Everyone knows the economy is in a crunch and South Carolina is really feeling the pressure. We have the second-highest jobless rate as posted by the S.C. Employment Security Commission at the end of March in 2009. (Read more from The State in their article Thousands Scramble to Find Work in SC.)

We are at an alarming rate of 11% and competition for the available jobs is getting more fierce. What can the unemployed do to stay positive and get a new job? It’s a simple answer, but a difficult one to do: know where the jobs are and build your skills.

SCIway has come up with a comprehensive job search guide. We have the state broken down by Coastal, Midlands, Pee Dee, and Upstate so you can search by city. If you don’t mind relocating within South Carolina and are more career-minded, you can search our guide by career, field, or type of employer.

Another way to find a new position is to work with a recruiter or a placement service. (View our SC employment agency guide.) MAU Workforce Solutions is a staffing service currently holding seminars about career transition during March and April in Greenville, Augusta/Aiken, and Charleston. (See the cities and dates.)

If your field is shrinking, or if you feel it’s time for a change, learning more skills, and embarking on a new career might be in order. Take a look at SCIway’s Specialized Career Schools and Colleges Guide to see what kinds of opportunities might suit you for specific career training. Our comprehensive higher education guide also has an array of listings that may spark your interest and get you firing off in a new, exciting career direction.

SCIway’s directory of SC jobs has 350,000 pageviews a year, and a featuring listing costs $2 or less a day.

Follow the link if you are a South Carolina employer and would like to post a job listing.

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Speaking of jobs, we are also looking for an Online Advertising Sales Representative. South Carolina applicants are strongly encouraged to apply. If you know someone looking for work who has a love for South Carolina as well as making money in sales, please pass along this link to them. The job has a base salary of $30K plus commission and benefits.

Read more about this job listing.

Everyone expects Spring to bring rabbits and baby chicks, but “penguins”?

This past Saturday, South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston, revealed its new exhibit: Penguin Planet.

Four Magellanic penguins from were flown into Charleston from SeaWorld San Diego in February for their March 21st debut.

The penguins have been adjusting well, by frolicking, swimming, and eating. (See them in action on Penguin Cam[download required]!) Post and Courier reports the penguins have been having a great time in their new home and show no signs of stress. They also reported that Clint Ball, the aquarium’s senior biologist, said they are on loan from SeaWorld for a year and then will return to their 40 member “waddle” (a group of penguins). You can read more about this in Post and Courier’s article Penguins Visit Aquarium.

Typically penguins are thought of as being cold climate fans, but the Magellanic variety actually prefer warmer climes like Charleston. In the wild, Magellanic penguins are found around Chile and Argentina and migrate north to Peru and Brazil in the colder times of year.

Find more SC Zoos, Observatories, Planetariums, and Aquariums.

Read more about SC Wildlife Refuges and Natural Habitat Preserves.

Follow “Waddle” on Twitter.

This past Tuesday, South Carolina received 59 of the 160 million Federal stimulus dollars slated for green improvements in the Palmetto State. (8 billion dollars is South Carolina’s total stimulus amount; see the breakdown here.)

The money is allocated for building more energy efficient schools and state facilities, weatherizing low-income homes, and training people for “green collar” jobs. You can read more about this in The Post and Courier’s article, SC to weatherize, boost green energy.

If our government is doing it, what else can we do to go more ‘green’? SCIway’s SC Green Building Guide can help you create a smaller ecological footprint for yourself as well as save you money in the long-term.

Some of our guide highlights are:

● Green buildings like The Circular Congregational Church, Charleston’s oldest church, has added a vegetative roof to a new section.

● A SC State and Federal Financial Incentives for Green Buildings section which features links to government sites like the US Department of Energy’s Consumer Guide to Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

● Resources like SC for Green, a compendium of everything green in South Carolina. They link businesses, cities, individuals, and organizations that are green minded.

● Interactive tools like the Household Environmental Calculator, to rate your current footprint and evaluate plans for you to reduce your environmental impact.

Take a moment to familiarize yourself with our SCIway’s SC Green Building Guide and its resources.

If you see something missing from our guide, please contact us at service@sciway.net.

Well-known Lowcountry author, Pat Conroy, is inducted today into the South Carolina Hall of Fame.

Conroy is the hailed author of Lowcountry epics like “The Prince of Tides”, “The Great Santini”, and “The Lords of Discipline.” Many think as South Carolina-focused as his books are that he’s was born in South Carolina, but Conroy is acutally an Atlanta native. He claims to have moved 23 times before he turned 18. But when his family moved to Beaufort, while his father was serving at the Marine Air Corp Station, Conroy took a stand to root himself, and call Beaufort “home.”

Following the military footsteps of his father, Conroy was educated at The Citadel in Charleston. After which, he took an unprecedented turn towards teaching in a one-room schoolhouse at Daufuskie Island. He based his book “The Water Is Wide” on his experience there teaching the sheltered students and dealing with the rudimentary thinking of the native adults. The novel was later turned into a film starring Jon Voight called “Conrack“, named from what the children would call Conroy since they couldn’t pronounce his last name.

Dedicated in 1973, The South Carolina Hall of Fame inducts one living and one deceased person a year. Previous inductees have included President Andrew Jackson, Cheraw-native jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and former South Carolina Governor Strom Thurmond.

Conroy currently lives on Fripp Island with his wife and fellow-author Cassandra King.

The 2009 Induction Ceremony will be 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, March 18, at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center. Admission is free. Call 843-916-7238 for more information.

Discover more books about South Carolina and from SC authors.

Find out more about South Carolina music.

Read more about The Citadel.

Research other South Carolina Convention Centers.

This Monday, The Neighborhood Assistance Corp. of America (NACA) brought its Save the Dream Tour to Columbia’s Carolina Coliseum. The NACA is a non-profit, community advocacy, and home-ownership organization.

They are currently keeping very busy with the rash of sub-prime mortgages and predatory loans placing pressure on the public. They allow NACA members to purchase or refinance their homes with no down payment, no closing costs, and try to reduce any other fees that could bring the consumer deeper into deby.

The State reports that NACA brought with it an army of hundreds of counselors and numerous lending institution representatives to reach out to the people in need during the four-day event. Many travelled from all over the country to seek support.

The advocacy group helped many behind on their mortgages with lower interest rates and payments, and provided many others with hopeful plans to get out of their crunch.

Learn more from SCIway’s South Carolina Bank and Home Foreclosure Guide.

Find out more about South Carolina’s Bankruptcy Laws.

Read more about South Carolina’s Non-Profit Groups and Charities.

Find Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Local SC Offices.

University of South Carolina’s Institute for Archaeology and Anthropology is interested in what lies beneath Charleston Harbor (view a map of Charleston Harbor defenses). Underwater archaeologist James Spirek is traveling to the bottom of Charleston Harbor on an expedition to find remains of Civil War-era shipwrecks.

Spirek expects to find many ships, since Charleston had a “strategic position” in the war. Spirek went on to say, “We’re treating this area as one giant battlefield, as opposed to a number of separate smaller ones.” Finding the exact locations of the ships will also help determine battle strategies on the water, as far as whether a ship was used for tactical or strategic positions, counter-measures, or blockade running. Spirek also expects to find submerged coastal-defense barriers, torpedoes, and other relics of naval warfare.

A secondary effort of the exploration is to mark or begin excavation in the historical areas since beach renourishment projects, channel widening, and other projects involving human intervention could damage the shipwrecks.

“The project is being funded by a grant from National Park Service through their American Battlefield Protection Program,” Spirek said.

The search begins this month.

Learn more about South Carolina’s Civil War Battles.

See more South Carolina’s Civil War Maps.

This weekend, The Citadel celebrates its 166th birthday. The college is ushering in its 167th year with its annual Corps Day Weekend – complete with speakers, exhibits, parades, and even a musical narration entitled The Citadel Story. The theme of the weekend is principled leadership. There will be panel discussions and speeches from military experts like Lt. Gen. Robert L. Van Antwerp who is currently overseeing most of our nation’s civil works infrastructure and military construction. The State newspaper reports that US Senator Lindsey Graham will deliver the keynote address on Friday evening.

The Citadel was founded in 1842 and has an undergraduate program of about 2,000 students who make up the South Carolina Corps of Cadets. Any Charlestonian recognizes these cadets as the short-cropped exercisers along Lockwood Drive with their white belts and navy running gear or the young men walking down King Street in full-dress during a weekend study break.

The school gained public interest from Pat Conroy’s novel, The Lords of Discipline, when it was published in 1980. Conroy, a former student, chronicled the story of a “knob” or “plebe” (a first year cadet) and his emotional and physical trials growing up in a very disciplined environment at a “fictional” military college set in Charleston. It was well-known to most as being The Citadel, though not explicitly said in the novel.

The story was made into a film in 1983 and was planned to be shot on location at The Citadel. The military school film Taps was shot in 1981, and was heard to have presented many shooting delays and burdens to the school. When The Citadel got word of this, they declined to allow the shoot to take place. Some have said the school and its alumni felt that the story also showed Citadel life in a negative light, so some feel that the refusal encompassed that sentiment as well.

Regardless of the differing views, The Citadel has been know to produce great results. The school ranks number 3 nationally for percentage of students who graduate in four years, including master’s level programs. Princeton Review also sings The Citadel’s praise by listing The Citadel School of Business one of the nation’s 290 best business programs.

We certainly wish The Citadel continuing success as one of South Carolina’s best colleges.

Find hotels near The Citadel.

Read more about The Citadel’s accomplishments.

View a video about The Citadel.

Learn more about Daniel Library at The Citadel.

Discover more about South Carolina’s elected officials.