I manned a booth for a little while today at the Job Fair at Wheeling Island and will be stopping by a bit later to continue to expose our new Ohio Valley careers Web site to local job seekers.  As I said before, the site is not just for people outside our area, but current West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania residents looking for jobs, too.

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.

Tags: senior work force, Wheeling job fair, young professionals