ROANOKE, Va. – If you’re looking for a job, you’re in luck. The Greater Roanoke Workforce Development Board is set to host a job fair on Wednesday for the Greater Roanoke region at the Berglund Center from 4 to 7 p.m.
About 50 employers from across the region, from Franklin County to the Alleghany Highlands, will be there ready to hire for multiple jobs in manufacturing, finance and local government. Last year, the event drew about 400 job seekers. This is the second year the board has hosted the job fair for the wider Greater Roanoke region.
Currently, across the nation, 4.6% of people were unemployed in July, according to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In Virginia, the unemployment rate is 3.6%. Here’s what it looked like throughout the rest of Southwest Virginia in July:
- Roanoke County: 3.6%
- Roanoke City: 4.0%
- Lynchburg City: 5.0%
- Blacksburg: 4.4%
Alcova Mortgage, one of the businesses attending, is headquartered in downtown Roanoke and operates with more than 80 offices in 23 states. The company is hoping to fill about 10 openings in areas such as sales and human resources.
“We are headquartered here in Downtown Roanoke, and we want to be a part of the growth and the success of Roanoke as a whole, and we are very excited to find local talent to fit our needs and make the dream of homeownership a success,” said Susan Stanley-Zahorchak, vice president of human resources at Alcova Mortgage.
Bring multiple copies of your resume and dress for the job you want when you go to the job fair later. If you need help preparing a resume or researching companies before speaking with employers, staff from the Greater Roanoke Workforce Development Board will be available from 1 to 4 p.m. on Wednesday to assist job seekers.
“By doing events like this it also gives us an opportunity to bring together a large group at one time and then by having the job seekers register with us when they come in for the event we can follow up with them and help them in more detail as they need,” said Business and Development Manager Toni McLawhorn with the Greater Roanoke Workforce Development Board.