Web site may give natives reasons to return

OMAHA — Former Nebraskans seeking entrepreneurial and employment opportunities in their home state now have a new resource in a Web site developed by an Omaha-based recruiting company.

MoveBacktoNebraska.com is a Web-based effort to provide former Nebraskans with information and resources to help locate and examine opportunities to return home. Employment and entrepreneurial opportunities are listed on the site, as are links to economic development resources such as chamber of commerce offices.

“As a Nebraskan who lived out of the state for several years, I know that there is an interest and desire in former Nebraskans to return home,” said Loup City native Mitch Arnold, who is president of Preferred Partners, the company that manages MoveBacktoNebraska.com.
“I also know that it is challenging to find the right opportunity to justify uprooting your family and moving back,” Arnold said. “We hope that MoveBacktoNebraska.com can make it easier for former Nebraskans to discover those opportunities in their home state.”

Preferred Partners solicits job postings and business-for-sale listings from Nebraska companies and then markets those opportunities through its growing database of former Nebraskans.

After graduating from the University of Nebraska at Kearney with two degrees in four years, Arnold worked as an English and journalism teacher at Columbus Scotus High School. He also worked as a technical editor in Washington, D.C., before moving to North Carolina in 1995 to work in public relations at North Carolina A&T State University.

Arnold then developed and operated his own businesses — including a successful NASCAR-themed retail operation in Greensboro, N.C. — before returning to Nebraska in 2002.

MoveBacktoNebraska.com can help the state’s economic development efforts by reversing what many officials refer to as brain drain, Arnold said.

“Nebraska is the 10th most heavily outmigrated state for young, single, college-educated professionals, and a lot of those people come from highly skilled technical backgrounds,” said Arnold. “We would like to see them bring their talents, experience and families back to Nebraska to work for Nebraska companies or start entirely new ventures.

“That would add to the state’s revenue and diversity of opportunities, which would be a good thing for both rural and urban Nebraska areas.”

-- Kearney Hub, 4/10/2006