I know one of the biggest employers left in the area are downsizing which doesn't help either. 

It could help but being your first rental property the bank is going to rely heavily on your personal credit/financials and employment.

I’m new to the forums but have been spending the last few months reading everything I can and talking to investors (my dad happens to be a money manager and I have been working directly with the CFO and CEO of my employer on a few projects so I have pretty good access to high net worth and extremely invested people).

Or will it also include employment history, income, previous addresses, contact info, etc. 

I work as a network Engineer, and i have a decent income but i don't have enough employment history in the united state(I was in Dominican Republic since i was a teenager)  so i don't get a approve. 

Employment comes from either the mines, government, a local extension of a College University or a local hospital.

It took me YEARS of constantly hounding the family patriarch to teach me HOW they owned over 70 homes with the majority being mortgage free.Fast forward 20+ years and I've realized that my few transactions need to become MANY more to generate the income and lifestyle that will allow me to have both the time and money to spend with family and friends when I choose – and not just on days off from my employer.

I spent too much time explaining the value I bring as well as the time and money I invest to find, research, marketing campaigns, qualifying the buyers situation and evaluating the deal before I make and offer...I believe my time investment is worth a reasonable assignment fee since, Ive helped the seller get out of a property that is a burden and I've helped a rehabber to find properties they will profit from and employ people with families. 

I've seen how landlords will require tax returns if self-employed.  

Delaying the first rate increase until employment and inflation return to the Fed’s objectives “would risk overheating the economy,” Yellen said.She also repeated the Fed’s two criteria for raising rates, which have been kept near zero since December 2008: “I will need to see continued improvement in labor market conditions, and I will need to be reasonably confident that inflation will move back to 2 percent over the medium term.”First QuarterPolicy makers expect growth to pick up after stalling in the first quarter, even as they fret about the strength of the consumer spending that makes up two-thirds of the economy, minutes of their April meeting released Wednesday show.Yellen said it will be best to proceed “cautiously,” which means taking “several years” before policy makers lift the federal funds back to its normal, longer-run level.Even after significant employment gains, the labor market “is approaching its full strength,” though still short of it, Yellen said.