Applicants expected to flood Roanoke job market after HSN announces closure

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ROANOKE (WSLS 10) - After HSN announced it will close its Roanoke County facility in April 2016, experts expect applicants to flood the local job market.

The move comes after several significant closures and business relocations in the Roanoke Valley over last year, including Norfolk Southern, Advance Auto and the U.S. Postal Service. HSN employees will soon join hundreds of others looking for new work in the area.

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"We have seen significant increases in requests for assistance," said Leah Coffman, the workforce development coordinator at Virginia Western Community College. "They will come in and ask, 'will you review my resume? Will you look at my transferable work skills?'"

During the recession, the school had a big increase in workers wanting to learn new skills and start a new career. This time around, Coffman said workers are looking to tweak skills and fill in the gaps on their resumes.

"These are folks who have really strong skills," she said. "They just need a little assistance networking to try and find those new opportunities."

To meet that need, the college is providing Adult Career Coaches to help evaluate and leverage transferable skills and work experience. Virginia Western is also planning a transcript fair this summer.

But new opportunities could take time to develop. Coy Renick with the job recruiting firm Renick Group said more Roanoke Valley employers are now looking for temporary workers, not full time employees.

"That generally means people are a little uncertain about the future," Renick said. "Therefore, they're putting temps in place before determining if they will hire or not."

Renick believes by this fall Roanoke's job market will rebound. That could be the news workers want to hear, especially when more people begin looking for jobs.