plus 2, Clarksville location of Hemlock Semiconductor to host job fair, plans to hire 500 - MLive.com

Clarksville location of Hemlock Semiconductor to host job fair, plans to hire 500 - MLive.com
Entrepreneur profile: College job became career for Morales - El Paso Times
Look now for seasonal jobs - Raleigh News & Observer

Clarksville location of Hemlock Semiconductor to host job fair, plans to hire 500 - MLive.com

Posted: 04 Oct 2010 02:42 PM PDT

Published: Monday, October 04, 2010, 5:46 PM Updated: Tuesday, October 05, 2010, 8:51 AM

CLARKSVILLE, TENN. — The Hemlock Semiconductor LLC plant in Clarksville, Tenn. is hosting a career fair on Oct. 14, according to a report from The Leaf Chronicle.

According to the report, the company plans to hire 500 full-time workers before it starts manufacturing polysilicon, the material needed to produce solar panels, in late 2012.

Open positions at the Clarksville operation and at Hemlock Semiconductor Corp. in Thomas Township can be seen on the company's website.

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Entrepreneur profile: College job became career for Morales - El Paso Times

Posted: 25 Sep 2010 10:59 PM PDT

It was by chance that Edith Morales started in the office supply business. But it was through years of hard work and dedication that she became a successful entrepreneur in that field.

Morales, owner of El Paso-based Printek Supplies Inc., started working part time in 1992 at a call center for Daisytek International Inc., another office supply company, because it was close to the University of Texas at Dallas campus, where she was taking classes.

She continued to work at Daisytek after completing her bachelor's degree in business in 1997, rising through the ranks until she ran the company's Latin American division out of Miami. She also spent two years in Mexico City, opening a call center.

When Daisytek went bankrupt in 2002, Morales decided to start her own office supply company.

"It was basically the only thing I knew to do after the company went down," she said.

She was offered jobs with other companies but wanted the freedom of running her own business.

"I wanted to have control of my time, and I wanted to grow something for (my family), and build something that was our own," she said.

She and her husband, Eduardo, initially started Printek Supplies in Miami in 2002, selling to companies around Latin American. But soon, El Paso beckoned.

Morales was born in El Paso -- her mother had crossed the border from Mexico to give birth to her -- but was raised in Juárez. She returned to El Paso as a teenager, finishing her last two years at Socorro High School. She

wanted her children to grow up near family, so she and her husband moved back to El Paso in 2005, when she was pregnant with their second daughter.

When she first considered expanding her business to include El Paso, Morales found it difficult to compete with the national office supply chains.

"The biggest challenge was getting people to understand that they can buy locally," she said. "We help people understand that doing business locally can save them money, and besides saving money, they are growing the economy here."

She began to network. She talked with Teresa Gándara, owner of Pencil Cup Office Products Inc., also a small office supply business. She became involved in the chambers of commerce and Homegrown El Paso, as well as E-Women Network, where she connected with other women running businesses.

"When I met Edith, she was questioning whether or not she could begin her own business (locally)," Gándara said. "Having spoken to her, I realized she possessed the one single quality that was most important to an entrepreneur, and that was the passion to start her own business. The rest is history. She went into this business and became one of my competitiors. É She's holding her own. I'm very proud of her."

Printek sells mainly to suppliers who resell the office products -- pens, paper, printers, toner, office furniture and computer supplies. Printek staffers pride themselves on next-day delivery and excellent service.

"One of the things that they don't have, these big companies É is service," Morales said. "It's not all the time about the price. They can call right now, and since we're a small company, they can talk to the owner."

Morales started a second business in September 2009, a restaurant in East El Paso named Burrito Ocho. It can be difficult to run both companies and while taking care of her two daughters, she said. For now, she handles the marketing for Printek, and her husband runs the day-to-day operations while she is at the restaurant. But she's confident that she'll succeed.

"You can do whatever you want," she said. "Just as long as you believe it, you can do it, but never give up."

Hispanic entrepreneurs have played an integral role in El Paso's business and economic growth. The Paso del Norte Entrepreneurship Oral History Project, a partnership between the University of Texas at El Paso's Institute of Oral History and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a Kansas City-based foundation devoted to entrepreneurship, identifies some of these prominent business owners and tells their stories of overcoming expectations to become successful role models.
This is the third in a series of stories about those entrepreneurs.
Transcripts and audio files of interviews with the entrepreneurs are available online at heho.utep.edu or by calling the Institute of Oral History at 747-7052.

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Look now for seasonal jobs - Raleigh News & Observer

Posted: 05 Oct 2010 06:41 AM PDT

It's barely October. Halloween candy is filling store shelves. That means it's time to get serious about seasonal jobs related to the end-of-the-year holidays.

Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa shoppers make or break the fiscal year for retailers, and according to early indicators there will be more seasonal jobs available this year than in the last two.

A survey of hiring managers by SnagAJob.com released last week found that half planned to hire temporary workers. That's up 3 percentage points from 2009 and up 7 percentage points from 2008.

Good news, but not great news yet. This year's seasonal hiring still is likely to lag the 2007 total. (The recent recession officially began in December 2007.)

But SnagAJob found another sign that 2010 looks better than the last two years. Retail hiring managers said they expect to bring on seasonal help earlier.

In fact, 47 percent said they already started hiring in September - an 11 percentage point increase from last year. That's what I meant about getting serious now.

"For job seekers out there, even with relatively more positions available, you still can expect fierce competition," said Shawn Boyer, SnagAJob's CEO. "If you have intentions of finding a holiday job, you cannot wait to apply."

Average hourly pay is expected to be $10.60, according to the survey, up from $10.40 last year.

What is going to help you stand out from the competition?

-Apply in person if you can, presenting a friendly, positive, can-do attitude.

-Have previous experience in the industry.

-Be flexible about the shifts you're willing to work.

-Commit to the entire holiday season, including the post-Christmas rush.

-Show a passion, knowledge or loyalty to the company or products.

Retail jobs not your bag?

Other seasonal job possibilities include shipping companies, photo studios, restaurants, catering companies and even tax preparers. April isn't all that far away.

ABOUT THE WRITER

Diane Stafford is the workplace and careers columnist at The Kansas City Star. Her "Your Job" blog at economy.kansascity.com includes daily posts about job-related issues of wide interest. Readers may write to her at: Kansas City Star, 1729 Grand Blvd., Kansas City, Mo. 64108-1413, or by e-mail at dstafford@kcstar.com.