Another in a continuing series on jobs and business developments of interest to West Orange County folks. As the so called national economic recovery limps along, one of the barometers we watch reflected a disruption of what had been a positive trend. At the same time, all is not doom and gloom. There are good things happening in the West Orange County business scene—and when good things happen for business that can translate into jobs. If you are looking for a job, now is the time for creativity.
Marshalls
Whether you are a holiday shopper, or looking for a job in retailing, a successful department store--yes there still are a few--is getting ready for an opening in Seal Beach. The new Marshalls will open just in time for the holiday shopping season in the space previously occupied by Circuit City, at 12343 Seal Beach Blvd.
Off price retailers Marshalls and their sister stores T.J. Maxx have been successful at bucking the recent downturn in the retailing industry, so a job search with these companies might be more successful then with some other stores. When conducting a job search in this economic climate, look for business that are succeeding even in tough times. Marshalls is one such company—and they did not pay us to write that.
Click here to go to their job web site.
Amonix
Another progressive business with job openings is Seal Beach solar power manufacturer, Amonix. This small privately held firm has their R and D and corporate offices in Torrance, but the jobs and the plant where they produce their large power systems are in Seal Beach. If you are interested in getting in on the ground floor of a green energy company, this might be a place to consider. Amonix is transitioning from an R and D firm into a full scale producer of large scale solar power generators for the utility market. These are not for your roof, they are about 70 feet long and 50 feet high, and weigh about 20 tons. Watch www.OC180NEWS.com for upcoming announcements about this company in the near future.
Click here to go to their web site.
Clean Energy Fuels, Inc.
Another green energy firm, this publicly held Seal Beach company is in the business of selling natural gas as a vehicle fuel. Although they want to develop the retail market, their main customers are fleets. In order to help move the U.S. vehicular segment away from polluting imported oil, Clean Energy is investing in the necessary infrastructure. They have recently opened a large fueling station at the ports of Long beach and Los Angeles and are partnering with government grants to assist truck owners in acquiring new natural gas burning trucks. Clean Energy recently signed a purchase and sale agreement to acquire BAF Technologies, Inc. of Dallas, Texas, the leading provider of natural gas vehicle systems and conversions in the United States.
According to Chad Lindholm, West Regional General Manager, while the acquisition is another step in their process of developing the natural gas market, it will not mean major changes at the Seal Beach headquarters. Clean Energy will assist a fleet customer who wants to switch to natural gas with the acquisition of vehicles fitted to run on the clean fuel. But whether the conversions are done by BAF in Texas, or with their conversion kits, depends on the logistics of the specific situation.
Click here to go to their web site.
Management Job Postings Survey
The CareerCast.com/JobSerf Employment Index, which measures managerial recruitment activity across the U.S., found that the number of online job postings in September fell to 68.4, an 11.4-point loss compared to the August value of 79.8. September is the first month since April to show a decline in managerial job-posting activity.
This month's decline may be partly attributed to a late Labor Day, resulting in a delay of the transition from summer hiatus into fall hiring. Although September's decrease was substantial, hiring is still 65% better than it was in April.
In addition to the national information, This survey tracks job postings in 30 major metropolitan areas across the country. California is represented by San Diego, Riverside, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. This system uses a population adjusted proprietary measurement tool which provides useful data for comparing cities and trends. This city specific data indicates that the Riverside area is by far the place with the least management job postings of the major US cities. The good news? Riverside’s postings actually bucked the trend and increased moderately last month.
San Francisco, which has several times the per capita managerial job postings as Riverside, continued its steady improving trend. San Diego and Los Angeles, which both had strong improvement in recent months, each reported a significant drop last month.
Washington DC, which declined slightly last month, is the place with the most job postings of the major cities. It has about 10 times the per capita managerial job postings as bottom ranked Riverside. Boston is second ranked, with San Francisco in third place and Seattle ranked fourth. The numbers for Seattle and San Francisco are similar and each has about half the per capita job postings as the nation’s capitol.
"It's disappointing that the steady improvement we'd been seeing disappeared in September," says Tony Lee, publisher, CareerCast.com. "While some cities continue to show improvement, it's rarely smart for job candidates to relocate to another market simply because they hope their job prospects will improve. The 'grass is always greener' approach typically doesn't pay off."
To read the full report or for more information, visit www.CareerCast.com.
