Unless you’re a glutton for punishment, a shopping mall is probably the last place you would want to be just five days after Christmas. However, for those in need of a job, the Biltmore Square Mall is the place to be.
The third annual Homecoming Job Fair will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 30, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the mall’s center court. The event will largely showcase regional employment opportunities in advanced manufacturing, health services and high-tech knowledge-based industry sectors.
The fair will target graduating high school and college students, under-employed job seekers, and former Western North Carolina residents who would like to return home, according to Alice Briggs, marketing director for the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce’s Economic Development Coalition, which is hosting the event with the help of several other partners, including the Mountain Xpress.
Job seekers with technical skills who participate in this event have the benefit of a one-stop opportunity to meet directly with representatives from many of the premier companies in the region who are currently hiring for technical and skilled positions, or will be hiring in 2009, Briggs says. Participating job seekers should bring paper résumé copies to the job fair (and dressing up a bit wouldn’t hurt either).
Among the employers signed up so far: A-B Tech; Aflac; Arvato Digital Services; BB&T; Comforce Staffing Services; CPU2; Davidson Homes; Day International, Inc.; Elkamet; Express Employment Professionals; Facility Logistic Services; Friday Staffing Services; HomeTrust Bank; Irene Wortham Center; J. Crew; Jacob Holm Industries; Meet the Geeks/Media Arts Project; Mission Hospitals; N.C. Department of Health & Human Services; Pardee Hospital; Plasticard Locktech International; Precision Products of Asheville; Silver-Line Plastics Corp.; Smoky Mountain Machining; The Biltmore Company; the Grand Bohemian Hotel; the Times-News; and the YMCA.
For more information about the fair, go to www.homecomingjobfair.com. There you can register online, research companies and sign up for free résumé and interview prep courses in Buncombe, Haywood and Henderson counties.
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