Finding effective career guidance and setting our nation’s youth on a pathway for success is a challenge to us all. Doing it in an urban area with 15% unemployment increases the challenges.  That’s why it is critical for young people to know that it’s never too soon to begin personal career planning. By helping the workforce of tomorrow plan for their careers today, we can continue to promote local workforce development with lasting results.    

At the National Association of Workforce Boards Forum session, “Delivering Better Solutions by Youth, for Youth,” Monster Government Solutions (MGS) and Felicia Flournoy, Director of Workforce Development at Riverside County Workforce Investment Board, shared how we’ve worked to empower young people to take reign of their personal career path by developing and using a unique online portal that offers resources and professional connections to get them on the pathway to career development.

In just three-months since its online launch, the Riverside Youth Workforce team has amassed an online membership of 300 local youth, all interested in learning the fundamental steps to career planning. With the help of Riverside County Workforce Investment Board and MGS, young people learned web design and management skills and then designed, built, and managed the online career hub, myIECareer.com. This hub allows them to connect by building peer-to-peer and employer relationships to direct career decisions and lead them to a college track.

During the NAWB session, Flourney explained that the online approach has allowed Riverside Country Workforce to “reach more with less” by allowing youth to serve both as designers and content generators so there is a sense of ownership in the site that encourages ongoing engagement.

With a surge of growth in just three months, what can you expect to come next from the Riverside Youth online career hub? In addition to increased online engagement, Monster’s Creative Director, Bill Bradbury explained that the program will continue to put greater emphasis on its “career missions” where young people engage with area employers relevant to their career interests.  The dynamic missions allow youth to gain valuable insight from employer, who can offer career advice, guidance, and jobs.

Watch these video interviews with Felicia and Bill to learn more about the program.

Watch this video interview with Jamil Dada, Chairman of California Workforce Investment Board, who discusses how local job growth directly connects with the country’s overall economic recovery.

Listen to NAWB Chief Executive Officer, Ron Painter discuss key-takeaways and how they can be applied on a local and national level.

There is a wealth of insight to be gained from the huge amount of resume and job posting data that is collected online. By collecting, analyzing and providing insights from talent supply and demand data, we are able to provide a 360⁰-view to guide investment, strategy, program and partnering decisions, while also improving the efficiency of job placement.

During our National Association of Workforce Board 2012 Forum session, “Best Practices: Using Real-Time Labor Intelligence (RLI) to Develop Workforce Strategy, Partnerships, and Services,” research savvy panelists walked audience members through various programs that have used RLI data to facilitate relationships among local employers and policy makers. As workshop panelist, Merrilea Mayo who is Lead Strategist of New Options New Mexico puts it, RLI helps connect job seekers to “jobs that are really available, right now.”

This intelligence offers a current picture of workforce supply and demand trends, emerging occupations, employers’ skill requirements, and market-based demand for education and certifications.

What does this mean to job seekers and employers?

The skill‐knowledge and education‐experience requirements extracted from the job postings can be used to help determine how well qualified an individual will be for jobs in a particular occupation. RLI can generate a “skill set score” for job seekers to more quickly help employers connect with appropriate candidates.”

The RLI also helps to better identify potential employer partners to aid in local workforce development, new majors for community colleges that would align with labor market trends and skill sets required, and the most relevant employers and opportunities for people looking for jobs. With this real-time data, jobseekers are more successfully matched with companies for lasting employment results.   RLI can also help boost the level of credibility and expertise of workforce boards in the eyes of employers, educational institutions, economic development organizations and government officials.

You can learn more by watching interviews with Monster’s Bruce Stephen and session panelist Chris Reardon, who serves as Vice President of Strategic Development and Business Services at Workforce Alliance, a workforce board in South-Central Connecticut.

Click here for audio from Susan Fallon’s, pictures are available here.

We are proud to be helping our nation’s youth, who volunteer by the tens of thousands every year to improve their communities. Nearly 100,000 young people graduate each year from Service Corps programs, such as AmeriCorps and City Year, with skills and relevant work experience in fields ranging from conservation to teaching to healthcare delivery (and everywhere in between). Graduates are often unsure what industries to seek for interesting and applicable careers.  Our commitment is to offer them the guidance and tools they need to find their dream jobs, while helping employers identify top talent with relevant skills.

Monster will power the project by developing a solid online foundation, which will feature a vast pool of resumes of people graduating from service crops programs, job opportunities from partner employers, and educational guides tailored to the service corps community. NAWB, The Corps Network, and employer-led Workforce Investment Boards will work together to help us develop the customized content and tools on the community site.

We look forward to working with our partners and the young people who serve our country to help our economy recover, grow, and thrive.

Washington Spurs Hiring When It Supports American Businesses

Sal Iannuzzi has been Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer at Monster Worldwide since April 2007 and has been a member of the Board of Directors since July 2006.

The VA provides healthcare, disability benefits, pensions, home loans, life insurance, and education assistance to thousands of American veterans, and runs the Nation’s largest cemetery system. Carrying out these vast responsibilities demands a diverse and sizable workforce. However, with more than 300,000 disparate position descriptions (PDs), it became increasingly difficult for the VA to classify, manage, and develop their workforce.

By using MGS technology, Monster Position Classification, the VA was able to standardize PDs and PD data across the agency and ultimately reduce their number of PDs by 99% — from 300,000 to 1,000 at the end of implementation. The web-based solution automates the process for users to view, create, copy, edit, and share PDs, allowing Classifiers and HR Specialists to focus on position management and their main goal – hiring veterans.

According to the VA’s director of human resources information technology, MGS not only dramatically reduced the PDs, but helped “improve customer service to first-line supervisors by providing managers with well-classified PDs to create meaningful PDs the first time around.  As a result, the time to develop and classify positions as well as post vacancies was significantly decreased.”    He also noted that “the flexible architecture of Monster Position Classification also makes it easy to add or change details of our classification process, particularly as our needs evolve – all within a uniform, structured framework that ensures accuracy and consistent results.”

What is your experience with position classification?   Do you feel  your agency needs to reduce the number?

CEO and the West Virginia Energy Sector Partnership received a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to support the “WV GREEN-UP” project, an effort to create green jobs and businesses through an online career community website. CEO and Monster’s Public Sector and Education teamed to create The Green Accelerator, an online community where all stakeholders can network for news and information, social networking, employment, and training opportunities.

Pam Curry, Executive Director of CEO, described the importance of the online community, saying “We are looking forward to working with our partners to help make the Accelerator a truly interactive, important tool for our State’s workers, businesses, entrepreneurs, and the environment.”

The Accelerator helps business owners connect by joining communities like “Cultural & Eco Tourism” and “Renewable and Sustainable Energy.” These communities serve as examples of how members of the community can share best practices and network. They are focused social networks where visitors can subscribe to RSS feeds, participate in blogs and discussions, and network with peers.

The Accelerator is also the go-to place for green career information, job searches, job training, and job placement. Jobseekers on the site can learn about various “green courses” and professional development opportunities, and begin their search for the perfect green job. In addition to the job listings, the site includes advice on improving one’s resume, cover letter, and interview skills. The site also features a detailed Green Business Directory for jobseekers interested in a green career, or companies looking to network with other green businesses.

The Monster CEO partnership engages the green community in a meaningful sustained dialogue that will allow CEO to achieve higher performance for the advancement of the GREEN-UP region’s economic and workforce strategies. To check out the features for yourself, visit the website at: http://www.thegreenaccelerator.com

With youth unemployment in several cities around the U.S. at an all time high, WIBs, Chambers of Commerce, high schools and colleges have begun seeking out and building solutions to high drop-out numbers. With greater competition for jobs in a tough economy, communities are engaging youth in a variety of education and job programs in order to develop an emerging workforce that will give back to the community.

The webinar featured several youth engagement programs that have enlisted Monster’s help through our Making Your Future Count programs. A highlight was Cindy Evans’, Lehigh Valley Workforce Investment Board workforce coordinator, presentation on their local youth program, which, in partnership with Monster Government Solutions and Lehigh Carbon Community College, aimed to prepare local students to fully engage in their current academic achievement and pursue their future post-secondary and career trajectories.

Barren River Area Development District (BRADD) and the Liberty Partnership Program also presented on how they each used the Making Your Future Count program to support high-energy, full-day youth events.

Monster & NAWB Webinar Introduction by NAWB’s Josh Copus:

Monster & NAWB Webinar Part 2: Making Your Future Count Overview:

Monster & NAWB Webinar Part 3: Barren River Area Program Overview:

Monster & NAWB Webinar Part 4: Liberty Partnership Program Overview:

Monster & NAWB Webinar Part 5: Lehigh Valley WIB Program Overview:

Monster & NAWB Webinar Part 6: Wrap-up and Questions:

Also, check out this video to see the programs in action and hear testimonials from participants of the programs.

To get up-to-date info on upcoming events and webinars, FOLLOW US on Twitter @MonsterGov!