The 3rd Annual Roanoke Holiday Career and Lifestyle Fair, sponsored by The Renick Group, Express Employment Professionals, and WDBJ 7, will be held at the Roanoke Civic Center’s Exhibit Hall on Tuesday, December 30, 2008, from 9 a.m. until 12 noon.
The event is was originally designed to connect native Roanokers, who are home for the holidays, to the many employment, business and lifestyle opportunities in the region. However, this year the event is coming at a time in which many people are searching for employment due to the recession. The event will provide an outlet for job seekers and employers to connect and hopefully resulting in many success stories. In the past two years, over 100 exhibitors and 1000 people have attended with a number of placements occurring.
Exhibitors will include companies offering jobs, entrepreneurial organizations showcasing resources to assist with business startups, and lifestyle organizations offering a diverse mix of social and cultural amenities.
Despite the economic recession, the region still provides a unique blend of employment and lifestyle options. Now more than ever we must showcase these advantages as people from outside the region are thinking about career and lifestyle changes due to the economy.
Admission to the fair for attendees is FREE. If your company would like a FREE booth, then email stuart.mease@roanokeva.gov.
Dr. Alan Abrahams in the Pamplin College of Business Department of Business Information Technology is leading a group of student in a business called The Online Business Guidebook to encourage other students to start their own business. The model creates a paper version of a handbook and an online edition that gathers start-up resources in one location and disseminates the booklet throughout local campuses. The revenues comes from advertisers. It is a worthy and much needed focus on college campuses to encourage more of its students to become more entrepreneurial like Cameron Johnson. 
