There’s Something Happening Here

Coming and going in the Roanoke Valley

Parents of teens or kids in their early 20’s, maybe just finishing up college, know the mantra: “I’m ready to leave Roanoke; I want to move to a big city.” The Roanoke and New River Valleys will never be a New York, a Chicago, or even a Tampa. The latter is where my 25-year-old daughter may be moving this month for a new job, three years after graduating from James Madison University, three years into a health care administration career path. “I love Roanoke and I may come back some day,” she says, but for now she has heard the siren song of The Big City. I now may have kids in the Tampa, Boston and Atlanta areas; when my younger son gets out of the aerospace program at Virginia Tech next spring, he’d like to land a job in California or Colorado.

How are we doing in attracting or retaining talented young professionals and others to the area? Erin Burcham is the director of talent solutions for the Roanoke Regional Partnership: “we’ve been running a remote worker campaign for the past several months and it's been one of our most successful marketing campaigns. There’s a lot of interest; we’re running it in large markets, showing lifestyles in [this] region first. How you can spread out and have a really great outdoor lifestyle.”

The notion of not living in a more densely populated city, where we have seen COVID-19 infection rates spike in recent months (see New York City, Miami, etc.) is a draw for some says Burcham. “People are very interested in moving to our region.” One recent study showed more than 10,000 remote workers in the area, and if nothing else the pandemic has allayed some company fears that employees working from home would not be as productive.

Burcham says Regional Partnership programs are working on “creative ways” to build a rapport with college students as well, hoping they “keep Roanoke on their radar.” Not to mention also reaching out to young professionals, mid-careerists and those in senior level positions. Social media campaigns are a big component of that effort. You don’t have to live in a large city to work for a large company is part of the pitch.

The potential “to move up quicker,” and to network with people at a younger age in the Roanoke region is another selling point. “There are a lot of advantages to living and working here,” adds Burcham. I understand some of the wanderlust my daughter also feels after having grown up in one place all her life. I went through that - and wound up in Colorado for 8 years. I’ll leave the light on for my daughter, here in the Star City. Now … where’s that Allegiant flight schedule??

THERE’S SOMETHING HAPPENING HERE

By Gene Marrano

Executive Summary:

There’s still interest from those looking to relocate here – more open spaces and the ability to work remotely has something to do with it.