Recruiter Seeks Business Prospects in Texas

(Source: High Point Enterprise)
By Paul B. Johnson, High Point Enterprise, N.C.

Jan. 14--RANDOLPH COUNTY -- Economic recruiter Bonnie Renfro hopes her trip halfway across the country this week will produce future dividends for people seeking a paycheck in the Triad.

Renfro, president of the Randolph County Economic Development Corp., will visit parts of Texas as part of a recruitment trip by the Piedmont Triad Partnership. Other representatives on the marketing trip include Heather Sauls, the Piedmont Triad Partnership's vice president for client development, and Wade Taylor, vice president of the Rockingham County Partnership.

Regional economic recruiters are trying to lure new companies and convince existing ones to expand in the Triad to counter growing unemployment. Davidson County's jobless rate of 9.3 percent in November was an 18-year high, while Randolph County's rate of 8.3 percent is the highest county level in 26 years.

The city of High Point jobless rate spiked to 8.3 percent in November, the highest level in five and a half years. November is the latest month that the N.C. Employment Security Commission has calculated and released local unemployment figures.

Many economic development projects that come to fruition in the region blossomed from meetings such as the ones taking place this week on the marketing trip, Renfro said.

"This trip, along with other marketing trips, keeps the region in front of site-selection consultants," she said Tuesday.

The Triad recruiters are scheduled to meet with six firms while in Dallas. The trip is a continuation of the Piedmont Triad Partnership's program to touch base with advisers to businesses on expansions and relocations.

"We receive approximately 30 percent of our new projects from national consultants and real estate brokers. Projects led by consultants tend to be larger in terms of employment and investment," said Don Kirkman, president of the Piedmont Triad Partnership.

Many of the advisory groups with offices in the Dallas area serve clients with business interests that include the southeastern United States, Kirkman said.