On Tuesday, March 31, all job seekers in the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia, Eastern Ohio, and Western Pennsylvania are welcome to come to the Troy Theater at Wheeling Jesuit University between 11AM and 7PM.  This Wheeling, WV job fair is being sponsored by the WORKFORCE WV Career Center and Wheeling Jesuit University.

If you’re currently between jobs or if you’re looking for a new career, come on down.  Bring a resume and dress sharp.  We’ll have plenty of Ohio and West Virginia employers in attendance and looking for candidates.

A Note to OH, PA, & WV Employers

If you are interested in reserving a booth, please contact Karri Mulhern, Workforce Manager, Regional Economic Development Partnership at 304.232.7722 or kmulhern@redp.org.  Booths are available for very reasonable costs and the number of participating businesses is limited.

Late last week a contingent of local leaders met at RED’s headquarters to meet with representatives from the United States Commercial Service about potential business opportunities in Turkey.  In case you hadn’t figured it out yet, this ain’t your daddy’s Wheeling anymore.

If you aren’t from around here, you should understand that “Turkey” has only one meaning to Ohio Valley-ans: the funny looking birds you see walking across your backyard in the morning that have their own hunting season.

For many years, our area – public and private alike – have focused solely on what’s worked in the past without an eye toward the future.  Although, the concept of an open global economy benefiting an area is not new, it’s refreshing to see our leaders exploring these options.

Too often the media and local residents have complained about things like the internet and how other areas are hurting us instead of looking at the opportunities that it presents.  Obviously I’m biased – I’m the president of a WV search marketing firm – but consider us for a minute.  We’re located in Wheeling, WV because we want to be here and our clients come from places like Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, and Chicago (as well as smaller towns in other states – we’re not elitists).

Our company is hardly alone.  Look at compaines like Schedule Star and their offerings for high school football, basketball, soccer, and more high school sports.  Or Orrick servicing their offices from all over the world.  And the list goes on.

Certainly meetings mean nothing if action doesn’t follow, but these meetings are the RIGHT thing to do and I’d like to applaud all involved.

What this means for you: Karri is going to be very proactive in all aspects of the site, including working with employers, gaining new employer accounts, social marketing, and even blogging right here.  So keep your eyes posted on this space as we’ll make better use of it in making announcements of all sizes. 

In the meantime, please welcome Karri and a very merry Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day to you all.  Arrgh!

The nation’s first coal-to-liquid (CTL) plant will be constructed here in the Ohio Valley in Marshall County at Benwood, WV.  It’s a joint effort between CONSOL Energy and Synthesis Energy Systems (SES).  It’s expected to mean 300-500 construction jobs for Ohio Valley residents.  After the ctl plant is built, it should mean 60 full time hires for its operation.  Here’s an excerpt from the official announcement:

CONSOL, the nation’s largest producer of bituminous coal, and SES, a global industrial gasification company, intend to develop through a joint venture, their first U. S. coal gasification and liquefaction plant in West Virginia — an $800 million investment. The boards of directors of CONSOL and SES have authorized funds for development activities, including the front-end engineering design (“FEED”) package. Each member company will contribute equally to this phase of the project. CONSOL and SES have formed Northern Appalachia Fuel LLC (NAF) as the company through which the development will occur.

“This project has the potential to transform West Virginia from a major coal-producing state to a national energy center as well,” said J. Brett Harvey, president and CEO of CONSOL Energy. “By converting some of our region’s abundant, high-Btu coal into gases and liquids, not only will we create economic value for the state, but we will help West Virginia become the linchpin of American energy security,” Harvey said.

Tim Vail, president and CEO of SES, said he is proud of the progress toward development of the plant and that they appreciate the state’s and RED’s support. “Together with our partner, CONSOL Energy, we will be taking a first step toward securing energy independence in the U.S. as we convert raw and residual coal from CONSOL’s Shoemaker mine and plant into gasoline in an environmentally responsible and cost-efficient manner.”

I’m not going to get into the issue of CTL and energy.  I don’t know enough about the subject to determine its viability and don’t want to touch the issue of green energy and spark some sort of riot.

Let’s just look at some things this announcement means:

• The Ohio Valley (and West Virginia) is going to be at the forefront of technology in a category.
• It’s going to mean some good jobs for folks both during construction and in its operation.
• The CTL plant can be used as another piece in the pie to attract more businesses to the area.
• The Ohio Valley’s economy gets diversified, something we’re in need of.

To paraphrase one commenter on a local message board, let’s focus on the positives of this announcement for a day and give credit to CONSOL, SES, RED and all the folks that helped make it happen.

Update: You can learn more about the project, process, and parties involved in this new CTL plant on RED’s Web site.

What You Can Expect

By checking in here each week or signing up to receive our RSS feed, you will be able to:

• Find out answers to common questions like, “How can I create an account without my employer seeing my information?”
• Learn more about our employers
• Find out what’s going on in the Ohio Valley and why we think it’s the best place to live, work, and play
• See the most recent jobs over to the right – just over there.

Feedback

We created this site and this blog because we’re passionate about the Ohio Valley and want to help it continue its upward trend of the last couple years. If we can do a better job with getting you information on the main site or on this blog, post a comment or shoot us an email.

Thanks and check back soon.