Fall Pittsburgh Diversity Employment and Career Education Expo Coming October 1st

The autumn edition of the Pittsburgh Diversity Employment and Career Education Expo is set for October 1st from 10:00AM to 3:00PM at Mellon Arena. A company list will be posted when we get to about 2 weeks out from the event, but expect 30-40 companies and schools to be in attendance. As part of the National Employ the Older Worker Job Fair Series in conjunction with AARP Foundation WorkSearch, this event will also be held in conjunction with the Allegheny County Department of Veteran’s Affairs and The Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh. All ages are welcome and encouraged to attend. No pre-registration is required and admission is free to all job seekers. We only ask that you come dressed for success and bring plenty of resumes. Parking at the arena, if you drive, costs from $5.95 to $7.95 for all day depending on which lot you use. Of course, Mellon Arena is serviced very well by public transportation, making this event easy to get to. All job seekers who attend will be eligible to win one of 4 $50.00 gas cards to be given away at the top of each hour -11:00AM, 12:00 noon, 1:00PM and 2:00PM. As you come into the job fair (enter gate 10) you will be given a ticket to be used for the drawings. Companies will primarily be looking for hourly, entry level up to mid-level skilled positions in Healthcare, Nursing, Sales, Customer Service, Social Services, Retail, Hospitality, Finance / Banking, the Building Trades and more.

Cranberry Township Retail Project in Jeopardy, over 1,000 New Jobs With It

An ongoing story that has developed over the past three years and well covered by the Pittsburgh Business Times's Tim Schooley and Ben Semmes concerns multiple retail and office projects planned for the Cranberry Twp, PA area near the intersection of I-79 and state route 228.On the planning block for three years, the cornerstone project involves Simon Properties, owner of Ross Park Mall, South Hills Village and Century Three Mall, as well as dozens of other properties around the country. This would be a retail project of over 850,000 square feet similar in design to Pittsburgh’s Waterfront in West Homestead.With a total projected cost of over 85 million dollars, Simon has put together financing of 40 million along with an additional 25 million from state and local sources, leaving a shortfall of 20 million needed to break ground. A large part of the funding would go toward road improvements needed to both Rt. 228 and to the I-79-Rt 228 interchange to handle projected traffic volumes created by the projects.A project of this scope, as accessible as it would be, do to it’s location near I-79, I-76 (PA Turnpike), state Rt. 19 and state Rt. 228, would make it a destination for shoppers from a 50 mile radius and more. The number of good jobs created would be over a thousand not counting the additional support and ancillary jobs. Click on the image for a larger view.It would be more than a shame if this project were to die because this funding gap could not be closed by the unofficial deadline of the end of 2008. Simon Properties has inferred that if no real progress is made by then they will walk away and look elsewhere for investment opportunities.It’s time our state and federal representatives step up and help close this gap. Opportunities like this are extremely rare. The benefits we would get are regional in scope. Our elected leaders have an opportunity here to show the leadership they were elected to provide. Or they can do nothing.

Pittsburgh Area Career Schools Being Hit By Weak Pittsburgh Market

While Pittsburgh’s hourly job market continues to hold up relatively well compared to most others around the country, Pittsburgh area career schools are finding student enrollment struggling to keep up with year ago levels.Not because of a bad local economy. This is because when an area’s job market is doing well, fewer people seek re-training. It is this re-training market that two year schools gain a large percentage of their revenue from.

We saw this phenomenon in Florida and the west coast markets back in 2005 and 2006 when the job markets in those areas were booming from the then white hot housing markets. Pittsburgh was still recovering from the huge loss of US Air jobs and a number of large retail chains that closed.

Now it appears the pendulum has swung the other way. With Monster.com proclaiming Pittsburgh the hottest job market for the 5th month in a row in July based on their Online Jobs Index in year over year activity (“On an annual basis, Pittsburgh is the only metro market now showing greater online job availability compared to a year ago and remains the Index’s top growth market year-over-year due to continued strong demand for healthcare, IT, education, construction and production occupations”) and as we see our help wanted ad volume hold up well to last year, local Pittsburgh area jobs, led by healthcare and education, though not enjoying large increases year over year, are increasing none the less.

For schools in better job markets to maintain growth it is highly recognized they must be willing to make adjustments to their course offerings to offer training in the areas of particular strength in that market. We are beginning to see that in Pittsburgh with new courses being offered in Hospitality Management (for the new casino) and in healthcare fields such as Occupational and Physical Therapy Assistants.

As we have predicted in the past Pittsburgh, though certainly not unaffected by the national economy, is continuing to weather the storm relatively well.
Posted by Pittsburgh Employment Guide (R) at 8:26 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: Pittsburgh Career Schools

2008 Pittsburgh Diversity Employment and Career Education Expo at Mellon Arena Draws Near, Coming July 23rd

The next big job fair in Pittsburgh will be held July 23rd at Mellon Arena. No pre-registration is required. The doors will be open from 10:30AM to 3:00PM. We expect about 30 companies and schools to be in attendance. This event will be in the West Igloo Club Lounge. Job Seekers will enter through Gate 3 (directly in front of the arena).These include Aldi’s Markets, Community College of Allegheny County, CVS CareMark Pharmacies, Giant Eagle, Leeds, Mainstay Life Services, Sheet Metal Workers, Transitional Services, Waddle and Reed Financial Services, Keystone Community Mental Health Services, Kaplan Career Institute, All-State Truck Driving School, Venturi Staffing Services, SMG Mellon Arena, Aramark, Advance Auto Parts, Army National Guard, Allegheny Correctional Health Services and many more.Access is easy by either public transportation or parking in one of the Arena lots (parking will range from $5.95 to $7.00 depending on which lot is used). It is strongly suggested you bring plenty of résumés. Proper attire is required (remember, you are trying to make a good first impression!). Admission is FREE for all job seekers and there is no pre-registration required. Just come on in, meet with company or school representatives, smile, shake hands, ask questions and make a good impression!This Diversity Job Fair is in partnership with the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh’s CW Television, The Allegheny County Department of Veteran Affairs and AARP Work Search. All companies in attendance are proactively pursuing a diverse workforce. Our partner organizations will be on hand to help you with the employment services they offer.
Posted by Pittsburgh Employment Guide (R) at 9:08 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: Pittsburgh Job Fair

Hourly Jobs Pace Job Growth in Country’s Hottest Job Market – Pittsburgh

Although we have experienced a seasonal decline in help wanted demand over the past couple of weeks (Memorial Day though the end of June tends to be one of the slowest periods of the year for companies recruiting workers) our metro area continues to be one of the sunniest places to be when it comes to seeking employment. While documented job growth for the Pittsburgh Region is up almost 9,000 jobs from April 2007, we continue to see the opportunities being presented by then need for replacement workers. One of the hottest categories for both new jobs and turnover replacement is in the hospitality industry (hotels and restaurants).Fortunately the strength is fairly broad based. According the Monster Online Employment Index for April; “On an annual basis, seven of the 28 monitored markets are showing more online job opportunities than a year ago, with Pittsburgh again ranking as the Index’s top growth market year-over-year, a position it has held for three consecutive months”.Nursing and Allied Healthcare continue to add jobs month by month and locally the demand for drivers has not abated. In what is one of the devastated industries around the country, fanacial services are regaining strength here, including with the announcement just today of an additional 135 jobs to be added by BONY/Mellon for their Treasury Services division.Pittsburgh continues to weather the economic slowdown better than most predicted just 6 months ago.

The Employment Guide® Re-launches HealthCareerWeb.com

The Employment Guide® (http://www.employmentguide.com/) has announced the re-launch of its health care Web site, HealthCareerWeb (www.HealthCareerWeb.com).
Redesigned and re-engineered to make searching for health care jobs fast and easy, the new HealthCareerWeb is the first recruitment destination designed exclusively for the health care industry to offer social networking.

"HealthCareerWeb offers more than the opportunity for recruiters to attract job seekers; it's the first free recruitment social networking Web site designed exclusively for its members to seek and share information pertaining to the health care industry," said Denise Tanner, business development manager of HealthCareerWeb.

The MedCom area of the site is a medical community where visitors can connect with one another to gain knowledge about the industry. HealthCareerWeb Forums offer an informal place where job seekers can post questions and articles about careers in health care. Another section includes medical videos that give an insider's look at what it's like to work in various medical professions. The site also includes a calendar of medical events, which can be sorted by state.

Jeff Littlejohn, Vice President/General Manager of The Employment Guide, commented, "Our newest product is specifically designed to meet the needs of both job seekers and recruiters in the growing healthcare industry. We have incorporated the benefits of a social networking environment to further enhance the user experience while increasing awareness among health care professionals about professional communities and events." For more information, contact Employment Guide's Pittsburgh office at 412-257-7801.

About HealthCareerWeb.com
HealthCareerWeb, a division of The Employment Guide, offers a powerful platform for advertising niche jobs in the health care industry. This targeted site offers job seekers more than just job opportunities. Free member resources include resume posting, social networking, localized event listings, health care forum, and an industry-specific video center.
The Employment Guide also hosts http://www.employmentguide.com/, transportation-specific CareersinGear.com Magazine and http://www.careersingear.com/ and vertical search aggregator, http://www.jobalot.com/

About Dominion Enterprises
Dominion Enterprises, Norfolk, Va., is a leading marketing services company serving employment, automotive, real estate, marine,recreation and industrial markets. The company has more than 500 magazine titles, over 40 market-leading Web sites, and operates a variety of Web and technology businesses. The company has annualized revenue of more than $946 million and has more than 6,000 employees nationwide. For more information, visit http://www.dominionenterprises.com/.

How is The Pittsburgh Job Market Faring Now?

As we enter mid-April having been witness to all the economic carnage across the country every day in our living rooms courtesy of the news media, how is the job market here in Pittsburgh faring?As a media that includes weekly print, one of the largest job boards on the Internet and Comcast Video on Demand Jobs across southwestern Pennsylvania we continue to see strong demand across most hourly job categories that is higher than what we saw a year ago.In March the Monster Employment Index, which measures the level of online recruitment activity in select markets around the country, named Pittsburgh one of the 4 hottest metros in the country for online ad volume.According to Harold Miller, President of Future Strategies, LLC, a consulting firm specializing in analysis, strategy, and communication and a contributing columnist for the Pittsburgh Post-gazette on economic matters, the reason for this strength is not job GROWTH, but the demand for replacement workers. With Pittsburgh being one of the oldest markets in the country, as measured by median age of the population, the number of residents entering retirement years is beginning to exceed the number of younger workers entering the labor force. This is creating a higher number of opportunities for employment across most categories. The most in-demand workers continue to be anything in the healthcare field.Another helpful influence to remaining strong in employment opportunity is the local housing market. While many areas of the country experienced double digit growth in home values due in part to speculators and low interest rates, the Pittsburgh housing market saw only gradual, sustainable growth of a few percentage points per year. Because of this, home values never reached levels beyond reality and so are projected to continue slow sustainable growth in the future. These reflections on our local economy do not mean we will not and have not felt the effects of the