Charlotte - Great for recent grads / A Defense Industry Magnet (Pope AFB: best cities, college)

[Carolina Blue]

I came across a thread on another board that referenced a recent Forbes article about the top cities for recent college grads. Charlotte ranked pretty good at number 7. One interesting point the article made, was that Charlotte was becoming a big draw for defense industry related businesses. Sounded interesting so I found the other article listed below which speaks of all the defense related jobs that have been created here lately. I found it interesting, so I thought I'd share the info. Anybody know anyone who works in that industry here?

Charlotte - A Defense Industry Magnet
Links: Charlotte Chamber - Charlotte - A Defense Industry Magnet

Forbes: Best Cities For Recent College Grads
Link: Best Cities For Recent College Grads - Forbes.com

[anifani821]

I don't know of anyone personally, CB, but we have had some posters in the past mention they were in the industry. Maybe they will see your thread and tell us about their experiences being employed in the industry here.

[ohioaninsc]

That's interesting about the defense industry claim, b/c I know that is a big cluster they are focusing on in Charleston, SC as well. Interesting that even though both cities are fairly close, they can both do well w/ attracting those kind of jobs. I guess it's b/c of the large military presence in the Carolinas. (Camp Lejeune, Ft Bragg, Seymore Johnson AFB, & Pope AFB in NC, and Charleston AFB, NWS Charleston, SPAWAR Charleston, Ft Jackson, Shaw AFB, and Paris Island Marine Training Center in SC)

[carolina_guy]

I turned down a job with General Dynamics in April to take the job in Maryland...grrrr.... It was actually only a 6 month contract in ChemDefense versus the permanent BioDefense position in Maryland, but alas, hindsight is 20/20.

Having said all that and it's not necessarily R&D, but I'm looking to get my old job back, which is in Bioterrorism response for the state. I interviewed last week and things are looking pretty good, but I won't know for another 2-3 weeks.