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!

Over the past several days, we’ve gone through a series of steps designed to help federal, state, and local development boards combat high unemployment rates by developing their workforces. We discussed targeting specific industries and demographic groups, focusing on the overall experience of the job seeker, finding the best employee-employer matches, creating effective online community centers, promoting those online resources, and preemptively seeking and training a talented workforce. Today’s final step brings everything together.

7. A Simple Equation: High Performance Workforce = Education + Government + Industry

The final step development boards should take is to recognize that they can’t create the ultimate workforce alone. Working with education, government, and private industry groups, they can share best practices, recognize opportunities, and fix problems. Through this collaboration in all seven steps, WIBs will successfully help get Americans back to work and cultivate industry growth.

What steps in our series do you think you already have covered? Which ones do you need to work on? What goals do you have going forward to develop your workforce? Please share your comments below.

To read the full White Paper, Seven Steps to a High Performance Workforce, please click here.

By Lee Ramsayer and Dan DeMaioNewton

Our sixth of seven steps to creating a high performance workforce moves away from the strategies to make an immediate successful hire and looks to the future.

6. Build More Effective Talent Pipelines to Strategic Growth Initiatives.

As our economy continues to recover, there will be a war for talent. Job seekers will have more options and companies will have to compete even more to hire and retain the best employees. The smartest WIBs are already preparing for this and taking steps to preemptively train and develop their workforces. This can be achieved by monitoring industry and market trends that could become the next source of jobs in a regain and preparing future employees accordingly. By training and educating local job seekers and youth, local groups can cultivate agile and responsive regional pools that match future employment needs. Utilizing Monster’s Real-Time Labor Intelligence supply database and our numerous scholarship and education platforms can help WIBs prepare these upcoming employment scenarios.

Are there any industries you see poised to grow in your town or region? Are there enough qualified potential employees should an increase in hiring occur? Please share your comments below.

To read the full White Paper, Seven Steps to a High Performance Workforce, please click here.

By Lee Ramsayer and Dan DeMaioNewton

Yesterday we discussed creating effective online career centers to connect and engage Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs), employers, job seekers, and other stakeholders. Today we expand on this idea in our series of steps to developing a high performance workforce.

5. Build Sustained Outreach, Public Relations, and Communications Processes to Drive Pervasive Awareness.

Once a WIB has created an online career center, steps must be taken to ensure it is actually utilized and reaching a sizable and appropriate audience. First, the WIB must create value – making sure that the online experience is valuable for every visitor. Secondly, the Board needs to make sure it HAS visitors. Promoting and advertising programs and services will help drive traffic and in turn create more value. Third, the WIB should utilize other online social networks (like Facebook and Twitter) to create an even broader communications channel. Lastly, the Board should combine online and offline engagement. Monster was able to do this step by asking actual students to help us design and manage the Riverside Youth Career Portal. By making it “by students for students,” we were able to empower local youth while creating an even more valuable site.

How have you promoted your online efforts? Please share your comments below.

To read the full White Paper, Seven Steps to a High Performance Workforce, please click here.

By Lee Ramsayer and Dan DeMaioNewton

As we continue to explore ways to improve and expand Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs), much of our advice has focused on really understanding both the potential employees and employers. Today’s step continues in that vein.

4. Introduce Relationship-centric Solutions.

Nearly everyone these days is part of at least one online social network. They allow people to connect, find common interests, and grow their personal and professional networks. The increasing popularity of these platforms is a perfect opportunity for WIBs and businesses to directly engage with principal stakeholders and potential employees. Creating online career community forums allows all parties to coordinate, communicate, and collaborate in real-time. These connections and support networks are integral in facilitating effective job searches.

Monster has developed some of its own online community centers in a diverse array of career sectors to engage active and passive job seekers who may be interested in career development or educational opportunities. Has your town or region had any success connecting employers and employees via online platforms? Please share your comments below.

To read the full White Paper, Seven Steps to a High Performance Workforce, please click here.

By Lee Ramsayer and Dan DeMaioNewton

Today we continue our Monster High Performance series, seven strategic steps for federal, state, and local employment boards to develop their workforces and economies.  So far we’ve discussed applying efficient hiring strategies that focus on the overall experience of the job seeker and the employer. Today we move to step number three.

3. Better Job Matching Leads to Better Outcomes.

The most successful hires are between a perfectly matched employee and employer. But finding the best match can be a difficult and arduous task, looking at skill sets, geography, salary requirements, past experiences, etc. Helping to facilitate great matches should be a top priority for Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs). However, most workforce boards currently rely on dated job matching systems like Boolean matching and O*Net Occupational classifications to place potential employees. While much improved over the last decade, these technologies do not consistently result in effective matches. Monster’s 6Sense talent matching technology and Insights engine are invaluable and unparalleled resources to quickly identify the best-fit candidates for job openings. We extract specific skills and experiences from resumes, search activities, and profiles and match them to appropriate employers. These technologies create better-matched candidates and employers and significantly improve employee retention.

What steps are you currently taking to create ideal employee-employer matches?  Please share your comments below. Please share your comments below.

To read the full White Paper, Seven Steps to a High Performance Workforce, please click here.