May 4, 2009 10:05 pm US/Mountain
Believe It Or Not, There Are Jobs Out There
Good Question: Where are all the jobs?
Written by Alan Gionet
DENVER (CBS4) ―
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Bioscience may be one of the strongest growth industries in Colorado.
CBS
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Good Question, a regular part of CBS4 News at 10 p.m., is an opportunity for Alan Gionet to drill past the basic facts of a story and give it some depth & perspective. See more Good Question reports.
People showed up early to a jobs.com job fair. There were 75 prospective employers. Not like there used to be, but it was something.
"I have some good skills, I have a lot to offer," one woman told CBS4.
When some employers are reporting hundreds of people applying for a single job, the competition is tough. And some of the potential employers at the job fair, like Adams County government, didn't even have current job openings. It makes you wonder where the jobs are.
"We're hiring," said Rick Jory of Sandhill Scientific.
Jory's company is part of the growing bioscience industry. The products they're developing could bring on a jump in business. Bioscience may be one of the strongest growth industries in Colorado. Jory believes the state is well-positioned for a bioscience growth to compete with areas of the East Coast and around the medical center of a Minneapolis, St. Paul.
The industry has solid reason for growth.
"We've got a lot of things going for us. Right off the bat is demographics. Whether we like it or not, the patient population is getting older," Jory said. As far as Colorado is concerned, "We look for an educated work force, which means we pay attention to what's happening with academia."
Jory is looking for management to take his place when he moves out.
"When you start talking about what are the jobs, you need everything from assemblers to very, very sophisticated and specialized Ph.D.s and everything in between."
There are other growth industries around the country. Voice over the Internet protocol, or VOIP, is a growing industry, but there's less in Colorado than in other tech heavy states. There is e-business growth. Chris Leebelt of Precis e-business systems says as businesses cut costs they are trying to market their companies by hiring companies like his. They provide tools for e-business such as e-commerce, Web content management and strategic marketing services. They are overworked. He'll be hiring, but with the recession, not just yet.
"Until we see where things flush out in the next couple of months maybe we'll address that later, but for now we're just kind of holding steady," Leebelt said.
National research indicates industries like voice over the internet protocol will grow. But there hasn't been a great deal of growth yet there in Colorado.
Government is one place many experts suggest, but with declining tax dollars, many local governments are not doing big hiring. The federal government is adding in some places. Health care is solid. There is a big shortage of nursing schools and a big surplus of openings.
Green industries in Colorado are expected to hire, but some experts are wary, saying hot jobs can cool off very quickly.
"Because there's this mirage of 'let me go find a green job,'" said University of Coloraddo-Denver career advisor Paul Worthman. "Well great, so you run over to the green industry, whatever that is, now what do you do?"
Worthman believes Colorado is well-positioned because it does not survive on big Fortune 500 companies.
"The real growth engine in the economy isn't a specific industry, it's across all industries and they tend to be smaller-to-medium sized firms," Worthman said.
If you want to think about what the country needs, it's math, science, technology and engineering. The U.S. has been recruiting overseas for good-paying jobs in those categories.
Worthman suggests people figure out what it is they like and go after it with passion.
"You've got to articulate your value and I think this is a great opportunity for companies to really upgrade the level of their bench strength."
But will they take it?
(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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