While that WV career fair’s just for Bethany students, here’s another reminder about the WV career fair at Wheeling Jesuit University next week.  Good luck in your career search!

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.

Farmers Insurance recently released their Most Secure U.S. Places to Live list.  Wheeling, WV – The Friendly City – ranks 11th among small towns (metro areas under 150,000 residents) in their most recent list.  The study looks at factors such as crime statistics, extreme weather / natural disasters, housing  & job loss figures, air quality, and life expectancy.

So, no surprise to see Wheeling, but it’s still good to see the national recognition.

On a separate note, sorry for the long delay in posts – I doubt we’ll ever get to multi-day postings, but we should be able to get some news out more regularly – at least monthly if not biweekly.

Happy New Year!

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.

Frankly the results, while not what we would hope for aren’t very surprising for number junkies (hat tip to Dominick Cerrone of Good Mansion Wines for sending over a breakdown).  We have a great number of people in the upper brackets of the age range.  Simply put, deaths are going to outpace births for some time barring some major fortuitous event.

But there’s good news in the longer term picture if you really look at the numbers.

From Dom:

Wheeling’s population loss is significantly leveling off.  From 2000, to 2007, annual percentage loss went from 1.6% to 0.7%, basically leveling off each year.

Seven year trends are too short for any real significance, but it is also bad business to ingore what at least may be a microtrend.  By age group, Wheeling has one last large pool of older population that is probably in itself the cause for the loss (higher death to birth).  Once time passes, a truer indicator of growth or loss can be taken.  A longer term evaluation of the City’s population also shows a  major leveling off in loss.

I’ve talked with quite a few residents of the Valley that have lived here for some time and many – not all – are feeling the best they’ve felt about the direction of the Valley for either the first time ever in their lives or the first time in a long, long time.

The other thing to keep in mind is that we’re looking at city limits.  Many people will work in one town and live in another or live in an unincorporated area.  I fall into this category as well.  My company is based in downtown Wheeling, but I live just outside city limits in Triadelphia.

I really look forward to the in depth numbers the 2010 census will provide.  I’m hoping all the anecdotal evidence of a young, creative professionals moving / returning to the Ohio Valley bears out.

Today has been interesting for a number of reasons.  I appreciate everyone that stopped by the booth and the kind words from employers and job seekers alike about how easy our site is to use.

One woman mentioned that when she heard me on WKKX originally, she thought that the site was just for young people, but she gave it a look anyway.  She felt it was just as valuable for folks in her age range (over 40) as it was for young professionals.  And that a senior work force is valuable for the Ohio Valley as well.

I couldn’t agree more on either front.  We need good quality workers, period.  It doesn’t matter what age, race, ethnicity, religion, country of origin, sexual orientation, or any other demographic marking.

Sometimes I may not do a good job of explaining that as I’m a young-ish professional (but still old to my younger employees) and am involved with young professional groups like OVConnect and Generation West Virginia.  I apologize if I’m unconsciously being biased.

The bottom line – we need you to help our region grow and grow strong.  If you have skills and can and are eager to contribute, step on up.  We don’t care what your completed Census survey will look like.

Over 1,500 Ohio Valley job seekers showed up to the last job fair in January, so be sure to get there early.

Where: Wheeling Island Hotel – Casino – Racetrack

When: Tuesday, July 8 from 11AM – 7PM

If you come by to meet with many of the largest Ohio and West Virginia employers in our area, stop by our booth and say hi!  Make sure you bring your resume.