlets, banking, a fitness center, day care, and a dry cleaner. Completion of the town center will provide the necessary social infrastructure to seed research and technology development in other areas of the Coldstream Campus.”

Recent Coldstream announcements include:

Lexington-based Tempur-Pedic, an international company focused on innovative sleep products, is reaffirming its commitment to Kentucky with the expansion of its global headquarters. The company will build a 100,000 square-foot facility in the University of Kentucky's Coldstream Research Campus and will employ 300 people, including the addition of 65 new jobs in the next five years.

UK Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory expansion is complete. In 2008, the University of Kentucky Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory broke ground on a $28.5 million expansion and renovation journey. Now the state-of-the-art project is complete and the lab is better equipped to serve Kentucky's animal agriculture industries.

Allconnect Inc., a leading consumer services company, is locating a new in-bound sales and customer care center in Lexington. The company is investing nearly $7 million to establish an approximately 32,000 square-foot facility in the Coldstream Research Campus that will add up to 220 new jobs in the community.

Construction began on the new Eastern State Hospital in 2010, with an expected completion date of fall 2012. The $129 million facility is part of a unique agreement between UK, Bluegrass Community and Technical College (BCTC), the state and the city of Lexington in which Eastern State will move from its campus on Newtown Pike to the Coldstream Research Campus location; BCTC will move from UK's Lexington campus to the current Eastern State location; and UK will take over BCTC's location on Cooper Drive. The hospital will employ a total of 700 people over 3 shifts.

It is expected that the Coldstream on-campus employee population will grow to 2,200 by the end of 2012.

For more information on Coldstream see UKColdstream.com. To keep up with current Coldstream news and all of UK’s economic development news, subscribe to the UKEconDev News (econdev@uky.edu), a quarterly e-news.

Business with Ties to UK Makes Plans to Come Home to the Bluegrass

Total Quality Logistics (TQL) is the nation’s 4th largest freight brokerage firm. Headquartered in Cincinnati, OH, TQL has satellite offices in Charleston, Charlotte, Chicago, Columbus, Denver, Indianapolis, and Tampa. TQL recently announced the addition of a Lexington, KY office in the coming months. UK alum, Lincoln Hendricks (’07 CIS) has been selected to lead the new Lexington office. He currently works at the Cincinnati site, and will be relocating back to the Bluegrass.

Lincoln shared the following, “My wife, Devin (’08 Communications) and I are both UK alums, with personal ties back in Lexington and the Central Kentucky area. We have always considered Lexington home, and hoped that we would ultimately end up there. After college I came to Cincinnati to begin my career at TQL in sales. It’s a terrific company with new challenges on a daily basis. I now have the opportunity to open and manage a TQL satellite office in Lexington beginning in August. I am thrilled with the opportunity.” By the end of 2011, TQL will open offices in Louisville, KY and Dayton, OH as well. With the help of successful staff members who want to transfer, this rapidly growing firm plans to open an office in every Tier I city across the U.S.

TQL has hired 58 UK alumni since July 2007, a handful of them former UK athletes. Among those 58 hires is former UK baseball player Brian Hastings who has been with the company since June of 2009. He will also be part of the founding team for TQL’s Lexington office. Former UK football Guard, Mike Webster, has been with the company for the past 8 years. He is now TQL’s 2010 #2 Account Executive in the company. UK graduate, Kelly Tate is another founding member of the Lexington Team. She has been with the company since October of 2008. TQL is dedicated to their continued partnership with the University of Kentucky in their recruiting efforts. TQL representatives have attended UK Career Fairs, and have spoken at numerous career-related workshops and special events. We look forward to our continued partnership with TQL throughout their expansion. Click here if you are interested in viewing TQL employment opportunities in the Bluegrass and across the country. TQL currently has positions posted in Wildcat CareerLink, the UK Career Center’s online job database. This database is free to all UK students and alumni.

-Posted by Kelly Higgins

UK Alumni Career Spotlight

“Savvy job seekers know the paper resume is a dated approach to your job search. Having a professional video profile complete with your traditional resume, personality profile and relevant accomplishments will increase your chance for hire by 30% or more – it just works”.


-David DeCapua, CEO TalentRooster, UK Alumni (1990 BA Communications)

Here in Alumni Career Services we recently learned about emerging video resume technology called TalentRooster. Even better, we learned that TalentRooster was developed by UK alumn David DeCapua. TalentRooster allows job seekers to create a full blown digital video profile, complete with traditional resume, video resume, links to social media sites, a personality profile and much more. Plus it can be posted on all of your favorite social media sites. Employers, staffing agencies, and recruiters are also using TalentRooster to conduct initial candidate screenings and to determine who to invite to the interview. Good Morning America even recently spotlighted this new tool.

David has fond college memories of attending UK basketball games when Pitino was the new coach in town. David’s first job out of college was an account executive with Physician’s Sales and Service where he started a territory from the ground up in North Miami, Florida then moved to central Ohio and replicated this same feat. David went on to join Dawson Resources, an executive search, recruiting and staffing firm in the Columbus, Ohio area that focuses on positions in accounting & finance, call centers, creative, industrial, IT, office and VMS areas. During the economic downturn, it became clear to David that with the advent of social media, the way people job search has drastically changed. He wanted to be a part of that exciting time and developed TalentRooster. David says that while taking a huge financial risk, starting TalentRooster was probably the best career decision he has ever made. In between running two businesses, David is also a city council member and, enjoys spending time with his wife and three young children as well as, studying Civil War history.

David has generously offered a link for any UK alum or student to create a free digital video profile http://talentrooster.s3.amazonaws.com/Misc/TRSite/TRUniversityProgram.htm.

Informational Interviews: Gain Insight and Expand Your Network

Informational interviews are a great way to not only learn about possible career fields, but to expand your professional network. It is a common assumption that informational interviews are conducted solely by students, however that is a myth. This form of interviewing has become a regular component of career exploration for all stages of one’s career. If you are considering a career change, looking to learn more about a given field or company, or just want to grow professionally, consider seeking out a fellow professional to interview. If you do not have a contact in your target industry to interview, search on LinkedIn. Join on-brand groups and discover the leaders in your industry of interest. Be sure to make your intention clear; you are not soliciting a job, just gathering information. We suggest preparing structured interview questions to maximize your time. Show up professionally dressed and organized. Though this is not a job interview, you still want to put your best foot forward. As the interview is coming to an end, be sure to ask for the name and contact information of two other people in the industry that may be helpful for you to contact. This will help grow your professional network in a new field and gain a slightly different perspective.


Steps to a successful informational interview:

1. Identify a professional in your field of interest and contact them, clearly stating your intention.

2. Arrange a meeting (in person, over the phone, or via email.)

3. Arrive early with structured interview questions.

4. Express your appreciation, get a business card, and leave.

5. Follow up with a thank you note.

- Posted by Kelly Higgins

Interviewing Advice From Recruiters

We recently surveyed some regional recruiters and gained their perspective on interview questions. First, we wondered if there were any particular questions that candidates had trouble answering. We also were curious if they had weed out questions. Here were some of the responses.

Daniel Bergmann with Total Quality Logistics shared the following:
- Believe it or not, I’ve found many candidates still struggle with what I would consider to be questions they should know they’re going to be asked. “What do you know about our company? Why are you interested in TQL? Why are you interested in sales?” Too many times I’ll get poorly thought-out responses (e.g. “I’m not really sure what your company does”) or canned answers (e.g. “I like working with people”). A little research and self-reflection can go a long way.

-My favorite weed out question is “what other positions have you been applying to?” If we’re the only sales job, I can safely bet that the candidate isn’t truly passionate about sales, and if they’re all over the map, I can safely bet that they have little idea what they want. Part of my job is identifying whether or not they truly want this job and not just a job.

Molley Ricketts, Recruiting Team Leader with Yoh for GE, Home and Business Solutions, shared the following:
-My favorite question; If you were able to write your ideal job description, how would it read? I find that this is not a 'typical' interview question and candidates don't have a rehearsed response. This allows me to truly get a clear understanding of their communciation skills AND if they don't have a good response, it also weeds them out.

The Facebook Generation at Work

During several recent speaking engagements (e.g. Louisville Alumni Lunch and Learn, UK Business Marketing classes, Northern Kentucky Alumni event, and Project Managers International meeting), we have talked about the challenges of having four generations working side-by-side and how we often stereotype each generation. New resources continue to emerge on how to better manage multigenerational workplace challenges. Father-daughter team Larry and Meagan Johnson recently published Generations, Inc.: From Boomers to Linksters - Managing the Friction Between Generations at Work. They specifically focus on the Facebook generation, also known as the Linksters. These 15-19 year olds have some common traits. They live and breathe technology; are more tolerant of alternative lifestyles; are best friends with their parents; and are very involved in green causes and social activism. The Johnsons go on to share 10 Tips for Managing the Facebook Generation. A few of the highlights include:

- Provide them with job descriptions and very clear directions
- Incentivize task accomplishments
- Treat them as valued coworkers
- Create microcareer paths
- Lead by example

What advice would you give to young professionals entering the world of work?

Always Follow Up

Have you ever submitted your resume to an employer, receiving no response in return? This is a scenario that I hear from job seekers quite frequently. Realistically, employers are flooded with resumes on a daily basis, and often don’t have time to review every resume they receive. Ask yourself how you can get the employer to pay attention to your resume. Answer: follow up! According to Daniel Bergmann, Sales Recruiter for TQL, following up can set you apart from your competition. “Following up on an application shows that you are proactive and serious about the job. This gives the employer or recruiter a reason to move your resume to the top of the pile.” Dan Parker, Employee Relations Manager at Climate Solutions Ingersoll Rand, couldn’t agree more. “Always follow up. This puts a name and voice with a resume.” If you can connect a real person to your resume, employers are more likely to select it out of the stack of hundreds to review. After you apply for a position, give the employer a call to ensure that they have received your application material. Career coach, Mary Jeanne Vincent stated in her February monthly online newsletter, “The rule of thumb is no more than three interactions (phone, email, voice mail) within 10 days. Don’t call back every day for an update — that is harassment and will earn your resume a place in the round file.” Convey your interest in the position, and inquire about a timeline for the interviewing process. - Posted by Kelly Higgins, UK Alumni Career Counselor