Des Moines Register
11-05-06
Biz Buzz: Maytag retirees gather on the Web
There is life after Maytag, but life is better when you can stay in touch with former co-workers, says Lael Taft, who spent more than 36 years with the Newton, Ia., company before retiring as a commercial sales manager in 1997. After moving to Arizona, Taft and his wife, Pat, became frustrated that the company provided no means for former employees to stay in touch with each other.
So, when his daughter gave him a Web site for Christmas a few years ago, he decided to share a portion of it with his fellow former workers. Today, the site has e-mail listings for more than 150 former Maytag employees. It's a "Who's Who of former and some current employees," he said, everyone from former presidents and other executives to secretaries and clerks. Taft calls the site Gatyam, which is Maytag spelled backwards. To get there on a Web browser, type: taft-family.com/Maytag.html.
MBA job hunt goes online
Graduate students at Iowa State University’s College of Business will participate in an online career fair Monday through Nov. 20. An estimated 800 MBA students at 12 schools are expected to interact with 200 employers during the fair.
This is the second time the Southwest MBA Alliance Virtual Career Fair has been held, said ISU’s Mark Peterson. Last year, 173 companies and 611 students participated. Before 2005, the career fair was held in Dallas and attracted a much smaller group of students and employers, said Peterson.