State group taps JobCentral

An association of state employment services administrators has selected the JobCentral National Labor Exchange to assist in the transition from a Department of Labor-maintained job search Web site.The National Association of State Workforce Agencies tapped JobCentral (www.jobcentral.com) to help state workforce agencies adopt a successor to Labor’s America’s Job Bank, which will phase out June 30. Last year Labor announced the shuttering of the job search engine, citing redundancy with commercially maintained Internet job postings.JobCentral will let job seekers search more than 5 million jobs from corporate Web sites, newspapers, trade associations and other Internet sources in the 50 states, the District of Colombia, U.S. territories and U.S. cities. The service will be offered free of charge to job seekers and employers, who will be able to post jobs and search resumes.The DirectEmployers Association, a nonprofit consortium of more than 250 U.S. employers, owns and manages the JobCentral site.JobCentral, however, won’t be the only option for states looking to fill the America’s Job Bank gap. Labor’s Employment and Training Administration plans to offer a list of Web links to help customers find an alternative job bank, according to a Federal Register notice.The transition plan “includes developing the ability to direct employers and job seekers to both public and private sector job banks,” according to the notice, which was published in January.“They are putting up a list of commercial job sites so job seekers aren’t surprised and know that there are other places to go,” said William Warren, executive director of the DirectEmployers Association. He said the association is participating in the Web link effort, noting that the list of sites is expected to be available by April 1.