story from Radio Iowa
A retooled state website has a list of more than 80,000 job openings in Iowa and adjacent areas in the states that surround Iowa.
“Around a 25-mile radius because we do have many Iowans who work across borders, but live in Iowa,” said Beth Townsend, director of the state’s Workforce Development agency.
IowaWORKS.org launched in June.
“Users have access to various tools such as assisted job search, creating resumes or building resumes and having an individualized portfolio that they can access 24/7,” she said during a news conference this morning at Unity Point Health in Des Moines.
Iowa companies submit job listings, plus the website uses what Townsend calls “spidering” technology to find job openings online, then the software sifts through the data so a job opening won’t be listed more than once on the site. Lieutenant Governor Adam Gregg said health care, information technology, and advanced manufacturing appear to be the industries with the most open positions.
“Make no mistake, the path to a new career is available at the click of a mouse,” Gregg said, “any time, anywhere.”
The site also collects labor market data, like wage information for specific jobs. Job listings may be sorted, too, by location, by business or by certain industries.
