Darrell, Are you into blues? Hang in there! Listen to Kemble, the motivator. Dell is helping Austin recruit people. I guess they have run out of people to hire. :)Leigh
cnbc.com
6/20/00 - Austin Becomes First City in Nation ``Wired for Talent'; Regional Employee Recruitment Web Site Going Live June 20
AUSTIN, Texas, Jun 20, 2000 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
AustinAtWork.com Platform provided by the Austin American-Statesman
In collaboration with: City of Austin Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce Hire.com
Participation From Key Business, Educational and Community Groups Will Fund Local Workforce Development Projects
Today, Austin will become the first city in the nation to actively recruit talent using the Internet in a unique public-private partnership.
Four leading organizations in Austin's economy, including the Austin American-Statesman, the City of Austin, Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, and Hire.com, an e-Recruiting software leader, have teamed together to launch a community-wide, online job recruitment solution called AustinAtWork.com.
The goal for Austin is two-fold: to build the quality and quantity of talent in Greater Austin by recruiting new talent into the region, and to use sponsorship dollars to support long-term education, training and workforce development efforts for local workers -- both youth and adults. In this way, Austin's electronic recruitment solution meets workforce needs for today and tomorrow.
RECRUITING TALENT
In today's strong economy, regional competitive advantage is based on the ability of employers and entire communities to recruit, train and retain quality talent. To meet this challenge, Austin must find ways to narrow the gap between labor supply and labor demand. At 1.9 percent, Austin's rate of unemployment is significantly lower than the nation's 4.1 percent. In addition, 600 start-up companies are estimated to grow out of Austin's local economy in 2000, and an estimated 85,000 new jobs will need to be filled in Austin during the next two years.
"Austin's economic development strategies must shift from attracting companies to attracting and training talented workers to fill available positions. With such stiff competition, we've decided to pool our resources to help narrow the gap between labor supply and demand," says Austin Mayor Kirk Watson.
The concept for this online recruiting initiative resulted from the June, 1999, Greater Austin@Work Summit. At that event, employers, educators, community and government leaders identified a shortage of qualified workers as their greatest workforce challenge. Simultaneously, the Austin American-Statesman was developing a new range of online recruitment solutions designed to complement the print Classifieds. To address shared goals, leaders of the Summit collaborated with the Statesman to launch an extension of the paper's online services called AustinAtWork.com.
"The Austin American-Statesman, through Statesman Classifieds, continues to be the pre-eminent source Austin employers turn to first when advertising job openings," says Mike Laosa, Publisher of the Austin American-Statesman. "The launch of AustinAtWork.com is consistent with Austin's 'wired' climate. In addition to Austin, we are now going to deliver candidates from around the state, the U.S., and wherever there is Web access."
The software that supports the site was developed by Hire.com. It allows employers to locate and screen prospective employees on a real-time basis. It invites both active and passive (anonymous) job-seekers, within and outside Austin, to scan for jobs or to submit a skills profile, confidentially. Postings and profiles are then matched based on certain criteria, a service unique to this software.
"Hire.com designed an interactive software that facilitates relationships between job seekers and employers. Our e-Recruiter(tm) service can find the right people for the right positions quickly and efficiently. And that's critical to business success today," said Jim Hammock, chairman and chief executive officer of Hire.com.
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
A unique component of this initiative is the Greater Austin@Work Partnership, whereby corporate, education and community Partners use their membership fees to fund and promote workforce development in Central Texas. Through employer contributions, the Chamber's Capital Area Training Foundation will provide technology training and Internet access for underemployed adults as well as summer internships for high school students.
"AustinAtWork.com is only a partial solution to the workforce shortage. It's sure to bring the best of the knowledge workers to Central Texas," said Mark Hazelwood, President and CEO of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce. "But Austin cannot be competitive in the long term unless all its citizens can participate in the economy. The long-term solution is to improve job skills."
ROLE OF PARTNERS
Members of the Greater Austin@Work Partnership include corporate, educational and community groups that support regional cooperation of workforce solutions. Corporate Partners contribute seed money to finance workforce development projects in Austin. Educational and community Partners help promote AustinAtWork.com by providing links from their Web sites, thereby enlarging the stream of candidates into the talent pool.
Many of the Partners are also promoting AustinAtWork.com using creative marketing tools, such as free signage. Examples of Partners include Dell Computer Corporation, KTBC-TV Fox 7, the University of Texas at Austin, the Capital Area Workforce Development Board and Travis County.
In return, members of the Partnership benefit from discounted pricing for posting on the American-Statesman's AustinAtWork.com portal, and a variety of print and on-line benefits, including a featured place on the Web site and recognition at related events. The AustinatWork.com initiative has a goal of registering 25,000 job candidates in the first six months. The Chamber will be recruiting additional Partnership members to help reach this goal.
Interested employers, employees and Partners should log onto the site, AustinAtWork.com.
LAUNCH ORGANIZERS
The team of organizations launching the Web site June 20 includes:
Austin American-Statesman
The Austin American-Statesman, Central Texas' leading daily newspaper reaches 671,600 readers per week. With the ongoing development of its print and online products and services, the Statesman pursues its mission of providing the discriminating and dynamic Austin Metro market with the most comprehensive, useful and technically advanced news and information available. www.statesman.com
City of Austin
The City of Austin is one of the largest employers in the Central Texas region with approximately 10,000 employees in a variety of skill-level positions. Addressing the issues of workforce development and job opportunities helps fulfill the City's vision of wanting Austin to be the most livable community in the country. www.ci.austin.tx.us
Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce
The Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce is a member-driven organization dedicated to strengthening the Austin business environment, enhancing the quality of life for the entire community, communicating the views of the business community, and supporting constructive initiatives on major public policy issues. www.austinchamber.org
Hire.com
Founded in 1997 in Austin, Hire.com is the leading e-Recruiting application service provider (ASP) in the world. The Java based software provides an automated recruiting process for businesses of all sizes on their own corporate Web sites, powered by Hire.com. A few of Hire.com's over 100 corporate customers include: AT&T, Sprint, Electronic Arts, IBM, EDS, the U.S. Mint, US West, LSI Logic, and Austin Ventures. www.hire.com
FOUNDING MEMBERS -- Greater Austin@Work Partnership
Corporate Partners
3M Advanced Micro Devices Athens Group Capital Metro Catapult Systems Charles Schwab Dazel Dell Computer Corporation KTBC Fox 7 H-E-B Hyatt Hotels & Resorts IBM Momentum Software Omni Austin Hotel Downtown PDS Technical Services Seton Healthcare Network Temple-Inland Financial Services
Community Partners
American Electronics Association Austin Aviation Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau Austin Convention Center Austin Energy Austin Hotel Motel Association Austin Network Austin Software Council Capital Area Training Foundation Capital Area Workforce Development Board Career Resources Club City of Austin Downtown Austin Alliance Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce Technical Business Network 360 Summit Travis County
Education Partners
Austin Community College Concordia University Southwest Texas State University Southwestern University St. Edward's University University of Texas at Austin
CONTACT: Christian-Hubble Media & Communications Peggy Hubble, 512/480-3240 or 512/606-4024 (pager) or Bergan Casey, 512/480-3240 or 512/656-2515 (mobile)
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KEYWORD: TEXAS INDUSTRY KEYWORD: HUMAN RESOURCES INTERNET PUBLISHING SOFTWARE EDUCATION
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