Due to the abysmal economy, the Atlanta employment market isn’t what it was a few years ago – the bottom fell out of the booming housing industry, and official employment figures make Atlanta look more like the Rust Belt than the Sun Belt. The state of Georgia was ranked the seventh highest in the nation in terms of home foreclosures, with most of these centered in the city of Atlanta. Nevertheless, Atlanta employment still has its sunny spots. And Atlanta employment seems poised to bounce back faster than many other metropolitan areas of similar size – especially for white collar professionals.
Atlanta Employment Opportunities
Why do Atlanta employment opportunities still hold so much promise? For starters, Atlanta is home to many of America’s largest corporations. Amongst others, Coca-Cola, the American Cancer Society, The Home Depot, CNN, Chick-fil-A, Havertys, Delta Air Lines, Lockheed Martin, Turner Broadcasting, UPS, and the Weather Channel all call Atlanta home. The corporations based in Atlanta have all been affected by the economic downturn in one way or another, but none of the companies listed above (except perhaps Delta) is in imminent danger of going under and laying off all their workers. Indeed, some of these companies are still experiencing growth, which explains why the population of Atlanta continues to grow despite the recession.
Universities in Atlanta
Atlanta is also home to several major universities. These include Georgia Tech, which is one of the most highly regarded engineering schools in the nation, second only to MIT, and ranked closely with Cal Tech. It is no doubt thanks to Georgia Tech, which is located in the center of downtown Atlanta, that many high-tech industries have chosen to make Atlanta their home.
Emory University is located south of downtown Atlanta. Emory is a smaller private university, but its undergraduate and graduate programs are ranked amongst the nation’s finest, and its medical school is considered one of the best in the southeast, second only to Duke in North Carolina. Emory Healthcare manages a wide array of hospitals and clinics throughout the Atlanta area.
Georgia State University, Spelman (a historically black women’s college), Agnes Scott (another women’s college), and Clark Atlanta (a historically black college) are all located within Atlanta. Together these universities help account for Atlanta’s active, healthy nightlife and youthful atmosphere.
Job Loss in the Atlanta Area
At first glance, it might appear that Atlanta employment opportunities are worse than they really are. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the national trend of job loss is 5.4%, but Atlanta employment losses rate even worse, at 7.4%. In fact, after the Detroit metropolitan area, Atlanta has experienced more job loss per capita than any of the other large metropolitan areas in the United States. However, most of the jobs lost were not in the professional, white collar job market, but in construction and manufacturing. The financial services industry and leisure and hospitality industry also experienced some significant job loss in Atlanta. Therefore, the Atlanta employment market has remained relatively stable in most industries.
Atlanta Employment Resources
For those seeking jobs in Atlanta, the best place to start is with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC), the city’s major daily newspaper. The AJC maintains an online database of available jobs in the Atlanta area at the website AJC.com, under the tab “jobs”. Other online sites that focus on Atlanta employment include:
MetroAtlantaJobs.com
AtlantaCareerPath.com
Atlanta.ComputerJobs.com
Business Networking in Atlanta
With so many corporate headquarters located in Atlanta, it’s not surprising that many business networking groups exist to help professionals make connections and network. Networking communities in Atlanta are diverse, ranging from Atlanta’s Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, which focuses on the sizable community of gay and lesbian business people, to the Crossroads Career Network, a Christian-based business networking community. Any of these many networks can make finding Atlanta employment easier.
Websites for some of Atlanta’s larger networking groups include:
Atlanta Women in Business: AtlantaWomeninBusiness.com
Business Network International (BNI): BNIConnection.com (search for Atlanta)
Atlanta Executive Network (for the LGBT community): AEN.org
Georgia Hispanic Network: GeorgiaHispanicNetwork.org
Together We Rise (for African American women): TogetherWeRise.com
Atlanta Living Conditions
Consumer Goods
Atlanta is a city built for consumers. On every corner is a Starbucks; at every major intersection is a large supermarket. Wal-Marts, Targets, Sam’s Club, BJ’s, Kohl’s, Best Buy, and many other nationally-recognized chains are easy to find in Atlanta and its surrounding suburbs. The only complaint some residents have about Atlanta is that it is famous for its proliferation of strip malls and chain stores – Starbucks easily outnumber independent coffee shops ten to one.
Housing
As previously mentioned, the housing boom led to widespread expansion and building in Atlanta, and the sudden housing crash sent many home owners into foreclosure, and builders selling their homes at prices that would have been unfathomable two or three years ago. Now is a great time to buy a home in Atlanta, as housing prices haven’t been this low in years.
Recreation
Atlanta is well-known as a city of restaurants. From Justin’s in Buckhead, to the unique, Buddhist-run World Peace Cafe vegetarian restaurant in Sandy Springs, “foodies” love living in Atlanta. But so do the active and the athletic: it’s easy to find gyms in Atlanta, and recreational sports teams of nearly every variety abound. In addition, Georgia’s unique “Rails to Trails” program has transformed many unused train tracks into paths for walking and biking. The longest of these trails, the Silver Comet, runs from western Atlanta all the way into Alabama.
Public Schools
While the city of Atlanta itself does not have the best reputation for its public schools (in fact, the Atlanta Public School District is one place where young Teach for America corps members are sometimes placed), the schools in Atlanta’s suburbs are competitive with the best public schools in the nation. What’s more, the Georgia Hope Scholarship, funded by the Georgia Lottery, sends high school students who maintained a decent grade-point average to public universities at basically no cost.
Atlanta Employment
Overall, Atlanta is a city whose star is still rising, despite the current economic crisis. New residents to the area will find plenty to do, plenty to see, and plenty to enjoy in this exciting and growing city. And Atlanta employment will no doubt bounce back in the upcoming months, and be stronger than ever.
