National CareerZone

Job banks are wonderful tools for creating fluidity in the labor economy, assisting the match-up of individuals with jobs. Self-service job-finding services found on the Internet, however, begin with the assumption that job seekers have a general familiarity with the world of work and a good idea of the kinds of job situation in which they would like to work. For young men and women just entering the labor force, or youths beginning to consider careers, some priming is necessary to assure that job search is directed and properly targeted.

Early examination of career choices can assure that job banks are not used to the job seekers own disadvantage, encouraging quick entry into the job market when additional schooling might be a more appropriate approach. Moreover, job banks do not make visitors fully aware of the hazards associated with various occupations. This is a significant problem for young workers, a group which has a much higher incidence of on-the-job injuries than other groups.

A national web site, modeled after such early efforts as New York State’s CareerZone (http://nycareerzone.org), and informed by such efforts as USDOL’s Career Voyages (http://careervoyages.gov), can assure that job banks correctly serve their clientele. These earlier efforts, while still available on the Internet, do not effectively target the young audience of today. Even CareerZone, which received high points from educational institutions and the business community, has features and a look-and-feel which are more appropriate for a population younger than the 8th grade to early college community which National Career Planner must reach. National CareerZone would be implemented using a Service Oriented Architecture which makes the service sustainable through localization. Individual jurisdictions can use computer-to-computer services to meet the needs of individual states and constituencies. State and local governments then assume the cost of the services which they consume, frequently finding funding partners in education programs and business associations.

OBJECTIVES

• Shape the career decisions of high school age youths so that they can make effective use of job banks and prepare their programs of education and training.
• Guide the general youth population toward quality employment, effectively making for a more globally competitive American workforce.
• Establish a social network to foster exchanges of career-focused ideas among youth and between youths and career guidance parties (guidance counselors, career counselors, businesses, and business associations)
• Implement technologies (specifically, components in a Service Oriented Architecture) which regional governments and educational institutions can use to shape a localized CareerZone implementation from shared resources.
• Assure that hazards and security requirements associated with jobs are well-understood before a youth embarks on a career.

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