Live + Work

The website is designed to recruit top talent from across the country to come live and work in the Pine Tree State. Ed McKersie, founder of Live + Maine, has been in the recruiting business for 30 years and was one of the original founders of JobsInME before the website sold in 2005. He is also a transplant, and came to Maine from Massachusetts in... 1989. There are two statewide problems he's passionate about - stopping the flow of young people from fleeing the state for employment opportunities and increasing Maine's shrinking workforce. "We have done such a fabulous job as a tourist destination, but the idea of marketing ourselves as a career destination hasn't been done," McKersie said. That's why he made the website's slogan, "Visit for aweek, stay for a lifetime. And despite the governor's and state's efforts, McKersie said there's the belief that Maine has a competitive disadvantage and isn't businessfriendly. "We have a perception problem and if we can get more people up here to check it out and build some momentum around that, it will go a long way to alleviate the problems we got," he said. And that's what he is trying to do with his website. It was launched about a month ago and was a little late making its debut because so many companies wanted to sign on. McKersie expected five, maybe 15 businesses to make profiles for his website, but had to push back the launch date when 85 companies wanted to participate. Live + Work in Maine has eight regional home pagesdedicated to the diverse areas in the state, each of which "has a different flavor to it. McKersie tapped on economic development professionals and chambers of commerce across the state to add content to these sections of the site.Read More