A Raleigh job placement agency is holding job fairs to hire 400 people who will conduct phone surveys.

The interviewer jobs start May 1 in North Raleigh and will run through mid-September, but some of the phone workers may end up getting hired permanently.

Greene Resources is holding the all-day job fairs April 24 and May 1 at the Hilton North Raleigh at 3415 Wake Forest Road.

The jobs pay $10 an hour and don't require selling anything. Instead, the phone bank workers will call people to conduct surveys.

The phone surveys will be conducted for RTI International, a large nonprofit research organization in Research Triangle Park conducts surveys and research for government agencies and other clients.
 

Art.com is hoping to raise its profile in the Triangle by combining an open house and job fair today from 2 to 4 p.m. and from 6 to 8 p.m.

The online retailer, which specializes in wall art and framing, is planning to hire about 60 people for the holidays, said Elizabeth Ellingson, who works in Human Resources locally for the California-based company.

The jobs are in customer sales and support, and Ellingson said there's a chance some of the positions could become permanent as the company establishes new business relationship with various big box retailers and cultural institutions.

A local pharmaceutical contractor is on a hiring binge in the Triangle and nationwide to staff up for new contracts.

Wilmington-based PPD, with offices in Morrisville, is looking to fill 111 openings statewide and 575 company-wide.

PPD is one of the nation's largest drug research organizations that provides services to pharmaceutical companies and employs 11,000 people worldwide. The company, which employs about 1,400 in the Triangle, is in the process of being acquired by two private equity firms.

The company is holding an all-day job fair for nurses and pharmacists on Oct. 27 at 5150 McCrimmon Parkway, Suite 411, Morrisville.

N.C. State University's engineering job fair is expected to attract more than 265 employers and thousands of job seekers next week in Raleigh.

The biannual event is one of the nation's largest career fairs for engineering students, drawing applicants from far beyond local universities. Last year nearly 5,000 job seekers thronged to the fair.

This year's event will be held at the McKimmon Center, 1101 Gorman St.

For more info call 919-515-3263 or visit http://students.engr.ncsu.edu/careerfair/.

Two employment-staffing firms will hold job fairs this week in Raleigh to fill more than 600 positions.

The mass-hiring efforts come as the state unemployment rate rose to 9.9 percent in June, the first increase in more than a year, and the highest level since last fall.

Manpower will hold job fairs Tuesday and Saturday at its local office at 1122 Oberlin Road to fill more than 200 customer-service positions at a call center. The contract jobs will pay about $13 an hour, and will end on a staggered basis starting in mid-December.

Kelly Services expects hundreds to turn out for its fair on Thursday and wants to fill the jobs within the next few weeks. The agency is recruiting 400 employees for two clients:

Several hundred ConAgra employees who will lose their jobs in the coming weeks were treated to a private job fair Wednesday to help ease the economic impact of one of the region's biggest layoffs in years.

Nearly two dozen employers set up booths at the job fair at ConAgra's facility in Garner that used to make Slim Jim snacks. More than 500 ConAgra workers are slated for layoffs in April and May, as the company winds down operations in the wake of a 2009 explosion that killed four people.

ConAgra's human resource director, Tenisha Barnes, said the job fair was a success.

"Steady traffic all day. Great turnout," Barnes said by e-mail. "Recruiters impressed with the caliber of employees – longevity with company, varied skill sets, positive energy/attitudes."

More than a dozen companies are expected to offer interviews and jobs this month exclusively to local ConAgra employees who will lose their jobs in April and May.

About 520 remaining ConAgra employees are slated to lose their jobs in what will be one of the region's biggest mass layoffs when the snack food maker's Garner facility closes in late May.

To help the affected workers find other opportunities, ConAgra and the Capital Area Workforce Development Board have scheduled an employment fair for March 30, about two months before ConAgra shuts down the local facility that produced Slim Jim snacks.

The thriving Garner facility was never able to recover from an explosion in 2009 that killed four people.

NCSU expects more than 245 companies at next week's engineering career fair.

The event attracts more than just students from the university's College of Engineering. The last career fair, in February, attracted more than 3,000 job seekers.

Among the companies participating this year: bioMerieux, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Burt's Bees, Cree and Duke Energy.

The fair is from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 5 and 6, in the McKimmon St. at 1101 Gorman St. on the NCSU campus.

For more information and a complete list of the companies attending, go here.

Financial services firm Edward Jones is planning to add 77 new offices in Raleigh over the next few years. But to do so, it needs people.

The company is hosting what it's calling a "recruiting event" from 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday at the Brier Creek Country Club, 9400 Club Hill Drive in Raleigh. A panel of local Edward Jones advisors will be on hand to talk about their work and answer questions.

The company is based in St. Louis and has 12,000 financial advisors around the country. For more information about the business, go here.

The Winston-Salem Urban League wants to bring its community outreach programs to Raleigh.

The group is looking at a couple of different sites downtown for its office and is holding a three-day training conference and job fair here next week as a way of introducing itself to the community.

The Claim Your Career Conference and Career Fair takes place Wednesday-Friday in the Raleigh Convention Center.