Guest Post by Len Montgomery and Photo by respres

In these days of gloomy of prognostics, I feel it is important to find and acknowledge as many positive aspects of our economy as possible. In doing so, we can offset the pessimism that seems to follow the mainstream media news. In this spirit I would like to share some of the facts that have been skimmed over, or totally overlooked, concerning North Carolina.

Let me begin with our state’s population. North Carolina saw more newcomers to our state versus loss of residents than any other state. For every 100 people who moved away, we saw 180 people move here according to Relocation.com, a moving services website. Now I do not have the exact numbers of the comings and goings, but it has been a significant enough change that the federal government has announced that North Carolina, along with South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, will each receive an additional seat in the House of Representatives.

A good number of those relocating are buying homes. Our office gets a fair number of client relocation referrals. The typical family relocating will finance their home. That means there will be inspections, repairs, insurance, appraisals and a plethora of other services that may be required in the process to approve a home mortgage. Real estate generates a tremendous cash flow into our local economy over and above the cost of property.

With a growing population, new housing will be a necessity. In fact, just this week, Washington reported that new home starts increased over 22% in February all across the nation, with the exception of the west coast. This is still below last years new home starts, but is a very positive step. New housing is typically followed by new shopping centers filled with grocers, banks, restaurants and merchants of all sorts peddling their wares. And who will work, manage or own these new businesses? Sure, some will be big corporations. But more will be folks right here in our own communities.

With a growing population, new jobs are created. Or is the population growing because of the new jobs? Either way, we acquire a larger tax base to draw from for our state and local governments. Spreading out the tax liability helps to hedge off tax increases.

Many of our local residents have been watching the housing market carefully, waiting for the market to hit bottom and so they can swoop in and take advantage of great opportunities. Well, I don’t have a crystal ball, but I feel confident in saying that the time to act is now. Are homes at the lowest prices we are going to see? I don’t know. But I can promise that by the time we’ve all figured out that we are at the very bottom, home prices will be going back up.

One last observation to share: the glass is half full. That’s right. I said it. Although there are many naysayers among us, every fiber of who I am sees the best for our state. I was at a meeting this week where the keynote speaker kindly informed the group that she has chosen not to participate in the recession. What a novel idea! I have adopted this philosophy myself. We have a choice, we can change our attitudes and we will see a change in our results!



Len Montgomery is a REALTOR for GMAC The REALTY Team in Greensboro/High Point/Winston Salem area. Website: www.LenMontgomery.com or call at 336-812-8128.

This is a guest post by Donna Ray Chmura, Esq. Sands Anderson Marks & Miller, P.C. Photo is by Andrew Feinberg.

The North Carolina Employment Security Commission just released the January unemployment figures, and it’s not a pretty picture. The unemployment rate increased from 8.1% in December to 9.7% in January…..oh woe is me, the sky is falling! What will we do? What will we do?

Don’t let yourself fall for the blood and guts, doom and gloom reports that are constantly bombarding us from just about every media outlet we come across. The age of instant access, 24-hour news is both a blessing and a curse. Sure it’s great to be able to keep up with what’s happening right now, but as media outlets compete for viewers/listeners/readers they are always going to lead with the most sensational story they can produce; and usually that story is the poor economy and job losses. Don’t allow yourself to be drawn in.

A great example of all of the doom and gloom is the recent reporting on local job fairs in the Carolinas. Many of the local news outlets began their coverage with live reports about the large number of job seekers at these events, and continued with interviews of those same job seekers, but mainly the ones who have been out of work for a long time and were not successful at the job fair. The stories then evolved into, “Job Fairs. Are they worth your time?” So called “experts” suggested that it was a waste of time attending a job fair. Typical reporting of the worst part of the story!

Very few of the media outlets reported on the number of job seekers who actually found a job or had a follow up interview scheduled. Which story is the most sensational….”Thousands line up looking for a job!” or “Hundreds find jobs!”

Sure, the number of jobs available is less than in the past, and the types of jobs may not be exactly what we are looking for, but there are jobs out there. As a nation we can’t allow ourselves to be pulled down by all of the bad news. You have probably heard the saying, "Perception is reality." If we all believe that there is no end to the current recession, then that is going to be our reality. On the other hand, if we all believe that things will get better, then they will. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but they will. We’ve been here before and have always come back better and stronger than before.

No matter what your political philosophy is, or whether or not you are a supporter of our new President, one point we should all agree upon when it comes to an economic recovery is “Yes We Can!”

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Fox8 News in the Triad did a report this morning on what to expect at the job fair today at Quality Inn & Suites in Greenboro.




We'll be around from 9am and 1pm if you're in the Greensboro area so stop by and talk to our recruiters.

Last week's job fair had a phenominal turn out. Unfortunatly there were more job seekers than jobs available, a sign of the times. For more than 300 job seekers there was good news, they were hired on the spot or called back for more formal interviews, but thre were over 1,700 job seekers at our Tuesday event, which means many others were not so lucky.


It may seem like the ods of obtaining a job at a job fair are pretty slim, but actually the ratio of jobs to job seekers was 1 available job for each job seeker. That's actually not too bad. If you think about how many people apply to one job on job boards, the ratio then becomes more like 1 job for about 50-100 resumes. With the job fair, at least you are able to speak directly with an employer and present yourself in a way that may lead to an interview. Being able to approach a recruiter with your success stories and add a personal touch are so invaluable.


In this sense, job fairs are a great asset to your job search and can provide an excellent opportunity to find employment. It's so important to be proactive in your job search, job fairs are a great way to do that.


If you're in the Greensboro area, please stop by our job fair tomorrow, Feb. 24, 2009 from 9-1. Be sure to check out tips from the last Greensboro Job Fair!

If you're in Raleigh, we also have a job fair coming up on March 3, 2009 as well. You can also check out the News & Observer's list of other upcoming job fairs as well in the area.





Can't make it? There are other ways to stay proactive and get connected to people who can help. One way that EmploymentGuide.com offers is through Job Alerts. Click on the Job Alert Icon and enter your email, zip code and industry. We'll email you jobs as their posted online. This is a great way to stay notified of new jobs as their posted on our site in the industry you're looking for.

Today was our second “Putting Americans Back To Work” job fair in Charlotte. Again, over 1,000 job seekers attended this event looking for employment. Unfortunately, there were more job seekers than jobs available, and while many walked away with a new job or at least a follow up interview, many more were not as fortunate. You've probably seen some of the blog posts and news coverage we've received in the last few days.

A few weeks ago we received an invitation to Job Angels, a group that's sole purpose to help job seekers out - just help 1 person find 1 job. We were moved by this initiative, so we at The Employment Guide here in the Carolinas decided to get on board.


At each of our job fairs we collect resumes for people who cannot attend or who would like to pre-register for our event. We then share these resumes with employers who attended our event. Because of the overwhelming amount of resumes we received for our February Job Fairs we decided to do our part and try to be “Job Angels” ourselves.

We originally published our offer on Twitter but decided to open this up to all of our blog readers as well. Throughout the month of February, if you have a job to offer, you can direct message @carolinajobs via Twitter or email ncjobs@employmentguide.com (Subject: Job Angel); we'll search our database for job seekers who match the type of jobs available.


To qualify for this promotion, you'll need to send us your:

• Company Name
• Job location (Charlotte, Greensboro or Raleigh & surrounding areas)
• Job Title or Keywords (to give us an idea of what you're looking for)
• How you want the job seeker to contact you
  

Only companies with hourly or salary jobs will qualify. We will research all companies who make request and of course reserve the right to withhold job seeker information from any company who does not qualify. We want to help as many job seekers as we can, plus this is a great opportunity for those of you with one or two jobs that you'd like to fill.

Once you send us your information, we'll research your company, search our database of job seekers, and then contact a few that we think might qualify to fill your position. We will encourage the job seekers to contact you directly. The great thing is it's free for all involved… our own little stimulus package right here in the Carolinas, and we didn’t have to spend Billions of $$$$.

Today was apparent that there certainly is a need for jobs in the Queen City. Our Charlotte Employment Guide job fair attracted about 1,700 people and even more that we had to turn away since our job fair was scheduled only until 1:00pm. If you were unable to make it today, we still have a 2nd day to meet with employers. You can check out that information here or by clicking on the Charlotte Job Fair banner above.

The 2nd day to our event will take place this Thursday, February 19th from 9:00am - 1:00pm at the Hilton Garden Inn on Statesville Rd. I-77 exit 18 off of Harris Blvd.

Here's some media coverage that we got for the event today:
Charlotte Observer: Charlotte Job Fair attracts huge lines, or view the Photo Gallery
WBTV: Charlotte Job Fair today
WCNC: Line wraps around building for job fair (Video)
WSOC TV: Unemployed Seeks Scarce Jobs in Charlotte Job Fairs (Video)

Employers who are hiring, we've still got some last minute space so please feel free to contact us if you'd like to attend Thursday. And if you're a job seeker we suggest that you:

• Come prepared and bring plenty of resumes
• Show up early so that you are sure to make it in to see the recruiters
• And check out more job fair information and advice on our blog
• Prepare a 30-second pitch for recruiters

If for some reason you cannot attend, or would like to send your resume, you can email it to us. Just put Charlotte in the Subject line. We'll give your resume to every employer that attended.

Yesterday, the Charlotte Observer published a story about a local Charlotte job-search group that gathers to network and share job searching tips and stories.

With unemployment rates reaching highs not seen in decades, career experts say networking has become more important than ever. In the Charlotte region, new
networking and support groups are springing up, and old ones are seeing new
life. Employment experts estimate that more than 70 percent of jobs are found through personal contacts, such as those found at networking groups.

Of course, few companies are hiring nowadays. At local networking groups, there are few tales of quick success landing a new job.

But those who attend say the networks offer leads, tips, motivation and, most importantly, hope in tough times.

Read the full story here.

It's so true that our networks are some of the first places we look and a lot of the times the best place to find employment. Sometimes a networking group like this can help, as the article said, with motivation and hope. It's hard not to get discouraged sometimes when searching for a job, let alone when the economy is the way it is.

Related Stories:

• Why Social Networking is Important To Your Job Search
• Network Smarter