If I have heard one time, then I have heard it a thousand time… "There is nothing to do in Roanoke". Many young adults want more events catered toward their demographics. This belief has been present for years.

The Event Zone has created a young adult event organized by young adults called Midnight on the Market. This could be one of many future events designed specifically for this audience.

I hear many young adults say they want to be on boards and make a difference, well here is your chance. If you want to be part of the planning and organizing committee, then please contact Sara.

Midnight on the Market, New Year’s Eve, Downtown Roanoke. Make plans now.

The Challenge Job Fair was held today in Roanoke. Area colleges and universities both from the region and outside the region participated in the fair. Over 400 students were present for the morning fair and in the afternoon interviews were conducted by the 70+ companies.

Many of the out-of-town students drove their own cars from Farmville, Lynchburg and Richmond to attend this fair. It was a great opportunity to show off the city and some of its local employers, however, the majority of employers were from outside the region. Hopefully, next year, more local companies will see the benefit to participating.

Kudos to Hollins University, this year’s organizer, for a job well done in promoting and organizing the event. 

On Friday, nearly 40 Virginia Tech engineering students visited Roanoke as part of the City of Roanoke’s Roanoke Wants U. program. The visit included a tour of the Coca-Cola bottling facility, a walking tour of downtown Roanoke, and a reception with local employers at a popular downtown establishment.

The students were overwhelmed by the hospitality of the representatives at Coca-Cola. It was customer service and community outreach at its best. On the way back, students were interested in bringing friends and other organizations to participate in a future event.

Exposing local college students to the region’s amenities, both socially and professionally, can only increase our chances of retaining these knowledge workers.

Of all the job sites and board on the Internet, whototalkto has to be the best because it focuses on personal networking.

The author’s description of why job sites do not work – only 7% get jobs from them – should be read by every job seeker.

Brian McCullough has created the concept and I hope all will visit it.

Thanks to E from Radford and C from Richmond who share wonderful resources on a regular basis and recently they each intersected with info on cost of living.

Best Places hands down wins the award for the best cost of living web site around. It give tremendous details and even qualitative data from folks from each region.

This New York Magazine article talked about the value of a dollar in NYC is only 76.2 cents. 

We often times do not know how great a deal it is locally to work, live and play as compared to other places in the U.S. Take some time and play with these sites and read the materials to see how we compare. You may be surprised.