Hey, this is Parker, your favorite Atlanta realtor. Today I’m going to talk about some of the great job opportunities in Atlanta. I’m going to be referencing a lot of articles in the Atlanta Business Chronicle. I want to give them a shout out – it’s a great publication we subscribe to, and there’s always terrific information in there about the job market, the biggest companies, everything else you need to know to get a good job here.

So let me start by saying if you’re going to move to Atlanta, the number one thing you need to have is a job in Atlanta. The cool thing is, if you can secure a job offer letter from a new employer, say a job starting July 1st, my lenders can actually close on a home in June! So you can move to Atlanta a month before your new job starts. Go ahead and close on your home, get moved in, get settled down and then get ready for your new job.

I’m going to do another video on this coming up in a few weeks and getting more in depth into that topic, but i just wanted to put that out there and make you aware of it.

First up in our job opportunities:  if you are in information technology, computer science, software development, Microsoft is all in on making Atlanta their east coast center. Microsoft recently bought 90 acres of land near the Bankhead MARTA station, which is on the west side of Atlanta. The plan is to create a new campus there, and also set aside 25 acres for affordable housing. In addition to that, Microsoft has purchased another 125 acres near East Point, which is right next to the Atlanta Airport, and they have another 90 acre site that they’re developing out in Douglas county, which is far west Atlanta, and they have another site in Palmetto for a 250,000 square foot data center. Palmetto is a really interesting little city southwest of Atlanta – it’s the home of Serenbe, which is a planned farm to table sustainable living community, and it’s also one of the principal filming sites for stranger things the Bradley’s Big Buy grocery store in stranger things is actually an old Piggly Wiggly on Center Street in Palmetto, and they use a lot of the neighborhoods around there to film exterior locations as well.  So, again, Microsoft is all in on making Atlanta their east coast data center. It’s going to be really interesting to watch the west side of Atlanta develop as this process unfolds. They’re going to be tens of thousands of jobs created and the west side of Atlanta has traditionally been underdeveloped relative to the east side, and when I say under developed, what I mean is that there just hasn’t been that the same housing density on the west side that you see on the east side. It’s going to be a really interesting process to watch right now. There’s just billions of dollars of investment capital flowing into the west side and you know it’s it’s going to be a very exciting time. If you like what we’re doing here please like comment and subscribe thanks.

All right second opportunity:  you probably know that more films are produced in Georgia now than in Hollywood, and that’s brought incredible opportunities in the film and tv business, not just in Atlanta, but all over the state of Georgia. One of the reasons Georgia has become so popular is we have mountains in the north part of the state, we have plains down in the southwest part of the state, and we have the beautiful Georgia coast in the southeast, and you know as a filmmaker that gives you access to all these really visually different geographic locations and they’re all just a few hours apart. Georgia also has about 2 million square feet of soundstage production space, and that number is growing very very fast. One of the most exciting developments in film and tv right now in Georgia is that Gray Television has bought the old General Motors plant in Doraville, and they’re converting it into a film and television production hub. Doraville, if you don’t know, is a small city just northeast of Atlanta inside the perimeter. The General Motors plant opened in 1947, and it closed in 2008. It sat there for a few years. They finally demolished it in 2015, and it’s just been a giant heap of concrete rubble ever since. Various plans have floated around over the years for this old General Motors site, and this is the first one that it’s going to happen. Grey Television is planning a real Hollywood-style studio city development, with sound stages, restaurants, parks, a lake. There’s going to be little bungalows there where producers, directors, screenwriters, can all live and collaborate during production. This is a very exciting development! They’re breaking ground on the project this summer with plans to be operational by the spring of 2022. This is going to be an incredible boost for the city of Doraville but also for Chamblee, Brookhaven, and Dunwoody which are all adjacent to Doraville. So, if you’re working anywhere in the film and tv production industry, definitely give Atlanta a look. By the way if you like what we’re doing here I’m a licensed realtor in the state of Georgia please keep me in mind – my contact information is in the box below. You got any questions about Atlanta real estate anywhere in the state of Georgia, I’d love to talk to you.

Let’s keep going! And, our third and final opportunity for today’s video is SAIA trucking. If you have a commercial driver’s license, SAIA trucking is expanding their Atlanta facilities, and they’re hiring 500 class a commercial drivers. SAIA is the number eight transportation company in the United States. They’re offering up to a hundred thousand dollars a year for new drivers with signing bonuses, paid training, 401k retirement plans and paid time off. If you have a commercial driver’s license and you’re looking to make a move to Atlanta this would be a great opportunity.

So whether you work in tech, entertainment, healthcare, transportation, the arts, hospitality – Atlanta is absolutely booming right now and I think you’re going to find tremendous employment opportunities here. If you’re thinking about making the move to Atlanta, please keep me in mind I’m a licensed realtor. My contact information is in the box below – feel free to reach out to me with any questions you have we’ll talk soon!