"Work In The Triangle" Celebrates One-Year Anniversary

RALEIGH, NC, May 12, 2013 (Press-News.org) The Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce (www.raleighchamber.org) in partnership with Wake County Economic Development (WCED) (http://www.raleigh-wake.org/home), and the Chamber's Competitive EDGE4 program, is celebrating the one-year anniversary of its "Work in the Triangle, Smarter From Any Angle" campaign. Over the past year, the campaign has experienced great progress working to position and market the Research Triangle region as the premier destination for talented professionals to move to from across the country and around the world.

Following its launch on May 9, 2012, the "Work in the Triangle" campaign has become one of the Triangle's go-to resources for area employment opportunities, having engaged companies and recruiters to promote, and ultimately fill, open positions and attract new talent. As the campaign has worked to raise awareness for the region and its numerous opportunities, the Triangle has landed placements on several Forbes lists, being named the fourth fastest growing city in America, an honor largely attributed to the region's expansive talent pool and talent attraction initiatives, as well as earning the title of Forbes' fifth best tech hot spot, and third easiest place to find a job, among others. Additionally, the campaign helped to secure national media coverage for area companies, including a spot on Fox and Friends' "Who's Hiring Now" segment for Bandwidth.com, a top-ranking service provider for hosted voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) networks.

In partnership with the North Carolina Technology Association (NCTA) and Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED), Work in the Triangle hosted the "COME TECH OUT THE TRIANGLE" Job Fair as well as the "All Things Tech" Job Fair to promote job openings in the tech industry. For those unable attend, Work in the Triangle also offered a virtual career fair on Twitter using the hashtags #ComeTechOutNC and #AllThingsTechFair, respectively. In addition, the campaign exhibited at the BIO Career Fair as part of the 2013 BIO International Convention and hosted a virtual career fair via Twitter using the hashtag #BIO2013. Hosting the fair online allowed all interested job seekers and employers to learn more about each initiative as well as share new biotechnology employment opportunities in the Triangle, attracting talented individuals from all over the country to the region.

The campaign's website portal and other digital communication channels have received high levels of interactivity with nearly 12,000 unique website visitors, more than 22,500 total website visits, 1,500 YouTube video views, more than 1,700 new Twitter followers and 770 email subscribers. Fifty-six triangle professionals created profiles on the unique "Work in the Triangle: What's Your Angle" network and the initiative has received 306 Facebook fans on its official account page. Additionally, members of the initiative attended both the South by Southwest (SXSW ) Interactive Trade Show and Conference in Austin, Texas, and the BIO International Conference in Boston and Chicago, securing more than 2,100 combined interactions.

Over the past year, the initiative has worked closely with an array of organizations, such as MetLife, Ipreo and Fidelity, and has interacted with companies such as Allscripts, DB Global Technology, Bronto, Citrix Sharefile, Red Hat and Syngenta to promote their job openings and provide relocation information to highly skilled workers. Work in the Triangle is currently working with several local employers, industry organizations and teams at surrounding universities to better connect employers with top talent and job opportunities throughout the Triangle.

QUOTES:
"The first year of Work in the Triangle got us off to an amazing start, and we are excited and encouraged by the progress made so far with the campaign, especially in online engagement," said Jennifer Bosser, assistant executive director for Wake County Economic Development. "The online portal has already become an incredible resource for companies, recruiters and professionals in and outside of the Triangle, and we expect this to continue to grow as we work to expand our partnerships in the area. As we move into the next stage of the initiative, we look forward to working directly with local companies to amplify their job recruitment efforts by offering them customized tools and resources that we have developed."

NEW MEDIA CONTENT:
Work in the Triangle Facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/WorkInTheTriangle

Work in the Triangle on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/#!/WorkTriangleNC

DETAILS:
- The Work in the Triangle campaign is based on a Marketing Blueprint for Talent Attraction that Development Counselors International (DCI) designed on behalf of Wake County Economic Development.

- The mission of Work in the Triangle supports the talent recruitment initiative of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce EDGE4 - Growing Great Campaign, which aims to expand the number of highly skilled employees in target industry sectors by 2013, and is one of five strategies designed to bring prosperity and growth to the region.

- The online portal provides a variety of resources for skilled professionals looking to move to the Triangle, including relocation assistance services, area industry and networking associations, cities and neighborhoods, real estate and housing information, school and education information, and other relevant background information.

ABOUT WORK IN THE TRIANGLE:
Work in the Triangle is a regional talent attraction initiative to connect and recruit top talent with employers and job opportunities in the key industry clusters of the Triangle area of North Carolina. The initiative, led by Wake County Economic Development (WCED), is in partnership with the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, Competitive EDGE4, Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce, Chapel Hill Carrboro Chamber of Commerce, Orange County Economic Development, Research Triangle Foundation and the Research Triangle Regional Partnership. The initiative's talent recruitment strategy is to position the Triangle nationally and internationally as a smarter place for talented skilled professionals to work, live, play and learn by leveraging social, digital and mobile media, and developing content, including videos, testimonials and resource links. For more information, please visit http://www.WorkintheTriangle.com.

ABOUT WAKE COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT:
Wake County Economic Development (WCED), a program of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, is the primary economic development organization for Wake County and its 12 municipalities. WCED hosts clients evaluating Wake County for possible facility locations each year and facilitates dozens of corporate expansions, resulting in new jobs and capital investment for Raleigh and Wake County. Services available to companies that are considering relocating or expanding in Wake County include economic and demographic research, site and building inventory searches, visitation itineraries, community tours, corporate executive and employee briefings, employee relocation assistance, and post-relocation services. For more information, visit http://www.raleigh-wake.org.

ABOUT THE GREATER RALEIGH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE:
The Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce is the Triangle's largest nonprofit business membership organization made up of more than 2,400 member firms representing two-thirds of the private sector employment in Wake County. The Chamber has represented the interests of the local business community since 1888. For more information, visit http://www.raleighchamber.org.

Kathleen Donnelly
MMI Public Relations
(919) 233-6600
kathleen@mmipublicrelations.com
http://twitter.com/MMIPR
http://www.mmipublicrelations.com