RECOMMENDATION

REPORT

Unit 2: Employee Recommendation

Report

Erik Furness
Recommendation Report
For
Benjamin Hegseth

English 320

By: Erik Furness

Distributed
October 15th, 2010
 Table of Contents

List of Figures.................................................................................................................................iv

Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................v

Introduction......................................................................................................................................1

Job Opportunities.............................................................................................................................3

Criteria.........................................................................................................................................3

Jobs..............................................................................................................................................3

Eide Bailly...............................................................................................................................3

Mercer......................................................................................................................................4

Mueller.....................................................................................................................................5

Communities................................................................................................................................7

Eide Bailly and Mueller-Fargo, ND........................................................................................7

Mercer-Seattle, WA.................................................................................................................8

Conclusion and Recommendation.................................................................................................10

Works Cited...................................................................................................................................12

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 List of Figures
Figure 1: Fargo’s Local Water Masses............................................................................................8

Figure 2: Seattle’s Local Water Masses..........................................................................................9

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 Executive Summary
Ben Hegseth is an economics student at North Dakota State University. He has been
offered three different jobs. Eide Bailly-Compliance associate in banking industry, located in
Fargo, ND. Mercer-Internship, located in Seattle, WA. Mueller-field representative, located in
Fargo, ND. I did some research on all three companies and along information given to me
through an interview and questionnaire about Ben, I have broke everything down into two
categories, job and community. From there I broke it down even further, into three sub
categories for each main category and they are as follows with results:
Job

 Benefits: Mueller has the best benefits offered initially by any of the three companies.
They offer retirement plans along with health savings accounts and paid vacation
 Bold Business Practices: Eide Bailly has made it a obvious point to point out that they
have made adjustments to cope with the struggling economy
 Opportunities for Advancement: Mercer internship is ultimately going to give you the
best chance to move up in a company because it is an internship for the full-time
positions
Community

 Size: As indicated in the questionnaire, you wanted a bigger city; however you roughly
estimated a population of 300,000. Neither city is exactly close to that as Seattle is over
and Fargo is under the 300,000 mark.
 Pollution: Fargo is really clean city pollution wise. Granted it is not as big as the Seattle
the numbers are not close.
 Scenery: One of the, if not the most important aspects of finding a new job was that you
wanted to travel. Obviously staying in Fargo will not fulfill that want. You also wanted
an ocean and mountains near by which Seattle conveniently has both within a reasonable
distance
Overall I recommend you take the Mercer Internship position. It will allow you to move
along in the company quickly as the internship is a gateway into the full time positions. Another
reason is the ability to get out of the Midwest. The job is located in Seattle, WA, which is on the
Pacific Ocean on the west coast of the United States. It also has numerous lakes and national
parks in the area. I hope you use this recommendation in your decision and I wish you the best of
luck in whatever decision you end up making.

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 Introduction
Big decisions should not be made by a one single person. Decisions such as what to do

when somebody is seriously hurt and needs surgery for example, people consult a doctor or

multiple doctors. When somebody is going to buy a car, they may consult with friends and

family before they even go out to dealerships to talk with sales reps. This holds true for the

decision on which job offer to accept. I have been given the privilege to help Ben Hegseth with

this decision.

Over the research and interview process I was impressed with Ben’s professionalism.

During our interview we talked about what his ideal city would be. He mentioned that traveling

the world is something that is not out of the question, he really appreciates other cultures and

what they have to offer. Other topics we covered in our interview were what he felt were his

strengths and weaknesses. He mentioned that one of his strengths was also a weakness; he feels

that he is somewhat of a perfectionist. I would agree that this would constitute a strength and a

weakness. Other strengths he came up with were customer orientated and creative.

We also talked about goals, both short and long term. A short term goal is to finish

school and find a job. Also it is not out of the question for him to pursue a Masters in business

administration. One longer term goal would be to see different parts of the U.S. or the world and

to eventually settle down and start a family.

A third thing we talked about were some hobbies. Besides traveling, which financially is

unrealistic at the present time, Ben enjoys being creative. He likes to write songs for fun. He

also enjoys sports, especially pickup games, of any sort. Baseball, Basketball, Football, whatever

the case may be, Ben is willing to jump in and contribute to the team.

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 I cannot imagine having to make this big of decision on my own. You have given me

information regarding what you are looking for in your future life. You have narrowed it down to

three job opportunities and I, through researching the companies, will recommend the right one

for you.

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 Job Opportunities

Criteria

I have broken down all three job options into two categories, Job and Community. Within

those categories I have broken it down further:

Jobs:

 Benefits: What benefits are included upon being hired?

 Bold Business Practices: How does this company stand out?

 Room for Advancement: What are the chances you can be promoted rather quickly?

Communities:

 Size: What is the population, general size of the city?

 Pollution: What level of pollution is being output in the city?

 Scenery: What kind of natural landscapes are in the area?

Jobs

Eide Bailly

 Benefits

Eide Bailly is a national organization that offers some general benefit packages. They

offer a few different health savings accounts. These allow you to set aside pre-tax dollars for use

in medical, dental and vision expenses. As they are a nationally known company, each state has

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different laws and forms that go with different accounts. Base salary for this job is right around

$40,000.

 Bold Business Practices

One of the first things I noticed with Eide Bailly is the emphasis on culture and customer

orientation. Multiple times throughout their website I found references to how they go about

their business. According to the website, caring for our external and internal clients with a

passion to go the extra mile is part of the Eide Bailly culture. I feel Ben would excel with this

culture as he said he really liked customer oriented jobs he had in the past. Eide Bailly has also

made a commitment to make changes to fend off the rough economy we are going through. This

is something we discussed in our interview and something you wanted in a company. Jerry

Topp, CEO of Eide Bailly stated in the company profile brochure, “We are prepared: we have

made some changes in our management structure to help focus our efforts, added specialized

talent to strengthen our offerings to clients and made significant changes to our processes, which

are intended to benefit both our clients and firm.”(Topps)

 Room for Advancement

Eide Bailly has a philosophy of lifelong learning opportunities. It is built into the culture

to learn as much as you can about a number of different aspects including, developing people,

problem solving, handling ambiguity and communicating in a variety of ways. This is why there

is always a chance to advance through Eide Bailly. They contribute the learning opportunities

philosophies as a career map that the performance managers base promotions off of.

Mercer

 Benefits

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 This is a paid internship offered by Mercer. Other than the hourly wage compensation

nothing else is offered to interns besides the opportunity to come on as a full time analyst upon

graduation. Although I could not find the exact starting salary for the internship, I did find that a

full time analyst starting salary is around $51,000 a year

 Bold Business Practices

Mercer is one of the leading HR and finance advisors in the world. They claim that 9 out

of 10 fortune 500 companies are associated with Mercer. They use their core strengths in

consulting, outsourcing and investments to advise their clients in the desired area.

 Room for Advancement

This job has the best opportunity to advance and move up in the company because it is an

internship. Actuarial and analyst positions are oriented for recent graduates with little to no on

the job experience. This is ideal because it would be the easiest way to move up in any of the

three jobs offered.

Mueller

 Benefits

Mueller is looking for individuals who are self-motivated and work well on their own.

With that being said, you mentioned in our interview that you would rather work on a team so I

feel like this job wouldn’t be for you. They do offer some benefit to their employees though

including, paid vacation, health insurance and a 401k retirement fund. Base salary for this job is

right around $46,000.

 Bold Business Practices

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 This job is one where if you want to, you can go far. One interesting thing Mueller does

is hold a yoga class twice a week that is open to all employees. They do this to promote good

health and sustain a casual atmosphere in the workplace. According to their website, Mueller

continually is growing and investing into highly skilled developers.

 Room for Advancement

Mueller is proud of the way they have conducted the advancement process. They believe

in promoting from within rather than hiring from the job market for leadership positions. So if

you want to move up in the ranks, this would be a good place to start. Also the headquarters is

located in Buffalo, NY. However the field representative position is located in Cass County.

Although it may take some time, seeing the U.S. is not out of the question with this job.

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 Communities

Eide Bailly and Mueller-Fargo, ND

 Size

Fargo is a relatively large city for the area but by no means is a huge city. According to

City-Data.com, Fargo’s population in 2009 was 95,556. The land area covered by the city is

37.9 square miles. However if you included close by neighbors Moorhead Minnesota and West

Fargo, North Dakota, the square mileage would be 58.59.

 Pollution

According to pollution.allstats.info, Fargo is a very clean place to live. In fact in 2007,

96.69% of days were considered to have good air. In the last ten years, the lowest percent was

94.79 in 2006. In 2007 1.10% of days were considered to be unhealthy air days. This was the

only time in the last 10 years that unhealthy air was even recorded.

 Scenery

It’s not near any oceans, and it barely has hills. Although the city of Fargo has done a

very good job of creating parks and community centers for its citizens, Fargo is not going to

fulfill your want of being near oceans and mountains. The only water in the immediate area is

the Red River that flows south to north on its way into Canada. As you know flooding has

always been an issue involved with the Red. Other water masses are a short commute away, as

the following table shows:

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 Figure 1: Fargo’s Local Water Masses
Water Mass Distance from Fargo in miles Time of Commute
Red River 0 Miles 0 Minutes
Detroit Lakes and 45.8 Miles 53 Minutes
Surrounding Area
Devils Lake and Surrounding 165 Miles 2 Hours and 45 Minutes
Area
(Google Maps)

Although none of the water masses are remotely close to being an ocean, all could be a

simple substitute for the desire to be next to water.

Mercer-Seattle, WA

 Size

Seattle is a relatively larger city than what you talked about in the questionnaire I had you

fill out. 617,334 was the population in July of 2009, which is over double what you mention

your ideal city would be. The land area covered by Seattle is 83.9 square miles. To compare to

the Fargo-Moorhead area, that is about one and a half times bigger and over double just Fargo

alone.

 Pollution

In 2007 73.53% of days had good air quality and 24.51% of the days had moderate air

quality in the city of Seattle. These numbers are significantly down when compared to Fargo.

When looking at the last ten years, the lowest percent of good air quality days is 62.30% in the

year 2000. The majority of the remaining percentages went into the category of moderate air

quality as only twice in the last ten years has it been registered as unhealthy air quality.

 Scenery

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 Even though Seattle’s population is bigger than what you desired, its surrounding natural

landscape is exactly what you are looking for. It is directly between a bay of the Pacific Ocean

and lake Washington. It also is just about a half hour from Wenatchee National Forest and

numerous mountains. There are also five public beaches in the area, utilizing both the close by

lake and ocean. The following table shows distances from Seattle to various water masses:

Figure 2: Seattle’s Local Water Masses

Water Mass Distance from Seattle in miles Time of Commute
Pacific Ocean 130 Miles 2 Hours 31 minutes
Westport, WA. 3 Hours in traffic
Lake Washington 0 Miles 0 Min
Lake Sammamish 19.9 Miles 31 Minutes
50 Minutes in traffic
(Google Maps)

Although Seattle is located on a bay of the Pacific Ocean, I used a town on the coast of

the Pacific Ocean. The issue that comes about is the limited roadways to get out to the coast as

Seattle is almost surrounded by water; there are few entry and exit points for the city.

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 Conclusion and Recommendation
After our interview and questionnaire I feel I had enough information on you to help you

make this decision. I digested and broke down all the information into two categories, jobs and

community. Within those categories I broke them down further to the following:

Jobs:

 Benefits

 Bold Business Practices

 Room for Advancement

Communities:

 Size

 Pollution

 Scenery

Each job had its ups and downs in each category. As far as benefits go, Mueller seems to

have the edge here, offering paid vacation and 401k retirement plans. Eide Bailly has the most

bold business practices among the three jobs. The Mercer job is an internship that would allow

you to get a foot in the door and a chance to prove yourself to the company in hopes they offer

you a full time position upon graduation, therefore, Mercer would be the best opportunity for

advancement. With that being said, you want to travel and get out of the Midwest, obviously the

Mercer internship would fulfill that want.

After considering everything you had to offer, and all the research I have done, I would

recommend the Mercer Internship as a place of employment. First of all it fulfills the traveling
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aspect that Ben was passionate about in our interview process. The job is based out of Seattle

Washington and is located around multiple lakes, the Pacific Ocean as well as some mountains.

In contrast the other to offers, Eide Bailly and Mueller, are based in Fargo. While there are lakes

in the area it does not compare to the ocean on the west coast.

A second reason I believe the Mercer job is right for you is the opportunity for

advancement that goes hand in hand with an internship. In the questionnaire you noted that

salary compensation was not the most important thing to you and a long term goal would be to

find a job. As I could not find what the starting salary was on the internship, however once

offered a full time position; average starting salary is around $51,000.

The Mercer internship really encompasses what Ben is all about. It involves working

with a team, relying on each other and being an innovative and creative company. This is a third

reason why I think this job is right for you. Eide Bailly wouldn’t be a bad fit for you in this

category either, however Mueller is way off. At Mueller you would be working by yourself

doing lots of driving around which is not what you want to be doing.

Overall, I hope my dissection of all this information will help guide you to the job for

you. It has been a privilege to be able to work with you on this report and I hope you are able to

fulfill all of your wants and dreams in the many years ahead.

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 Works Cited
"Air pollute stats by state." Air Pollution. allstats.info, 2007. Web. 11 Oct 2010.

“City Data.” City-Data.com. Web. 11 Oct 2010

Company Information." Mueller. Mueller Reports, 2010. Web. 11 Oct. 2010.

"Culture." Eide Bailly Culture. Eide Bailly, 2010. Web. 11 Oct. 2010.

“Google Maps” Googlemaps.com. Web 11 Oct 2010

"Internships for Undergraduates." Mercer. Mercer, 2010. Web. 11 Oct. 2010.

"Jobs." Mueller. Mueller Reports, 2010. Web. 11 Oct. 2010.

Johnson, Alyssa. "Eide Bailly." Jobs HQ. Jobs HQ, 20 Sep. 2010. Web. 11 Oct. 2010.

"Mercer Career Paths." Mercer. Mercer, 2010. Web. 11 Oct. 2010.

"Pay Scale Salary Calculator." Pay Scale. Pay Scale, Inc., 2010. Web. 11 Oct 2010.

Topp, Jerry. "Eide Bailly." Eide Bailly Year in Review. Eide Bailly, 2010. Web. 11 Oct 2010.

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