Myrtle Beach jobs agency receives more than 50 applications for CEO post

More than 50 people applied to be Horry County’s top industry recruiter, but the official sorting the resumes said most of applicants aren’t qualified for the position.

Thursday was the deadline to apply to be CEO of the Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corp. The agency’s former president, Jim Moore, resigned in June after less than six months on the job.

The CEO is responsible for managing the organization, which receives $1.3 million in public money each year, and recruiting companies to move to the area.

Fred Richardson, who chairs the EDC’s board and is serving as the agency’s interim leader, said many of the applicants didn’t have the requisite background and experience.

“I’m going back through them,” he said of the applications. “I’m putting them into three categories: a yes, meaning they might be qualified or are qualified; a maybe, meaning they’ve got a high level of experience but maybe not in this particular, exact field; and no, meaning no I wouldn’t send them on to anybody else.”

Late Thursday, Richardson was making his final choices. He suspects just 10-15 applications will make it to the search committee tasked with choosing finalists. Some resumes, however, looked promising.

“We’ve got some possibilities to talk about,” he said.

If the committee doesn’t find a suitable candidate, Richardson said the agency would restart the search.

This story was originally published August 20, 2015 at 5:58 PM with the headline "Myrtle Beach jobs agency receives more than 50 applications for CEO post."