Web site connects job seekers, employers

As northern Nevadans proceed through the early 2010 regional economic information, it seems as though there is only more negative news being piled on this area. The March local and statewide unemployment rates have risen to 13.2 percent and 13.4 percent respectively, some once-shining new employers have severely cut back on employees or closed their operations, and many of the unemployed fear they might not land that next job.

Is this all there is, no hope for this area? Are we doomed to wallow forever in this negativity? Well, no. There is good news on the employment front for both employers and those seeking new employment. That information is not a well-kept secret but it is so new that it hasn't received the play in the media that the negative stories do. So it is my pleasure to introduce It's About Jobs in this column.

Last June, Nevadaworks shared with the community, its local Workforce Survey results (www.nevadaworks.com/community/reports-and-articles). Included in the report,the researchers offered our area several recommendations for enhancing and improving services to the workforce. The Nevadaworks Board made the commitment at that time to implement as many of the recommendations as soon as possible. One of the first results of that commitment has resulted in It's About Jobs.

Nevadaworks has learned from its training providers' reports that a significant number of job seekers complain about how many different websites they must check, often daily, to learn about jobs in this area. These sites might be the traditional national sites, or local employment sites or individual company sites.

Nevadaworks has also heard directly from employers a well-stated complaint that they are often overwhelmed with the high number of submitted resumes in response to their job openings and how the applicants are under qualified.

While researching solutions to these complaints, Nevadaworks learned of a proprietary spidering software that gathers job listings, reviews them for duplications, filters out unwanted fake jobs and posts the results in one location for ease of access. In addition, the job openings could be restricted to specific geographic areas and local company Web sites as identified.

After substantial investigation of this service and months of detailed reference checking, the decision was made to contract this service. Nevadaworks requested that only job listings in the 13 northern Nevada counties of its service area be listed. Therefore, no out-of-state jobs or jobs in Las Vegas appear on It's About Jobs. A list of local employers was submitted so any jobs listed on their Web sites would be gathered.

To share this information with individuals and employers, Nevadaworks designed a logo that directs people to its website where in one click, the individual or employer is directed to a signup page. When the one-time registration is complete, the next step is direction to the appropriate jobs page. From that time on, the jobs page can be bookmarked and it is no longer necessary to access it through Nevadaworks.

Once on the jobs page, an individual can search job openings, save part or all of the searches, post a resume and view other resources. Employers can search posted resumes and post jobs openings directly to It's About Jobs.

To date, over 2,500 individuals have signed up to view these jobs with over 500 posting their resumes. At any one time, there are approximately 2,000 open positions in northern Nevada. These include high-level executive and professional jobs, mid-level staffing needs, entry-level positions and everything in between.

Jobs are available in northern Nevada. People are being hired. Employers are finding qualified employees.

The purpose of the It's About Jobs link for individuals is to bring them into an awareness of jobs as quickly as possible, in an easy-to-understand and use manner. When an individual clicks on a link to a given job, the original website posting is presented and the individual is no longer on the It's About Jobs link at Nevadaworks.

When employers desire to search posted resumes on It's About Jobs, they can search them by skill sets, education or experience. Only candidates resumes that meet the employer's stated requirements appear, thus greatly simplifying the search process.

Employers can also post job openings for free and if a posted job description is not netting needed results, the employer can opt to easily post a refined version directly through It's About Jobs.

There are no costs or charges to employers or individuals for this service and it is not in competition with private job banks. Once a job is posted in a public domain, It's About Jobs merely collects such information into one easy to access site. This is an important service for our region because not everyone has knowledge of all job posting sites and most employers do not have the ability to review emailed resumes at will. In today's economy, any efforts to help bring potential employees together with good employers is a benefit to the entire community.

As with any dynamic Web site, registered users should check back often. Jobs are added every day, additional features are introduced often and the resources information can stimulate new thoughts on how to better recruit for open positions.

As we grow our economy back to better health, Nevadaworks is committed to offering new and innovative services that meet the needs of our citizenry. Nevadaworks is utilizing its federal funds in ways that benefit the most people in the greatest possible way. Nevadaworks will continue to implement the work survey recommendations and I will report on the next step forward as it occurs.

Tom Fitzgerald is chief executive officer of Nevadaworks. Contact him through www.nevadaworks.com.