If you're considering a move to Cleveland, there might be no better means to examine the broad range of residential options than by hopping aboard a City Life tour hosted by Cleveland Neighborhood Progress. In a few short hours, participants enjoy an immersive dive into a number of Cleveland's most in-demand neighborhoods.
 

Welcome to the latest edition of Who’s Hiring in Cleveland?
 
There are plenty of good jobs to be found here in Cleveland. This is the latest installment in a regular series of posts in which we feature companies that are hiring, what those employers are looking for, and how to apply.
 
Here’s the latest Cleveland hiring news:
 
MidTown Cleveland, Inc. is looking for a director of the Cleveland Health-Tech Corridor. This newly created position will be responsible for the development, coordination and implementation of the business and marketing strategy of the Cleveland Health-Tech Corridor. For a complete description, click here. Interested applicants should email their resumes and cover letters to Jim Haviland, MidTown Cleveland executive director.
 
BlueBridge Networks, the region's leading total technology solutions provider, is looking to hire a systems engineer to ensure the stability, integrity and efficient operation of the in-house information systems that support core organizational functions as well as any external customers. The company also is looking for a network engineer. Apply here.
 
InStore Finance, a seller-finance company that is taking off, has a number of open positions, including a merchant optimization manager. This position drives incremental consumer contracts through the merchant by creating training materials, facilitating webinar training classes, motivating merchant employees, creating awareness and establishing accountability. Most important, the person in this position will increase the number of new consumer contracts per merchant location. Email resumes here.
 
Have hiring news that you’d like to share? Email Karin at Fresh Water Cleveland and send us this information or career links!

Changing careers can be a difficult journey, regardless of a fulfillment-seeking wanderer's age or economic standing. However, the older a person gets, the less time they have to start that long voyage toward a new vocation.
 
Fortunately, there are more expeditious alternatives for those retracing their steps on the job trail, says Susan Muha, executive vice president of Cuyahoga Community College’s Workforce and Economic Development Division. The division's focus is job retraining, meaning adult employment seekers don't need to go back to school for a bachelor's degree.
 
"One way or another, it's all about connecting people with the job market," says Muha, a decade-long veteran of Tri-C's workforce division.
 
Throughout its layers of jobs-centric programming, the school works with about 15,000 to 20,000 participants annually. Many of these students have already attended a university and have little desire to go back. Tri-C offers training and certification programs measured in weeks or months rather than years, allowing prospective job seekers to be launched back into rotation quickly.

Read the rest of the story here.
 

Cuyahoga Community College's $18.7 million Advanced Technology Training Center educates the workforce of tomorrow by finding, training and placing the right people into the right jobs, serving as a feeder system of work-ready candidates for in-demand positions in high-tech industries.
 

On Thursday, May 1, Global Cleveland will officially launch its talent attraction campaign at a major event at the Cleveland Convention Center. The event -- like the organization hosting it -- is focused on increasing the population while strengthening the local economy.

Several Cleveland area companies have some new faces on their staffs. Here’s a rundown of who is in new positions.
 
Bryan Stubbs is the Cleveland Water Alliance’s new executive director. The Cleveland Water Alliance is a collaborative group of companies, academic institutions and public agencies working to create a thriving economy around the global needs of water quality and access. Stubbs’ background is in sustainability and non-profit management, most recently as a consultant with The Oberlin Project.
 
“The Cleveland Water Alliance is about elevating the conversation of water in a way that encompasses the opportunity that our water asset affords both our community and our economy,” explains Stubbs. "It’s about our future as the Water Belt.”
 
Stubbs plans to bring his successes with the Oberlin Project to the Cleveland Water Alliance. "At the Oberlin Project I was tasked with implementing a plan to radically lower greenhouse gas emissions while growing the local economy and jobs, the parts of which are not mutually exclusive,” he says. “I plan on bringing that core concept to the Alliance by working collaboratively with our leading corporations, academic institutions and public agencies.

Project and Construction Services (PCS) named Kevin Lawlor president of the employee-owned professional construction services and general contracting company. Lawlor succeeds 13-year PCS president Robert S. Strickland, who recently retired. Lawlor has more than 38 years of design and construction phase experience and has been with PCS for 22 years, the last 11 years as executive vice president.
 
Cleveland Neighborhood Progress Inc., a private nonprofit community development funding intermediary focused on investing in the revitalization of city neighborhoods, is growing. The organization has added four key staff members since January. Alesha Washington joined CNP as senior director of advocacy, policy and research, and Mordecai Cargill was hired as manager of fund development in January. In mid-march Zoë Taft Mueller joined CNP as placemaking fellow and Daniel Brown was hired as economic opportunity fellow. Later this month, Donald A. Pattison will come to CNP as community lending specialist, Village Capital Corporation.
 
Have a new hire you'd like to share? Email Karin with the details and we’ll help spread the good news!
 

Back by popular demand, the second annual Entrovation will be held on Friday, May 2, at the Beachwood Community Center. The event is an opportunity for entrepreneurs and businesses of all sizes to showcase their companies and learn from each other. Organized by Beachwood High School marketing teacher and Junior Achievement advisor Greg Perry, the event is touted as the largest Northeast Ohio business fair that connects businesses and entrepreneurs.

“We will have everything from salsa to solar panels,” says Perry. The event is the culmination of a year-long Beachwood Junior Achievement Company Program taken by 24 students from Beachwood, Mayfield and Brush high schools.
 
The students work on Entrovation all year, planning every detail and learning about entrepreneurship. “The class operates like a company,” explains Perry. “My students' company is an entrepreneurial event planning company.”
 
More than 170 businesses, from small startups to large local players like CWRU, Parker Hannifin and Sherwin Williams, will exhibit. “These companies encourage their employees to think like entrepreneurs, even though they work for very big companies and universities,” says Perry. “And it’s a really great way for young entrepreneurs to establish local contacts.”
 
The Burton D. Morgan Foundation will sponsor the Innovative Entrepreneur of the Year Awards in which five companies will be chosen by attendees at Entrovation. The top five entrepreneurs will be invited to pitch their companies on May 28 for a chance to win $3,000, $1,500 and $500 prizes.
 
Entrepreneurial companies will have their goods for sale, Collection Auto Group will have cars on display and six food trucks will be on hand. Perry is expecting about 5,000 people to attend this year’s event, which is free and runs from noon to 6 p.m.
 

Source: Greg Perry
Writer: Karin Connelly

As a small business owner, Carl Baldesare knows the headaches associated with growing a company. With a background as a small business advisor and, more recently, owner of Specialty Renovations construction company, Baldesare grew frustrated with the expense and limited resources available in growing his small company.

Then about nine months ago, Baldesare had an idea for growing all the small businesses in Cleveland: Keep it Local Cleveland Project. “I just started wondering, why don’t people help these small businesses out,” he recalls. “I realized number one is they didn’t know the business existed, or they were afraid to try it.”
 
The Keep it Local Cleveland Project is a membership based group dedicated to promoting and growing small businesses of all kinds in Cleveland. Businesses can run promotions and specials through the website. “I created an all-encompassing Cleveland chamber,” Baldesare boasts. “We connect local people to local businesses. We do this by telling you where to find them, and give you a little incentive to find them.”
 
Member businesses get access to monthly networking events, a mention on social media and radio, and promotion on Keep it Local’s website marketplace. “It’s a pretty slick setup,” says Baldesare. Consumers can access deals and promotions, or simply research local businesses. “When you buy from independent local businesses, more of your money goes to other independent local businesses.”
 
The project already has generated a loyal following, with more than 3,000 followers on Facebook. The organization now has five employees.
 
Keep it Local Cleveland officially kicks off on Sunday with a free concert at the Beachland Ballroom featuring local bands, of course. A ticket is required to get into the concert.

 
Source: Carl Baldesare
Writer: Karin Connelly

As the processing of shale oil increases, oil refineries are looking for an ecologically effective way to dispose of catalyst. Three local companies -- Metaloy, Redimet and Evergreen Environmental -- have teamed up to create METPro Recovery, working with Skye Metal in Marietta.

“It’s a joint venture relationship to deal with the increased amount of catalyst coming from oil refineries and shale oil mining,” explains Claude Kennard, Metaloy president. “Four refineries in Ohio will be processing these new crudes.”
 
METPro Recovery identifies companies producing catalysts containing heavy metals such as molybdenum, nickel, iron, titanium and cobalt. METPro then delivers these catalysts to Skye Metal’s Marietta facility to produce super alloys and usable raw materials.
 
METPro is able to accept hazardous and non-hazardous “K Waste” materials through a variance granted by the state. The company’s process focuses on sustainability and being environmentally safe. “It goes from the refinery to METPro and the customer without creating additional waste,” explains Kennard. “The gasses that come off in the process go through a scrubber. There’s nothing bad coming out of our plants.”
 
The added benefit to METPro’s process is that there is demand for a product. “The sweet spot of our application is the steel mills will always need the materials we have,” says Kennard. In fact, the recycled materials are cheaper than sourcing naturally occurring materials. The company is reaching out to all of the major industry players.
 
Kennard says the partnership will create jobs within all four of the partnering companies. Metaloy will hire three to five people in the next year, while Redimet plans to hire two people and Evergreen plans to hire four.
 
METPro plans to start with processing 500 tons of catalyst a month and eventually ramp up to its 4,000-ton capacity, with a potential to generate $10 million in sales.

 
Source: Claude Kennard
Writer: Karin Connelly
 

In Cleveland’s ever-evolving social media community, there is a wide variety of contributors to the civic dialogue. We've complied a list of some of our favorite voices -- a mix of up-and-comers and seasoned vets from different corners of the web who are using their blogs, podcasts and Twitter feeds to give the city a voice.

We live in one of the most important cities for biomedical research in the country, and yet it often feels as though the general public has no clue about what's going on behind the doors of research labs at the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve University. This new column is an attempt to change that.

Issue Media Group publications such as Yonge Street in Toronto, High Ground in Memphis and Model D in Detroit cover "what's next" for urban centers. In this recurring feature, we highlight the top stories in urban innovation from all across our national network.