Jobs4TN Online. Digital Government Government to Citizen. Contact: Leesa Bray, Information Technology Administrator. Tennessee

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1 Jobs4TN Online Digital Government Government to Citizen Contact: Leesa Bray, Information Technology Administrator Tennessee Project Initiation Date: January 12, 2011 Project Completion Date: May 14, 2012

2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Jobs4TN Online, Tennessee s comprehensive jobs database, was implemented by the TN Department of Labor and Workforce Development and Geographic Solutions, Inc. and launched by Governor Bill Haslam in May Since going live a year ago 108,500 job seekers have registered with the system, and more than one million job searches have been tallied. Jobs4TN Online, with an average listing of around 90,000 Tennessee jobs, is the state s premier employment resource, said Labor and Workforce Development Acting Commissioner Burns Phillips. We ve seen an uptick in referrals to jobs listed directly by Tennessee employers as well as jobs obtained from searching other Internet sites that are included in the system. During the past year Jobs4TN Online counted 147,000 applications to jobs posted by Tennessee employers and more than 457,000 applications to jobs from other sites. When Jobs4TN Online was developed, Governor Haslam added the spidering software that surveys jobs posted on external Web sites and includes those in the database; examples of external sites are major job search engines, corporate Internet sites, newspapers, government sites, private job boards, and institutions of higher learning. Jobs4TN Online allows job seekers to create and post résumés and create cover letters for résumés. Applicants can also explore local training providers and demand occupations, with education requirements and salaries for those positions. Also, claimants using Jobs4TN Online fulfills their requirement to make at least three documented work searches each week while drawing unemployment benefits. Employers can choose criteria for applicants they want to see, and the system displays candidates that match. If the employer wants to save the résumé search, the system triggers the virtual recruiter feature that will send résumés that match the employer s job search at intervals specified. Jobs4TN Online contains a wealth of labor market information, such as trends and jobs in demand and schools that provide specific occupational training along with how many students have complete the training in a certain area. Of the registered users of Jobs4TN Online, 37% have a high school diploma or equivalency credential and 15% have a bachelor s degree. Many graduates and program completers of Tennessee Technology Centers and community colleges are registered with Jobs4Tn Online and can be readily matched with employer needs. Jobs4TN Online can be accessed with a computer anytime from anywhere that has Internet access at:

3 SECTION 3 DESCRIPTION OF THE BUSINESS PROBLEM AND SOLUTION Business Problem: The Tennessee Career Centers were not prepared for the significant increase in unemployment that started with the Great Recession. From December 2007 to June 2009, the state unemployment rate (on a seasonally adjusted basis) nearly doubled from 5.5 to 10.9 percent, and the number of unemployed Tennesseans increased likewise from 167,300 to 328,600. Claimants who were approved to receive unemployment insurance benefits were required to perform weekly work searches in order to certify for their weekly benefits. TN did not have a central jobs database with self-service capabilities to assist these claimants in meeting their work search requirements. Instead, many of those claimants visited the Career Centers often waiting 4 hours or more to meet with a representative to assist them in reviewing paper copies of job listings with the hope of one or more job referrals each week. In early 2012, Federal and State legislation was passed requiring unemployed Tennesseans who were receiving UI benefits to perform three job searches per week. In addition, those employers who wanted to post jobs with the agency were required to follow a cumbersome process; many were sending s to the career center staff who had to retype the information into the legacy job exchange system. Business Solution: The solution was to implement Jobs4TN Online, an expansion of the existing Source web site which allowed online access for job seekers and expanded online access for employers. The following state- of-the-art Labor Exchange features were added to the Source: 1. Ability for individuals to apply online for employer postings. 2. Ability for job seekers to post resumes. 3. Enhanced ability for employers to post positions online. 4. Ability for employers to search resumes for prospective employees online. 5. Automated capacity to track many services provided to individuals and employers for Federal reporting.

4 6. One registration between The Jobs4tn.gov system and the Department s legacy system (ecmats) for individuals and employers, with data transferred into ecmats through web services. In addition, tens of thousands of job listings from private and public employers were added.

5 SECTION 4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT TO THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE OPERATION OF GOVERNMENT Jobs4TN Online met a key campaign promise of Governor Bill Haslam to provide a jobs clearinghouse for Tennesseans. With the high unemployment rate in TN since 2007, a key business objective of the TN Department of Labor and Workforce development has been to streamline processes and provide self-service options for employers to register and list job openings and for applicants to register, create a resume and search for a job. The goal was to provide one central location where applicants can search for work without requiring them to register at multiple sites. JOBS4TN met this business need. This has been so successful that the Governor s Office provides funds for spidering to multiple job posting sites. In addition, they branded and marketed the system. In addition, the self-service capability provided by JOBS4TNONLINE helps unemployment insurance (UI) claimants in TN to meet their work search requirements that are required for weekly certification to receive benefits while unemployed. Legislation was passed at the Federal and State levels in 2012 with new work search requirements. In addition, if claimants use the system for their work searches, these records are available as supporting claim documentation. Additionally, services provided to claimants are tracked and included in Federal ETA reports. The Jobs4tn.gov project aligned with Governor Haslam s priority of greater access to jobs for Tennesseans. Grant funds were leveraged with additional funds the Governor s Office contributed to increase job listings. The project was significant for Tennessee state government for a number of reasons: (1) It used grant money in an economical manner, reserving half of a $750,000 green jobs grant to install the new state-of the-art labor exchange modules in an existing web system, rather than starting from scratch and spending tens of millions of dollars. (2) The internal agency project team laid the groundwork for further integration of workforce services, by working together to develop system specifications, identifying common data bases (SOC, NAICS) to be updated by all programs, and developing an integrated registration process. (3) It also increased Tennessee s in-house web services programming capabilities, needed as more systems migrate online. (4) Train-the-trainer web services technology was used to orient field staff to the system to save on training costs.

6 SECTION 5 BENEFITS OF THE PROJECT The primary benefits of the system accrue to the job seekers and employers. Job seekers no longer need to travel to specific career center locations and wait for hours to inspect paper listings of jobs or to be referred by a career center employee. Jobs4TN Online has become Tennessee s premier employment resource, with an average listing of around 90,000 Tennessee jobs. Jobs4TN Online allows job seekers to create and post résumés and create cover letters for résumés. The online registration and resume process allows job seekers to identify their skills and educational background which can be matched with employers desired skills and educational requirements, providing a broader match process than was possible in the past using only Dictionary of Occupational Title (DOT) codes. In addition, job seekers can explore local training providers and demand occupations, with education requirements and salaries for those positions. Also, UI claimants can use Jobs4TN Online to fulfill their requirement to make at least three documented work searches each week while drawing UI benefits. Employers can post job openings and create custom application questions to ask candidates. Employers can choose criteria for applicants they want to see, and the system displays candidates that match. If the employer wants to save the résumé search, the system triggers the virtual recruiter feature that will send résumés that match the employer s job search at intervals specified. During the past year Jobs4TN Online counted 147,000 applications to jobs posted by Tennessee employers and more than 457,000 applications to jobs from other sites. When Jobs4TN Online was developed, Governor Haslam added the spidering software that surveys jobs posted on external Web sites and includes those in the database; examples of external sites are major job search engines, corporate Internet sites, newspapers, government sites, private job boards, and institutions of higher learning. Jobs4TN Online contains a wealth of labor market information, such as trends and jobs in demand and schools that provide specific occupational training along with how many students have complete the training in a certain area. Of the registered users of Jobs4TN Online, 37% have a high school diploma or equivalency credential and 15% have a bachelor s degree. Many graduates and program completers of Tennessee Technology Centers and community colleges are registered with Jobs4Tn Online and can be readily matched with employer needs.

7 Jobs4TN Online accurately captures many more activities, such as self-service use of labor market information and job searches by the unemployed, which are needed for federal reporting purposes. Real-time job listings on the system and improved data on registered job seekers will provide additional opportunity for needed research on job vacancies and skill gaps in Tennessee. The modules provide a robust web-based automated interface which direct connect job seekers with potential employers and will automatically record and document all transactions occurring between these two parties.