Posts Tagged ‘jobs’
Wednesday, September 14th, 2011
 Workers in the private sector can expect to see a pickup in the overall rate of annual wage gains by early 2012, according to the revised third quarter Wage Trend Indicator (WTI) released today by BNA, a leading publisher of specialized news and information.
The WTI rose to 98.35 (second quarter 1976 = 100) from 98.21 in the second quarter. If confirmed by the final third quarter reading, this would mark the index’s fifth consecutive gain.
“The U.S. economy is being buffeted by more negative forces, which increases the risks, but we’re still seeing slow growth,” economist Kathryn Kobe, a consultant who maintains and helped develop BNA’s WTI database, said. “The latest WTI continues to point to wage increases inching up, as labor markets gradually improve,” Kobe said.
Rate of pay increases expected to improve
The rate of annual pay increases for wage and salary workers is expected to improve from the 1.7 percent gain posted in the second quarter of 2011, according to the Department of Labor’s latest employment cost index (ECI) but is unlikely to exceed 2.0 percent.
Reflecting recent labor market conditions, five of the WTI’s seven components made positive contributions to the revised third quarter reading, while one factor was negative and one was neutral.
Over its history, the WTI has predicted a turning point in wage trends six to nine months before the trends are apparent in the ECI. A sustained decline in the WTI is predictive of a deceleration in the rate of private sector wage increases, while a sustained increase forecasts greater pressure to raise wages.
Contributions of Components
Of the WTI’s seven components, the five positive contributors to the revised third quarter reading were the unemployment rate and average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory workers, both reported by DOL; the share of employers planning to hire production and service workers in the coming months and the proportion of employers reporting difficulty in filling professional and technical jobs, both tracked by BNA’s quarterly employment outlook survey; and economic forecasters’ expectations for the rate of inflation, compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. The negative factor was industrial production, measured by the Federal Reserve Board. The final WTI component—job losers as a share of the labor force, from DOL—was neutral.
BNA’s Wage Trend Indicator™ is designed to serve as a yardstick for employers, analysts, and policymakers to identify turning points in private sector wage patterns. It also provides timely information for business and human resource analysts and executives as they plan for year-to-year changes in compensation costs.
The WTI is released in 12 monthly reports per year showing the preliminary, revised, and final readings for each quarter, based on newly emerging economic data.
More information on the Wage Trend Indicator is available on BNA’s WTI home page.
Tags: BNA, jobs, private sector wage gains expected in 2012, Wage Trend Indicator, when can workers expect wage gains?
Posted in Economic Development, Studies, surveys, reports, TechJobs | Comments Off
Tuesday, April 26th, 2011
 Jim Beqaj The typical job-seeking approach in these tough economic times: Passively send out dozens of resumes for any job remotely related to a person’s qualifications, and wait by the mailbox, stay glued to an e-mail inbox, or sit by the phone for an unlikely acceptance notification.
If you desperately need a job, or are woefully under-employed, you don’t have to – and you shouldn’t – take anything that comes your way. Jim Beqaj, (pronounced BAY-KEE-EYE) author of the new book: How to Hire the Perfect Employer: Finding the Job and Career That Fit You Through a Powerful Personal Infomercial, explains how to find and get the ideal job; a job you will enjoy. Turn the tables, according to Beqaj, and you can hire the right employer.
Beqaj should know. He’s hired over 800 people in his career, and helped hundreds of companies find and hire the right employees. Founder of a company that provides recruiting, consulting and coaching services to individuals and companies, he knows that which he preaches. Moreover, he reinvented himself after losing his own job in a corner office.
“If you ask a person ‘What are you good at?” many have a hard time answering,” says Beqaj. “You have to understand what you’re good at, what you love to do, and present yourself in a clear and persuasive manner.”
Beqaj lays out a powerful, systematic plan anyone can follow to find the right job, and get hired.
His book explains three essential steps:
1) Conduct an in-depth personal assessment of what you’re good at, what you love to do, how you are ‘wired,’ and your personality
2) Find companies in your ‘Target Rich Environment,’ those with a philosophy similar to yours, including vision, culture, conflict resolutions techniques, and size, growth and opportunity
3) Create your own personal ‘infomercial,’ presenting yourself with clarity, persuasiveness and strength, rather as just the person whose name is on a resume
“If you find the right employer for you, one that has a need for what you love to do, a Personal Infomercial enables employers to see the real you,” adds Beqaj. “The Personal Infomercial defines you, as opposed to letting words on a resume and others people do it.”
While many career advice books explain ways and offer resources for getting the names of companies in a person’s area of expertise, few emphasize Beqaj’s pillars of success: Introspection, identification of companies matching your personality, and powerful personal presentation.
“When I hired people, resumes were simply something that gave basic facts,” notes Beqaj. “I wanted people who inspired me by honestly revealing themselves.
“For an employer, nothing is better than having people who love what they do and love the culture of their company. From an employee’s perspective, loving what you do and where you are, and truly fitting in dramatically increases your opportunity for advancement. Equally important, it provides stability and job security because your passion for your work will make you indispensable to a company.”
Jim Beqaj began his career in investment banking in 1977 with the investment banking firm Wood Gundy and at age 37, ended up president of CIBC Wood Gundy after WG was purchased by CIBC. He subsequently worked as vice-chairman of the Bank of Montreal and co-founded an Internet-based IPO company, Baystreetdirect.com. In 2002 he founded Beqaj International, Inc, providing recruiting, coaching, and business consulting services.
How to Hire the Right Employer is available for purchase at all major online bookselling outlets. Beqaj’s website: http://www.beqajinternational.com. Blog: http://jimbeqaj.blogspot.com/
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Tags: Best Practices, book, Jim Begaj, job seeking advice, jobs, Three steps to the perfect employer, Viewpoint
Posted in Business advice, TechJobs, Viewpoint | Comments Off
Friday, April 22nd, 2011
 Startup companies are where the jobs are. Nationwide 83 % of startups plan to hire this year, according to Silicon Valley Bank’s (SVB) Startup Outlook 2011, up significantly from the already high percentage (73%) of startups that reported plans to hire in last year’s report.
SVB’s survey of 375 U.S.-based, private, venture capital-backed software, hardware, life science and cleantech companies revealed that startups are optimistic about current business opportunities, generally believe business conditions have improved and are improving further, and that they will continue to hire to support their growth.
“Because we work with amazing companies everyday that are creating new services and even industries, we have always known intuitively that the innovation sector will lead the U.S. in economic recovery,” said Greg Becker, CEO of SVB Financial Group and Silicon Valley Bank.
“This new data, however, clearly shows that technology companies met or beat their 2010 revenue targets, are still experiencing improved business conditions and are creating U.S. jobs. There is no question that the innovation sector is making a tangible impact on the U.S. economy and our ability to compete globally.”
Respondents by and large identify access to equity capital and the regulatory and political environment as their largest impediments to growth. Across startups, the regulatory issues of greatest concern were uncertainty about new regulations, the impact the overall regulatory environment has on risk taking, and health care reform.
Life science companies are particularly concerned about the impact the regulatory environment is having on their ability to thrive: 64% of these companies say the regulatory environment is a challenge and 83% say the government could help them grow by improving the FDA approval process.
“Our policymakers want to help startups succeed, but the policymaking process is not designed to give entrepreneurs a real voice,” said Mary Dent, General Counsel and head of government relations for SVB Financial Group.
“We launched Startup Outlook last year to help bring entrepreneurs’ issues and ideas to policymakers so they can help create an environment in which American innovators can build thriving businesses in the U.S.”
Since 1983, SVB Financial Group has worked with venture capitalists to help thousands of technology and life science startup companies grow into large, productive businesses, creating jobs and innovative products and services that are used and sold worldwide.
Today, Silicon Valley Bank banks more than 500 venture capital funds and 50 percent of all venture-capital backed companies in the U.S., servicing them as they grow into mature, multi-national corporations. SVB also works with companies in several overseas markets and has $1.5 billion in investment funds under management.
Independent market research firm Koski Research conducted the online Startup Outlook survey for SVB Financial Group in February 2011.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
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Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: 83 percent of startups plan to hire in 2011, jobs, Silicon Valley Bank, Startup Outlook survey
Posted in Studies, surveys, reports, TechJobs | Comments Off
Wednesday, March 16th, 2011
 DURHAM, NC -Advanced Animal Diagnostics (AAD), a developer of technologies for the rapid diagnosis of farm animal diseases, has closed an $11 million Series B round of equity financing. This investment in AAD represents the largest single investment in research and development to diagnose mastitis, the costliest disease for dairy producers worldwide. The financing was led by Intersouth Partners and included Novartis Venture Funds as well as other private investors.
The company expects this financing to support hiring for key positions, production and manufacturing, and on-farm economic trials of its first product line. The firm is currently seeking cooperators for those on-farm trials.
AAD is a research and development company dedicated to bringing highly accurate, rapid animal diagnostic tests to the farm. The company’s first on-farm product will focus on improving milk production and quality by controlling mastitis, an infection of the milk-producing gland.
Future products will monitor disease states, reproductive, nutritional and overall health status of production animals.
“With this investment, AAD will be able to bring to market a new generation of diagnostics technologies that will revolutionize the way farmers approach animal health, allowing them to detect and diagnose diseases in their animals more quickly and efficiently than ever before,” said Joy Parr Drach, president and CEO of AAD. “We appreciate that our investors recognize the opportunity of investments in agriculture.”
“Food producers are under increasing pressure. The value in AAD’s strong platform of technologies can help them improve animal health and profitability,” said Jimmy Rosen, partner at Intersouth Partners. “We’re excited to support this company and its technology.”
Dr. Simon Wheeler, managing director at Novartis Venture Fund added, “Novartis Venture Fund is confident that with its new technology, AAD will bring significant benefits to the dairy industry and enhance food production worldwide. The investment meets the aim of our fund to provide innovative patient benefit and supports Novartis’s mission to save, prolong and improve animal lives.”
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: Advanced Animal Diagnostics, farm animal disease diagnostics, financing, hiring, Intersouth Partners, jobs, Novartis, venture capital
Posted in Carolinas, Money, North Carolina | Comments Off
Thursday, January 20th, 2011
 Over 500 leading US employers, including some of the largest companies in the world, are joining forces to transform how people use the Internet to quickly and efficiently locate valid employment opportunities.
The catalyst is the unique dot-jobs (.JOBS) Top Level Domain. The new platform, called the .JOBS Universe (www.universe.jobs), is comprised of tens of thousands of geographic, industry, and occupational web sites ending in the intuitive .JOBS suffix.
Examples of web sites in the .JOBS Universe include www.boston.jobs, www.atlanta.jobs, www.insurance.jobs, www.technology.jobs and www.usa.jobs.
Employers, regardless of size or industry, list jobs free of charge, automatically upload new listings on a daily basis, and intelligently distribute job listings to relevant web sites. For example, an IBM listing for an engineering job in New York will be distributed to multiple relevant websites, such as www.newyork.jobs and www.engineering.jobs.
State listings include North Carolina, Georgia and Florida in the Southeast.
The .JOBS Universe is led by Bill Warren, executive director of DirectEmployers Association, a former president of the Monster.com job board who is widely regarded as the founder of online recruiting. Approximately forty thousand of the .JOBS domains, including 126 international locations, will be functioning in January with tens of thousands more planned by the end of the year.
Warren said, “The very largest of employers in the world have pooled their resources to build this recruitment vertical. They want greater efficiencies from the Internet and are taking matters into their own hands to invest in the outcome. The potential for cost savings is natural, real and sustainable as well as available free of charge to every employer worldwide regardless of industry or size.”
Benefits job seekers will find include intuitive web site entry points, verified job listings and the ability to connect directly with employers.\\
“The .JOBS Universe because it’s going to revolutionize the way someone will look for a job. Right now the process is very difficult. It takes so much time and there’s so much duplication of effort. With .JOBS, candidates will be able to go to one, intuitive location and know that the opportunities listed are straight from employers,” says Randy Goldberg, vice presiden trecruiting, Hyatt North America Operations.
Job listings in the .JOBS Universe are fully integrated with social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and others. Job seekers can build their own profile and identify which of their friends or connections are working at a particular company of interest.
They can also find and follow companies and recruiters on the various social networks and share job listings with their friends on social news sites. The .JOBS Universe platform has also been optimized for easy access on mobile browsers. Its “open source” approach allows industry vendors to develop apps that will result in even greater efficiencies in the future.
The .JOBS Universe is the result of a proposal made by DirectEmployers Association to Employ Media LLC, the licensed operator of the .JOBS TLD.
Tags: .JOBS Universe, Bill Warren, DirectEmployersAssociation, jobs, jobs top level domain, Monster.com
Posted in Carolinas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, TechJobs | Comments Off
Friday, January 14th, 2011
 CHARLOTTE, NC – Paris-based Capgemini, a consulting and information technology company is establishing a Capgemini USA delivery center in Charlotte, NC, to support its financial industry clients. The company will invest $4.2 million in the new center and create about 500 new jobs.
This is just the latest in a string of good news on the jobs and economic development front for North Carolina. Red Hat, the Linux open source software company founded in the state, recently said it will remain headquartered in Raleigh but in larger offices and add significant new jobs to support new products in coming years. Several other firms have announced news facilities and expansions in the state as well.
The company generated $11.6 billion in revenue in 2009, the most recent full-year results available. Capgemini operates in 36 countries and has 100,000 employees.
In Charlotte, a national banking center, it will focus on its banking, insurance and capital market clients.
The company has not yet selected a site, but told local media it expects to locate a 50,000 square foot facility in uptown Charlotte, where it already has a small number of employees. The new delivery center is expected to employ about 550 people.
Capgemini stands to receive up to $4 million in state incentives if it meets job creation targets over the next three years.
The new jobs will pay about $62,400 a year.
Tags: Capgemini, capital markets, Charlotte, financial services, insurance, jobs, NC, state incentives
Posted in Carolinas, Economic Development, North Carolina, TechJobs | 2 Comments »
Monday, January 10th, 2011
 RALEIGH, NC – Red Hat, the major seller of Linux open source software, says it will keep its headquarters in Wake County and add more than 500 jobs over the next five years. The company currently employs about 700 people at its headquarters at North Carolina’s Centennial Campus.
North Carolina awarded Red Hat nearly $15 million in incentives for its two-tiered expansion.
The company will invedst $109 million in new headquarters in Wake County of 300,000 to 4000,000 square feet and add 540 jobs – 240 in the next four years and 300 in 2015 as it introduces new products.
Companies have to meet hiring goals to receive the full amounts of Job Development Investment Grants from the state.
Red Hat has not yet selected the site for its expansion, but said it will be in Wake County.
The company has acknowledged considering sites in Austin, Texas, Atlanta, Boston, and in nearby Durham, NC.
Tags: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Durham, Economic Development, jobs, NC, open source sofware, Raleigh, Red Hat, TX
Posted in Carolinas, Economic Development, IT, North Carolina, TechJobs | Comments Off
Wednesday, January 5th, 2011
 HERNDON, VA – NetWitness is expanding its operations in Fairfax County, VA, investing $1.1 million as it moves from Herndon to new 30,000-square-foot headquarters in Reston.
NetWitness sells a network security analysis platform.
Government and commercial enterprises worldwide use NetWitness technology to detect, prioritize and remediate complex IT risks that are invisible to other technologies. NetWitness solutions are deployed in customer environments to solve a wide variety of information security problems including: advanced threat management; sensitive data discovery and sophisticated data leakage detection; zero-day malware activity discovery; insider threat management; and the continuous monitoring of security policies and controls.
“We’ve invested millions of dollars in Fairfax County since 2006 because of the ready availability of human and material resources that make a fast-growing business like ours successful,” said Amit Yoran, CEO of NetWitness and former director of the National Cyber Security Division of the Department of Homeland Security.
“We will be achieving aggressive expansion goals during 2011 and are confident that Fairfax County provides the optimal environment for our continued growth.”
Tags: expansion, Fairfax County, Herndon, jobs, NetWitness, network security analysis platform, Reston, VA
Posted in Economic Development, Government/Defense, IT, Potomac, Security, Virginia, Washington, DC | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, January 5th, 2011
 RALEIGH, NC – Alphenon Corp., a Morrisville, NC-based provider of managed IT services to small and mid-sized businesses, has been acquired by mindShift Technologies. Financial details were not disclosed.
All 29 employees of Alpheon will be retained, the companies say, and in addition, mindSHIFT plans to expand in Raleigh, adding jobs.
While declining to speculate on how many jobs will be created, Paul Chisholm, mindSHIFT Chairman and CEO tells TechJournal South.
We are going to grow in the area and add head count as we do.”
“Not only does this acquisition expand our physical presence, but it also provides healthcare organizations access to our cloud computing knowledge experts and a full suite of best-in-class technology services,” he said. Alpheon’s high percentage of clients in the healthcare field was a factor in making it an attractive acquisiton for mindSHIFT, he added.
Founded in 2002, Alpheon provides IT management services to organizations which have a critical dependence on technology to run their business.
The company offers 24×7 technical support, remote infrastructure monitoring, management and maintenance, security services and Voice over IP (VoIP) technology.
“The demand for managed and cloud-based business services continues to grow rapidly among small and mid-size organizations,” said Greg Donovan, Alpheon CEO. “We have chosen to join with mindSHIFT because of its outstanding reputation as a leading managed services provider, their extensive portfolio of services including virtualization, and wealth of technical and human resources. With mindSHIFT we are able to provide all of our clients a new level of technical sophistication and scale.”
mindSHIFT provides managed IT services to legal firms, financial services companies, associations and non-profit organizations, educational institutions and many other small and mid-size businesses. The company has been ranked number one among managed services providers by MSPmentor for the last two years.
We suspect we’ll see more acquisitions in the managed services space. “The business is dominated by a bunch of smaller players,” Chisholm said. Many of them want to provide cloud services, but doing so requires more cash than some have, he notes. “There are a lot of smaller players saying I can’t get there by myself.”
Donovan agrees. “It really does take strength and depth to offer cloud services and smaller firms like ours can’t come to grips with it. This is a great opportunity to expand the depth and breadth of services we offer our customers.”
Donovan adds that joining the larger firm “Does require an adjustment after being an entrepreneur for ten years,” but adds that he’s looking forward to working with Chisholm and his team. — Allan Maurer
Email TJS Editor Allan Maurer: Allan at TechJournal South dot com.
Tags: acquistions, Alpheon, cloud IT, jobs, managed servcies, mindSHIFT, NC, Raleigh, virtualization
Posted in Acquisitions, Carolinas, IT, North Carolina | Comments Off
Thursday, December 23rd, 2010
 HOLLY SPRINGS, NC – North Carolina has seen a small spate of job gains – many fueled by state and local incentives – the last months of 2010. Now, Novartis (NYSE: NVS) says it will expand its vaccine production plant in Holly Springs, adding another 100 jobs.
The $36 million expansion of the billion dollar facility will qualify the company to receive up to $3.7 million in state tax incentives.
Swiss-based Novartis says the new jobs will pay an average of $106.200 a year plus benefits. High paying jobs such as those tend to bleed more money into the local economy, which is one reason biotech and life science firms are eagerly sought by regions internationally.
The announcement of the Novartis expansion follows recent good economic development news in the state from smart phone maker HTC, Enviva, and Arvato.
Tags: Biotech, Economic Development, Holly Springs, jobs, NC, Novartis, Pharma
Posted in Carolinas, Economic Development, North Carolina, TechJobs | Comments Off
Tuesday, December 21st, 2010
 WEAVERVILLE, NC – Arvato Digital Services, which sells services to IT, gaming, video and audio companies, says it will expand its call center in Buncombe County, adding 408 jobs.
Arvato, a division of Germany’s Bertelsmann AG, will invest $1.8 million in its Weaverville facility over three years. It currently employs 575 people there.
If the company meets job targets, it will qualify for a $200,000 One North Carolina Grant.
The company says the average annual wage for the jobs at its call center will be $26,143 plus benefits. The County’s average salary is $32,968.
Tags: Arvato Digital Services, call center, Economic Development, jobs, NC, tech support, Weaverville
Posted in Carolinas, Economic Development, IT, North Carolina | Comments Off
Tuesday, December 21st, 2010
 RICHMOND, VA – Enviva, a manufacturer of processed biomass fuel in the United States and Europe, today announced plans to build a wood-pellet manufacturing facility in Ahoskie, North Carolina. The project will bring 53 jobs to the area and make Enviva the dominant biomass supplier in the mid-Atlantic region.
The new plant, to be built at the site of the former Georgia Pacific lumber facility site in Hertford County, will produce 330,000 tons of wood pellets annually from more than 600,000 tons of raw wood supplies. Committed to using the best practices in sustainable harvesting, Enviva will source locally all raw materials used in producing the high-quality pellets.
The region’s abundant resources, proximity to ports, and wealth of skilled labor have made it a focus of Enviva’s plans for future growth. Based on increasing demand from its domestic and European customer base, Enviva is contemplating the development of at least two additional manufacturing plants in the area, with site selection expected to be completed within 18 to 24 months.
The support of state and local governments was also a key factor, Keppler noted. “North Carolina has become a leader in encouraging the development of renewable energy alternatives, and Enviva is thrilled to be a partner in that initiative,” Keppler said. The new plant received grant support from the state’s One North Carolina Fund, which has invested in projects creating more than 45,000 jobs since 2001.
Tags: Ahoski, biomass facility, Energy, Enviva, expanding in NC, jobs, NC, Richmond, VA
Posted in Carolinas, Economic Development, Energy, North Carolina | Comments Off
Thursday, December 16th, 2010
 CHARLOTTE, NC – Arlington, VA-based BAE Systems, an aerospace, defense and security company, is opening a human resources and financial operations facility in Charlotte, creating 176 jobs, NC Gov. Bev Perdue said Thursday.
If job targets are met, the company stands to get $1.9 million in tax rebates through the NC Job Development Investment Grant program.
“The consolidation of all of our company-wide processes and services for Human Resources and Finance into one shared services center is essential to improving performance, reducing costs and improving competitiveness,” said Linda Hudson, BAE Systems’ CEO.
The jobs will pay an average just over $50,000 a year, the company says.
Tags: BAE Systems, Charlotte, jobs, NC
Posted in Carolinas, Economic Development, North Carolina, TechJobs | Comments Off
Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010
 RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC – Weston-MA-based Biogen Idec Inc. (Nasdaq:BIIB), which has more than 800 employees in the Research Triangle, is cutting its workforce by 13 percent and moving some jobs to North Carolina.
“The company will relocate its U.S. workforce from six current locations into three existing state-of-the-art facilities in Weston and Cambridge, Mass., and Research Triangle Park, NC. ,” the company said a statement.
The company has a manufacturing plant and research and development facility in the RTP and a customer service office in Durham.
Biogen said it will close its San Diego office, consolidate offices in Massachusetts, and move some jobs to NC, although it did not say how many.
It has a total of about 4,750 employees, and the cuts will affect approximately 617.
Tags: Biogen idec, Biotech, Durham, jobs, NC, Pharma, RTP
Posted in Carolinas, North Carolina, TechJobs | Comments Off
Tuesday, October 19th, 2010
 RALEIGH, NC – Saertex USA, which makes high tech composite materials for the green energy sector, is investing $6.5 million to expand its facility in Huntersville, NC. It plans to create 178 new jobs over the next three years.
The company sells materials used in aerospace, auto and ship manufacturing, and wind energy equipment.
The company, which has had an operation in Huntersville since 2000, currently employs 126 people there.
The company says the new jobs pay an average of $41,506 plus benefits. The state will provide the company with a $110,000 One North Carolina Grant to support the expansion.
Tags: Economic Development, Huntersville, jobs, NC, Saertex
Posted in Carolinas, Economic Development, North Carolina, TechJobs | 1 Comment »
Friday, October 15th, 2010
 RALEIGH, NC – Siemens Energy will create 139 new jobs and invest $2.9 million in an expansion of its smart grid project in Wake County, NC.
The company will receive up to $2.6 million in NC tax incentives if it meets job creation goals.
Siemens says the new jobs will averagee $88,882 a year plus benefits.The company currently employs 262 people at its Wendell, NC Power Distribution and Transmission facility.
Dave Pacyna, general manager of Siemens Energy’s North American Transmission and Distribution said, “Over the next four years, we will expand to serve the substantial infrastructure investment in the power grid, especially in making the grid smarter to increase the reliability and efficiency of America’s electricity supply.
“North Carolina provides a great business climate from which we can continue to serve our customers, and we appreciate the steady support we’ve gotten from the state’s leaders for this project and others.”
Siemens said earlier this year that it will add more than 800 jobs to its Charlotte operations as well.
North Carolina is ranked fourth in the nation for job creation despite its 9.7 percent unemployment rate. It’s some world we live in when getting unemployment down to 9.7 percent is considered positive, but some states, such as Nevada, which has the highest unemployment rate in the nation at around 15 percent, are faring much worse.
We have seen recent figures that suggest the unemployment rate for college graduates is much lower than those averages and is under 4 percent.
Tags: Charlotte, Dave Pacyna, Economic Development, grid technology, jobs, NC, Siemens, Wake County, Wendell
Posted in Carolinas, Economic Development, IT, North Carolina, TechJobs | Comments Off
Tuesday, October 12th, 2010
 HERNDON, VA – GeoEye Inc., which sells satellite and aerial geospatial information and services, will invest $10 million to move its headquarters to Fairfax County. The company plans to create 100 new jobs over the next three years and relocate its 230 Virginia-based employees to the new headquarters in the Herndon area of Fairfax County in the first few months of 2011. Virginia competed against Maryland and Colorado for the project.
GeoEye will lease space in the Dulles Corner Office Center in Herndon. The space provides room for corporate expansion and is close to Washington Dulles International Airport, Route 28 and the Dulles Toll Road.
Matt O’Connell, GeoEye’s chief executive officer and president, said, “GeoEye has experienced tremendous growth over the past 13 years; our satellite imagery business helped fuel our 84 percent revenue growth from fiscal 2008 to 2009. This move reflects the continuing growth of our company, and it is an important strategic step toward reinforcing our position as a premier provider of satellite and aerial geospatial information technology and services.”
O’Connell continued, “Our new corporate headquarters will provide a showcase of GeoEye’s innovative, exciting technology for our customers, and it will allow us to improve service for our key customers in the Washington, D.C. area, particularly the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.”
FairFax County, where Herndon is located, benefits from its proximity to the Federal government i the Potomac region and like DC, continues to thrive despite the down economy.
Tags: GeoEye moving HQ to Herndon, jobs, Matt O'Connell, satellite imagery and services, VA
Posted in Economic Development, Internet/New Media, IT, Potomac, Virginia | Comments Off
Thursday, October 7th, 2010
 GREENVILLE, SC – Acumen IT says it plans ot hire more than ten new employees over the next 18 to 24 months.
Most of the full-time positions will be in the Greenville, SC area at Acumen IT’s Corporate Headquarters. However, some will be located in regional offices in Charlotte, Atlanta and Charleston.
As a direct request from many of Acumen IT’s clients, the company will also be expanding its Help Desk in order to provide live, native English-speaking representatives from 7am to 9pm daily. These expanded hours will provide more flexibility for assistance to early morning callers and east-coast companies with satellite offices throughout the United States and Canada.
Acumen IT is one of the largest technology companies in the Upstate and Carolinas, providing industry-leading IT Managed Services, Data Storage Solutions and Business Applications for companies of all sizes. As a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, the company is a Microsoft Partner with the highest level of competence and expertise with Microsoft technologies. Acumen IT has also been named to the 2010 Microsoft Dynamics President’s Club.
Acumen IT will be looking to hire positions in the following areas:
Help Desk Support
Inside Sales and Lead Generation
Customer Service Representative
IT Engineers
Dynamics GP Consultants.
For more information on Acumen IT or on these new positions, please visit our website at www.AcumenIT.com or contact David Pence at 864-271-9000
Tags: Acumen IT, Atlanta, Charleston, Charlotte, GA, Greenville, IT, jobs, NC, SC
Posted in Carolinas, Georgia, IT, North Carolina, South Carolina, TechJobs | Comments Off
Friday, September 10th, 2010
 CARY, NC - ABB, a power and automation technology group, has selected Hunterville, NC, for a new $90 manufacturing facility that will create more than 100 new jobs.
The new plant, located in northern Mecklenburg County and the greater Charlotte metropolitan area, will manufacture high-voltage land power cables for use in AC and DC applications.
ABB already employs more than 770 people state-wide in manufacturing and other facilities. This includes its Corporate Research Center, as well as the Power Products and Power Systems divisional headquarters for North America, all on the Centennial Campus of North Carolina State University in Raleigh. The company’s North America corporate headquarters are located in Cary.
“We have a very good and long-standing relationship with the state of North Carolina,” said Enrique Santacana, region manager for ABB in North America. ”The combination of proximity to transportation, top-notch engineering talent and an attractive living environment made Huntersville an excellent choice for this facility.”
Initial site preparations are expected to begin early in 2011 with construction of the main facility—including an extrusion tower of over 350 feet—slated for completion in the second half of 2012.
The Huntersville factory will produce high-voltage and extra-high voltage cables that are increasingly being used to transport power over long distances from remote renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.
Hiring for job opportunities at the new ABB cable plant will begin in the second half of 2011, following plant construction. At that time, these jobs will be posted at www.abb.us/careers. They will also be posted at the NC Employment Security Commission website at www.ncesc.com.
Tags: ABB, Cary, Energy, Huntersville, jobs, NC, power technology
Posted in Carolinas, Economic Development, Energy, North Carolina, TechJobs | Comments Off
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010
 RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC – Vaccine developer Medicago USA has won a $21 million Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency grant to develop a 90,000 square foot facility in Research Triangle Park to make vaccines from tobacco plants and virus-like-particles (VLPs). The $42 million project will demonstrate the company’s ability to make 10 million doses of flu vaccine a month.
Eventually, the project will create hundreds of jobs.
This DARPA project is an accelerated and integrated effort to deliver effective production of pandemic influenza in the United States. The Accelerated Manufacture of Pharmaceuticals (AMP) program seeks to identify new ways to produce large amounts of high quality vaccine protein in less than 3 months in response to emerging and novel biologic threats.
Current methods of making flu vaccine from eggs is time-consuming and must be started well in advance of the flu season with researchers essentially guessing which strains will be active.
Rapid production possible
During the recent H1N1 influenza outbreak, Medicago’s rapid plant-based VLP vaccine technology was able to successfully develop a vaccine candidate in less than a month after identifying the H1N1 strain and is therefore one of the few technologies that can provide a solution in the case of a pandemic.
Andy Sheldon, President and CEO of Medicago, said, “This DARPA funding is also perfectly in line with our development plan for both our pandemic and seasonal influenza products as we will now have a US facility ready to participate in the $7 billion pandemic and seasonal influenza markets.
In addition, our U.S. facility will provide us enhanced access to the various grant programs in the U.S.A. and we will be ready to take part in these additional funding opportunities.”
Hundreds of jobs coming
“It’s vitally important to our Homeland Security that we have a robust domestic vaccine supply, and this facility will add to our production capacity helping mitigate future threats,” said Congressman David Price.
“Medicago’s facility will ultimately bring hundreds of good paying jobs to the region, and DARPA’s investment in this project is another significant contribution to local recovery efforts. This is a welcome confirmation that the Triangle continues to lead the way delivering innovative high-tech products and creating the jobs that will power a 21st Century economy.”
Rep. Price is the Chairman of the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee.
Medicago USA Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Quebec-based Medicago Inc. (TSX: MDG).
The strategic collaboration is a $42 million project in which DARPA contributes $21 million, Medicago $7.5 million and Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. (‘Alexandria’) $13.5 million.
Alexandria Real Estate Equities is the largest owner and leading provider of high-quality environmentally sustainable real estate, technical infrastructure, and services to the broad and diverse life science industry focused in the leading life science clusters
Tags: Biotech, DARPA grant, flu, jobs, NC, Pharma, Research Triangle Park, vaccines
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